Sorry for the absence

[Calimus]

It's been a rough 2-3 weeks. BAP was awesome, got home and went right to work on getting the rocco up and running which did happen. Currently, she's been doing some daily driving duty, but she's still got some bugs to be worked out.

The headaches have come from the new beetle and the Jetta. Both cars went down on the same day. The beetle suddenly didn't want to go into reverse (5 speed) and so I got the call from Cristine to come rescure her. So I fire up the jetta, make it to the first stop light, sit at idle for about 1min and then the jetta just shuts down. No stumble, nothing that would give a clue to a problem, just shut down. Forward to current times. I've temp fixed the beetle (damn VW and their making the shifter assym in the 98-99 beetle non adjustable) so reverse works, but now 5th is a little tricky. The jetta however is still down. Took me a week to get it home as I had to wait for a friend to be able to get ahold of a trailer.

So now I just need to get some things in order to tear into the jetta and see what the hell went wrong. The vag-com isn't really helping as initially everything was complaining about not being able to communicate with the ECU. Which would definitly be a problem. I replaced the ECU (got lucky and Brian at VW City had one for cheap), but that didn't make a difference. Now the car is complaining about the Cam Position sesnor, which it has done on/off for over a year even though I've replaced it. So my current train of thought is that either the pickup wheel on the cam for the CPS is bad or the car somehow jumped time enough to wig out the ECU. I don't hear any metal smacking so I'm hoping it wasn't enough of a jump to bend valves. Time will tell when I can get the car torn down.

[bbrown]

Man, your dilemma reminds me of the old saying "when it rains, it pours." Sorry to hear about all the car troubles. All these new cars and their sensors can go and suck it if you asked me. My Ranger loves to throw codes and send me on runs to O' Reilly's for a free code scan only to find that error is for a sensor that I have already replaced. The not having a truck and/or car trailer is also a real PITA since you are now limited to the grace and time schedule of a friend/family member or you have to spend the money for a tow truck (I refuse to do so thus far, but it may be necessary some day). Anyways, good luck with the repairs. You are more than capable of getting everything back up and running. , , and more fixes everything (even if it is only temporarily).

[Briano1234]

DAyam and I thought I was having issues.

[Calimus]

bbrown, thx for the pep talk. At this rate I might have to start drinking beer to deal with these damn cars.

Brian, I think this might actually start to rank up there with some of your past issues. But also, now you know why you haven't seen a certain silver/blue cabby that needs a new top, lol. However, if I don't figure out whats up with the jetta in the next few weeks, you just might be seeing it as I'll need to put it into daily driver status. with al this rain, i can't send Cristine out in it and end up with a rolling bath tub.

Right now the beetle is driveable (but I figure it's on borrowed time anyway as it was a POS when we bought it).

Cristine's Scirocco is in great daily driving shape and is pulling it's weight

My Scirocco can be used if needed, but every time I fix a rattle or shifting alignment issue, something else pops up, it's almost comedic

Cabby continues to slumber in the garage with a leaky top

Bikes, will always be used when it's sunny and I we don't have to worry about catching a lightning bolt in the arse. Don't mind riding in the rain, but prefer not to become a moving target for Zeus.

Might end up looking for a single car to replace the beetle and Jetta (would be nice to have some extra space in the driveway) but currently, not finding any VW's that I actually want as a replacement. Looked at Mini, but not liking the price tag on the "S" model's which are the only one's with enough power to get outta their own way.

New car is a far reach possability though. Not looking to spend 13k if I only need 1k to fix the current problem.

[kamzcab86]

Sorry to hear of all the car problems, William. The newer VWs are probably just jealous of all the attention the older ones have been getting.

All these new cars and their sensors can go and suck it if you asked me.

x 1,000! Although, that Mk6 GTI is really sparking my interest.

I get to replace the cat converter and bank 1 OXS in my own Jetta. I may attempt to get it emissions tested as-is and pray the codes don't pop up in the process 'cuz the stupid cat converter is mega-bucks.

[sixsracing]

Wish I wasn't so far away.

[Calimus]

It's all good sixes. This is how we learn. Well, It's how a learn anyway

Thinking if I work out a few bugs in the rocco by the 5th of June, then I'll start tearing into the jetta then. I have the 5th and 8th off for a nice 4 day weekend, might be a great time to dive into the unknown.

Oh, and kammy, If your Jetta is a VR, did you go and have them flash the ECU in the last year? There is a recall because the Ethanol is triggering the CEL due to the O2 sensor programming being too narrow and causing flase CEL's for emissions reasons.

if ya haven't, something to look into.

[kamzcab86]

Oh, and kammy, If your Jetta is a VR, did you go and have them flash the ECU in the last year? There is a recall because the Ethanol is triggering the CEL due to the O2 sensor programming being too narrow and causing flase CEL's for emissions reasons.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.... an oil change and plug change is about all that's been done to it in the past year (the one thing I hate about the dealer I go to: they don't automatically check for open recalls). I'll have to look into that!! Thank you for the info!

[Calimus]

anytime. being that I have a Vag-com and the closest dealer that I trust is 70 miles away, I just clear the codes myself that are related the emissions.

1. No emissions where I live

2. Been known to run reg-unleaded when the fuel prices get north of what I'm willing to pay for premium

So, I just figured, i'd make it down to the dealer one of these days to get the firmware upgrade. Untill then, I have the mighty vag-com to help me along. Granted right now it's doesn't matter at all as the damn thing wont start, lol

[kamzcab86]

Okay, so I did some research. I've received two fluorescent orange post cards within the past 6 months or so from a dealer I avoid (other than buying a couple of parts), one I decided to keep, just in case: "Urgent Recall Notice...(blah, blah) but you have NOT taken steps to have the correction made... Recall N7". So I looked up recall #N7 and sure enough, it's what you described; guy on Vortex even scanned his letter, which I printed for my own records. Odd thing is, I have received every recall letter from VWoA except for N7... which dates back to '07!! Soooo, looks like I'll be making a trip over to Scottsdale in a week or two.

Here's hoping you get your Jetta running, and that's it's a simple fix!

[Calimus]

Kammy, glad I could help. It's a curse and a gift owning so many different VW's. The curse side is that something is always breaking. The gift side is that I can actually help someone with an MKIV issue, lol

[gull]

Might end up looking for a single car to replace the beetle and Jetta (would be nice to have some extra space in the driveway) but currently, not finding any VW's that I actually want as a replacement. Looked at Mini, but not liking the price tag on the "S" model's which are the only one's with enough power to get outta their own way.

Heh heh...I dunno, almost any new car feels fast compared to my Cabriolet. It has many assets, but even the cheap Korean cars have more than 95 horsepower these days.