Well, it happened to us. We were driving down to Temecula yesterday and I thought I noticed a very slight hesitation in the engine while on the freeway. It was a barely noticeable pulsing and I wasn't sure what it could be - no lights or messages on the cluster. I thought maybe it could just be the uneven road or even the old steering wheel shake working its way back. I made a mental note to pay closer attention when I was on smoother pavement and kept going.
Maybe 10-15 minutes later I get a significant loss of power, and then an almost total loss of power a few seconds later. MIL is on and the glow plug pigtails are flashing, although I can't remember if the MIL came on before I lost power or right afterwards. Got over to the side of the freeway and shut her down. I let it sit for about 10 minutes while I consulted the manual, then decided to try and make it to the next offramp, which I did. Pulled into the nearest lot and shut it down again. I did not get any messages on the cluster - I cycled the ignition a couple of times to make sure I didn't have a workshop message, as I know that to mean something is seriously wrong.
I thought the hesitation might be a dirty or loose MAF sensor, so I popped the hood to check. Didn't have any tools at all on me, so I wasn't even able to pull the sensor out. Just made sure it was seated all right and that there wasn't anything wrong with the pipes / hoses that I could see. I'm no mechanic, but I didn't see anything.
VW Murrieta was less than 5 miles up the road and I decided to try and limp the car there. We made it about 300 yards before the car died in the street. Got it started again and limped into the closest parking lot to call a tow truck. Got towed to the dealer and took a 60 mile Uber ride home as they had just given out there last loaner (I literally watched the guy drive it away).
Got the call this afternoon - total fuel system replacement needed. I didn't press for details, so I am assuming I got some bad fuel. We had just filled the tank a day or two ago and we were maybe 100 miles into the tank. I almost always pump Shell, although this time we pumped at an unfamiliar station. I thought it'd be all right since they had quite a few diesel pumps (more than the typical 2 or 4 around here), plus I use power service additive when filling up (although my fiance does not...and it's her daily).
Thank goodness it's being covered under the powertrain warranty. VW Murietta has been absolutely fantastic thus far - our service advisor Jennifer has been great! Parts are on order and the ETA is ~1 week. They even offered to cover a loaner, but due to some accounting / systems issues we're having some trouble getting hooked up with a local Enterprise branch. Not their fault though.
I'm surprised this happened. CA is supposed to have some of the highest quality diesel in the country (I know that's not saying much). The only thing I can think of is we've been having some crazy (for us) weather here in SoCal with a ton of rain and temperatures way below normal. It only just heated up in the past 3-4 days, so maybe there was some condensation inside the station's tank? Or worse, maybe some rainwater somehow made it in? Really beats me...I try to make sure I put some power service in at least once a month.
3rd break down since December. I love this car, but of the 4 VW / Audi's I've owned, it's the only one that's ever had a mechanical issue...and it's had quite a few.
Maybe 10-15 minutes later I get a significant loss of power, and then an almost total loss of power a few seconds later. MIL is on and the glow plug pigtails are flashing, although I can't remember if the MIL came on before I lost power or right afterwards. Got over to the side of the freeway and shut her down. I let it sit for about 10 minutes while I consulted the manual, then decided to try and make it to the next offramp, which I did. Pulled into the nearest lot and shut it down again. I did not get any messages on the cluster - I cycled the ignition a couple of times to make sure I didn't have a workshop message, as I know that to mean something is seriously wrong.
I thought the hesitation might be a dirty or loose MAF sensor, so I popped the hood to check. Didn't have any tools at all on me, so I wasn't even able to pull the sensor out. Just made sure it was seated all right and that there wasn't anything wrong with the pipes / hoses that I could see. I'm no mechanic, but I didn't see anything.
VW Murrieta was less than 5 miles up the road and I decided to try and limp the car there. We made it about 300 yards before the car died in the street. Got it started again and limped into the closest parking lot to call a tow truck. Got towed to the dealer and took a 60 mile Uber ride home as they had just given out there last loaner (I literally watched the guy drive it away).
Got the call this afternoon - total fuel system replacement needed. I didn't press for details, so I am assuming I got some bad fuel. We had just filled the tank a day or two ago and we were maybe 100 miles into the tank. I almost always pump Shell, although this time we pumped at an unfamiliar station. I thought it'd be all right since they had quite a few diesel pumps (more than the typical 2 or 4 around here), plus I use power service additive when filling up (although my fiance does not...and it's her daily).
Thank goodness it's being covered under the powertrain warranty. VW Murietta has been absolutely fantastic thus far - our service advisor Jennifer has been great! Parts are on order and the ETA is ~1 week. They even offered to cover a loaner, but due to some accounting / systems issues we're having some trouble getting hooked up with a local Enterprise branch. Not their fault though.
I'm surprised this happened. CA is supposed to have some of the highest quality diesel in the country (I know that's not saying much). The only thing I can think of is we've been having some crazy (for us) weather here in SoCal with a ton of rain and temperatures way below normal. It only just heated up in the past 3-4 days, so maybe there was some condensation inside the station's tank? Or worse, maybe some rainwater somehow made it in? Really beats me...I try to make sure I put some power service in at least once a month.
3rd break down since December. I love this car, but of the 4 VW / Audi's I've owned, it's the only one that's ever had a mechanical issue...and it's had quite a few.
