[NVVWFAN]

A bit of a long story....Back in June of 2014, we found a 2004 Touareg with 104,000 that looked brand new....not a scratch, not a dent. We paid 7,800 cash and drove it home.

After a trip to B.C. Canada, it began exhibiting the incredibly hard down shift, which I can live with/work around. In September, it would crank and start, but die shortly after and stranded my wife at work. I went to check it out and it started and drove away just fine. A week later after a couple hundred miles, it did the same thing in the driveway at home. No check engine light......Made the assumption that it was fuel pumps. Changed both pumps with VDO and still same issue.

Towed it to our local VW in September and they could not figure it out.....Finally, they came back with stretched timing chains and said it must have jumped a tooth also said it had a bad Intake manifold rail that was bad as well. Never did it make any noise that would indicate loose or stretched chains. They quoted me $8,600 to repair both issues.

Finally decided that I would just scrap the poor thing out. Went to the dealership, paid what I owed ($1,100) and tried starting it. It started, but would only idle if you kept your foot on the pedal at around 1,200rpm. Drove it 15 miles home and now it idles and drives like nothing ever happened. Started it 1st thing this morning at 31 degrees with no issues.....Timing chains don't unstretch and they don't jump teeth backwards????

After MUCH reading here, I have decided that it might be Coil Packs/Spark plugs and/or PCV. I really have no idea if the coils are original, the CarFax looked like it had been fairly well maintained as most service was done at dealerships. Never did see any notes about being recalled due to bad coils.

After the visit to the dealer, it does have a check engine light now...

Any thoughts or advice is sure appreciated.

 

[Perry01]

I think there is a site where you enter your vehicles VIN # and it tells you what recalls have been done.

If you have access to VAG COM you can run a scan to find out why the CEL is on otherwise it's a guessing game.
.

 

[nickm]

Coilpacks in the 2001-2004 VAG timeframe were notorious for failure. They will typically exhibit a sputtering and a flashing CEL though. It won't just stall..it will feel like its running on only a few cylinders (because it is).

 

[EulessDave]

Made the assumption that it was fuel pumps. Changed both pumps with VDO and still same issue.

Any thoughts or advice is sure appreciated.

Did you check the fuel filter? If it is getting clogged, it can give intermittent fuel issues that would seem to cure themselves after it sits a while and the gunk in the filter has a chance to shift.

 

[NVVWFAN]

Fuel filter was changed with the pumps

 

[Ewic33]

crank shaft position sensor?

 

[NVVWFAN]

I have coils, plugs, pcv and oil change on the way. Pulled the pcv last night and it was nasty. Front spark plug had white corrosion all over it as well...

 

[NVVWFAN]

Update.......

Oil, Coils, plugs and PCV changed.

Started, but still idled roughly.....let idle for a few minutes and revved to 2k rpm a handful of times.....On it's own, the idle cleared and purrs like a kitten.

Test drove it for about an hour and ran it up to 6k rpm several times. Cleared the codes and drove it some more and cycled on/off a dozen times or so and all seems well.

It did blow some nasty looking soot out of the tail pipe before I pulled it out of the garage. All clear now....

 

[noobytoogy]

Run it on the highest octane fuel you can find and give the damned car a bloody good thrashing using the Tiptronic to keep it on song for a few hundred miles.

 

[NVVWFAN]

I can get VP 100 octane out of the pump at a local station.....:twisted:

 

[nickm]

I would do what nooby says, but put a bottle of sea foam in the tank first...do it for 2 or 3 tankfuls. You might have carbon buildup (the 5V heads are infamous for this) and might have some varnish in the fuel lines (likely happens if the vehicle sat for a longish period of time).

 

[tharlan505]

WOW! You are lucky it wasn't time for scrap and now you learned something valuable about your dealership's service department. You should share this on their yelp page, maybe they'll try to be better to their customers.

 

[NVVWFAN]

I was so close to selling it to Pick & Pull for $416.

I am SO unhappy with the local dealer. There is NO WAY they even looked at the coils/plugs.

You would think that they would at LEAST consider all possibilities before telling someone it's going to cost $8,600+ to fix your car. It did cost them a sell of a 2015 Passat TDI. I had close friends that decided against VW after my experience.

 

[mpm T2 TDI]

Make sure it's unleaded...and x3 on the thrashing. Have you changed the oil and all the fluids for that matter?

 

[tharlan505]

Did you check the fuel filter? If it is getting clogged, it can give intermittent fuel issues that would seem to cure themselves after it sits a while and the gunk in the filter has a chance to shift.

How long did the Touareg sit?

Unfortunately I have zero confidence in VW service too. I've had and heard of too many expensive time-wasting issues. Find a Touareg Guru, a guy, usually with some grey hair and decades experience as a licensed mechanic specializing in GERMAN cars who's shop constantly has Porcshe's and Audi's and little or no chevy's, Hyundai's around.

 

[NVVWFAN]

The 1st time we had the issue, not more than a few hours. My wife drove it to work and went to leave for an appointment and it would start and die. It was fine for the next 4 days (drove it every day) sat all day on a Sunday and wouldn't idle on Monday morning.

 

[tharlan505]

Oh..... I thought it had sat up for a month or longer. (and it might have before you got it, but that wouldn't really have much to do with it). Mine looked new too when I bought it, but that was because it was in a couple minor wrecks and the bumpers had been replaced.

 

[NVVWFAN]

I sat at the dealership for two months after fuel pumps didn't fix the issue.

 

[tharlan505]

Oil, Coils, plugs and PCV changed.

Started, but still idled roughly.....let idle for a few minutes and revved to 2k rpm a handful of times.....On it's own, the idle cleared and purrs like a kitten.

Test drove it for about an hour and ran it up to 6k rpm several times. Cleared the codes and drove it some more and cycled on/off a dozen times or so and all seems well.

It did blow some nasty looking soot out of the tail pipe before I pulled it out of the garage. All clear now....

Hmmm..... So we don't know if one or more of these were causing the issue. It was good to do all of them either way. Coils, Plugs, PCV?

2-months can be a long time. I'm sure it felt like forever.