Jetta - Volkswagen :: 2001 Randomly Won't Start
Jan 3, 2015
2001 VW Jetta wagon will randomly not start it up. Jumping it or popping the clutch doesn't get it going. I've made sure there is nothing draining the power and the battery is new and clean. My mechanic has run diagnostics on it to check the codes and kept it for a week to use it when he ran errands; it never gave him any problems. He wants me to give him a call if I get stuck again so he can hear what it sounds like when it won't start. A week later, it wouldn't start for me(of course it was on a Sunday). I waited an hour and it started. It does this whether it's been sitting over night or after using it for an hour or two. I'll go somewhere, park,and return 10 minutes later and it makes that sound like there isn't quite enough power to start (starter is new).Now it does have over 382,000 original miles on original motor, timing belt replaced a few months ago and the mechanic said it's clean and strong. I would love to know what to do other then getting rid of it!
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A couple weeks ago I bought a 2001 VW Jetta with 176,000 miles on it. The car runs well, but for the past four days this has been happening:
Every time I start the car, after it's been off for a couple hours, neither the gas nor the brake pedal work. I can push them down, and I hear the car trying to respond but it doesn't do anything (well, it does move a little, as though it's in neutral). Then, when I turn the car off and then turn it immediately back on, both pedals are back to normal and work perfectly fine again. It's happened every time I start the car for the past few days.
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I have a 2003 Jetta. It runs great until it just stalls out with no warning. There doesn't seem to be any particular thing I do to make it stall. I could be accelerating onto the highway, just driving down a residential street, moving along at 60 mph, or just starting out of the parking lot. It happens when it is cold and when it is hot. It could happen twice in one day and then not for two weeks. I have taken it to the dealer, a VW specialist, an excellent auto electric specialist, and the local mechanic. No one can figure it out. I have so far replaced the fuel pump, ignition wires, distributor, several engine sensors, complete tune-up, all filters, battery, and some misc wires and hoses. All told, I have spent over $3000. replacing stuff and trying to cure this car's ills. The dealer could not get it to duplicate the stalling. No codes have shown up at the VW dealer, the local guy, and Autozone. The auto electric guy drove it over 100 miles on one week with no problem, then it stalled on him. He immediately hooked it up to the diagnostic machine....and no codes! He was perplexed.
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I am absolutely stumped and so are two mechanics I've been to. Randomly when I go to start the car the battery is so dead it won't start. Car is an AWD 2001 1.8T Jetta.
Replaced battery and alternator at my regular mechanic, all ground wires look great and couldn't find any shorts. There is a 11 Amp draw from my battery, took it to a shop that specializes in VW/Audi and they hooked it up to Vagcom and it showed absolutely nothing wrong. He left the meter hooked up and pulled every single fuse in the car and there was only like a 0.01 drop, nothing significant. When he went to take my car out of the shop, wouldn't start. So he put a battery pack on it, still wouldn't start. Took off both terminals on the battery, put them back on, put on the battery pack, and car started.
The aftermarket deck in it is just a JVC single din, doesn't seem to have any issues.
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I am having a problem with my car stalling randomly. It happens when I am driving and it also happened when the car was idling in the driveway. I believe it to be an electrical problem as there are no lights on the dashboard when I try to turn it over, however after a few minutes it will start and run ok. At first I thought it was the fuel pump, but now I'm not so sure. There is no pattern to when it happens either. When driving the car will start sputtering then stall. I'll let it sit for a minute or so, then it starts again. What can be causing this?
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I have a 2006 Jetta with a 5 speed manual transmission and 35,000 miles. The engine randomly misfires causing it to stutter or stammer. The check engine light is on and has been for several weeks. Occasionally the check engine light flashes. I took it to a local mechanic who ran a series of diagnostic tests (no vacuum leaks) and they recommended having all the ignition coils replaced for all 4 cylinders. They also replaced the fuel filter. I did so but the problem soon returned to which they referred me to the dealer.
I decided to take it to a VW specialist in town and they replaced the spark plugs for all 4 cylinders. They noticed that some of the plugs were black with a buildup and some were clean. The problem soon returned. The VW specialist also recommended that I take it to the dealership as they too had no clear idea as to what the problem is.
The car did suffer rodent damage in 2007 but was still under warranty so all the wiring that had been chewed on was replaced. I experimented using premium gas and regular gas. Premium gas seems to make the problem worse. Also, the misfires seem to lessen as the weather gets warmer. I would like to fix the problem to avoid any catastrophic failure but am trying to avoid throwing money away on any more guess work.
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My son has a 1999 VW Passat Wagon with a 1.8 turbo 230,000 miles. He came home from work, parked his car and the next morning for school it did not start. He inserted the key and turned it and the engine would not crank. All dash lights worked and such. He did notice the power window were not working and the interior lights either. He jump the car and worked fine, until he shut it off, and again needed a jump to start.
I looked at it, battery and alternator tested fine, battery is only a year old. the car now randomly will start on it own or not, even with a jump. I had no codes pop up on the computer scan. I am hearing things like climate control module and another fuel module in trunk and water issues. I was told to check connect at starter and change iginition switch. Have not done the ignition switch yet will need to get car up on block for starter as my son has lowered the car quite a bit. I had the computer codes checked by a VW tech and he seems stumped too.
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I have a 1996 VW Jetta GL 4 cyl. 2.0L. When the temp. start to warm up the car won't start. I don't know if its the temp. outside, or in the cabin of the car. all the dash lights turn on, and accessories turn on. sometimes I hear a clicking noise, which I think is the sound of electricity going to the starter. I have replaced the starter, alternator, & battery. I had a family friend mechanic look at it for about 3 hrs. and he couldn't figure it out. I have a suspicion that it might be the ignition switch faulting out, but how would I know for sure with out taring apart the steering column?
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Experiencing very weird electrical issues with my 2001 Wolsfburg edition Jetta 1.8T. Sometimes when I come to a stop light the car will die. I'll turn the key and here "clicks" and see flickering dashboard items. I've found if I power the locks up and down several times eventually the electric system engages again, and I can start the vehicle. Before the system engages, the locks will only slide up/down slowly or not fully. I encounter these electric issues moreso during cold & wet weather. To avoid having the car die, I'll keep my engine revved up at stoplights. I've sometimes experienced other random electric issues. For example, while driving on the freeway last week I turned on my headlights. I heard 3 loud beeps. I think a couple dashboard lights came on (not the check engine). Sometimes these beeps/lights occur just during normal driving, and almost always when I come to the next stop the car then dies. Battery has been tested and is fine. Ignition coil recall performed, still has issues.
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My 01 VW Jetta with 181690 miles started having intermittent loss of power a year ago:
1) it never conks out;
2) it loses power on the highway at 70 or in town at 25;
3) engine is usually hot, about an hour into a trip, but now does it cold, too;
4) weather doesn't matter: dry or wet;
5) check engine light flashes while it happens
6) it feels like it's running out of gas but isn't.
Mechanics have tried the following: Note: every time I brought it in to be looked at, the symptoms above were happening :
1) March 2013: replaced coil pack and it ran fine until Sep;
2) Sep 2013: ran Dx on check engine light: "arching all over the place" so replace spark plug wires;
3) Dec 2013: got oil changed
4) Jan 2014: ran Dx and was told crack in piston;
5) Jan 2014: got second opinion and told wrong spark plugs were used (single electrode vs triple electrode)-replaced all spark plugs; got car inspected and had oil changed again as it was dirty;
6) Feb 2014 mechanic is stumped, but found an article about clean oil and changed the oil again. Oil was down almost a quart.
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Symptoms:
1. Code P0455-Evaporative Emission Control System Leak Detected (no purge flow or large leak).
2. During first few miles of driving, I hear a tick-tick-tick-thump sound coming from the rear of the car that is not related to tires/engine/speed/etc. The thump sound is pretty loud. The tick-tick-tick sounds like some type of piston-actuated pump. After >10 miles or so of driving, these sounds stop.
3. After putting gas in tank, car will not start without pumping gas pedal.
4. When removing gas cap, there is no 'rush of air' sound.
All of this started two weeks ago with no previous issues.
I know that the gas cap is one of the top items for this code but the seal on the cap looks very good. In addition, the local Volkswagen parts department stated that they've never ordered one before for replacement. I've heard of garages doing 'smoke tests' on the evap system-what the heck is that? How easy is it to find all of the little hardware that might be causing these issues
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Been having an issue with my 01 Wolfsburg VW Jetta 1.8T.
Whenever I'm accelerating (most noticeable in lower gears), it seems like the turbo can't keep up. Used to sound like a nice clean consistent whooooosh spooling up, but now its more like brrrr......brrrrr......brrrrr.....
Don't know how else to describe it. Seems to start and stop frequently. Will try getting a video clip of this tomorrow.
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I'm considering a 2001 VW Jetta 1.8T with 135,000 miles that the owner is selling for $1,000.00 because it is "starts and runs but it's difficult get it accelerated and it's just running rough ". I haven't yet looked at the car or pulled the codes, but before I do, is there a common point of failure on these cars that leads to the symptoms described?
If it is something such as a crankshaft position sensor, then I could potentially have a good car for a lot less than the book value. If it's something such as the timing having jumped a tooth, then that's probably not something that I want to mess with.
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My 2001 Jetta 2.0L steering wheel vibrates at about 60+ mph and when I turn the steering wheel to the right into a turn, the vibration intensifies. I've changed and rotated my tires, but to no avail, the problem persists. I have yet to take this problem to a mechanic until I've found out what the issue actually is, as I do not want to get jerked around. I've looked around on various VW blogs, and from what I can gather, the CV joint needs to be replaced/repaired.
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I have 2001 Wolfsberg Edition 4D jetta (gas) with 180,000 miles, manual transmission. The engine light has been on for years and years. Usually what I do is take it in for an oil change just before a smog. They re-set the codes. I drive it to my office and back and the light would stay off and I could smog it. Until recently. In April, I took the car in for an oil change. And when I picked it up, it ran terribly. It was lurching like crazy. I had to keep slip the clutch to drive it until it warmed up and the it would mostly start running OK. I took it back to my mechanic and he thought it was a timing belt. I had already changed the timing belt at 119,000 miles.
It seemed odd to me that this procedure needed to be done again after 60,000 miles, but I went ahead and had it done. That did not fix the problem. Then the mechanic replaced the air mass meter. That didn't work. Then he replaced the coils. That didn't work. My mechanic has had the car for a month and can't seem to figure out what to do. He keeps getting different error codes - codes that don't seem to make sense to him. The car needs to a smog (my registration date is June), but he can't smog it because we can't get the check engine light to stay off long enough.
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We recently took our 2001 VW Jetta TDI in to a body shop to have a dent in our fender repaired that occurred the day after. The body shop we selected quoted us 5 days to repair the dent. Little did we know they'd also drop a toxic chemical bomb on the car's leather and vinyl interior as a courtesy.
When I picked the vehicle up I was greeted by the manager who told me the four-month-old, battery recently installed by one of Michigan's two trusted TDI specialists was dead (it wasn't). He told me I should just head over to the VW dealer to get it looked at (he said there had been an issue with the battery since I dropped it off a week earlier... when I questioned why he was just now telling me about this issue, he said he "just found out about it." Needless to say we got off on the wrong foot. I then noticed there were scuffs all along the bumper from the wax not being rubbed in properly and the red paint they'd sprayed on the repaired (and poorly reassembled) fender has also sprayed onto the black plastic below the bumper. But none of this matters compared to the significant loss of brain cells due to the chemical odor that my husband and I, as grad students, simply could not afford to lose.
As I was driving the vehicle the two miles back home, I noticed a strong smell that was not your typical "new/clean car" smell. While I got a little light headed, I didn't think much of it. Until the next day, after the car had been sitting in the sun, when I got in the vehicle to go grocery shopping and I noticed our beautiful, shiny black leather and vinyl had a white-ish residue that had dripped, smudged, smeared dried and crusted all over it. Further, I couldn't drive the car without the windows completely open without my eyes burning and throat getting sore and a severe headache.
I asked my husband to call the manager (he and I were already not on good terms). After convincing the manager the smell was definitely not from bike grease, the manager conceded that "MAYBE his new cleaning crew had used the wrong chemical when wiping down the interior of the car." Because the vinyl is now sticky and tacky, we were pretty sure it was a pretty strong solvent. The manager agreed to "go above and beyond and clean the car" himself - which he did attempt to do - and when I picked it up he did show me the solvent he thinks his cleaning crew used. Unfortunately, while much of the staining is now reduced, the smell is still very strong and is not only in the cabin but also very strongly permeated throughout the trunk.
It's been about a month and we've tried scattering baking soda throughout the trunk to no avail; I'm about to go to an auto parts store and see if there's anything else we can get to clean it out.
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Twice now in the past week, my 2001 Jetta has become possessed. While driving along, the radio turns off. Then the warning lights all come on. If I use the turn signal the radio springs back to life and other weird electrical things happen. Eventually the car stalls. When I try to restart it, the warning lights all come on and the dashboard makes a click-click-clicking sound, and that's it. The first time, my mechanic said the alternator wasn't working correctly, but that he revved the engine and it kicked in. He then tested the alternator and battery and said both were ok. Is this an alternator problem? Something else?
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I have a 2001 vw Jetta with a manual transmission (just over 155,000 miles). My first set of front brakes lasted to about 135,000. After they were replaced a shimmy started to appear when braking a few thousand miles in. At about 8,000 miles the shimmy became so bad that I brought the car back to the dealer. They said the rotors were warped. The pads and rotors were replaced again and in about 5,000 miles same thing. The pads and rotors were replaced again at no charge and it is now about 5,000 miles later and the same thing is happening again.
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I've got a 2002 Jetta TDI that's been playing stump the mechanic for the past two weeks. I've had about $800 worth of work (most of which had error codes and were necessary), but given that the next suggestion is to replace the fuel pump at a cost of ~$2k, I figured it was time to get some additional opinions.
When the car is completely cold, the engine typically turns over a few times before starting up. Sometimes a few turns into seven or eight, but I've never had it not start. The problem comes when I've driven it somewhere (like to the grocery store, yoga class, or to get gas, to name a few) and try to restart it after my task is done. The warmer the engine, the lower the chance it will start. In it's most extreme, the car will not start at all, and I have had it stall out on me at stoplights if I do manage to get it started.
The car has had a history of intermittent hard starts in the four years I've had it, but nothing at all like this.
In the past two weeks, my mechanic has replaced the coolant temperature sensor, thermostat and seal ring, serpentine belt tensioner and serpentine belt, power supply relay, fuel pressure regulator and seal rings and the crank sensor. They've also been able to see that something is off about the fuel pump since they can see air bubbles in the fuel line, but thought I could push the car for a while without having to replace the pump.
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1995 vw Jetta 110K miles.. My car has a hard time starting in the mornings or when it sits idly for a while (when I park overnight) . On any bright and sunny day, it's like the car is brand new - starts with no problems at all. Tried several mechanics and none of them have been able to diagnose the problem. To make it simple, cold outside - car will not start, warm/hot outside car will start.
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I have a 2008 Volkswagen Jetta, which usually runs well. About a month ago the check engine light came on. I didn't notice any other problems until I went to fill up the car with gas and tried to start the car afterward and it took multiple tries to get the car started. I took it into the garage and they did a diagnostic, and said the leak detection pump needed to be replaced. So they replaced that, and the check engine light went away and I thought all was well. However, I took it to the gas station yesterday and had the same problem trying to start the car after filling up. What could this be? The leak detection pump ran me $500 so I hope I didn't have it replaced for no good reason!
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