Engines - Lights - Jetta - Volkswagen :: 2003 - Flashing Check Engine Light / Burning Plastic Smell
Feb 25, 2011
Last night I was driving in my 2003 jetta on the intersate at 65mph with the cruise control on. As I came into a turn I had to tap the brakes. As soon as I did the check engine light came on. The car was doing fine so I drove home from school. Today I drove the car to work which is a five minute drive, and back with no problem. I later went to grab lunch and bring it home and then I noticed the check engine light started flashing. I then felt the engine start to stutter, as if it was misfiring. We had the windshield defrost when we started to smell a rotten egg smell. Luckily we were pulling into our drive when we smelled the odor. I immediately turned off the car and got out. I couldn't smell the rotten egg smell, but I did smell burning plastic. I didn't see any smoke and could not pinpoint the cause of the smell.
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1991 Buick Regal. I'm driving at night a few days ago and all of a sudden the lights on the instrument panel go out. The headlights are still on and the radio is still playing.
So I click the headlights on and off and the instrument panel lights come back on. The next night this happens again. This time I just give the headlight switch a little jiggle and they come back on. Tonight they go out again, jiggle the switch and they come back on. They go right back out. Jiggle the switch again and they're on.
I drive for another five minutes and now I smell plastic burning; it's the typical electrical/wire short smell. I turned the interior lights on and there was no visible smoke.
I'm going to try and pull the dash tomorrow and see what's going on in there, but they want $400 for an OEM replacement switch! I found some used ones online, but I'd have to get them mailed from a junk yard for about $50 bucks.
So I'm wondering, is there a easy/cheap way to rig a headlight switch in the interim so I don't have a fire in this thing? I don't understand why a headlight switch has so many prongs on the connector.
The only caveat is that the guy who had this car before me rigged the ignition through the headlights (I was told as some kind of security feature?) so that the car will not crank unless the headlights are on. Maybe/hopefully some shoddy wiring on that is just causing an arc.
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I have a 2003 VW Jetta TDI and the check engine light has been staying on solid (not flashing) for a couple of months. I took it to my local dealer who tested the computer and said that it was the thermostat and a related sensor. That answer didn't seem to make sense, and unfortunately I didn?t get the code from the dealer at the time. I did though have the code read recently at another shop and it said: "Code P0674 which is #4 glow plug circuit - Q13 - electrical fault sporadic." What this means?
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Ok my R is all stock 59k miles. This morning I was getting on the freeway and some AMG hold was on my ass so I floored it and accidentally hit the rev limiter. After that It smelt almost like burnt rubber in the car. I rolled the windows down and the smell went away in about ten min. I didn't lose any power and no check engine light came on. When I got to work I got out and looked under, no fluids leaking. But the smell was still there. I'm gonna look at it more after I get home from work.
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My 2008 Malibu service manual states that the check engine light should briefly come on when I start my engine. When the engine is cold this does not happen. Also, it happens infrequently when the engine is warm. My Chevrolet dealer says this is normal as the light checks out when tested. Chevrolet has not given me a difinitive answer on this. My concern is that if this is a problem it may surface at another time when the light should go on and cause damage if not attended to. If the manual says the check engine light should go on when the engine is started and it doesn't, doesn't this mean something is wrong?
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Driving on a trip, the check engine light comes on. The oil pressure is normal and the temp gauge is normal, the gas cap is properly sealed, is it ok to continue driving 2 to 3 hundred miles...
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So I have 69,500 miles on my car. I leave it parked on a small hill for 3 days and when I turn it on after 3 days of sitting it sounds like it is going to stall and the check engine light blinks. I roll it to the bottom of the hill and turn it on and the light doesn't blink but just stays on. On top of this, randomly but always after stopping when driving i smell a really strong burning oil smell. The smell is so bad i have to open the windows.
I don't think it has anything to do with the CEL but it has been happening for some time. It only smells after you have been driving (mostly Highway) and then stop. It wont happened if your in traffic or driving around town, you have to be on the highway then get off and stop and you smell it. It can happen once a month or twice a week, it is completely random.
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The check engine light will pop on an off rapid fire and the car will shake violently when you put it into drive or reverse for a minute, then the light goes off and its fine. then you'll be driving fine, and the light blinks on and off rapid fire again, and even if you have your foot to the floor, you cant get much power, then it kicks in and lurches into being fine again. I tried "tune up in a bottle" and it seems worse. I'm scared its transmission or something.. I took it and had it put on the diagnostic machine at autozone and they said there were no codes, which I find hard to believe since my check engine light is blinking on and off so much now. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to when it happens and when its fine. it will be fine for hours of driving, then in a small period of time, it will go through a whole bunch of spells of this happening.also: when this happens, the light that shows what gear you are in on the dash board goes black, then goes back on again when the check engine light goes off. What is going on with my car????!!!!!!
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I have a 2010 Jetta with the 2.5L 5-cylinder that recently threw on the check engine light for 2 days, then the light shut off. It began once I started the car on a coldish (~20F) morning after it had been sitting curbside for several days with the passenger side wheels sitting on about 6 inches of snow so the car was listing to the side. The car fired up immediately but ran extremely rough for about 10 seconds (the engine throbbed sharply about 2-3 times per second, which could be felt through the steering wheel & seat, accompanied by a muted clunk) before I turned it off.
During this time the CEL flashed on and off and then stayed on. I popped the hood, peered stupidly at the plastic engine cover, and restarted the car about a minute later and it ran normally, but the CEL stayed on. I drove it for two days (~50 miles) with the CEL on, but on the third day (today) the CEL did not turn on. The car has been running normally for all three days. What might have caused the rough idle/CEL and whether I can pretend it never happened since the car seems to be running normally for the third day in a row and the CEL has turned off on its own?
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Whenever I fill up my VW bug it has trouble starting .... Starts fine in the morning or if just sitting BUT when I stop and put in new gas it has trouble starting AND then when it does finally start the check engine light comes on and the code says "misfire" which I am sure is a correct code since in fact it has such a hard time starting but why? Why only after filling up with gas ? And what can I do about it ????
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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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Recently purchased a CPO 2009 F250SD 6.4L. Happy with the truck overall but this AM I noticed a slight burning plastic smell so I opened the hood and looked around closely. Didn't really find the culprit(I don't think) but noticed that the engine compartment heat shield/barrier appears to be falling down above and behind the turbos (pictures linked below). How big a deal is this? Would it be covered under the CPO warranty? It almost seems like a safety issue. I also wonder if the insulation material, now exposed without the metal reflector material, is what is causing the smell....
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It's a 2010 vw jetta. Check engine light is blinking and the epc light is on the car is not paid off yet have no.
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a 2011 jetta. brake pedal is hard no pumping action. The car show check engine. The idle is not smooth.
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My engine is in trouble. A few weeks ago, my check engine light came on. The diagnostics revealed that my Mass Airflow Sensor was done for. I replaced it, and everything was working fine for a week. Then a couple of days ago, my Electronic Power Control (EPC) light came on. The car is really dragging. It have to gun it to make it go above 60 MPH. It's become scary to drive on highways. Are the two issues potentially connected?
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So my gf's check engine light on her 01 Golf flashes once in a while, and it misfires. But the thing is, it doesn't stay on, and it's once in a while (like once or twice a week). She has new spark plugs, and new wires. I have a feeling it's the coil pack, but I really don't know if it needs to be replaced until the check engine light actually stays on.
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Just a few days ago I was driving and I noticed as I went over 35 mph my car would stutter and the check engine light would start flashing. And when I slowed back down the car drove fine. I'm wondering what the problem could be? Feels like the car is losing power. Car is currently at 119k miles.
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Can a piece inside the HID be replaced. I noticed that my bulb was coming loose because every now and then the light would stop working.
I'd open the hood tighten it and all would be good for weeks sometimes months. Today it stopped and I opened it and this time it had a burning plastic smell.
Can this piece be replaced?
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After driving about 60kms yesterday for the first time and driving pretty cautiously to break the car in i noticed a pretty strong burning plastic like smell in our garage.
This is only my 3rd brand new car and i don't remember the other 2 having this smell..
does hyundai coat their new cars with Cosmoline? or another protective coating that burns off and takes a bit to go away?
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My car smells like some plastic part is burning inside. The heat works just fine but for some reason i am getting this horrible smell. How to get to air filter of the fan.
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We have a 2003 VW Passat 1.8, front wheel drive. The check engine light is on. The code is p0778. When we start the car the gears light display lights up in red for all gears . We put the car in reverse, back out the garage and when we stop, we get a bump. And we shift to drive the car moves slowly with some hesitation.
Sometimes after the car runs for 10 minutes, then turned of for a few second then started up again, the problem goes away. Before this problem started, we would start the car in the mornings, and put in "R" , and only the reverse gear would light up. (which is the way it is suppose to work).
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