Cold start and running problems with 02 1.8T Passat

I posted some time back about the cold start problems we've had with our
2002 1.8T Tiptronic Passat, about 53K miles. It's been back to the
dealer three times for this problem in the last 3K miles.

The last time we left it for a couple days and here's what the work
order said:

"Checked to confirm customer's concern, tech installed reader to check
DTCS and found 3 fault codes P0300, P0301, P0302 called techline talked
with Fred Eldorado, run test and then clean upper intake, completed fuel
clean, cleared DTCS and test drove to ensure repair."

FWIW, they did a 20012940 "Clean fuel system."

It ran fairly well for a few days and then the startup miss returned.
The miss was usually subtle, but now the big problem was that when my
wife pulls out of the driveway in the AM on the way to work, the engine
loses power and cuts out as soon as she hits the accelerator to move out
into the traffic. You know the feeling... you step on the gas and the
car slows down instead of speeding up. Classic fuel starvation, I
assume. The check engine light flashes and now is on permanently.
Yesterday she was driving back from a hilly part of the state and said
the the car would miss going up hills even with the engine warm.

Anybody got any ideas that might help out the service dept? This
dealership is very friendly and accommodating. So far they haven't
charged us anything, either. However, they are a relatively new
dealership with what I think are inexperienced technicians. In my
opinion, they ought to replace the thermosensor just to remove that
variable especially since it's an inexpensive part. And, it's a 160
mile round trip to get there and back so this is getting tiresome,
especially if we have to leave the car. FWIW, we've always put high
test Shell or Chervron gas in it, and it's had all the routine service
at the dealer.

Bill
78 Rabbit...10/77 - 4/02 82 Convertibles(s)...since 93
95 Golf GL...since 11/99 02 Passat 1.8T Tip GLS...since 4/02

Take out the CAT to reply by email

Couple things come to mind I would check it's in our shop.

1-see if ECM needs flashed with latest software
2- vacuum leak in one of the hoses
3- P0301 & P0302 are for cylinders #1 & #2.
4-If all the ECm data looks within spec then I would try and replace them 2
coil as an educated guess.



"William Maslin" > wrote in message
...
>I posted some time back about the cold start problems we've had with our
> 2002 1.8T Tiptronic Passat, about 53K miles. It's been back to the
> dealer three times for this problem in the last 3K miles.
>
> The last time we left it for a couple days and here's what the work
> order said:
>
> "Checked to confirm customer's concern, tech installed reader to check
> DTCS and found 3 fault codes P0300, P0301, P0302 called techline talked
> with Fred Eldorado, run test and then clean upper intake, completed fuel
> clean, cleared DTCS and test drove to ensure repair."
>
> FWIW, they did a 20012940 "Clean fuel system."
>
> It ran fairly well for a few days and then the startup miss returned.
> The miss was usually subtle, but now the big problem was that when my
> wife pulls out of the driveway in the AM on the way to work, the engine
> loses power and cuts out as soon as she hits the accelerator to move out
> into the traffic. You know the feeling... you step on the gas and the
> car slows down instead of speeding up. Classic fuel starvation, I
> assume. The check engine light flashes and now is on permanently.
> Yesterday she was driving back from a hilly part of the state and said
> the the car would miss going up hills even with the engine warm.
>
> Anybody got any ideas that might help out the service dept? This
> dealership is very friendly and accommodating. So far they haven't
> charged us anything, either. However, they are a relatively new
> dealership with what I think are inexperienced technicians. In my
> opinion, they ought to replace the thermosensor just to remove that
> variable especially since it's an inexpensive part. And, it's a 160
> mile round trip to get there and back so this is getting tiresome,
> especially if we have to leave the car. FWIW, we've always put high
> test Shell or Chervron gas in it, and it's had all the routine service
> at the dealer.
>
> Bill
> 78 Rabbit...10/77 - 4/02 82 Convertibles(s)...since 93
> 95 Golf GL...since 11/99 02 Passat 1.8T Tip GLS...since 4/02
>
> Take out the CAT to reply by email

"William Maslin" > wrote in message
...
>I posted some time back about the cold start problems we've had with our
> 2002 1.8T Tiptronic Passat, about 53K miles. It's been back to the
> dealer three times for this problem in the last 3K miles.
>
> The last time we left it for a couple days and here's what the work
> order said:
>
> "Checked to confirm customer's concern, tech installed reader to check
> DTCS and found 3 fault codes P0300, P0301, P0302 called techline talked
> with Fred Eldorado, run test and then clean upper intake, completed fuel
> clean, cleared DTCS and test drove to ensure repair."
>
> FWIW, they did a 20012940 "Clean fuel system."
>
> It ran fairly well for a few days and then the startup miss returned.
> The miss was usually subtle, but now the big problem was that when my
> wife pulls out of the driveway in the AM on the way to work, the engine
> loses power and cuts out as soon as she hits the accelerator to move out
> into the traffic. You know the feeling... you step on the gas and the
> car slows down instead of speeding up. Classic fuel starvation, I
> assume. The check engine light flashes and now is on permanently.
> Yesterday she was driving back from a hilly part of the state and said
> the the car would miss going up hills even with the engine warm.
>
> Anybody got any ideas that might help out the service dept? This
> dealership is very friendly and accommodating. So far they haven't
> charged us anything, either. However, they are a relatively new
> dealership with what I think are inexperienced technicians. In my
> opinion, they ought to replace the thermosensor just to remove that
> variable especially since it's an inexpensive part. And, it's a 160
> mile round trip to get there and back so this is getting tiresome,
> especially if we have to leave the car. FWIW, we've always put high
> test Shell or Chervron gas in it, and it's had all the routine service
> at the dealer.
>
> Bill
> 78 Rabbit...10/77 - 4/02 82 Convertibles(s)...since 93
> 95 Golf GL...since 11/99 02 Passat 1.8T Tip GLS...since 4/02
>
> Take out the CAT to reply by email

Ran into something odd on older VW, same symptoms as yours. Turns out there
was garbage in the gas tank. As the vehicle went on an incline, the garbage
headed for the pickup tube. Similar when accelerating.
Only cure is to pull the gas tank and flush it out, and dry it for 24 hours.
If there's a good amount of rust, suggest replacing the gas tank.
--
Jonny

VW tanks are plastic.

"Jonny" > wrote in message
ink.net...
> "William Maslin" > wrote in message
> ...
>>I posted some time back about the cold start problems we've had with our
>> 2002 1.8T Tiptronic Passat, about 53K miles. It's been back to the
>> dealer three times for this problem in the last 3K miles.
>>
>> The last time we left it for a couple days and here's what the work
>> order said:
>>
>> "Checked to confirm customer's concern, tech installed reader to check
>> DTCS and found 3 fault codes P0300, P0301, P0302 called techline talked
>> with Fred Eldorado, run test and then clean upper intake, completed fuel
>> clean, cleared DTCS and test drove to ensure repair."
>>
>> FWIW, they did a 20012940 "Clean fuel system."
>>
>> It ran fairly well for a few days and then the startup miss returned.
>> The miss was usually subtle, but now the big problem was that when my
>> wife pulls out of the driveway in the AM on the way to work, the engine
>> loses power and cuts out as soon as she hits the accelerator to move out
>> into the traffic. You know the feeling... you step on the gas and the
>> car slows down instead of speeding up. Classic fuel starvation, I
>> assume. The check engine light flashes and now is on permanently.
>> Yesterday she was driving back from a hilly part of the state and said
>> the the car would miss going up hills even with the engine warm.
>>
>> Anybody got any ideas that might help out the service dept? This
>> dealership is very friendly and accommodating. So far they haven't
>> charged us anything, either. However, they are a relatively new
>> dealership with what I think are inexperienced technicians. In my
>> opinion, they ought to replace the thermosensor just to remove that
>> variable especially since it's an inexpensive part. And, it's a 160
>> mile round trip to get there and back so this is getting tiresome,
>> especially if we have to leave the car. FWIW, we've always put high
>> test Shell or Chervron gas in it, and it's had all the routine service
>> at the dealer.
>>
>> Bill
>> 78 Rabbit...10/77 - 4/02 82 Convertibles(s)...since 93
>> 95 Golf GL...since 11/99 02 Passat 1.8T Tip GLS...since 4/02
>>
>> Take out the CAT to reply by email
>
> Ran into something odd on older VW, same symptoms as yours. Turns out
> there was garbage in the gas tank. As the vehicle went on an incline, the
> garbage headed for the pickup tube. Similar when accelerating.
> Only cure is to pull the gas tank and flush it out, and dry it for 24
> hours. If there's a good amount of rust, suggest replacing the gas tank.
> --
> Jonny
>

How is that Cabby running these days? Greetings from another old timer

best regards,
Peter Tong

William Maslin wrote:

> I posted some time back about the cold start problems we've had with our
> 2002 1.8T Tiptronic Passat, about 53K miles. It's been back to the
> dealer three times for this problem in the last 3K miles.
>
> The last time we left it for a couple days and here's what the work
> order said:
>
> "Checked to confirm customer's concern, tech installed reader to check
> DTCS and found 3 fault codes P0300, P0301, P0302 called techline talked
> with Fred Eldorado, run test and then clean upper intake, completed fuel
> clean, cleared DTCS and test drove to ensure repair."
>
> FWIW, they did a 20012940 "Clean fuel system."
>
> It ran fairly well for a few days and then the startup miss returned.
> The miss was usually subtle, but now the big problem was that when my
> wife pulls out of the driveway in the AM on the way to work, the engine
> loses power and cuts out as soon as she hits the accelerator to move out
> into the traffic. You know the feeling... you step on the gas and the
> car slows down instead of speeding up. Classic fuel starvation, I
> assume. The check engine light flashes and now is on permanently.
> Yesterday she was driving back from a hilly part of the state and said
> the the car would miss going up hills even with the engine warm.
>
> Anybody got any ideas that might help out the service dept? This
> dealership is very friendly and accommodating. So far they haven't
> charged us anything, either. However, they are a relatively new
> dealership with what I think are inexperienced technicians. In my
> opinion, they ought to replace the thermosensor just to remove that
> variable especially since it's an inexpensive part. And, it's a 160
> mile round trip to get there and back so this is getting tiresome,
> especially if we have to leave the car. FWIW, we've always put high
> test Shell or Chervron gas in it, and it's had all the routine service
> at the dealer.
>
> Bill
> 78 Rabbit...10/77 - 4/02 82 Convertibles(s)...since 93
> 95 Golf GL...since 11/99 02 Passat 1.8T Tip GLS...since 4/02
>
> Take out the CAT to reply by email