What does a blinking "Glow Plug" on a 99.5 Jetta TDI mean?

I have a 99.5 Jetta TDI, 73K. I just purchased in June and it looks
like the car was maintained well (a lot of records).

Anyway, I just started seeing a blinking Glow Plug light while
driving. It is continuously, and does not blink out a specific code.
Does this mean a bad glow plug, or something else. The manual just
says "Take it to a VW dealer ASAP (it did not say quit driving
immediately or anything like that) but I would like to get an idea is
this is user-servicable or if I should prepare to do the "ankle grab"
of taking a car to a dealer. I do not like the thought of that
because it will be $$$ and I'll probably be without the car for a
while. I live in Tallahassee, FL and there isn't a good pool of any
specialties in town, let alone a good diesel mechanic even at a
dealer. I have heard horror stories.

TIA,

Mike

Here's your FREE advice. It means there is a fault in the TDI engine
management system. Most likely you got a glow plug system problem. But
without knowing the fault code it can't be fixed here. Drive up to
Pennsylvania and I will fix it!


"Mike Smith" > wrote in message
...
>I have a 99.5 Jetta TDI, 73K. I just purchased in June and it looks
> like the car was maintained well (a lot of records).
>
> Anyway, I just started seeing a blinking Glow Plug light while
> driving. It is continuously, and does not blink out a specific code.
> Does this mean a bad glow plug, or something else. The manual just
> says "Take it to a VW dealer ASAP (it did not say quit driving
> immediately or anything like that) but I would like to get an idea is
> this is user-servicable or if I should prepare to do the "ankle grab"
> of taking a car to a dealer. I do not like the thought of that
> because it will be $$$ and I'll probably be without the car for a
> while. I live in Tallahassee, FL and there isn't a good pool of any
> specialties in town, let alone a good diesel mechanic even at a
> dealer. I have heard horror stories.
>
> TIA,
>
> Mike

Here's your FREE advice. It means there is a fault in the TDI engine
management system. Most likely you got a glow plug system problem. But
without knowing the fault code it can't be fixed here. Drive up to
Pennsylvania and I will fix it!


"Mike Smith" > wrote in message
...
>I have a 99.5 Jetta TDI, 73K. I just purchased in June and it looks
> like the car was maintained well (a lot of records).
>
> Anyway, I just started seeing a blinking Glow Plug light while
> driving. It is continuously, and does not blink out a specific code.
> Does this mean a bad glow plug, or something else. The manual just
> says "Take it to a VW dealer ASAP (it did not say quit driving
> immediately or anything like that) but I would like to get an idea is
> this is user-servicable or if I should prepare to do the "ankle grab"
> of taking a car to a dealer. I do not like the thought of that
> because it will be $$$ and I'll probably be without the car for a
> while. I live in Tallahassee, FL and there isn't a good pool of any
> specialties in town, let alone a good diesel mechanic even at a
> dealer. I have heard horror stories.
>
> TIA,
>
> Mike

On my 91 Diesel it meant the water separator needed to be drained...but it never
has actually gone off on mine. I'm guessing it means something else on your high
tech diesel!

--
Tony Bad

02 Jetta Wagon
01 Eurovan MV
91 Jetta 1.6 Diesel
86 Jetta
79 Rabbit 1.5 Diesel (semi-retired for now)
Schwinn Continental 10 Speed
Radio Flyer Pedal Car (my daughter made me add this)

"Mike Smith" > wrote in message
...
> I have a 99.5 Jetta TDI, 73K. I just purchased in June and it looks
> like the car was maintained well (a lot of records).
>
> Anyway, I just started seeing a blinking Glow Plug light while
> driving. It is continuously, and does not blink out a specific code.
> Does this mean a bad glow plug, or something else. The manual just
> says "Take it to a VW dealer ASAP (it did not say quit driving
> immediately or anything like that) but I would like to get an idea is
> this is user-servicable or if I should prepare to do the "ankle grab"
> of taking a car to a dealer. I do not like the thought of that
> because it will be $$$ and I'll probably be without the car for a
> while. I live in Tallahassee, FL and there isn't a good pool of any
> specialties in town, let alone a good diesel mechanic even at a
> dealer. I have heard horror stories.
>
> TIA,
>
> Mike

On my 91 Diesel it meant the water separator needed to be drained...but it never
has actually gone off on mine. I'm guessing it means something else on your high
tech diesel!

--
Tony Bad

02 Jetta Wagon
01 Eurovan MV
91 Jetta 1.6 Diesel
86 Jetta
79 Rabbit 1.5 Diesel (semi-retired for now)
Schwinn Continental 10 Speed
Radio Flyer Pedal Car (my daughter made me add this)

"Mike Smith" > wrote in message
...
> I have a 99.5 Jetta TDI, 73K. I just purchased in June and it looks
> like the car was maintained well (a lot of records).
>
> Anyway, I just started seeing a blinking Glow Plug light while
> driving. It is continuously, and does not blink out a specific code.
> Does this mean a bad glow plug, or something else. The manual just
> says "Take it to a VW dealer ASAP (it did not say quit driving
> immediately or anything like that) but I would like to get an idea is
> this is user-servicable or if I should prepare to do the "ankle grab"
> of taking a car to a dealer. I do not like the thought of that
> because it will be $$$ and I'll probably be without the car for a
> while. I live in Tallahassee, FL and there isn't a good pool of any
> specialties in town, let alone a good diesel mechanic even at a
> dealer. I have heard horror stories.
>
> TIA,
>
> Mike

It can mean a few things... I had it go off (blinking) with a solid engine
light due to a rich mixture - the performance shop had to dial back my
tuning box to clear the fault, hasn't happened since, but I don't get quite
the same kick from it (it was running at max power - the car flew!... albeit
with way more smoke then what I would deam acceptable)
"Tony Bad" > wrote in message
. net...
> On my 91 Diesel it meant the water separator needed to be drained...but it
> never
> has actually gone off on mine. I'm guessing it means something else on
> your high
> tech diesel!
>
> --
> Tony Bad
>
> 02 Jetta Wagon
> 01 Eurovan MV
> 91 Jetta 1.6 Diesel
> 86 Jetta
> 79 Rabbit 1.5 Diesel (semi-retired for now)
> Schwinn Continental 10 Speed
> Radio Flyer Pedal Car (my daughter made me add this)
>
> "Mike Smith" > wrote in message
> ...
>> I have a 99.5 Jetta TDI, 73K. I just purchased in June and it looks
>> like the car was maintained well (a lot of records).
>>
>> Anyway, I just started seeing a blinking Glow Plug light while
>> driving. It is continuously, and does not blink out a specific code.
>> Does this mean a bad glow plug, or something else. The manual just
>> says "Take it to a VW dealer ASAP (it did not say quit driving
>> immediately or anything like that) but I would like to get an idea is
>> this is user-servicable or if I should prepare to do the "ankle grab"
>> of taking a car to a dealer. I do not like the thought of that
>> because it will be $$$ and I'll probably be without the car for a
>> while. I live in Tallahassee, FL and there isn't a good pool of any
>> specialties in town, let alone a good diesel mechanic even at a
>> dealer. I have heard horror stories.
>>
>> TIA,
>>
>> Mike
>
>

It can mean a few things... I had it go off (blinking) with a solid engine
light due to a rich mixture - the performance shop had to dial back my
tuning box to clear the fault, hasn't happened since, but I don't get quite
the same kick from it (it was running at max power - the car flew!... albeit
with way more smoke then what I would deam acceptable)
"Tony Bad" > wrote in message
. net...
> On my 91 Diesel it meant the water separator needed to be drained...but it
> never
> has actually gone off on mine. I'm guessing it means something else on
> your high
> tech diesel!
>
> --
> Tony Bad
>
> 02 Jetta Wagon
> 01 Eurovan MV
> 91 Jetta 1.6 Diesel
> 86 Jetta
> 79 Rabbit 1.5 Diesel (semi-retired for now)
> Schwinn Continental 10 Speed
> Radio Flyer Pedal Car (my daughter made me add this)
>
> "Mike Smith" > wrote in message
> ...
>> I have a 99.5 Jetta TDI, 73K. I just purchased in June and it looks
>> like the car was maintained well (a lot of records).
>>
>> Anyway, I just started seeing a blinking Glow Plug light while
>> driving. It is continuously, and does not blink out a specific code.
>> Does this mean a bad glow plug, or something else. The manual just
>> says "Take it to a VW dealer ASAP (it did not say quit driving
>> immediately or anything like that) but I would like to get an idea is
>> this is user-servicable or if I should prepare to do the "ankle grab"
>> of taking a car to a dealer. I do not like the thought of that
>> because it will be $$$ and I'll probably be without the car for a
>> while. I live in Tallahassee, FL and there isn't a good pool of any
>> specialties in town, let alone a good diesel mechanic even at a
>> dealer. I have heard horror stories.
>>
>> TIA,
>>
>> Mike
>
>

my '86 means water in the separator. fred's tdi says can be a brake
light or switch in the later models.

my '86 means water in the separator. fred's tdi says can be a brake
light or switch in the later models.

When it happened to me it was the "brake light switch" which did not work.
With VAG-COM you can get a code which gives the reason for the blinking glow
plug light.