New Jetta GLI, some small problems

[MKIV_GLI]

Okay, first off, I wanted to say that this is my first post on these boards. Ill probably be here a while, but I decided to start off with naming some problems on my new GLI to see if I can get them diagnosed, since I know next to nothing about these cars.

Ill start off by saying that I bought my 2004 Jetta GLI 1.8t about a week ago, with 41,000 miles. The car was a one owner car before me, and is in excellent shape. Im lead to believe that it was owned by a female before me, and it has no mechanical problems that I know of, and is very very clean. Looks almost brand new to be honest.

Anyway, ive been driving it or a week, and ive had some weird small problems. Ive been around cars since 2002, and have modded a '93 Mazda MX6, to include a JDM motor swap, with some small bolt ons before I owned this car. I know a little bit about cars, but have never owned a turbo car, or a VW for that matter. Ive rode in heavily modded turbo cars, but this is my first experience driving one. Here is a list of the problems Im having. Some of these may be stupid, or highly talked about topics to the point that ill get flamed for "not searching" but regardless theyre still issues that I need addressed:

1. The other night, I took a corner at a stop light a little too fast (to the right) and took off hard once I turned onto the road I was coming onto. The car hesitated hard like it wanted to shut off (almost did) and then took off normally.

2. Right after (not sure if its related, but I feel that it may be) my rear passenger tail light was out (not sure on the brakelight, but the taillight was for sure). I figured the bulb was blown, so last night I tried to take it out to replace it, to find that it was back on!?!?!

3. The vehicle has a nice hesitation under medium to heavy acceleration while building boost. I know what turbo lag is, and its not turbo lag. It feels as though Im giving it gas, and letting back, giving it gas, letting back, kind of like the car is surging. I addressed this problem at the dealership, and they said that its normal compared to other cars with that motor, and that its caused by "intercooler heat-soak"?!?! Thats a new one on me. I don't think they see what im refering to, because it seems to be getting worse.

4. Tonight on the way home, I was driving on the highway around 70-75mph in 6th gear with the Cruise Control on. All of a sudden, the car bogged down real quick and the Cruise Control shut off for no reason. I didnt hit anything, I didnt touch anything. It did it all on its own. The "bogging down" wasnt THAT severe, and could have just been the Cruise Control letting off the gas so quickly. "Bogging down" is just the best words I can use to describe it.

5. Just wondering how many miles per tank all the GLI owners on these forums get. When I fill up, it never seems to want to take a full tank (unless my gas gauge is off) and at a full tank, it says I have about 350 miles till empty.

6. Is there a fuse I can check for my stock amplifier? Im sure its nothing, but im not so sure its working. To be honest, my stereo sounds like sh*t compared to how I would imagine it sounding. My stock stereo in my Impala sounded better than the Monsoon system, and my Impala was a piece of sh*t. I just want to check to see if its working properly. The sound of my system just sounds dull, like its missing something. Is this all there is to expect from these speakers and amps?

7. The other night at work, I started my car (it was about 40 degrees out, and the engine was cold) and it had a hard time starting. When it finally started, it almost died (RPMs dropped real low) and then finally started like normal.

8. I'm not sure if Im just getting used to the power of the car (keep in mind, I drove a 2003 Impala 3.4liter V6 before this, so anything seems quick at this point) but it definately seemed a lot faster a week ago. I don't get on it all the time, but it just seems as though when I first got it, it wanted to go even when I wasnt trying to. I couldnt shift gears without the car taking off and me having to let off the gas, even shifting around 3K RPMs. Now I notice the turbo lag A LOT, and when the turbo spools, it doesnt pull like it seemed to before. Like I said, I could just be used to it by now, but its something ive noticed. I don't know anything about turbo cars, except basics like how a turbo works, and what everything (wastegate, intercooler, bov, etc) does, but Im thinking that it may have a boost leak, which I would figure could be my hesitation problem as well. My turbo is very loud when it spools, and ive seen lots of videos with GLIs, and I drove an automatic when I bought this one, and none that Ive seen are that loud. Also, my diverter valve is extremely loud, and ive never heard one that loud in all the videos ive watched.

If anyone can address any of these problems, it would be greatly appreciated. I really love the new Jetta, and I just want to get all these problems addressed before the factory warranty is up in 8K miles. I have an extended warranty, but thats not the point.

[TTTurbo1.8T]

The hesitations could be your traction control stopping your tires from spinning if you punch it around corners, mine does that a lot but a little yellow light flashes on my tack thats a ! with a circle around it, all it's doing is killing your acceleration so that you don't lose traction, you'll notice it especially in heavy weather. The start up issue is sometimes the same with mine, I put some Heet in the gas tank and it's doing fine now, but if you don't have any in there then just rev it a little and it should be fine. You can't really compare a video of a turbo spooling to the actual thing, sound qualities are going to be vastly different especially if you were watching those videos on youtube or something like that where the vid's have very low quality. As far as the stock system goes, I wasn't too impressed either with mine, which is why I'm putting a new one in it in January. Also another thing that may help your problem with the power not being as noticeable before would be fill it up with 91-93 octane instead of 87 or 89, the difference is quite noticeable. With your car hesitating with cruise control on, that happens down hills, it has to slow down a bit to keep your speed consistent, if it's doing that on a straightaway I consider that something you may want to address, as far as using that warranty, don't think just do. Not using that would be like me saying Jessica Alba is going to be at my house for 10 more days...do you think I should have sex with her or not?

[duke]

1) Turn off the ESP or ASR. It's the button underneath the center vents on the dash.

2) It happens... it's a VW.

3) It will get worse while you drive. The dealer actually isn't lying to you. For some reason VW decided to put an intercooler on the 1.8Ts smaller than a toaster, stuffed in the corner of the front of the car... If you're looking at the front of the car, look in the vent on the left. You should be able to see it, if not, it might be blocked by debris which could be causing your problems.

4) No clue... see my answer to #2

5) You numbers sound right with what my GLI was getting. When I drove like a moron, I'd prob get about 280-300, but if I drove it like my 70 year old gramma I could get upwards of 350-380.

6) If you amp wasn't working, you wouldn't have sounds. And yes it's missing something, it's missing highs, lows and mid range

7) Normal, cold start. I'm sure the idle was louder as well.

The ECU of any car will adapt to your driving habits. If you baby it, it will turn into a baby. If you beat the hell out of it at least once or twice during a drive, it will love you just as much as you love it. I drove my GLI like I stole it from day one. It never had any major problems... You shouldn't notice any turbo lag as these cars can see full boost as low as 1800 rpms. We have the smallest turbo in the world (not really) and it spools like a motherfucker. I would invest in a boost gauge asap. It's the best thing to help diagnose problems. Stock you should be pushing around 8-10 psi for that model year. Are you sure the car wasn't modded before you became the owner? There might be some aftermarket parts still installed...

[MKIV_GLI]

Not sure if the car was modded. I doubt it, but you never know.

I use 91 octane all the time, and will never put anything less in the car. I strongly believe in feeding a turbo car premium gas, whether its stock or not. My cruise control problem the other night wasnt from rolling down hill either. It was on a straightaway, and it actually shut off, to the point that it wasnt even engaged anymore. It didnt just slow the car down then turn back on. Is this something I should bring up to the dealership?

Out of all my problems, which ones should I be worried about, or are pretty much all of them normal? The hesitation is my biggest worry, but if its normal, then its fine. Its annoying, but as long as there is nothing wrong with the car, its good enough for me. What could I do to solve this problem? Install a fmic? Would doing so void the warranty?

Just so I dont have to make another annoying newbie thread (Im a member of several different forums of all types, so I know how those threads can be) if I wanted to start doing some "go fast mods" to the car, what would you recommend? How much hp can I expect to get out of the stock turbo, and what would I have to do to get there? Are there any mods I can do that WONT void the warranty, or are pretty much all engine mods a no-no with a warranty?

As for the Traction Control button, does pressing it turn it off? Because the manual isnt clear on it. From what I got when I read it, is that it is on 100% of the time, but you can turn it on manually with the switch below the front center vents if the wheels start to slip. This didnt sound right though.

[duke]

When you press the ASR/ESP button it deactivates the traction control. A light in the cluster will illuminate that has a triangle with an ! in the middle and an arrow wrapping around it. This is when the fun starts

All of these problems should be brought up to your dealer. Warranties are fun to have and I'd definitely let them know what concerns you are having.

As far as modding, there is a thread at the top of the MKIV section here started by me. I go over the basics in a very vague way. The first thing I'd recommend would be a boost gauge only because it's a very essential part of a turbo'd car. I'm not sure why VW never incorporated a factory boost gauge into the cluster. The next would be a performance chip. You'll see the biggest gains for $500. It will totally change the car.

[GLIgirl]

I have a 05 GLI and I have the normal turbo lag, which is usually only bad under hard acceleration from a stop. But, it's gotten better since I put a K&N drop in air filter when I did my 40k service, to help some more air circulate. I am happy with the filter, for sure.

As for your other problems, I'm not really sure. The only thing that I can think of with the Cruise Control turning off, is maybe a faulty brake light switch? I would check with your dealer to make sure that recall was performed. Because if the car thinks you're stepping on the brake (even if you aren't because the switch is broken) it will override the cruise control if you have it on...But if it completely turning off, there could be another problem that doesn't concern the brake light switch at all; I would get it checked out. If you have a warranty on the car, then I would definately take it to the dealer and have them address your concerns. It's worth a shot.

Hope I helped a little bit...Good luck with the car!

[MKIV_GLI]

Thanks for the info...I have to go in Wednesday so they can fix my squeeling brake problem in both the front and back (they had to order parts) so im going to address all these newer problems then. Im very happy with the car, it just has a lot of small problems that bug the hell out of me. My drivers door and sunroof squeek when they open too. Its kind of annoying, but Im not sure if thats covered under the warranty. I hate to be a PITA when I go in there and say "okay, the car is doing this, this and this, its not doing this when it should be, and it made this noise once" but it is under factory warranty for another 8K or so miles, so I want to get this stuff fixed before its up. I have an extended warranty, but im not sure if it covers as much as the factory warranty.

I do have a question about turbo timers and boost gauges though. Please excuse my noobness to the GLI, but when it comes to aftermarket gauges, Ive always loved Autometer. I used to have a 3 gauge pillar pod in my MX6, and I dont want to go that route again, especially having an A-pillar airbag in the GLI. What are my options for mounting a 2-1/16" boost gauge, making it look as stock as possible? Ive seen the single pods that go on top of the steering column in front of the stock gauge cluster, but it looks like it gets in the way of viewing the other gauges or the information screen. Id like to keep away from that.

Also, what gauge does everyone recommend that will match my stock gauges best, both day and night time lighting? Preferably Autometer, or a gauge just as good as Autometer.

As far as turbo timers, ive heard that we don't need one in our cars, yet people install them all the time, and some say we do. So which is it? Is it pointless to have one in a stock GLI anyway? I wont be doing anything to this car that will void the warranty, but I may chip it eventually.

Which turbo timer matches our lighting at night the best? (either red or blue) I heard that the GReddy Autotimer matches perfectly.

Ive seen people install a turbo timer in the right or left hand slot on either side of the Hazard switch just above the stereo, and this seems to be the most stock looking. Is this hard to do? Do they make a mount for this, or is it entirely custom?

Thanks for the info, I just hate to make another thread for all my questions, and by the way, I love the color of your Jetta GLIgirl, it looks clean.

[duke]

I currently have the New South Performance Indigo gauge. It matches the lighting perfectly! The steering column pods are great, it's what I had in my GLI and what I have now in my MKV GTI. Both pods were offset so you could see every important part of the cluster. It works great!

[GLIgirl]

Originally Posted by MKIV_GLI

Thanks for the info, I just hate to make another thread for all my questions, and by the way, I love the color of your Jetta GLIgirl, it looks clean.

Thank you!