[BoulderVW]

About 3 months ago I lent my 2001 V6 Jetta to this chick so she could go to some job interviews.

She did a 'kind jesture' in refilling the gas tank, but knowing jack about cars, she filled it with regular gas.

So when I get it back, all hell breaks loose and these lights keep popping up on the dashboard: EPC, Emissions Check (message), Engine light.

I thought it was just because of the octane levels, and I put some octane booster I bought it Pep Boys, but no change. I refilled the gas tank 3 times with 93octane gas, and nothing changed.

So I take it to the VW dealer and they charge me $70 (rip off) for reading the engine codes. They say its a faulty air flow chip. The cost of the chip + service will be $480. Add tax to that.

My car has 28,000 miles (just over warranty).

Is this fair? Is there any alternatives I might have to going through the dealer?

Anybody know of good VW repair in the Denver metro area?

I am not sure if this is the same as the Air Mass Meter some people have been discussing.

My Jetta hasn't given me too many problems. Mainly the typical windows failure that's very common in the new models. Both front side windows have fallen down at some point.

Please advise! Thanks a lot!

 

[andrewx5]

I thought the VWs had a 100,000 warranty

I feel for ya dude. It sucks when your car isn't working right.

 

[db]

Call 1.800.DRIVEVW explain the situation. Actually I had to call them before on another topic, but surprisingly they were most helpful.

Worth a shot, right?

 

[sleepyhead]

not that i'm using regular gas but i'm pretty sure it would not hurt the engine at all. all production cars can run on 89 octane gas. my 98' integra gsr (stolen) had a PREMIUM FUEL label under the guage suggesting that you always use premium but regular would in no way hurt the engine.

 

[fli gti]

I disagree.

The volkswagen 1.8T requires the higher octane because when the turbo is at boost, lower octane gas will not detonate correctly, causing nocking, pinging, and possible backfires. On top of this, it wears out your O2 and cat and exhaust stuff faster.

 

[BoulderVW]

I agree it will affect Turbo engines, but mine is not, its the V6. I didn't do anything about the problem immediately because I thought it would simply go away after refueling the tank with high octane gasoline.

Anyways, thats for the replies. I an going to contant VW this afternoon to see if they can help. (fingers are crossed)

 

[bayarea]

Don't know if this will help, but here's a little story: I had my Jetta in for some regular servicing at the dealer. The tech says to me "don't bury the gas guage needle into E like that--it can set of the sensors if you take a hard corner when the car is real low on gas!" Upon checking my guage, I see that the car isn't thatlow on gas, so I wonder if the tech was making excuses for oversensitive electronics...

 

[1joaquin]

WOW! I had exactly the same issues. I let a chick drive my car for a couple minutes and the problems started. Check engine light came on and EPC and traction control would come on intermittently. I took the car to VW and was charged $70 to "reset engine codes". The problem reappeared several hours later. I brought the car to a friend who works VW. He checked it out and told me the Mass Flow Sensor was damaged. He suspected that the K&N filtercharger dripped oil onto the sensor. I returned to VW and explained. They reset the computer again, but again it failed.
When I returned to VW the third time, I talked to the manager. They replaced the Mass Flow Sensor (obviously I had yanked the K&N) under warranty. If this happens to you, don't forget to recoupe all of the "diagnostic" charges that you were billed. My VR6 Mass Flow Sensor is covered up to 70K miles. I haven't reinstalled the K&N, and I haven't had any more problems. Good Luck!

Joaquin
2K Jetta VR6
50K miles