Something happened to my car tonight just after I got off the highway heading home from my mom's house. Stepped on it hard in 1st and 2nd gear then noticed it started to idle rough at the stoplight, by the next stoplight started to lose power, managed to limp the 1/2 mile home.

Going to read the CEL with my OBDII code scanner at daylight but I'm thinking maybe it's an exhaust leak or gasket? I heard a noise a couple days ago that sounded like exhaust pipe was coming lose but didn't check it out. *clonk*

Or could it be something worse like a broken timing belt? I didn't hear anything that sounded bad like valves hitting the pistons. It's my daily driver, 02 VW Jetta 1.8T with 80,000 miles. VW recommends changing the timing belt at 105,000 but I have seen on some of the VW forums people say they go sooner. Don't have much time to monkey around with it this weekend, going to a wedding/reception Saturday and supposed to spend Sunday at the store registering for our wedding gifts. Hope it's a quick fix Sunday night or it's off to the shop Monday and I'll be on public transportation to work.

Unfortunate timing too, I just took a used 06 GTO out for test drive Thursday and was negotiating with them on the VW for a trade in.

maybe the air intake pipe came loose and is not getting the right info on the mass air sensor
sometimes that will cause backfiring through the intake, and a substancial loss of power

Tom's 68 conv;13282 wrote:maybe the air intake pipe came loose and is not getting the right info on the mass air sensor
sometimes that will cause backfiring through the intake, and a substancial loss of power

That happened the last time a light came on, last summer, and I fixed it but even then there was never a loss of power just the light, I think the computer adjusted everything for it.

Code is P0303 - cylinder 3 misfire

Intake and exhaust pipes are tight
Timing belt looks OK, still on and has tension

Guess the next thing to do is pull the coil and check the spark plug
Other than that I don't know what else

18436572;13284 wrote:Code is P0303 - cylinder 3 misfire
Guess the next thing to do is pull the coil and check the spark plug
Other than that I don't know what else

You may have hit on your problem right there...

Running rough and exhaust smells like rotten eggs, I'm betting it's the catalytic converter or a bad O2 sensor. Dropped it off at the shop last night.

Getting around in the Chevelle in the meantime and getting thumbs up on the road even though the car is STILL a project that I have yet to tear into really.

I'd bet bad O2 set off cat converter. You get a 2-fer!

It was a bad ignition coil pack. Apparently the coil packs are a common problem with these v-dubs. I had all 4 of them replaced a couple years ago under a recall, I thought.

18436572;13348 wrote:Getting around in the Chevelle in the meantime and getting thumbs up on the road even though the car is STILL a project that I have yet to tear into really.

You ever do any body work to that patch panel ??


Glad you got the V-Dub squared away toup

ssal396;13355 wrote:You ever do any body work to that patch panel ??

Primered it. Got a stud welder, long boards and paper for block sanding, got a compressor and some air tools, but I'm planning to do the frame, body bushings, trunk, underhood, new hood hinges, brakes and suspension before finishing the body and getting it painted.

Between work and everything else, wedding stuff (spending weekends at Bed Bath & Beyond picking out towels or whatnot) still gotta finish the Elky, doing landscaping for fiance's parents, grad parties and weddings every weekend, just no time to get much of anything done.

Once I start tearing into the car it will be long time before it sees the road again, so at least I'm getting some enjoyment out of it now.