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350K views 42 replies 24 participants last post by  _erwin_ 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I have a 2010 Wolfsburg Edition and absolutely love this vehicle. Just recently, after the 30K maintenance...I started having this EPC warning/check engine light and very sluggish control with acceleration. When this happens, I have to pull over, shut the car off, wait, and restart. Had it looked at a couple of weeks ago. Tons of error codes according to the service tech and he stated everything pointed to the ignition coils. He found that none of them were seated at the proper height, so corrected it, test-drove it, and had no problems. Went for a couple of days and it started again. I didn't think that was it because it just started out of the blue after 30K miles. The only pattern I have found is that it gets worse AFTER I fill the tank up (that just baffles me to no end). Thought, maybe something to do with the gas cap? I've gone a little OCD with that, triple checked to make sure it clicks. I've tried the highest octane gas from different gas stations. No luck.

Why would this just start out of the blue after 30K miles? I read on another forum (mytiguan.com) that some other guy had is happening to him after only 36 miles, not even a week old. Software glitch?

It's just weird. I can drive it to work with no problem. Get in, start and it's a 50-50 shot it will happen. Sometimes takes me 15 minutes for the car to finally start and run. The check engine light will stay on and maybe it will clear after my next stop and restarting the car. I might go 2 days without any occurrence but then it might happen 3-4 times in one day. This is very frustrating. I still, despite all this, absolutely love this vehicle, the best I've ever owned. For $33K...I expected this to be fixed yesterday.

I will keep updating this. My next appointment with my VW dealer is Friday morning. Any suggestions or experience with this would be greatly appreciated.

- Ryan
 
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#2 ·
sounds like my throttle body issue...on my 2003 Wolfsburg Jetta..have them check your throttle body..and do a throttle body alignment with Vag com just for the hell of it...it might correct it...if you feel like paying for it..have them clean your throttle body too..
 
#3 ·
Bring the car to the dealer and have them fix it. You have 5 years/ 60,000 miles on your power train warranty. No reason you should worry over something like this.
 
#4 ·
Update: Houston, we found the problem! Took my car in at 8:30 am today and they called me by 1:00 with the answer. I'll just type what's on the repair order:

"35938 Chafed wire road tested, GFF, PO53F, PO651. Checked out ran all tests adn tested ok. Called hotline and recommended me to pull intake manifold. Removed engine cover and turbo boost pressure hose. Removed throttlebody and oil filter, removed manifold and inspected. Started unplugging connectors and moving harness to inspect for chafing. Finally found section where it wore through at oil cooler. Repaired section and returned engine to running operation. Reset settings and road tested after repairs."

So, it was a wire that was shorting out and not mysteriously an octane issue. I will update in a week or sooner if the symptoms return. Hopefully this is the end of this and I can return to enjoying the best car I've ever owned!

- Ryan
 
#6 ·
Interesting.... first time I've seen a harness rub there lol. Glad to hear you are back on the road.
 
#7 ·
I have same simillar problems with my 2007 city jetta i was thinking it could be a spark plug or some ecu problems ... engine light flashes as I throttle and sluggish acceleration engine light sometiems goes away sometimes sits there. Im wondering if this is the same problem you occured //
 
#8 ·
I just had my 30,000 service at a local garage (non VW). I drove it home and it ran fine. A couple of days later I took it out the garage and after around 30 seconds when I was closing the garage doors the engine started revving and when I jumped in the rev counter was sitting at 1500 RPM, the EPC warning and traction control lights were lit up on the dash and when I pressed the accelerator nowt happened.

I managed to switch the car off and noticed when I did restart it if I kept the revs above 1500 rpm it ran fine but I booked it back into the garage that afternoon.

When I got to the garage the mechanic jumped in and started the car and let it sit for 30 seconds and the same happened, it started revving at 1500 rpm and the two lights came up on the dash. He switched the car back off and popped the bonnet.

As soon as he lifted the bonnet he spotted the problem, are you ready for this?...

The apprentice mechanic hadn't replaced the oil filler cap on the top of the engine after topping it up with oil!

He replaced the cap, I jumped in and started it up and its running fine just like its been doing since the day I bought it!
 
#11 ·
I have a VW CC 2009 Turbo with 60,500 miles on it, left work the other evening and accelerated a little strong but nothing too hard, to get up to speed in traffic. Immediately the EPC light and check engine lights came on after letting off the gas. Noticed the car sputtering at slower speeds and especially when stopped. Took it to a local franchise repair center and the code was P0303, stated spark plug #3 and coil were bad. They charged around $50 to replace all four plugs, @ $80 for the new coil and $87 for labor. I am sure I could have completed this myself and saved the considerable mark up on the coil and the lesser markup on plugs, but I was just happy they were honest. At 45k miles, I had the intake manifold gasket replaced and the flapper motor, and had a carbon cleanout conducted (supposedly they manually scraped out the carbon in addition to the chemical cleanout). When I got my car back from the dealership, I noticed the oil was dirty even though they had changed it at the same time as the intake repairs. That made me believe they didn't conduct the cleanout properly. I wonder if some gunk somehow was blown into the spark plug cylinder when I accelerated hard. Is that even possible?
 
#12 ·
My car's not a diesel, just a regular 2009 Tiguan.

They mechanic did a computer reset, and that seemed to clear the issue for a time. But now it started happening again. Not sure what's going on, and it sounds a bit like the GM ignition/engine cutout issue in the news right now. Not only does this Tiguan issue seem to be common (from these posts at least), this is a dangerous safety hazard. Has there been no recall on this specific issue? Is VW aware?
 
#13 ·
I bought a used 2009 (55k, out of warranty) Tig SEL from an individual. He was the 2nd owner (it was a rental car originally, I believe). He had it while it was still under factory warranty and was having trouble with his EPC light coming on on going into "limp mode". He took it to a dealer and they claimed something about the wiring connector to the EPC was corroded or something and supposedly "fixed" it. Being under warranty, the job was put in their service database, so I have that documentation (as well as the repair receipt).
The srvice rep, after running diagnostics, claimed it was a short in the EPC wiring harness, but after 3 hours, the tech couldn't run down the problem (!). Now they want to replace the wiring entirely, for $2400!! I am rather disappointed with this. Am I getting hosed by the dealer? Has anyone had silmilar, recurring EPC problems? Thanks!
 
#14 ·
get a second opinion.

it could be something as simple as a bad ground. find someone in your area with vagcom that can run an auto scan on the vehicle. that tool will give the proprietary faults that are stored in the system. perhaps the dealership is not wanting to share this info with you.

good luck.
 
#19 ·


Sorry, I was out of town the last couple of days. I got the car from the dealer. They found that the catalytic converter element had disintegrated. They replaced it under warranty and the car runs like new. Any ideas as to what may have caused this? The car is stock with no mods at all and I only pump 76 and Chevron with an occasional stop to Mobil.
 
#20 ·
running too rich can cause cat failures.

how many miles have you put on your 2013 vehicle?

for it to be that new, perhaps the cat was a manufacturer defect.

maybe someone else can chime in here with any similar experiences with the newer tigs.
 
#24 · (Edited)
Yesterday I was driving to work and my car shut off at a red light. I restarted it and it was ok, but is very jerky when changing gears (automatic). This morning it was even more jerky and then the EPC light came on and I couldn't accerlerate over 50mph. I pulled over and restarted and it ran ok - but was back to jerky.

It's a 2010 Jetta but has 100,000 miles on it.
 
#29 ·
Christmas morning and after about two miles my 2012 Tiguan starts stuttering and running rough.... noted EPC and Engine light are on... real Christmas-like display... limped to the closed dealer and left the vehicle... next day, better news, still under warranty 27000 miles... dealer found inoperative (burned out) ignition coil... thats one out of four inoperative... simple quick repair .... runs ok now...
 
#31 ·
Update. After replacing the spark plug #3 and the coil, I replaced the other 3 coils in September 2014 as the car was still not running smoothly. In October 2014, got a P2181 code so I changed out the coolant sensor on the lower radiator hose. Didn't help. In November 2014, misfiring got a little worse and car sputtering slightly when accelerating. Changed all 4 plugs from Autolite to NGK plugs. Seemed to run fine for a while, lots of carbon on the 6 month old Autolite plugs. In December, still had the P2181 code, took to a national auto repair who said they didn't detect any issues while test driving, but my battery was nearly dead and I think they said it was down to 16 amps. Replaced battery and voila, it seemed to fix the sputtering issue. Well, that didn't last long as the code came back again and sputtering/hesitations were back. Took it to a VW specialist shop they said I needed to replace the "other" coolant temp sensor, located within the water pump housing, of course! So while "we are in there" you may as well change the thermostat and water pump. That cost me $741 total. Car seemed to run great again, finally! Nope, of course not, it is a VW........ or the repair shops have been screwing me....... In April of this year, car nearly died on my wife, she limped home with it. The CEL was on and the code was P0172, bank #1. So I replaced spark plug #1, had carbon on it again. Checked other plugs, 2 and 3 were fine, but #4 had carbon. Cleaned it off. Didn't fix any of the hesitating or sputtering. Checked the oil, it was just below the fill line even though it had been changed in January. Added just under a quart, drove the car and it ran almost perfect! So car probably went into low power mode to protect engine. Then I get another code, this time P0171. Sick and tired of the codes, I took it back to the VW specialty shop. They said there were two other codes showing and all 4 together pointed to the throttle body wiring, 9 times out of 10. So I dropped $422 on a throttle body wiring repair. That was $50 for engine code scan, $210 for the wiring repair labor, $4.98 for hazardous materials (huh?), $27.62 in tax, and $129.52 for parts (housing connector $4.73, wire with connector $61.52, connector with shrink tube $30.84, wire seal $11.88, shipping of parts $2.00, and "shop supplies" $18.55). Car has run perfect so far......Anyone care to comment as to whether or not I got hosed?? Did I replace plugs, coils, sensors, water pump, thermostat for nothing when all along it could have been the wiring?
 
#32 ·
you usually aren't supposed to replace something unless it tests to be faulty. when a "vw specialty shop" begins throwing parts at a problem instead of properly diagnosing, the client pays severely.

i'm not convinced your issue has been solved; but that's just me. i am convinced they saw you coming though.

you must stay on top of the oil level with this engine. for the time being, expect for it to consume 1 qt every 1200 miles (considered to be within spec per vw), so don't let it get low.

what year & how many miles are on the vehicle? if it has over 60k miles, expect it to have carbon buildup on the valves. it's necessary maintenance point to have this buildup manually removed; removal of the intake manifold and the carbon scraped out by hand or by media blast.
 
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