Diesel Engine problems of the 2006 Volkswagen Jetta

The vehicle stalls whenever driving in wet conditions on the hwy while snowing or raining. I have lost control of the vehicle and have broken down on the side of the road with no shoulder and facing an uphill incline. On each occasion I have had my children in the vehicle with me and facing heavy traffic in both directions. I was fortunate to have a highway patrol officer assist me in pushing the car to off the highway the last 3 times. Each time, they informed me that I should contact Volkswagen and let them know because it should definitely be a factory recall based on the dangerous circumstances. . Read more...

Vw has changed the diesel engines (tdi) starting with aproximate year 2004 until 2007, when they stopped selling tdi to meet emission requirements. To save money and licesing fees to bosch they have changed from common rail system made by bosch (feeds the diesel fuel to engine with very high pressure) to vw system called tdi pumpe duse (or pump-nozzle injection). To accomodate the injectors inside the engine, they have changed the specs and dimensions of many parts, including the camshaft. The camshaft inside this engine has the added role to drive the pd lifters, appart from valve lifting and closing. I own this type of car vw Jetta 2006 tdi, and the camshaft wore off at 80,000 miles, and yes it was out of warranty and it costs $3000. Appart from the costs, which accrues to aprox $3000 per 50,000 to 80,000 miles rendering this car a liability cost to the owners (a long term owner will have the price of car doubled by added bills to change the camshafts many times. This impacts drasticaly financialy many famillies depending on this car), without the possibility to fix it permanently and for once . I have changed the camshaft and now at 115000 miles it starts to shows signs of wear, like last time. Not changing gears in time, car is shaking. The effect gets worse, until when the camshaft lobes wears off more, and results in valves not opening and closing in right sequence and time, and engine will stall, like mine did on my street. As well I was on highway and car will not operate and respond to acceleration pedal input, maximum pedal input was giving only 40mph, exposing me to a stampede of cars from behind in a dangerous situation unable to control the car. I have explained the situation to vw and they deny any: wrongdoing, design flaw, fault or liability. According to tdiclub. Com there is up to 20% failure of the engines via camshaft wear of lobes. I trust you will investigate and request vw to address:safety+financial impact to tdi pd owners.

The engine in our 2006 tdi dsg began to exhibit rough idling. At a certain point it became evident something was wrong. The vehicle has always been serviced by a vw dealership at the specified intervals (I call them the $400 oil changes). I could hear what sounded like an intake valve popping and could feel a pulsation in the turbo intake hose. I checked on some of the forums and was shocked to learn of the early camshaft failure problem common to the pd engines. It seems that vw narrowed up the intake and exhaust cam lobes by about 30% to make room for the injector lobe, and tried to compensate for this inadequate design by mandating "special" oil (which I can only hope our dealer used each time the oil was changed). It turns out though, that a critical can wear additive in this oil, zddp, in sufficient quantities can cause early failure of the catalytic converter (an item which has a longer warranty period than the engine). It seems that the zddp only exists in sufficient quantity in vw "special" oil to get through the engine warranty period, while at the same time protecting the converter from warranty failure. I bought an after market cam kit and installed it myself, saving nearly $3000 in the process. Since then we've put another 60k miles, using mobil td truck 5w40 oil. . . So far so good. I think this whole situation is disgraceful at best and vw should be responsible for all pd camshaft failures to a period significantly longer than the 80,000 km warranty. The primary reason we paid 32k for a compact sedan was the reputed longevity of the diesel engine. This failure, along with the dual mass flywheel fiasco has made our purchase of this silver colored lemon anything but a good investment. Until vw faces up to their moral responsibilities in this matter I would caution anyone considering this make of vehicle.

I have a 2006 Volkswagen Jetta tdi. Initially I was slowing down on the interstate, as soon as I was getting ready to stop due to construction, when the shifter hit first, the car bucked, died and I lost power steering and brakes. I also noticed that none of the gears in the transmission would sync and allow me into them. I pulled off to the side of the road, when I realesed my foot from the clutch, the pedal did not come back up. I shut down the car, crawled out the passenger side, I looked under the car for leaks and anything that may indicate a major failure. When I pulled the clutch back up manually, the pedal would not go back down but half way. I pushed hard enough to get the clutch interlock switch to disengage, and tried to start the car. When the starter engaged, the engine dragged with something else. I abandoned the car to get to a phone. When I called the dealer, they gave me a phone number to roadside assistance, they wanted to charge me to tow the car to the nearest vw certfied repair shop. Eventually I convinced them to tow the car, and when I met him at the car, I noticed a leak of either hydraulic, gear, or diesel fluid. When I got on the internet I found that this is a very common problem due to a poor desing in the flywheel. Vw tends to refuse to replace the clutch claiming that it was premature wear due to poor driving habits. The flywheel tends to crack or even shatter causing not only clutch issues but also transmission and engine issues. This issue can lead to wrecks fires and also even stranded people that may have no way of getting help. Volkswagen has recalled the flywheel in europe but refuses to do so in America. . Read more...

This has not resulted in a crash on my behalf. While driving on the highway with cruise control set at 75 mph the car will occasionally (averages once per every 1500 miles) hesitate then resume normal operations. The duration of this event is approximately 1 - 2 seconds. The effect of this being that the car suddenly starts to decelerate then suddenly resume normal behaviour. There are no inidicator lights or events logged in the onboard computer. The vehicle has been in the shop numerous times where they are unable to reproduce the issue. I have offered to drive around with a computer running vagcom (a vw diagnostics app) if they would provide it in order to catch the issue, yet vw and the local dealership refuse to do so. This incident has occured at least 5 times in the previous 4 months, once while my wife was driving. That particular incident nearly resulted in her running into the highway divider. The date noted below is the first incident.

When starting in drive, at a stop light, car does not accelerate as it would normally would, but just creeps forward from 3 to 10 seconds, then it begins to accelerate normally.

While driving my new 2006 Jetta tdi motor vehicle with a total mileage on the odometer reading of approximately 385 miles, on June 12, 2006, on I-84 in waterbury, CT. The motor vehicle stalled while traveling in the left hand lane of the highway. At the time of the stall, the vehicle transmission was operating in the drive mode, in 5th gear with rpms at approximately 1300 rpm. During the stall the vehicle exhibited intermittent power, while the instrument panel exhibiting a flashing numeral 3, on the gear indicator. I maneuvered the vehicle to the breakdown lane with much difficulty as the engine stalled out completely. This maneuver caused a major interruption to the flow of traffic on the highway and a serious safety risk to me and other motorists on the highway. After pulling over the breakdown lane, I was able to restart the vehicle and proceed to my destination, during which time the vehicle operated normally. On June 15, 2006, driving with approx. 484 miles, while on rt. 8 southbound in waterbury, CT. The subject motor vehicle stalled once again while driving in the left hand lane. I once again was forced to make another emergency crossing of a major connecticut highway in a stalled vehicle.