Volkswagen New Beetle owners have reported 6 problems related to diesel engine (under the engine and engine cooling category). The most recently reported issues are listed below. Also please check out the statistics and reliability analysis of Volkswagen New Beetle based on all problems reported for the New Beetle.
This the second water pump replaced due to impeller failure.
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all problems of the 2003 Volkswagen New Beetle
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Loss of power on 2001 vw New Beetle tdi. Air intake clogs up due to water like substance causing substantial power loss.
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all problems of the 2001 Volkswagen New Beetle
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1. Attempted to start vehicle; 2. Engine then "exploded" resulting in engine fire and destruction of engine and all underhood components.
I have had to pay to have the engine on my vw decarbonized at 40,000 miles after a lengthy tow, and now it had to be towed again and needs to be decarbonized again at only 60,000 miles. I was told by a service technician about 1 year ago that vw had issued a notice to dealers to pay for decarbonizing the engines up to 80,000 miles. The service manager denies this notice was ever issued. This type of costly and potentially hazardous problem, ( my wife was stranded on the shoulder of a busy freeway in subzero temperatures) needs to be corrected.
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all problems of the 2000 Volkswagen New Beetle
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2001 New Beetle 1. 9 l tdi, 55,000 mi. : check engine light comes on and stays on until car is turned off then it comes on once glow plug light goes off and car has started (witin 20 seconds). The dealer first told me it was the glow plug sensor. Then recanted and said the sensor was fine and told me I needed a new bridge wire and 4 new glow plugs. Should glow plugs only last for 55,000 miles? the car just turned over 55,023 when the check light came on.
2001 New Beetle 1. 9 l tdi, 55,000 mi. : engine mil light comes on solid and glo-plug light blinks on/off at steady rate (no apparent code to blink rate). Foot throttle control is lost and engine changes from (normal) idle (950 rpm) with foot-throttle ("accelerator") control to complete loss of foot throttle and steady 1200 rpm engine speed. This may happen at random times during driving or (once) even within seconds after starting engine before vehicle is put in gear or begins moving. Most times, it occurs when vehicle is at speed, causing immediate loss of speed (I. E. 2000 rpm in 5th gear = 55 mph changes to 1200 rpm = 35 mph). Independent garage has 'read' obd-ii diagnostic codes and determined "throttle out of range". Two "remedies" (1) "re-boot" the vehicle (turn ignition off and then back on --- requiring straight/wide stretch of road because of interlock with steering), after which throttle control is regained for some random period of time (fraction of a km to several km's) before throttle control is lost again. . . Or resort to vehicle operation with "hand throttle" (called "cruise control". With 1200 rpm engine speed limit, vehicle can be driven if very gingerly shifted gears, getting up to 20-25 mph in 3rd gear at which point "cruise control" ("cc") can be engaged. Subsequently higher speeds can be obtained by incremental (1 mph) increases on cc, eventually regaining 55 mph (2000 rpm) engine speed. Driving in traffic required continuous engagement & disengagement/re-engagement of hand throttle ("cc") as foot throttle is useless. Starting from traffic signals, merging with high speed traffic, etc. Is inconvenient at best and, typically, quite hazardous when considering the constant 1200 rpm engine speed limitation (until the painstaking hand throttle increments slowly allow speed increases from 20-25 mph to highway speeds. Vw customer care claims there is no recall and they are "unaware" of a problem.