Three problems related to diesel engine have been reported for the 2012 Volkswagen Jetta. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2012 Volkswagen Jetta based on all problems reported for the 2012 Jetta.
This problem is diesel engine specific: -engine starts, then when pulling away, stalls immediately. -towed after multiple restart attempts failed dealer found water and sludge in intercooler, aka, intercooler icing. Car spent overnight in warm service bay while it thawed out. Vw has TSB for issue but I was told by the dealer that it doesn't fix it. Wow.
My Jetta diesel engine was hydro-locked due to water being pulled into the engine from the intercooler. Volkswagen has a TSB (technical service bulletin) published for this exact problem (frozen intercooler) - yet is only implementing or offering this TSB to customers on an as needed basis. In many cases - this is way too late. This is a known problem at Volkswagen -- and by not offering this TSB to all vw customers -- catastrophic engine damage can occur - if the right weather conditions are met. For my vehicle, when starting up my car - at the end of the day, to leave and return home --> when starting the car - it acted as if the battery was dead. At this point, water was ingested into the 3rd cylinder, the piston rod of the 3rd cylinder was bent, and engine damage was done. Vw should not be offering this TSB to all tdi (turbo diesel engine) owners who could be affected by the TSB. Catastrophic engine damage by neglecting to perform a known TSB is creating a very dangerous situation on the roads.
2012 Volkswagen Jetta tdi. Consumer writes in regards to engine failure in cold weather. The dealer installed a modification to the turbo charger intercooler.