1999 Passat 1.8T Misfire (Help a Newbie and his mechanic)

Symptoms: Driving home when out of the blue the engine light starts to flash and the car starts to sputter then stalls. I get it restarted and drive it home a couple more blocks and the check engine light is now on steady. The next day I drive around the block to see what it is doing and still steady check engine light and then goes into sputter and flashing check engine light. Have car towed to mechanic. I don't go to the VW dealer here bacuase they are rip-offs and assholes frankly. Mechanic has scanner and says he got misfire codes on all 4 cylinders. Locates a loose sparkplug and burnt coil and replaces. Did test drive and was fine for a few minutes byt then back to misfire, sputtering, flashing check engine light. Scan again and saus this time he gets misfire code for cylinder 4 only. Replaces other coils. Now has misfire code for cylinders 1 & 4. This mechanic is honest and trustworthy but I think he is stumped. Says he might have to send me to the dealer. Ahy clues on this? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks,

pizzott wrote:

Symptoms: Driving home when out of the blue the engine light starts to flash and the car starts to sputter then stalls. I get it restarted and drive it home a couple more blocks and the check engine light is now on steady. The next day I drive around the block to see what it is doing and still steady check engine light and then goes into sputter and flashing check engine light. Have car towed to mechanic. I don't go to the VW dealer here bacuase they are rip-offs and assholes frankly. Mechanic has scanner and says he got misfire codes on all 4 cylinders. Locates a loose sparkplug and burnt coil and replaces. Did test drive and was fine for a few minutes byt then back to misfire, sputtering, flashing check engine light. Scan again and saus this time he gets misfire code for cylinder 4 only. Replaces other coils. Now has misfire code for cylinders 1 & 4. This mechanic is honest and trustworthy but I think he is stumped. Says he might have to send me to the dealer. Ahy clues on this? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks,

Aloha ! I live in a place where there is no dealer and my car is doing the same thing. From being on the highway and having it start sputtering and then slowing down to around 20 continually sputtering like it wanted to die out .
I had to have it towed on saturday (it started up after the tow,) but now it will not start, all the lights are coming on inside (check engine, battery)and all I am getting is a ticking noise when I try to start it.

Just curious if you guys were ever able to solve the problem. I have a 03 Jetta 1.8t with 31K miles with the exact same problem. It's currently at the shop and he's a bit stumped also. He first changed the ignition coils and the vacuum hoses and it drove fine until it got hot and then the problem came back. I took it back and he thought that the ignition coils were defective and put in another set. Got it back, drove it about 10 miles and the problem came back. Now, he's going to do a deep cleaning to the heads (carbon build-up?) and see where we go from there. Any help would be most appreciated.

My 2001 new passat 1.8 turbo with tiptronic did the same thing last Thursday. Now has very little power and the check engine light is flashing. Code being read is P0321. Is this a recall problem which the dealer would fix for free?

I think, too many people have the same thing for it to be a coincidence.

About six months ago the same thing was happening and I replaced a sensor, I bought the part at the dealer and went to a local mechanic and told him I needed to have it installed. He did the work and my problem was solved, that was about 8,000 miles ago.

But I don't remember what sensor he replaced or what the code was. Here in California the laws changed and Auto Zone will no longer loan out the code reader.

Anyone know the solution? I just want to fix it and sell it.

P0321 is a failure in "Ingition/Distributor Engine Speed Input Circuit Range/Performance" which means the engine computer is not getting an RPM signal from the ignition system.

In any event, for all your cars (or for any car) it is extremely unlikely that all 4 ignition coils would die simultaneously. Even just 2 coils dieing at the same time is extremely unlikely. It sounds to me like you've bought some new coils to replace good ones.

To troubleshoot the P0321:
The engine speed sensor is on the left side of the engine (I don't have a passat, so I can't say exactly where, but it looks from the drawing that it might be under the intake manifold near the intake runner for cylinder #3).

Disconnect the sensor and test the resistance between pins 2 and 3. There should be 400 to 1000 ohms of resistance. Check between pins 1 and 2 and pins 1 and 3. There should be infinite resistance between these pins. If any of these tests fail, replace the engine speed sensor.

Disconnect the engine control module connector and check the wiring between it and the RPM signal. They are wired like so:
Pin 3 -> pin 82
Pin 2 -> pin 90
Pin 1 -> pin 108
(the pins will be labeled on the connectors)
There should be less than 1.5 ohms of resistance in the wires. Also, check the wires for a short to each other. There should be infinite resistance between pins 1 2 and 3. If there is a problem with the wiring, find it and fix it.

If the tests pass, clean everything up nicely and re-assemble the connector (in my experience, wiring problems are likely on VWs because of improper seals on the connectors. Clean everything!) Cleaning the connectors might be all that is needed to fix the problem, so don't be surprised if after you re-assemble the connectors everything just works.

If the problem persists, remove the engine speed sensor and inspect the trigger wheel. I can't imagine how this could get damaged, but check it/fix it anyway. The trigger wheel does have one gap that is larger than the others, which is not a defect.

If that does not fix the problem, replace the engine computer.

For the rest of you guys with misfire problems, it is unlikely that you have multiple bad ignition coils. Instead, look at common components like the ignition power driver (which is located on top of the air cleaner). I really doubt that carbon buildup could cause a no-start condition on a car like this.

--Russel

VW had problems with several components in 2002-03 (and some early 04) models. The ignitors being one of them. The other is the fuel pump. A bad fuel pump will set all kinds of codes but nome of them are fuel pump related. Too many techs rely on the computer diagnostics to tell them what is wrong. Even with all the electronic doo-dads on todays cars, they still need the basic 4 things to run. - 1. Air; 2. Compression; 3. Fuel; 4. Spark. If any one of those four things are missing, it won't run.

I had the same problem with my 04 Passat under warranty and told the dealer I thought it was a fuel problem. A week later and several computer control units, sensors and coils later, it was a bad fuel pump and pump relay.

Cheers.