Help! Problems with Reverse, now EPC...

Hi all,

Luckily, I already have an appointment (1 month wait) with my local VW service shop on Tuesday for a transmission problem. (See post at the bottom of this message. Coincidently, I am having some weird problems right now.

The problems that came about today are as follows. I parked my car today, and I notice that my engine and lights were turned off, but my brake lights were illuminated. The lights stay on, when the car + lights are off, and no one is pressing on the brake. I had to rip the fuse out of the fuse box for the back lights, as I would have had a dead battery in the AM.

I turned the car on and checked if something was stuck, and I noticed that the "EPC" light came on a stayed on,(didnt flash), and on the LED display, it flashed "ENGINE WORKSHOP". In addition to those 2 things, I no longer need to press the brake to disengage the park lock. You can select whatever gear you want without stepping on the brake to unlock the gear lock.

Any ideas? I'm about ready to tell VW to keep the damn car, because I've had it. Big VW/Audi fan, but with not even 35,000 miles on this car, I've had:

Gear lock swtich broke once Window actuator broke Electronic door mechanism, driver side broken Enginge Temperature Sesor busted

2 Oxygen sensors broke CD changer is broken

I really hate to say it -- it really breaks my heart, honestly -- but I'm thinking about selling it and heading over to Nissan or Acura, simply for the reliability.

I do love the car, but I cant deal with the mechanical problems of such a "new" car. It always seems to break down on times when I really need it. (Supposed to go away Saturday -- this is the 3rd time ina row where I needed to take the car on a major trip, and it's crapped out on me.) Frustrating.

Oh well, any ideas on what I'm looking at here. Warantee issues? Is this the coil pack issue? I need a vacation bad (VW tech shop visit Tuesday, leaving on vacation on Saturday). Already going to the rental car place to pick something up for the week, as my gut tells me this is gonna be a doosey.

Jeff

[old post]

-------------

I have an '01 Jetta w/ the VR6 and an auto tranny. Starting about a week ago, occasionally reverse will not engage. Sliding the gear selector knob to R will do "nothing" 50% (about) of the time -- the car sits like if it was in neutral. Sliding the gear selector back up to park, and then into reverse again, has always "fixed" the problem. Like I said, only about 50% of the time does "R" not engage from the start, but so far, 100% of the time it works if you slide it back up to "P" and then into "R" again.

All of the other shifts work as they always have. Yeah, the adaptive tranny (I don't have tiptronic as it wasn't available in '01 on the Jetta) seems to have a mind of it's own sometimes with the shifting, but I've grown accustomed to it. So, 1-->2-->3-->4, even under hard accelleration, all work fine as they normally have, and the car sounds and moves great. No bad sounds, no grinding, everything else is fine.

Any idea what this might be? I called my local VW dealer today, and they said that my earliest appointment would be 9/4/03 (??? Yeah thats what I said too), or I could bring it in as an "emergency", where it would sit there for 3 days (at least) before they looked at it. Still, $82/hr to diagnose. (Why didn't I become a mechanic.? lol)

I believe my GEICO policy offers me a free loaner for situations like this from a rental company, but I wanted to check out the consensus here about what this problem might be before I got renting a car for a week and giving VW my Jetta.

Being that this problem is very "hit and miss" --- I can't reproduce the problem whenever I want -- , I'm tending to think that it's something with the CPU, and nothing essentially wrong with the tranny. Then again, I'm no car expert.

FWIW, I have done nothing to the car. I haven't chipped it, I haven't added anything aftermarket yet. It's all still stock. If there is a problem with the tranny, is this covered under the warantee, even though I'm past 2/24000?

Thanks everyone for their help.\

------------[end old post[

Reply to
Jeff
Loading thread data ...

I know how you feel. My wife had a 2000 Jetta with 54,000 miles on it. The dealer had it more than we did. O2 sensors, Mass air flow sensor, window, regulators, ignition coil. Enough was enough. 2 weeks ago she got a 2003 Honda Civic. VW quality has gone down the drain as far as I am concerned. And we have had six of them before.

Reply to
Jim

Jim B.

Reply to
jimbehning

Yeah, quality has really gone down. I don't even wanna trade it in for a 2nd try. Oh well.

-Jeff

Reply to
Jeff

God, that's wierd. I'll have to take a look, but I havent touched the radio since 2 years and 33,000 miles ago. Jeff

Reply to
Jeff

Brake lights, EPC light, Workshop light all related to the fuse you removed. Problem and fix should be replacing the brake light switch. Trans problems... that's a warranty issue 10yr/100,000 miles. Go ahead and buy on of them rice cars an we will see you back here again!

Reply to
Woodchuck

I agree woodchuck, just cause it's a honda doesn't mean it won't break and doesn't mean you won't wait either. 10yrs/100,000 miles seems like a good warranty to me.

Reply to
Mustangbrad

Woodchuck! Thanks for replying, I was hoping to hear from you.

Yeah, I know, it breaks my heart, it really, really does. I love the car, I just can't deal with the maintanance. And you're right, I will be back. I'm going to get a 4 year lease on a Nissan or Acura (I think), and then check out VW or Audi again, see what they have to offer. It's just the Jetta has crapped out on me 3 times when I needed it most, and I just can't put faith in something like that right now. I know I'll miss driving it on the highway, I'm already trying to prepare myself mentally for that. :)

I had to remove that fuse, I couldn't help it. I just drove the car to the dealership today, just to get it there, even though my appointment is for Tuesday.

I figured the tranny is under warantee, and thanks for the confirmation on that.

I'm glad you're here to post to the group, you're an asset here that I don't think a lot of people realize.

BTW...what state are you in?

Thanks again, for the info.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff

Oh, don't me wrong, a car is a car is a car. It's just that from friends, family and personal experience, the VW's, the BMWs and the Audis have gone in for repair much more than the Nissan's, Acuras, and the Subaru's.

Like I said, I LOVE the car. I just can't handle the level of maintanance I've had to deal with.

Problems started at 7,000 miles and really haven't stopped since. Not all was covered under warantee (esp after 24,000) and some shit has been just damn annoying to deal with.

-Jeff

Reply to
Jeff

Oh yeah? Ah, I'm not really the biggest fan of Honda's. All their stuff sort of looks the same, and theres really no excitement there.

-Jeff

Reply to
Jeff

Western side of Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh. And yes I think VW dropped the balls on the window and coil issue. We knew it was coming about 2 years before the sh*t hit the fan so to speak.

Good luck

Reply to
Woodchuck

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.