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Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:13 pm

I am posting for my relative. She has a late model Jetta VR6 with about 100,000 miles. After a recent road trip from Colorado to California, the engine started acting shaky, jerky and sputtering with the check engine light on and blinking. I told her not to drive the car.

To me it sounds like a faulty ignition coil, but I have little experience with these engine, and am not there to turn a wrench on the car.

Any insight or clues to point us in the right direction will be appreciated.

We may also need a good referral to a reputable watercooled shop in the San Diego area that could tackle this engine problem.

Thanks in advance.

Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:43 pm

Could be a bad coil pack, they do tend to fail due to heat and cracks forming in the plastic housing.

Best bet would be to get the codes scanned. Autozone or similar shops usually will do this for free. A VAG-COM would be helpful. A search for local car club or such might yield one nearby. The codes ought to point you to the correct direction.

Remember that a steady Check Engine Light means a noncritical fault, however a flashing light means that a serious issue has been encountered and the vehicle must not be driven or damage may occur.

Depending on the year of the car it may be either a 12v or 24v VR6 which also figures into the equation. Honestly the Samba is not very active for newer cars. Your best bet would be VWVortex. There are specific MK3 (94-99) and MK4 (99.5-2005) forums, as well as dedicated 12v and 24v VR6 forums. Posting there with more model info and any scanned codes will point you in the right direction.

Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:58 pm

bad coil pack or dirty maf. chances are its the coil pack though,

im not sure if its the same on the 24v, but with the 12v vr there are a few "quick" fixes and one overly complicated one. q

uick fix one... inspect for cracks and seal with superglue on a nice dry day to seal the moisture out.

quick fix two. take it off and dip the entire unit (minus the sparkplug holes) in some rubber dip.

complicated fix. replace the big coil pack with three GM style coil packs from Jegs.

other fix replace it.

try the maf first.... pull the maf out, take rubbing alcohol in a ziplock bag, drop the maf in the bag and shake. if that doesnt fix it, its coilpack most likely.

Tue Jan 22, 2008 8:06 pm

Also before really messing with the MAF you can just unplug it and drive the car a bit and see if it is any worse. The MAF is a fairly sensitive instrument, and care must be taken to not damage the element in cleaning it.

I think that a MAF issue would more likely cause a solid CEL issue rather than a blinking CEL.

Also if it is a 12v the cheapest OEM quality coilpack is available through Pep Boys. It is in their system and sold as a Borg Warner, but if you open the box it is actually stamped as a Beru (the OEM supplier). I replaced my OEM unit with one of those a few years ago, and at the time it was $160 at the Boys versus about $300 for the "OEM" one, even online.

Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:30 am

Has she ever changed the timing chain?

Fri Jan 25, 2008 2:53 pm

wolfsburged wrote: Also before really messing with the MAF you can just unplug it and drive the car a bit and see if it is any worse. The MAF is a fairly sensitive instrument, and care must be taken to not damage the element in cleaning it.

I think that a MAF issue would more likely cause a solid CEL issue rather than a blinking CEL.

ah.. just dont bang it around. haha. i agree with the cel, but it's worth a shot before blowing money on a coil pack...the pep boys packs... i've heard of few (few meaning not many) people having trouble with those, like getting new ones and they still buck in the rain and shit like that. i was looking for a more permanent solution for mine.

Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:04 pm

If the engine light is blinking, then there is a dead miss, which 99% of the time is ignition related. 24v VR6s use individual coils like the 1.8T. I have been seeing R32 coils starting to fail, and they are the same as the 2.8 24v. Might want to put some new plugs in if they have not been changed in a while.

Thu Feb 07, 2008 5:10 pm

Thanks guys. It ended up being the coil pack. She got it all squared away