96 passat glx hurting!

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starburst - 03 Jan 2007 00:37 GMT

Hey dubbers-

A couple of days before Christmas, I packed the family in the 96 Passat
Wagon (GLX, VR6, auto tranny) planning to drive from upstate NY down to
South Carolina. About twenty miles out of town, on a very slight incline
going about 65 or so, I felt a slight hesitation and then started losing
power. I could feel and hear a faint ticking sound, almost like a noisy
valve. Check engine light starts to flash, I pull over.

I plugged the car into the laptop, and vag-com gave me codes for random
misfires on three cylinders. The car would turn over and start, but run
very rough and die as soon as I tried to drive off. Definitely sick.
Called a tow truck and had the passat taken back home, transfered all
the stuff into my 89 Jetta, which with 182000 miles on her is the most
dependable car in the universe. She drove us down and back again without
any problems.

Now I'm back and need some advice on where to begin diagnosing the
passat. The problem happened out of the blue with no warning - plenty of
oil and water. Dry conditions. The things I'm coming up with are head
gasket, coil pack, or maybe a jumped tooth on the timing chain.

Do any of these sound right to you all? Am I missing anything obvious?

Thanks for any help - Chris

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pfjw@aol.com - 03 Jan 2007 01:38 GMT

> Do any of these sound right to you all? Am I missing anything obvious?

Um.... Fuel Filter?

I keep harping on this most obvious of items as each time I have heard
or experienced symptoms such as you describe (my neighbor's Nissan,
another neighbor's VR6 Golf, our Vanagon camper, my wife's Saab a year
ago) irrespective of actual service interval, changing the fuel filter
cured the problem. It's cheap enough and easy enough to start with.
Some of the filter mentioned previously were less than 14,000 miles
old. But if you cannot put your finger EXACTLY on when it was changed
last, DO start there.

THEN: and further sticking with the obvious: Spark plugs & wires.
Clogged injectors (see fuel-filter). When is the last time it got a
shot of cleaner through it? Stations these days run their tanks to
nearly dry before refilling... gas is EXPENSIVE... even to them.

And if none of this proves out, then start worrying about the expensive
stuff.

You can pretty much rule out the head-gasket if you can release the
overflow cap on a dead cold engine and not have it fly up into the air
from the back-pressure. Not entirely, but pretty much.

Peter Wieck
Wyncote, PA

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dave AKA vwdoc1 - 03 Jan 2007 04:20 GMT

How is it starting/running now that it is home?
Start with the "tune-up" which should include spark plugs, ALL filters
(fuel, oil, air), and wires if they are old.
If the engine starts to run better then test your ign coil pack by spraying
water on it while the engine is running to see if the running changes. If
it does then you probably need to coat some of your coil pack with epoxy, or
buy a new one.

The ticking could be the ign. spark(s) finding a shorter path to ground
while causing the hesitation and loss of power.

Nothing like having a dependable car when you NEED it! ;-)

Let us know what happens!
later,
dave
(One out of many daves)

> Hey dubbers-
>
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
> Thanks for any help - Chris

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