Just bought a 2011 Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen TDI 6-speed manual

RoadDawg said:

Hi all,

Just dropping a note of gratitude for this forum and its members. The bank of knowledge and camaraderie are impressive and refreshing.

I picked up my JSW a month ago and am working to get to know and dial her in. She's got 102,000 miles on her and I just replaced the timing belt and water pump, swapped out all the filters, and did an oil change.

Following this group's guidance, I bought a Ross-Tech VCDS HEX-V2 for the fuel filter change and and look forward to other items on this helpful index - Mk6 VW Golf and VW Jetta TDI DIY, FAQ, and vw tdi forum

Look forward to sharing more of my TDI experience (and problems).

Best,
Craig
--
Newport News, VA USA

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Nice looking wagon, RoadDawg.

Did you mention what tranny you have? I have a 2013 JSW w/ three pedals. But either way, it may be time for a fluid refresh. I'm always interested in best practices to keep her running. Currently, there are 123K miles on mine. When on a road trip in New Brunswick at 108K miles, I noticed a precipitous drop in the mileage, among other signs. Turns out, the right front caliper had seized. Fortunately, I found an honest local garage for it's replacement. I then decided to preventatively replace both rear calipers when doing the brakes at 116K miles. I have yet to swap out the original front left caliper, but am prepared for that to go. I'm wondering if other members w/ higher mileage have experienced caliper failure? (Keep in mind winters in New England have treated roads.)

I've also had to replace #2 glow plug, and seldom use the parking brake since I was unable to get the ball end to fit into the new caliper when I replaced the caliper. I made a wire "splice" to connect it to the lever, but only occasionally engage the brake. Instead, I put the tranny into gear when parked. No, the cables don't appear to be frozen, an adjustment is prolly needed, and just don't want to get involved with the center console removal.

I've been reading about DPF requiring replacement, I suspect that'll be the next big ticket item to be faced in an attempt to keep the car roadworthy. At what mileage did the DPF fail on your car? What other items failed and at what mileage? Starter, alternator, t-stat?

Keep her rollin, rollin, rollin!

Brachial Plexus said:

Nice looking wagon, RoadDawg.

Did you mention what tranny you have? I have a 2013 JSW w/ three pedals. But either way, it may be time for a fluid refresh. I'm always interested in best practices to keep her running.

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Thanks! Mine's a 6-speed manual. I knocked out changing most the fluids. I still need to do the brake and clutch fluid. It's helpful to hear what others are doing with approximately the same vehicle and miles. I got my JSW with 102K miles, and I've logged an additional 6K. So far so good.

Brachial Plexus said:

I've been reading about DPF requiring replacement, I suspect that'll be the next big ticket item to be faced in an attempt to keep the car roadworthy. At what mileage did the DPF fail on your car? What other items failed and at what mileage? Starter, alternator, t-stat?

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My DPF is still the original. I'm getting a bit more comfortable with using the Ross Tech VCDS, and the measured soot levels I've been seeing over the past month are consistently low - less than 5 grams. The first time I measured the DPF soot accumulation (about 1.5 months ago) it was above 20 grams. This high level was the signal to me that I need to learn about the best ways to drive these vehicles to keep the emission system happy. Here's what I understand thus far:

Periodically put a heavy load on the engine. What this means to me is to do an aggressive acceleration to a near redline RPM level. This will blow out the lines and get exhaust temperatures hot enough to clear what can be cleared. This periodic stress will also often include holding the engine at higher RPMs (3000ish) for a couple minutes to complete the particulate blowout.

What does periodically mean? If I'm city-driving a lot (stop and go with few extended highway miles) I'll purposely give myself a reason to do what I describe in the above paragraph. Regardless of whether I'm city-driving or not, my go-to licensed VW mechanic/race car driver instructor friend tells me he does the above once a day with his diesel vehicles.

Mind you, I'm no expert. But I am having some regular conversations with diesel mechanics and race car drivers. There's no doubt I have a lot more to learn to properly drive these vehicles, but I think I'm on the right track (no pun intended) to reduce carbon and soot build-up.

Last week I followed the guidance laid out in these posts (reference 1, reference 2) and cleaned the intake manifold, EGR valve, and throttle valve. The build-up wasn't horrible, but the components needed some clean-up love.

With all this said, I'm still getting engine codes that tell me there are issues with the EGR, DPF, and intake manifold. Hard to know if the VW computer is just being overly sensitive and temperamental. My vehicle performance seems on point - good fuel economy (mid 40s) and no engine stuttering. I'm considering attacking the EGR filter and cooler next.

I haven't touched the alternator, thermostat, or starter. It's probably time to consider the t-stat. Just yesterday I replaced the air conditioner control valve. My AC was inconsistent and not icy cold. I can't remember which MyTurboDiesel post I looked at to lead me to this solution, but the $50 part swap seems to be working. Here's the reference video on the procedure and part.