99.5 2.0 - Losing compression in 1st cylinder - kicking/bucking whendriving

I've been having some major problems over the last few months w/ my
99.5 2.0 Golf - all related to losing throttle, kicking/bucking, and
stalling.

In short - a few months ago I was driving and suddenly lost all
throttle and the car kicked its way to halt (did not stall). After a
restart it was fine. A few weeks later - same thing. But when I was
stopped I just floored it and the rpm bounced from 1000 - 2000 - 1000
etc about 2x a second. After a restart it was kicking and would crap
out after a while. Eventually it would completely stall.

Anyways - had the following replaced over several visits to the
mechanic (the car was throwing codes for each, but he would do them 1
by 1 and mix-and-match to see if it was just one part throwing the
others off - but at this point they are all new):

Speed Sensor
Cam Shaft Position Sensor
Coil Packs
Throttle Body

He reprogrammed the CPU too - he could not find a replacement from a
junkyard and was thinking maybe it was just trowing the wrong codes.

At this point I'm not stalling, but after about 45mins of driving it
will start to buck and kick for a few minutes - then stop for a little
bit - then start up again later. When kicking it as about 2-3 kicks a
second - maybe sutter or stumbling is a better description. It also
seems to happen more often when I'm going around a right had turn.
Also if I'm stuck in traffic it's the worst. It is OK when I'm
idling, but when giving it gas it is kicking.

He said that I'm loosing a lot of compression in my 1st cylinder (it's
dropping to 60-80). Would this be causing this kicking/bucking
behavior? He said there's a leak in the entrance/exit valve and would
need a rebuild. Approx 1000$.

I'm going to take it elsewhere for a 2nd opinion, but does this sound
right? Any ideas if it could be anything else?

Many thanks. I can't really afford to do that rebuild if it isn't
going to fix this problem once and for all - I've dropped about $1000
already on this problem. I've got 148,000 miles on the engine.

Pete Foley > wrote in news:8abd943c-bb08-441d-b3fe-
:

> I've been having some major problems over the last few months w/ my
> 99.5 2.0 Golf - all related to losing throttle, kicking/bucking, and
> stalling.
>
> In short - a few months ago I was driving and suddenly lost all
> throttle and the car kicked its way to halt (did not stall). After a
> restart it was fine. A few weeks later - same thing. But when I was
> stopped I just floored it and the rpm bounced from 1000 - 2000 - 1000
> etc about 2x a second. After a restart it was kicking and would crap
> out after a while. Eventually it would completely stall.
>
> Anyways - had the following replaced over several visits to the
> mechanic (the car was throwing codes for each, but he would do them 1
> by 1 and mix-and-match to see if it was just one part throwing the
> others off - but at this point they are all new):
>
> Speed Sensor
> Cam Shaft Position Sensor
> Coil Packs
> Throttle Body
>
> He reprogrammed the CPU too - he could not find a replacement from a
> junkyard and was thinking maybe it was just trowing the wrong codes.
>
> At this point I'm not stalling, but after about 45mins of driving it
> will start to buck and kick for a few minutes - then stop for a little
> bit - then start up again later. When kicking it as about 2-3 kicks a
> second - maybe sutter or stumbling is a better description. It also
> seems to happen more often when I'm going around a right had turn.
> Also if I'm stuck in traffic it's the worst. It is OK when I'm
> idling, but when giving it gas it is kicking.
>
> He said that I'm loosing a lot of compression in my 1st cylinder (it's
> dropping to 60-80). Would this be causing this kicking/bucking
> behavior? He said there's a leak in the entrance/exit valve and would
> need a rebuild. Approx 1000$.
>
> I'm going to take it elsewhere for a 2nd opinion, but does this sound
> right? Any ideas if it could be anything else?
>
> Many thanks. I can't really afford to do that rebuild if it isn't
> going to fix this problem once and for all - I've dropped about $1000
> already on this problem. I've got 148,000 miles on the engine.
>

1. ) Get a second a opinion, but don't give him idea you know whats
wrong. ( A good test)
2. ) Get a new mechanic.. he's just guessing, and don't ever go back.
3. ) Get your immediate problem fixed.
4. ) Get some tools and a manual.
5. ) Fire both of them and start doing it yourself


My car magically quit having things go wrong with it when I started
doing all the work myself. That was 9 years ago and 100,000 miles ago.
It's up to 274k now.

Dropping a valve is not a small thing, but your bucking problem to me,
sounds more like your loossing the lift pump in the fuel tank, a 40.00
part and a 10 minute replacment job. I would almost guess you aren't
loosing compression in #1 and he's making it up.

TheDM > wrote in
4:
>
> 1. ) Get a second a opinion, but don't give him idea you know whats
> wrong. ( A good test)
> 2. ) Get a new mechanic.. he's just guessing, and don't ever go back.
> 3. ) Get your immediate problem fixed.
> 4. ) Get some tools and a manual.
> 5. ) Fire both of them and start doing it yourself
>
>
> My car magically quit having things go wrong with it when I started
> doing all the work myself. That was 9 years ago and 100,000 miles ago.
> It's up to 274k now.
>
> Dropping a valve is not a small thing, but your bucking problem to me,
> sounds more like your loossing the lift pump in the fuel tank, a 40.00
> part and a 10 minute replacment job. I would almost guess you aren't
> loosing compression in #1 and he's making it up.
>

Oh one more thing, I can't stress this enough, if it needed an engine
rebuild, it would crappy all the time, and there would be bad noise all the
time. I re-read your post, while turning, my money is on the in tank fuel
pump... A 15 minute fuel pressure test by a real mechanic would have shown
that. You need to never go back to this guy. Period.

I'm in kansas btw if your close, I'll help.

Compression
Fuel
Spark

Yes something sounds amiss right now.

The weirdest problem I saw with an engine stalling was caused by the oil
pump. It baffled another shop so they asked me to look at it.
The oil pump developed soo much pressure that the lifters pumped up, held
the valves open and the engine quietly died.
Try to crank it over and it sounded like the timing belt had broken.
Let it sit for about 15-20 minutes and it would start up and then go through
the stalling again.

I have also seen a 1997 Jetta 2.0 that ran horribly until I cleaned up the
main engine wiring harness plug at the engine.

Not sure what your 1999.5 set up is like, but start posting those DTCs.
What do the spark plug electrodes look like?
It is probably something simple, but possibly a little hard to find! ;-)
Hope it is not a cracked intake boot, or other possible vacuum hose that
widens its crack during a right hand turn!

Hmmm is your car a Drive By Wire or does it have a cable going to the
Throttle Body?

Try finding someone close to you with the vag-com tool
http://vag-tool.kicks-ass.net/locator.aspx
http://anglo-hexon.net:88/beowulf9/tdi/vagcom/
see if they can possibly help you with getting info from your car's ECM or
helping with the problem.

Now is this an automatic?

"TheDM" > wrote in message
4...
> Pete Foley > wrote in news:8abd943c-bb08-441d-b3fe-
> :
>
>> I've been having some major problems over the last few months w/ my
>> 99.5 2.0 Golf - all related to losing throttle, kicking/bucking, and
>> stalling.
>>
>> In short - a few months ago I was driving and suddenly lost all
>> throttle and the car kicked its way to halt (did not stall). After a
>> restart it was fine. A few weeks later - same thing. But when I was
>> stopped I just floored it and the rpm bounced from 1000 - 2000 - 1000
>> etc about 2x a second. After a restart it was kicking and would crap
>> out after a while. Eventually it would completely stall.
>>
>> Anyways - had the following replaced over several visits to the
>> mechanic (the car was throwing codes for each, but he would do them 1
>> by 1 and mix-and-match to see if it was just one part throwing the
>> others off - but at this point they are all new):
>>
>> Speed Sensor
>> Cam Shaft Position Sensor
>> Coil Packs
>> Throttle Body
>>
>> He reprogrammed the CPU too - he could not find a replacement from a
>> junkyard and was thinking maybe it was just trowing the wrong codes.
>>
>> At this point I'm not stalling, but after about 45mins of driving it
>> will start to buck and kick for a few minutes - then stop for a little
>> bit - then start up again later. When kicking it as about 2-3 kicks a
>> second - maybe sutter or stumbling is a better description. It also
>> seems to happen more often when I'm going around a right had turn.
>> Also if I'm stuck in traffic it's the worst. It is OK when I'm
>> idling, but when giving it gas it is kicking.
>>
>> He said that I'm loosing a lot of compression in my 1st cylinder (it's
>> dropping to 60-80). Would this be causing this kicking/bucking
>> behavior? He said there's a leak in the entrance/exit valve and would
>> need a rebuild. Approx 1000$.
>>
>> I'm going to take it elsewhere for a 2nd opinion, but does this sound
>> right? Any ideas if it could be anything else?
>>
>> Many thanks. I can't really afford to do that rebuild if it isn't
>> going to fix this problem once and for all - I've dropped about $1000
>> already on this problem. I've got 148,000 miles on the engine.
>>
>
> 1. ) Get a second a opinion, but don't give him idea you know whats
> wrong. ( A good test)
> 2. ) Get a new mechanic.. he's just guessing, and don't ever go back.
> 3. ) Get your immediate problem fixed.
> 4. ) Get some tools and a manual.
> 5. ) Fire both of them and start doing it yourself
>
>
> My car magically quit having things go wrong with it when I started
> doing all the work myself. That was 9 years ago and 100,000 miles ago.
> It's up to 274k now.
>
> Dropping a valve is not a small thing, but your bucking problem to me,
> sounds more like your loossing the lift pump in the fuel tank, a 40.00
> part and a 10 minute replacment job. I would almost guess you aren't
> loosing compression in #1 and he's making it up.

On Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:28:49 -0000, TheDM >
wrote:

>
>1. ) Get a second a opinion, but don't give him idea you know whats
> wrong. ( A good test)
>2. ) Get a new mechanic.. he's just guessing, and don't ever go back.
>3. ) Get your immediate problem fixed.
>4. ) Get some tools and a manual.
>5. ) Fire both of them and start doing it yourself
>
>
>My car magically quit having things go wrong with it when I started
>doing all the work myself. That was 9 years ago and 100,000 miles ago.
>It's up to 274k now.
>
>Dropping a valve is not a small thing, but your bucking problem to me,
>sounds more like your loossing the lift pump in the fuel tank, a 40.00
>part and a 10 minute replacment job. I would almost guess you aren't
>loosing compression in #1 and he's making it up.

Agreed, I had a 'professional' VW mechanic tell me that there was no
compression in cylinder #3...


What was amazing was that a new set of plug wires restored the
compression perfectly! Wow...

On Jan 26, 12:34 pm, TheDM > wrote:
> TheDM > wrote .44:
>
>
>
>
>
> > 1. ) Get a second a opinion, but don't give him idea you know whats
> > wrong. ( A good test)
> > 2. ) Get a new mechanic.. he's just guessing, and don't ever go back.
> > 3. ) Get your immediate problem fixed.
> > 4. ) Get some tools and a manual.
> > 5. ) Fire both of them and start doing it yourself
>
> > My car magically quit having things go wrong with it when I started
> > doing all the work myself. That was 9 years ago and 100,000 miles ago.
> > It's up to 274k now.
>
> > Dropping a valve is not a small thing, but your bucking problem to me,
> > sounds more like your loossing the lift pump in the fuel tank, a 40.00
> > part and a 10 minute replacment job. I would almost guess you aren't
> > loosing compression in #1 and he's making it up.
>
> Oh one more thing, I can't stress this enough, if it needed an engine
> rebuild, it would crappy all the time, and there would be bad noise all the
> time. I re-read your post, while turning, my money is on the in tank fuel
> pump... A 15 minute fuel pressure test by a real mechanic would have shown
> that. You need to never go back to this guy. Period.
>
> I'm in kansas btw if your close, I'll help.

I've been taking it to a non-dealer VW shop that has a great
reputation. Unfortunately I'm out in Philly - a bit from you. I
would be trying the work myself too - I have the bently - but no
driveway living in the city makes it hard to work on it (and I have no
time..).

It started up again REALLY BAD today. It starting doing the whole
kicking w/ no accel - something that it hasn't done for a month. It
seems to start after the car is warm - the first 45 mins (after
sitting overnight ) or so it runs great. Today it seemed to start
this when starting up from a stop at a light (doing lots of city
driving today). It would just start kicking - my friend w/ me said it
felt like it was coughing. And it did the problem where it would just
be only going as fast as just idling - even w/ me flooring it the
RPM's just bounced from 1000 - 2000 - 1000 and the car would just inch
along - kicking all the way. A restart fixes it for a bit, but then
it starts up again.

I'm going to try another shop soon - calling them on Monday. They are
a euro shop - not VW specific. So should I act dump or tell them my
saga? I just can't afford to drop another 1000$ and still be stuck in
the same spot.

> The weirdest problem I saw with an engine stalling was caused by the oil
> pump. It baffled another shop so they asked me to look at it.
> The oil pump developed soo much pressure that the lifters pumped up, held
> the valves open and the engine quietly died.
> Try to crank it over and it sounded like the timing belt had broken.
> Let it sit for about 15-20 minutes and it would start up and then go through
> the stalling again.

I'll stall completely once and a while - but the total loss of accel
and just kicking while inching along at idle speed is much more
common. But after a restart it is fine right away - but only for a
few mins.

> I have also seen a 1997 Jetta 2.0 that ran horribly until I cleaned up the
> main engine wiring harness plug at the engine.

When it's not kicking - it runs great. Full power - perfect.

> Not sure what your 1999.5 set up is like, but start posting those DTCs.
> What do the spark plug electrodes look like?

No Idea - that's a little to technical for me to say. What's a DTC?

> Hmmm is your car a Drive By Wire or does it have a cable going to the
> Throttle Body?

It's drive by cable.

> Now is this an automatic?

Yup. I did suspect the tranny at one point - but this will startup
before it's even out of 1st gear when starting up from a stop. And
the wierd 1000 - 2000 -1000rpms 3x a second will happen when I'm in
park - just gassing it after I've gotten stuck...

> What was amazing was that a new set of plug wires restored the
> compression perfectly! Wow...


I had new plugs and wires put in earlier this year when I had a bad
electrical problem (the car would just suddenly die w/ out warning at
any point - and I could not get it restarted unless I waited a few
hours - but that was in April or so and was fine after they replaced
the wires and a relay - forget which one...)

Pete Foley > wrote in
:

> On Jan 26, 12:34 pm, TheDM > wrote:
>> TheDM > wrote
>> .44:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> > 1. ) Get a second a opinion, but don't give him idea you know whats
>> > wrong. ( A good test)
>> > 2. ) Get a new mechanic.. he's just guessing, and don't ever go
>> > back. 3. ) Get your immediate problem fixed.
>> > 4. ) Get some tools and a manual.
>> > 5. ) Fire both of them and start doing it yourself
>>
>> > My car magically quit having things go wrong with it when I started
>> > doing all the work myself. That was 9 years ago and 100,000 miles
>> > ago. It's up to 274k now.
>>
>> > Dropping a valve is not a small thing, but your bucking problem to
>> > me, sounds more like your loossing the lift pump in the fuel tank,
>> > a 40.00 part and a 10 minute replacment job. I would almost guess
>> > you aren't loosing compression in #1 and he's making it up.
>>
>> Oh one more thing, I can't stress this enough, if it needed an engine
>> rebuild, it would crappy all the time, and there would be bad noise
>> all the time. I re-read your post, while turning, my money is on the
>> in tank fuel pump... A 15 minute fuel pressure test by a real
>> mechanic would have shown that. You need to never go back to this
>> guy. Period.
>>
>> I'm in kansas btw if your close, I'll help.
>
> I've been taking it to a non-dealer VW shop that has a great
> reputation. Unfortunately I'm out in Philly - a bit from you. I
> would be trying the work myself too - I have the bently - but no
> driveway living in the city makes it hard to work on it (and I have no
> time..).
>
> It started up again REALLY BAD today. It starting doing the whole
> kicking w/ no accel - something that it hasn't done for a month. It
> seems to start after the car is warm - the first 45 mins (after
> sitting overnight ) or so it runs great. Today it seemed to start
> this when starting up from a stop at a light (doing lots of city
> driving today). It would just start kicking - my friend w/ me said it
> felt like it was coughing. And it did the problem where it would just
> be only going as fast as just idling - even w/ me flooring it the
> RPM's just bounced from 1000 - 2000 - 1000 and the car would just inch
> along - kicking all the way. A restart fixes it for a bit, but then
> it starts up again.
>
> I'm going to try another shop soon - calling them on Monday. They are
> a euro shop - not VW specific. So should I act dump or tell them my
> saga? I just can't afford to drop another 1000$ and still be stuck in
> the same spot.

You could could rent a compression tester or buy a cheapo and call the
guy on it. Then tell him he better fix it or you will take him to small
claims. Sounds to me like he's never really fixed the thing and sold
you alot of parts you didn't need. My money is still on the fuel
system. I just went through alot of what you described on my 86 last
year, but it was just my time. It was the lift pump in the tank for me,
but mine is an A1. It was intermittent, Finally it would only idle,
wouldn't even rev in the driveway. I had to get towed home because of
that lift pump, wouldn't start at all, next morning in the driveway,
started up perfectly, warmed up 10 minutes, and then did exactly as you
described. It's the part about you turning and it happening that really
sets it for me. How much gas did you have, full tank? I bet it runs
better on a full tank.

Pete Foley > wrote in
:

> On Jan 26, 12:34 pm, TheDM > wrote:
>> TheDM > wrote
>> .44:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> > 1. ) Get a second a opinion, but don't give him idea you know whats
>> > wrong. ( A good test)
>> > 2. ) Get a new mechanic.. he's just guessing, and don't ever go
>> > back. 3. ) Get your immediate problem fixed.
>> > 4. ) Get some tools and a manual.
>> > 5. ) Fire both of them and start doing it yourself
>>
>> > My car magically quit having things go wrong with it when I started
>> > doing all the work myself. That was 9 years ago and 100,000 miles
>> > ago. It's up to 274k now.
>>
>> > Dropping a valve is not a small thing, but your bucking problem to
>> > me, sounds more like your loossing the lift pump in the fuel tank,
>> > a 40.00 part and a 10 minute replacment job. I would almost guess
>> > you aren't loosing compression in #1 and he's making it up.
>>
>> Oh one more thing, I can't stress this enough, if it needed an engine
>> rebuild, it would crappy all the time, and there would be bad noise
>> all the time. I re-read your post, while turning, my money is on the
>> in tank fuel pump... A 15 minute fuel pressure test by a real
>> mechanic would have shown that. You need to never go back to this
>> guy. Period.
>>
>> I'm in kansas btw if your close, I'll help.
>
> I've been taking it to a non-dealer VW shop that has a great
> reputation. Unfortunately I'm out in Philly - a bit from you. I
> would be trying the work myself too - I have the bently - but no
> driveway living in the city makes it hard to work on it (and I have no
> time..).
>
> It started up again REALLY BAD today. It starting doing the whole
> kicking w/ no accel - something that it hasn't done for a month. It
> seems to start after the car is warm - the first 45 mins (after
> sitting overnight ) or so it runs great. Today it seemed to start
> this when starting up from a stop at a light (doing lots of city
> driving today). It would just start kicking - my friend w/ me said it
> felt like it was coughing. And it did the problem where it would just
> be only going as fast as just idling - even w/ me flooring it the
> RPM's just bounced from 1000 - 2000 - 1000 and the car would just inch
> along - kicking all the way. A restart fixes it for a bit, but then
> it starts up again.
>
> I'm going to try another shop soon - calling them on Monday. They are
> a euro shop - not VW specific. So should I act dump or tell them my
> saga? I just can't afford to drop another 1000$ and still be stuck in
> the same spot.

The restart fixes it because the system primes itself again to full
pressure when you turn the key before you start it, but it can't keep up
with the volume it needs. It could be the main as well, 150k is about
right for both fuel pumps.