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Posted on Feb 27, 2009
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I'm afraid I bought somebody elses problem. Our 99 VW Jetta lost

Power, shook, sputtered and died last evening and could not restart without dying quickly again. Please, bare with my mechanical ignorance with my description. We came up with code PO102, indicating low flow with the MAF? We also came up with the 302 code and another one indicating misfires on 2 cylinders. The Autozone guys suggested we do a "resistance test" before before going through the cost of buying and installing another MAF sensor unit. I believe the resistance test came up with a 7.5 or .75 or maybe it was a 75 reading, as it is all greek to me. If it was something simple like a fuel filter, we wouldn't be getting the misfire codes, correct. Any help is appreciated, as I probably want to get it fixed to sell.

  • 1 more comment 
  • lwhitcomb Feb 27, 2009

    Thanks Tepfy. The vehicle, a 99 Jetta, 2.0 liter, automatic, will crank but not fire up at all as if it is out of gas and in its last moment of running it sputtered and shook to a stop like it was starving for gas. Would all of the fuel injectors fail at once? I priced a remanufactured MAF sensor for $99, so I can live with that, but I'm pouring good money after bad in this car and have far exceeded its actual cash value and it is a bit frustrating. Thanks for your help

  • lwhitcomb Mar 03, 2009

    The Jetta died like it ran out of gas, sputtering to a stop. There were actually 4 codes incl. P0102, 300, 301, 302. However, I think my problem is the fuel pump. There is a little relief valve on the fuel line that did not even produce a "hiss" when I pushed the little stem. I got into the trunk and removed the cover to the fuel pump,d disconnected the electrical and put a voltage meter on the incoming wire and with the key turned on, I had juice. I reconnected it to the fuel pump and there is no sound of it engaging . I think I have a burned up fuel pump.



    When the car was spittin and coughin and coming to a stop, assuming as the fuel pump was no longer working, would the engine starvation of fuel, cause the PO codes mentioned above?

  • Anonymous May 11, 2010

    A p0302 code means is misfiring on cylinder #2. www.trouble-codes.com. If you are interested, check out the website. If that is the A4 or newer style 99 Jetta with a 2 liter engine, there were alot of issues with the MAF sensor and seen some vaccum leaks at the fuel pressure regulator under the top engine cover. The vaccum hose shrinks over time and comes off the fuel pressure regulator that goes to the intake.

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  • Posted on Feb 27, 2009
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I would need to know what car you have for better answers, but some problems are the same no matter what car you have. If it hasn't been done in a long time I would replace the plug wires and plugs first. Besides you can only improve your gas milage by doing so. I would purchase a CHILTON, this is a maintenace manual with pictures and step by step procedure. Then I would take it in for another testing. Then they can give you better codes. It could be missing on 2 cylinders because of spark plugs, fuel injectors, many other reasons. The MAF sensor is very expensive and I would check everything else before I replaced that.

If you can replace the plugs and wires, and distributor cap and rotor first, then let me know more about your car make modle year what engine you have I can give you more advise.

tepfy.

  • 1 more comment 
  • Anonymous Feb 27, 2009

    seeing that this is a car with some age on it. Start with the basics,
    change the fuel filter and ask if there is more than one fuel filter on
    this car. I am not a VW Guru, but like I said before some things are just the same on any car. I have had a couple of cars in the past that actually had 2 fuel filters. A inline and a canister filter.

    I don't believe that all the injectors would go out all at once, but the fuel pump is another story. You can check the fuel pressure with a guage, that can be purchased relatively cheap
    http://www.tooltopia.com/index.asp?PageA...

    when you get the chilton it will tell you all your psi's also you could have a compression problem. you can check this with
    http://www.autozone.com/Ntt,compression+...

    its easy to do,and it just takes some effort.

    speaking of fuel check under the car, and around the engine for any type of gas leak. I would still recamend replacing sparkplugs and wires.


  • Anonymous Feb 27, 2009

    One good reason to buy the tools I put on the last letter besides diagnosing this problem is, that if you ever want to buy a used car in the future. These tools can be invaluable in making a decision on a purchase.. When I buy a used car, one of the things I want to know right away is if it has good compression, and the fuel pressure is good. These can be hidden durring sales for short periods of time. If you have the correct tools they can be used on all cars and the seller cant trick you into a lemon. So don't look at buy some tools as a I'll never use it again tool. Because you can learn alot about a car just by checking a couple of things.

    tepfy


  • Anonymous Mar 03, 2009

    ok, by the way, great job on looking for what the problem is.

    If you are getting power to the pump, and the pump is not engaging. You will most times, hear a electrical sound, because as soon as you turn the key. It turns on automaticaly. There are some very quiet pumps. Making them very hard to hear, but it does sound like this is your problem. You are luckey, you have a service panel to get to the pump.

    Special note. check your sending unit. It is in the tank and lets your gas guage know how much gas you have. They are cheep and easey to replace.

    Also I would go over each of the codes you are getting and find out what they go to. Its not unusual to have more than one problem at a time. and while you are doing all this work, it would **** to have to open something you alread closed up and thaught was finished.

    let me know how the pump goes.

    tepfy


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