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VW Golf IV has bad O2 sensor.
harpoon2
Member Posts: 10
I bought a new golf in September of 99. Since that
I have driven 13000 miles and have gone through 3
oxygen sensors. Is anybody else having problems
with this? What cause it to go bad so fast?
I have driven 13000 miles and have gone through 3
oxygen sensors. Is anybody else having problems
with this? What cause it to go bad so fast?
0
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Pat
Community Leader/Maintenance & Repair Conference
Pat
Community Leader/Maintenance & Repair Conference
There is an optimum ratio of fuel (gasoline) to air for perfect combustion in the cylinder. The fuel injection tries to maintain this ratio at all times. As with most things, perfect is impossible, so the fuel injection tries to have a little extra air.
The O2 sensor senses how much "extra" air there is in the exhaust (after the combustion process is complete and the exact amount of air has been used up already..) and tells the fuel injection system, "Hey, a little more" or "...a little less..."
The engine sucks in air, but Oxygen is the part that matters, just like with humans...
Your host, Bruce
My car is also a lemon... what procedure did you follow to get a replacement/refund?
Just use the Topic Search feature on the left side of the page for lemon law - you will find several topics. Check out the one in our Smart Shopper Conference for some useful links.
Good luck.
Pat
Community Leader/Maintenance & Repair Conference
Other problems on my 2000 GLX include the driver side window glass regulator broke about 4 months ago; battery went bad about 1 month ago; and some weird sound coming from the right side mirror and the front panel, that sounds like loosened screws or something.
VW really sucks.
Pat
Community Leader/Maintenance & Repair Conference
My previous car was a 91 Passat sedan. Bad O2 sensor for the life of the car, which was 105,000 miles before I traded it.
My wife drives a 98 Passat GLX wagon. Just had the O2 sensor replaced, and the "check engine" light is back on within 200 miles.
My friend drives an Audi A4 and wonders why his "check engine" light popped on at 4,000 miles. Whaddya think?
I'm wondering why VW continues to stick to a technology that's obviously faulty as hell, causes owners untold grief, yet adds no apparent value to the vehicle.
I hope the folks in Wolfsburg read this. Ich liebe mein Auto, aber seine O2 Sensor SUCKS!
Also, the cracking sound is getting louder and louder. I suspect that, when the drive side door is close, the door latch is loosened. I have made another appointment for them to take a look this coming Friday.
I have a 2000 Jetta. I also had oxygen sensor problems/gas mileage, and oil burning problems. I'm having an oil consumption test done now, but VW won't acknowledge any problem until the car consumes in excess of 1 qt of oil per 1000 miles. Any advice for those of us who want to get rid of our lemon VWs?
Thanks,
Certain states have certain actions you must take to get your car replaced. In Ohio (where i live) you must call Autoline before you get a lawyer. Be careful on how you go about this. Once you get a lawer and file a claim vw will tell your dealership not to work on your car. Let me know what state your in and I could help you from there. No one should purchase a new car and have this happen to them.
Should I just start with VW or BBB mediation and see if they'll give me a new car? Thanks for your input!
Go with the BBB. Once vw hears from them, they are really good about taking action. Please keep me up to date with your situation as I will with mine.
I've filed with BBB. VW is sticking to their story so far (the oil consumption is within specs). Looks like this may go to arbitration, or I'll have to deal with it (I currently go to the dealer every 2 weeks to have them add oil for the oil consumption test!)
I'll keep you updated.
My check engine light has been on and off and on again for the past 4 years. I have never been given a straight answer as to why they (the O2 sensors) fail. I did notice a drop in gas mileage but switched to 89 octane gas and now I am back to 31 highway/25 City.
I think that VW knows that these parts are faulty and chooses not acknowledge it. I think that everyone needs to complain to every where that will here complaints.
A few hundred miles later (you know what I’m about to say, don’t you?), the “check engine” light came on AGAIN. I took it back to Stohlman’s VW, and they said I needed ANOTHER oxygen sensor. I couldn’t afford to replace it again, and the car was running absolutely fine – there were no “symptoms”, nothing apparently wrong with the car, other than the fact that the “check engine” light was on – so I just continued driving it as it was. Within the same week, I took it to another Northern Virginia-based VW dealer, VW Springfield, to get a “second opinion”, and they could find nothing wrong with my car, and could not explain why the “check engine” light had come on.
About 2,000 miles later, the “check engine” light came back on, and this time, it was flashing on and off, not just solidly illuminated, indicating the possibility of a serious problem. I took it to the nearest VW dealer, Stohlman’s again, and they said I needed nearly $2,000 worth of work (for a car with under 30,000 miles on it!). I can’t remember exactly what they prescribed (I have it written down at home; it’s not with me right now), but I believe they said it needed a new throttle position something-or-other and an air temperature sensor and some other part that had something to do with measuring or apportioning fuel. Needless to say, I didn’t have $2,000 to put into my car, and frankly, I didn’t trust the dealership – so I never had that work done.
I’ve put just over 30,000 additional miles on my car since then, and while I have an occasional engine idle stutter or unevenness, usually related to a combination of cool (in the 40-degree Fahrenheit range) weather and high humidity, and the check engine light has been on most of that time, the car has been reliable. (With the exception, that is, at the 48,000 mile mark, of the piece of metal that connects the shifter to the transmission failing – inexplicable shearing right in half – rendering the car unable to move under its own power and leaving me stranded; this is the only car I’ve owned I can say that about.)
I love the way Volkswagens drive and their utilitarian aesthetic, enough that I would actually consider buying another one – but ONLY if I also bought an extended warranty for it at the same time, when it was brand new. But if we here in the U.S. have the opportunity to buy some other affordable European marque – Ford’s Focus seems the closest to that definition, in my opinion – I’ll likely opt for it over another VW.
I have a VW Golf GL 2K 2.0L 5sp. w/ ~13,0000 miles.
I started having problems at 8,000 miles
1. driver side visor mirror light went out-replaced by dealer
2. gear clash in shifting from 1st to 2nd. gear. it occurs 1 every 2-3 weeks. Dealer claims the golf has a shorter "throw" on the shifter. So it is easy for drivers to clash the gears on shifting. I have been driving a manual for 10 years. are they suggesting I can't drive.
3. This is a good one. Anyone have experience with this problem? If you turn on/off the ignition VERY slowly the head lights will come on as you pass the ACC. mode in the ignition. The parking brake is up during this operation by the way. The dealer says that this occurs on the Golf and Jetta. It is just part of the "design". I say it is part of a "design" FLAW. Anyway, no fix from the dealer. Please let me know if you experience this on the Golf / Jetta.
4. The vehicle sometimes hesitates in first gear. It is as if, it does not get the correct amount of gas/air and then all of a sudden it kicks in. On first trip to the dealer they could not find a problem.
5.This one has only happend 3 times. At startup the vehicle revs up to 2K rpm. On a normal startup it should overshoot up to ~ 1200 rpm then settle at ~ 850 rpm. After the second time it happened, the check engine light came on for 2 days. The dealer had a look and stated the coolant temp. sensor went out. This was replaced. They also said this was why I had prob. #4 about. Alas, problem #4 abouve still occurs, but just not as much. So is it the O2 sensor as others have had?
6. When coming out of a right or left turn, as the steering wheel spins back the opposite indicator light will flash just as the indicator switch trips off. Dealer replaced the turning switches. Problem continued. Dealer then replaced some sort of air bag spring thing a ma jiggy (sorry I dont remember what exactly it was). Anyway, this was supposedly what cause the turning indicator switch to go bad. I have not returned to the dealer to have this installed yet.
7. the vehicle seems to consume quite a bit of oil. 2K after my first oil change the level was below the required level. I assume when they changed it, the proper level was put back into the car. I have been check it since then and it still is going down very gradually. The manual does state that it will consume oil depending on driving condition ( I do DRIVE the vehicle too). But I also DROVE my previous car and the level never changed between oil changes.
These are the problems i have had. hope this helps some one. i am a bit disappointed in the car. i still really love it though. so i suppose it is a love/dislike relationship. :->.