Items covered under PZEV Warranty

[gyruss]

Hey GTiMKVI, How'd things up with your suspected bad ECU and the dealership situation? Appreciate any additional details you can share.

I've got a 2011 PZEV with 85k miles that i've had it's whole life. I had APR stage 1 done at least 5 years ago and have ran perfectly until just recently. I have the dreaded running cooling fans situation. At first I found the smaller passenger side fan wasn't running. It would spin freely by hand. I replaced the fan with a brand new Behr unit. Now both fans operate, which is good, but both fans now run for about 5 to 7 minutes at full speed after the engine is shutdown. Before I toss more money at the problem by buying the larger main fan (which also houses the fan controller) I'm thinking of contacting APR to see about shipping my ECU to them for diagnosis and reflash. My last option will be taking the car to the dealer.

FWIW, all the threads that mention the ECU may have a short within the ECU's circuitry or humidity within the ECU's case I don't think apply to me. I find the weather aspect not applicable to where I live in the hot southwest desert. And if the ECU does have a faulty circuit or board after 5 years I don't think it's related to the ECU case being improperly sealed after all this time. Just my two cents and nothing directed towards you. Merely some info for the next forum reader that ends up here just as I did.

To be continued...

 

[jettaglis]

Hey GTiMKVI, How'd things up with your suspected bad ECU and the dealership situation? Appreciate any additional details you can share.

I've got a 2011 PZEV with 85k miles that i've had it's whole life. I had APR stage 1 done at least 5 years ago and have ran perfectly until just recently. I have the dreaded running cooling fans situation. At first I found the smaller passenger side fan wasn't running. It would spin freely by hand. I replaced the fan with a brand new Behr unit. Now both fans operate, which is good, but both fans now run for about 5 to 7 minutes at full speed after the engine is shutdown. Before I toss more money at the problem by buying the larger main fan (which also houses the fan controller) I'm thinking of contacting APR to see about shipping my ECU to them for diagnosis and reflash. My last option will be taking the car to the dealer.

FWIW, all the threads that mention the ECU may have a short within the ECU's circuitry or humidity within the ECU's case I don't think apply to me. I find the weather aspect not applicable to where I live in the hot southwest desert. And if the ECU does have a faulty circuit or board after 5 years I don't think it's related to the ECU case being improperly sealed after all this time. Just my two cents and nothing directed towards you. Merely some info for the next forum reader that ends up here just as I did.

To be continued...

Throw a big fan in there

 

[GertieGTI]

It was explained to me that because you got your ECU tuned 5 years ago you most likely had the ECU "bench flashed" in which they take out the ECU from under the cowl and with a heat gun, box knife, and some prying take the lid off the ECU so the installer can electrically ground a circuit to bypass the security. Now our ECU's can be "port flashed" but its the process of prying the lid off the board, which may already have a weakness, that exacerbates an electrical component on the board which causes the ECU to fail. Some have the fans come on full blast from a cold start, such as myself. Others, turn on the car all the dash lights up like a Chirstmas tree and doesn't starts, which happened to me the second time.

The dealer will most likely deny you since you modified the ECU, even if they installed it. It still voids your warranty and will cost them money. Your tuner most likely won't do much either, some have had luck. I had REVO repair my ECU the first time until a year later it died and left me stranded 200 mi from home. Then they left the US I couldn't even reach anyone. I had to work with my local tuning shop to locate a used ECU since new I was quoted $1500. Best of luck.

 

[Passat2016PZEV]

This thread helped me secure a throttle body replacement (~$800) on a 2016 1.8t passat PZEV with 87,000 at a dealer in CT.

Also, I'm the second owner... the warranty goes with the car. Passing this info on to the next person.

 

[PandaGTI]

So my intake manifold went bad at 114,000 miles. There’s a vacuum leak where the lever connects into the intake manifold to control the flaps. If I plug the area with my finger, the car runs nice and smooth with no issues. As soon as I remove my finger then I get the hissing sound and a bunch of missfires. (I also get alll the codes related to the flap position sensor and missfires)

I found out the PZEV warranty covers this part along with my injectors up to 15 years and 150,000 miles.

But here’s the rub… when my injectors went bad the shop I had it repaired at gave me the option of leaving the flaps off since the car is tuned with a KO4 turbo… this was over a year ago. I asked the dealer about that and they said once they take the manifold off and notice the missing parts they might deny warranty.

Can I just bring it to my independent VW mechanic and submit the receipt to VW? When I called VW warranty they said if I never got a letter from VW then I can submit a receipt (but she may be referring to the separate manifold warranty which is expired on my car anyway)

if I do have to bring it to VW I’m still gonna have to pay my independent mechanic to remove the current manifold and reinstall the flaps… so might as well have him do it. But it would be excellent if I can get reimbursed for the fuel injector valves and the manifold.

 

[vdubnick]

So my intake manifold went bad at 114,000 miles. There’s a vacuum leak where the lever connects into the intake manifold to control the flaps. If I plug the area with my finger, the car runs nice and smooth with no issues. As soon as I remove my finger then I get the hissing sound and a bunch of missfires. (I also get alll the codes related to the flap position sensor and missfires)

I found out the PZEV warranty covers this part along with my injectors up to 15 years and 150,000 miles.

But here’s the rub… when my injectors went bad the shop I had it repaired at gave me the option of leaving the flaps off since the car is tuned with a KO4 turbo… this was over a year ago. I asked the dealer about that and they said once they take the manifold off and notice the missing parts they might deny warranty.

Can I just bring it to my independent VW mechanic and submit the receipt to VW? When I called VW warranty they said if I never got a letter from VW then I can submit a receipt (but she may be referring to the separate manifold warranty which is expired on my car anyway)

if I do have to bring it to VW I’m still gonna have to pay my independent mechanic to remove the current manifold and reinstall the flaps… so might as well have him do it. But it would be excellent if I can get reimbursed for the fuel injector valves and the manifold.

threre are a couple threads about the intake letter they sent out to 2012/2013 owners... you can submit for reimbursement if you got the letter, probably can without it too, just have to do some calling/emailing first

 

[12gti]

dealer says coils and spark plugs are not covered under PZEV warranty.
2012 gti. 71k

sluggish and rough idle at cold start
check engine:
p2187
p0300
p0304
p0302
p050a
p2237

they say i need a new crankcase breather (not covered) and spark plugs (not covered). dealer just did new coils and plugs 7 months ago and charged me for them. they claim those parts aren’t covered under PZEV. even though they’re in the list in this thread from the Warranty Policies and Procedures Manual

i call VWoA. they say coils, plugs, pcv valve, breather are NOT covered. i cited the manual listed here https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2015/MC-10123086-9999.pdf
VWoA says their system is up to date and i should contact NHTSA if i have an issue with a document on their website.

what gives? i thought people were getting coils and plugs under the PZEV warranty.

 

[MiteyF]

I just got my intake manifold replaced with the updated version a few days ago under the PZEV warranty. '12 GTI, 72k miles. Car threw a 2015 code, and the dealership initially said VW wouldn't cover the new manifold, and that I'd be relying on my extended warranty I bought when I got the car (about 2 months ago), and would be out my deductible, as the intake manifold was a 100k / 10 year warranty. He called back to tell me that because it is a PZEV, it was extended to a 15 year, and it was 100% covered. They also cleaned/rebuilt my injectors while they were in there and had them all out, so one less maintenance item to worry about in the near future I suppose.