Hey guys, got a little bit of puzzler I was hoping to get a little help with. First off, my car is a ‘14 MK6 GTI 2.0T/DSG w/107k, basic stage 2 car (CAI, catted Downpipe, cat-back, stratified tuned). It’s got recent NGK plugs per stratified for their stage 2 tune, gapped to .028, has a recent PCV valve, DSG fluid done at 85k. Turbo and intake manifold both replaced at 45k under warranty when both failed within a week of each other, otherwise a zero issue car, and every other mechanical part is still original.
Fast forward to now, I’m experiencing a strange issue. I’ve noticed that lately, especially as it’s been much colder here, and usually more noticeable while the engine is cold before fully up to temp, that I’ve been getting slight hesitation/missing/bucking while driving around under light throttle, usually like sub-2k rpm’s. Tonight it also started doing it at highway speeds as well, sub-3k rpm’s, but again, only under light throttle such as maintaining speed, etc. When you get on it, or drive in S mode, keeping the rpm’s in a higher range, this issue is unnoticed. When it does happen, there are no codes, no EPC lights, and it’s honestly not dramatic but enough so I can feel it in my seat, and even my gf can notice it in the passenger seat. My first thought was that at 107k, I’ve actually never had a carbon cleaning done; mind you this car is driven quite hard periodically and I do try to go out of my way to give the valves a good self cleaning, but nevertheless, I’ve never had a proper, true carbon cleaning performed yet. Since this hesitation has began, I’ve since reached out to a buddy who works for VW that’s gonna try to get this done for me in a near Saturday for $350, I’ve just gotta get the car up 1.5hrs to him lol. However, I’m not truly convinced that this is all just coming from carbon buildup, but maybe I’m wrong, and that’s why I wanted to ask here first. I’ve read about numerous similar issues, a lot of them in regards to dirty/failing TBs, failing LPFP, dirty/bad MAF sensor, intake manifold runner flap failure, among other things, but so many threads don’t conclude what they finally found to be their fix, thus I don’t have many solid references. I also don’t have vagcom, however I do have a decent actron scanner that can monitor many PIDs and trims live, as well as a Cobb Accessport, that can also monitor and log a lot of info. I’ve also thought about reaching out to Alex at Stratified to see if they have any suggestions or recommend me refreshing my tune as I’ve had this file installed for over 60k miles now. If you guys have any suggestions, or could recommend some troubleshooting processes, I’m definitely all ears, and I’m pretty capable of performing most diagnostics and can report back findings as needed. I’ll also be sure to update my thread with my personal solution as well once I get this resolved; this is my only daily and I do intend to get this resolved and running perfectly as usual again. Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions!
Derek
Fast forward to now, I’m experiencing a strange issue. I’ve noticed that lately, especially as it’s been much colder here, and usually more noticeable while the engine is cold before fully up to temp, that I’ve been getting slight hesitation/missing/bucking while driving around under light throttle, usually like sub-2k rpm’s. Tonight it also started doing it at highway speeds as well, sub-3k rpm’s, but again, only under light throttle such as maintaining speed, etc. When you get on it, or drive in S mode, keeping the rpm’s in a higher range, this issue is unnoticed. When it does happen, there are no codes, no EPC lights, and it’s honestly not dramatic but enough so I can feel it in my seat, and even my gf can notice it in the passenger seat. My first thought was that at 107k, I’ve actually never had a carbon cleaning done; mind you this car is driven quite hard periodically and I do try to go out of my way to give the valves a good self cleaning, but nevertheless, I’ve never had a proper, true carbon cleaning performed yet. Since this hesitation has began, I’ve since reached out to a buddy who works for VW that’s gonna try to get this done for me in a near Saturday for $350, I’ve just gotta get the car up 1.5hrs to him lol. However, I’m not truly convinced that this is all just coming from carbon buildup, but maybe I’m wrong, and that’s why I wanted to ask here first. I’ve read about numerous similar issues, a lot of them in regards to dirty/failing TBs, failing LPFP, dirty/bad MAF sensor, intake manifold runner flap failure, among other things, but so many threads don’t conclude what they finally found to be their fix, thus I don’t have many solid references. I also don’t have vagcom, however I do have a decent actron scanner that can monitor many PIDs and trims live, as well as a Cobb Accessport, that can also monitor and log a lot of info. I’ve also thought about reaching out to Alex at Stratified to see if they have any suggestions or recommend me refreshing my tune as I’ve had this file installed for over 60k miles now. If you guys have any suggestions, or could recommend some troubleshooting processes, I’m definitely all ears, and I’m pretty capable of performing most diagnostics and can report back findings as needed. I’ll also be sure to update my thread with my personal solution as well once I get this resolved; this is my only daily and I do intend to get this resolved and running perfectly as usual again. Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions!
Derek