PZEV Owners Beware!

If your model car is really a PZEV model then your emissions related components are covered under a 15 year/150,000 mile warranty.

I just brought my car to the dealership to have a CEL taken care of due to a "circuit open" code related to my secondary air injection system. Dealer told me that it is due to the combo/check valve that is connected to the cylinder head.

They then went on to say that my car is not a "PZEV" model.... when it says PZEV right on the dealers sticker under the hood... and i have the secondary air injection pump...

Dealer said that the combo/check valve is not covered under warranty and that it would cost me $650 to replace + $120 diagnostic fee. No matter what I told them they kept saying it wasn't a PZEV car.

So I called VW of America and gave them my VIN. They confirmed that it IS a PZEV model and that it should be covered under warranty.

I'm thinking that the dealer didn't want to pay for the warranty work so they tried to get me to pay it by lying to my face and over the phone.

Be diligent people! No way I'm paying $750+ to clear this CEL and pass emissions. The CEL doesn't affect drive-ability or MPG's. It's just generating a CEL which is preventing me from passing emissions.

Don't trust what the dealerships tell you! Call VW of America to confirm before shelling out the money!

good looking out man..

You should send a follow-up to VWOA letting them know what the dealer was doing to you. It's definitely sketchy and shouldn't go unpunished.

Watch how quickly that dealer offers you complimentary oil changes after that, lol.

Good to know, thanks. I hope I have a decent dealer near me or that I never need them.

I thought dealers like to do warranty work since VWoA pays them to do it. I don't think the dealer is screwing you, VWoA doesn't list that part as having that warranty/PZEV so the dealer just says no. It sounds like the dealer doesn't have enough experience in this area to sort it out with VWoA.

I tried to get something warrantied through PZEV (G611 Direct Ozone Reduction Radiator Identification sensor) and the dealer basically told me that PZEV is a PITA for them. The dealer has to write up a report that gets reviewed by VWOA before they will do any work. Ends up in a lot of papework for the dealer. They ended up telling me that because I have a front mount intercooler installed they wouldn't be able to justify the warranty work to VWOA. That's fine, it's the price of having a modified car. My intercooler clearly didn't cause the sensor to be faulty but I understand where they're coming from.

However, if you are stock (or can easily go back to stock) I wouldn't hesitate to push a dealer to do PZEV work. The PZEV warranty is quite extensive (covers EVERYTHING remotely emissions related) and covers to 15yrs/150k. If you call the dealer they should be able to look up whether a specific part is covered by PZEV. The dealer I dealt with had a binder with a list of components. Here's what a quick google search came up with (no idea the source but it seems similar to what the binder had listed).

Service Number/ Component

1714 Oil Filler Cap
1726 PCV Valve
1911 Coolant Level Sensor
1913 Coolant Fan Con. Switch
1970 Direct Ozone Reduction (DOR) Radiator/Sensor
1978 Temperature Sending Unit
2005 Fuel Filler Cap
2007 Filler Neck
2010 Fuel Tank
2019 Gravity Valve
2022 Activated Charcoal Line
2024 Canister Purge Solenoid/Valve
2025 Canister
2038 Fuel Feed Line
2039 Fuel Return Line
2044 Fuel Line
2048 Leak Detection Pump
2057 Pressure Relief Valve
2058 Fuel Accumulator
2065 Fuel Pump Relay
2130 Turbo Charger
2143 Charge Inter-Cooler
2164 Over Run Cut-off Valve
2168 Pressure Sender
2169 Solenoid Shut-off Valve
2329 Diesel Injection Pump
2340 1 Injector with Lift Sensor
2359 Diesel Air Mass Meter
2360 Diesel ECM
2425 Air Cleaner Housing
2426 Intake Air Temp. Sensor
2433 Switching Valve
2438 Heated Air Duct
2440 Injectors
2441 Fuel Distributor
2442 Throttle Body
2444 Throttle Position
2445 Air Flow Sensor
2447 Intake Manifold
2458 Fuel Pressure Regulator
2460 Cold Start Valve/Injector
2461 Throttle Position Sensor
2462 Engine Coolant Temp. Sensor
2468 Oxygen Sensor Relay
2469 Pre-Oxygen Sensor
2470 Electronic Control Module
2473 Post Oxygen Sensor
2481 Idle Air Control Valve
2510 Heated Oxygen Sensor
2511 Engine Control Module
2513 Differential Pressure Reg.
2514 VAF Sensor Position Sensor
2519 Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor
2525 Air Cleaner Housing
2527 Intake Air Duct
2540 Fuel Injectors
2544 Throttle Body
2548 Cold Start Valve/Injector
2555 Fuel Pressure Regulator
2560 Fuel Distributor
2562 Volume Air Flow Sensor
2567 Vacuum Amplifier
2568 Idle Air Control Valve
2574 Throttle Position Switch/Sensor
2580 Intake Manifold
2588 Idle Air Control Valve System
2604 CO Content Pipe
2610 Exhaust Manifold
2617 Exhaust Pipe (Manifold to Catalyst)
2639 EGR Valve
2640 Secondary Air Injection Shut-Off Check Valve
2641 EGR Vacuum Hoses
2642 EGR Temperature Sensor
2644 Solenoid Valve
2654 Thermal Vacuum Valve
2655 Secondary Air Injection Relay
2665 Secondary Air Injection Pump
2668 Anti-Backfire Valve
2670 Pre-catalytic Converter
2672 Three-Way Catalytic Converter Temperature Sensor
2673 Three-Way Catalytic Converter
2817 Ignition Coil Power Output Stage
2820 Ignition Coil (Tri-Coil Pack)
2823 Ignition System Control Module
2830 Distributor Assembly
2832 Distributor Cap
2834 Distributor Rotor
2839 Vehicle Speed Sensors (Camshaft Position Sensor)
2853 Spark Plug Wires
2855 Coil Wire
2870 Spark Plugs
2872 Knock Sensors
2873 Crankshaft Position Sensor
2884 Glow Plug
2885 Glow Plug Relay
3707 Park Neutral Switch
3730 Transmission Control Module
9009 Speed Sensor
9025 Instrument Cluster
N/A MIL Lamp

The dealer was trying to tell me that my car wasn't covered under the PZEV warranty. And that just because your car may have the PZEV parts on it doesn't mean its covered by the warranty. I guess where the vehicle first got sold determines if the PZEV car will be covered under warranty.

The dealer said that their system said my car wasn't covered under warranty.

I called VW of America and gave them my VIN and they said it was covered under warranty. Then VWoA worked with the dealership over the course of a week to get all the paperwork straight.

Right now my car is at the dealership getting the part fixed under the PZEV warranty. It was a faulty Combo/check valve. They wanted $650 to replace that + $120 for diagnostic fee. Luckily I avoided all of that by calling VW of America directly.

Now it's snowing out and I'm stuck where I am until the dealership picks me up. Yay

How does one ascertain that their car is PZEV? Only certain years?

CBFA engine code is usually PZEV. Your car will also have an extra O2 sensor. And it’ll have a secondary air injection pump that you can hear on cold starts. Helps warm up the cats for lower emissions.

You should see a PZEV designation under the hood on the sticker that’s front and center near the hood latch

Wow, I thought PZEV was a PITA...sounds like the extra warranty makes it worth having. All the dealers suck, I've been to 4 or 5 in my area and they are all bad.

pzev will have one of these...

Thank you good folks for the help. My GTI is in fact a PZEV. Nice to know the warranty on the emission stuff is 15 years 150,000 miles.

GreyGti1990 said:

And it’ll have a secondary air injection pump that you can hear on cold starts. Helps warm up the cats for lower emissions.

Click to expand...

Always wondered what that noise was, good to know!!

1ashchuckton said:

Thank you good folks for the help. My GTI is in fact a PZEV. Nice to know the warranty on the emission stuff is 15 years 150,000 miles.

Click to expand...

Welcome to the club lol!! You also will have a none clicky gas cap.

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.