I have a 2003 VW Passat 1.8L Turbo w/ 98,000 miles. For the past week or so, every 3 or 4 days, the car decides it doesn’t want to start. It turns completely over, the battery power is not weak, it just won’t start. If I let it sit for a few minutes (5 or 10), it starts up without an issue and the check engine light doesn’t come on. My last tune up was at 75,000 miles, when I also got new engine coils. I’ve had the timing belt replaced recently as well.
Since I can’t get the car to do this in the presence of a mechanic, (or anyone else for that matter) i’m at a loss as to what to do to remedy this… as is the mechanic.
Has anyone experienced a similar problem? Does anyone know what may be going on?
Has anyone dumped error codes out of the computer? They are pretty comprehensive it’s hard to imagine this problem would not be generating a bunch of them. Error codes do not necessarily light the check engine light. There are places that will do this free, mostly auto parts stores.
For example, a routine check on my 03 Passat indicated that the sensor that reads coolant temp was bad, which could result in difficult starting.
I had the error codes dumped when I took it to the shop, there were none. I had my cooling temp sensor replaced 2 weeks ago, before the problem started & coincidentally, on the same day that I got a letter from VW extending the warranty on it.