I Have a VW Jetta 2001 2.0 and the other day while driving the check engine light came on and the car started shaking, I changed the spark plugs...but i noticed the Cylinder 1 spark plug was black and all the other spark plugs fine, I took it to a shop to have them do a Dianostic and he said that the 1 and 2 cylinder were coming up and the codes P0300, P0301, P0302 are showing up......I showed the guy the Cylinder 1 spark plug while he checking my car the spark plug and he said it didnt smell like Gas, and that it might be oil and that he is going to do cylinder Presure check. I'm kind going broke, can someone tell me what I'm dealing with? Can I fix it? If I cant fix it How much is it going to cost me to fix it? HELP

 

this sounds a lot like what i was dealing with in my fiance's car (2000 jetta 2.0). i changed the fuel filter, spark plugs, and still had issues. took it to a shop and they ended up swapping out plug wires as well. i suggest doing a full tune up (spark plugs, wires, fuel filter, air filter, etc). the most important of those are the plugs and wires. the wires will be most expensive, somewhere at least $80.

also, one thing that may help out is seafoam. IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: I HAVE DONE THIS TO MY CAR, AND A FEW OTHERS, BUT IF IT RUINS YOUR CAR, IT ISN'T MY FAULT. that being said, this has been a very effective product for me. get 2 cans of seafoam, 1 can seafoam deep creep & a funnel from any autoparts store. pour 1 full can through the funnel into the gas tank, ideally when getting low on fuel. the next part may take 2 people for you, but i was able to do it on my own. extremely important: to do this part, be outside in a well ventilated area. there are potentially toxic gases that your car will be putting out, and a lot of smoke if you have never done this before. start the car (if manual, have it in neutral, automatic in park). while car is idling, find a good vacuum hose that goes into the head, but not the one of the air intake. take that off the end away from the head and slowly pour a little less than half of the can of seafoam into the vacuum line. the car will choke on this, and you might need the second person to rev it up while you pour it in. doing this on your own just mean opening the throttle body yourself to rev it. as you get to just below have the can, pour the seafoam in fast to choke the car out, and dont rev it. if the car doesnt choke out, go turn it off. let it sit in there for a little bit and clean out the throttle body and air plenum using the seafoam deep creep. you take off the intake tube from the throttle body, manually open the throttle body blade and generously (1/4 to 1/3 of the can is good) spray all around the inside of throttle body and intake plenum. put it all back together. this should take about 15-20 minutes to disassemble, clean & reassemble, maybe a little longer. start the car up again. it will likely run rough for the first few 10 seconds. once it has been on for 5-10 seconds getting everything properly lubricated with oil, you will need to really rev it up. redline is 6500 rpm, but you dont need to go that high. take it up around 4-5k rpm. keep going on it until it doesnt blow out the white smoke. i recently seafoamed my stepmoms car (2002 volvo s60 with about 110,000 miles), and one of the neighbors thought there was a car fire from all the smoke. this is built up sludge and gunk inside the motor that the seafoam broke down and is being burnt out. once it quits blowing the smoke, take it out for a spirited drive, just to make sure it is all cleared out.

later, when the motor is cold, pour the other half can of seafoam directly into the oil. DON'T POUR IT INTO HOT OIL. room temp liquid going into hot oil can cause warpage to internal motor pieces which would be very bad. drive from 100-250 miles, but get an oil change no more than 250 miles after seafoam was put into the oil. again, very aggressive product that pulls all the gunk out, and your oil filter gets to catch it all, or at least try to. next oil change will be probably thicker than usual and black as satans heart. i do my own oil changes, and i plan seafoam in the oil shortly before the next oil change.

 

hey smar,

i have a 01 jetta that is cranking but not starting. it died on my while on the freeway. sprayed some fuel into the intake and got it to turn on for a bit. i think it might be the fuel pump cuz i dont hear it kick on when turning ignition on. do u have any idea or tips for me? thanks...