lately I've been experiencing a weird situation while driving my 04 jetta gl.. I'll suddenly lose acceleration, even though my foot is on the gas. it's almost like the gas pedal disappears for a minute, and then it kicks back in. it happens every time I drive, sometimes more than once, and I always think it's going to finally die, but then it kicks back in and everything is fine.

I have no indicator lights on my dash and everything else seems to be ok, so I don't know what it is, and I don't want to take it to the dealer and get ripped off in labor for something if it's easy to fix.

 

I have the same problem. I have a 00 glx vr6 5spd. I'll be driving & everything starts to slow down even when I have the pedal all the way down, suddenly it kicks back in & takes off. In my case sometimes my car shuts off. You can try changing the fuel filter(did that & solved the problem temporarily). Me & my cousin think that it might be the throttle body starting to go bad. You can try checking both of those things. If you find a solution b4 me let me know. thanks

 

Do change the fuel filter. After you have,pour a bottle of Seafoam in about a 3/4 full tank of premium fuel. If that doesn't work it's probably something in the ignition system.

 

I am definitely going to look into this.

On the way to the dentist this morning, my car died at the traffic light of an intersection.

I was able to get it started and limped to the gas station. It seems my fuel level was so low it triggered the car to think the tank was empty.

Possibly a fuel sensor problem?

I'm checking with an independent mechanic today who works on German engineered cars.

I feel so clueless.

 

I had the fuel filter replaced yesterday and it seems to be running better.

The mechanic I went to said it might be the Master Flow sensor(?) He also said, if that's the case, sometimes you can just clean it and it's fine. Otherwise it's a somewhat expensive part to replace.

At least that's what I thought he said it might be. He was talking to me from under my car.

 

Yes your Mass Air Flow Sensor is in between the airbox and the tube that leads to the throttle body. Get some MAF cleaner and give it a good bath and let it dry. You can also use electronic cleaner as well.

 

I pulled out the air box and knocked about 3 inches of dirt from it. Sprayed the MAF sensor pretty good with some MAF Sensor Cleaner. Cleaned the throttle body as well.
That seemed to take care of the initial problem...
Now, though, it seems I have a new (but related) problem.
During idle, my engine acts like it's going to stall out. Weird things I notice on my dash is that my RPMs go up and down, sometimes 500, during idle. Also, my fuel gauge moves while idling.
General consensus is that it's either my fuel pump (which I am leaning towards, b/c of the strange movement on my fuel gauge) or my catalytic converter.
Any ideas?

 

I'm not sure about an '04, but the fuel pickup on my fuel pump is spring loaded so the fuel is always taken from the bottom of the tank. If it were my car, I'd check that-like I said, I don't know if that is the case on yours.
It almost sounds like a fuel pressure regulator, or maybe a TPS? I'm still learning VW and trying to unlearn rice burners though...
Just throwing ideas out there.
Good luck!