[Nebulium]

Hey everyone, I've got a 2002 2.0L that just started giving me some problems. I started driving up a steep hill and the engine started sputtering and the accelerator was fairly unresponsive. After I pulled over and checked the engine I noticed it had a pretty bad smell to it. I hadn't drove far so I turned around and coasted down the hill and drove the rest of the way home, maybe 2 miles round trip tops. The rest of the drive, the engine worked fine, it maybe sputtered once or twice, but the accelerator responded fine.

After hooking up the scanner I got P1296, P0420, P0300 and P0304. The first was for the coolant sensor I believe, the second was for the catalytic converter not working well enough and the last two was for random misfires and cylinder 4 misfiring respectively.

What I was looking for was some opinions on what would be the best course of action. I assume that I should replace the sensor and cat, but I wasn't so sure about the misfiring, I plan on checking the spark plugs since they are kind of old. But I was wondering if there could be some link between the misfiring and the cat or the coolant sensor. I'm pretty strapped for cash so if I could avoid replacing some parts for now I would be really relieved.

Thanks in advance.

 

[KiDGiB]

I would start with a tune up, since that could be the cause of the misfires.

What kind of smell was it when you popped the hood?

How much gas did you have in the vehicle when you were going up the hill?

 

[Nebulium]

Will do, is there anything specific you would suggest? I was going to check the spark plugs and was thinking of checking the fuel filter just to be safe.

The smell was definitely some kind of burning, but it was never anything I had smelled before. I'm not really sure how to describe it. And there was about a quarter of a tank of gas in it.

Thanks

 

[KiDGiB]

I would get the NGK Iridium's, since it seems jetta like the NGK's. You could replace the fuel filter too, since its possible that your pump picked up the sediment from the bottom of the tank while going up the hill and plugged the filter. The fuel filter should be around $10-$20, so even if it wasn't the filter, you would be good for at least another 100,000 miles.

Yeah, describing a smell can be hard if you haven't smelled it before. Like brakes and clutch smell really bad and is unbearable for me. When you check your oil and coolant, is it low or staying at the same level? Just wondering if you have a leak somewhere.

 

[Nebulium]

The coolant and oil levels stay steady too, and yeah I figured what the heck, it definitely wouldn't hurt to change the filter.

I was finally able to start working on it today and I noticed that the vacuum hose that goes from the Fuel pressure regulator to the intake manifold was completely torn! So I replaced it, cleared the codes and started it back up. I tried revving the engine a bit and it seems to be going smoothly, and the codes haven't come back (aside from the coolant sensor, which I'm about to change anyways.) Could that have been the entire cause of the problem?

 

[KiDGiB]

Glad you got it fixed and found the problem. I would say that could of been the issue, since you would have bad fuel pressure and a vacuum leak. Take her for a spin and see if she runs any better.

 

[Nebulium]

Well I started it up again today (a much colder day than when I did the work on it last) and the misfiring has come back. Luckily the only code that has returned is the number 4 cylinder. I've replaced the #4 spark plug though so I doubt that is the problem. Also once I let it warm up it started running a bit smoother, not like normal, but definitely not as bad.

 

[Nebulium]

I tested the ignition coil pack and the resistance was really off on the last pin so i got a replacement and so far that seems to have solved the problem. Thanks for the help!