2011 Volkswagen Golf: sudden loss of power

Filed Sep 26, 2023 · Fuel system · CA

The High-pressure Fuel pump failed during a routine drive at approximately 1500 RPMs. This caused an immediate loss of power while in traffic. Manage to limp the car to the nearest gas station in which the car finally died and would not start. Had to call for a tow truck. This immediate loss of power could have cause myself and my daughter to get into an accident. Luckily, we were not on a major highway doing 65+ MPH, which could have been a lot worse. The vehicle flashed a MIL light or flashing glow plug light at the time of the incident. The car did not show any signs of possible failure beforehand. This same issue has been recalled by Fiat-Chrysler on their Heavy-Duty Ram pickup trucks with 6.7L Cummins due to catastrophic failure of the CP4 fuel pump.

Filed Dec 31, 2021 · Engine, Fuel system · SC

Driving on interstate at 70 mph with cruise control on when car suddenly slowed and warning lights began flashing. I slowed to 60 mph and within a minute the engine shut off and was almost rear ended by a semi truck before I could get to the shoulder of the highway. Engine would not restart and I was stranded on the highway. Had to have the vehicle towed by AAA back to my home. Used my Ross-Tech VCDS scanning tool to troubleshoot and found codes: P0087 (fuel rail system pressure too low), P020 (cylinders 1-4 injection timing), P1004-P1007 (torque difference cylinders 1-4). Examined fuel filter and fuel metering valve and found metal chips and particles in both places. Based on this evidence, the high pressure fuel pump has likely failed. My safety was put at risk when the failure occurred due to the sudden loss of power and subsequent near collision with a truck. Additionally I was in danger of being hit by other vehicles as I sat on the shoulder of the highway waiting for a tow truck. My vehicle is available for inspection by the local VW dealership, but will have to be towed at my expense to be examined.

Filed Jan 8, 2016 · Fuel system · 36,234 miles · WI

The vehicle was in motion on a city street, and the engine stopped working. This resulted in a total loss of power during driving. Attempts to re-start the car were not successful. Note: no fault lights came on. A near miss collision occurred, but luckily no accident. Car was pushed to side of road and left for a few hours. After a few hours, the car did re-start with great difficulty. On re-starting, a plume of grey smoked came from the tail pipe this fault is the second time of occurrence after the manufacturer (vw) supposedly corrected a fault 202 error the last time a similar situation occurred. I feel the car's fuel system is a non-safe design as a serious collision nearly occurred.

Filed Nov 10, 2014 · Engine · 29,000 miles · WI

When driving the car and accelerating, the engine stopped. There was a loss of engine power; however, after engine lost power, the dash-board lights were on. The car would not re-start immediately after the engine stopping. This scenario occurred three times. In two of the three situations, the car did re-start later in the day (approximately 3 hours after the initial failure). In one of the three situations, the car could not be re-started and required towing to the car dealer. In one of the three situations, a near miss accident occurred. A second car nearly rear ended my car after the engine stopped working. No accident occurred, but it was a close call. The second car skidded and swerved around my car.

Filed Nov 10, 2014 · Electrical, Engine · 28,000 miles · WI

When driving car and accelerating, the engine simply stopped. The dash-board lights were on, but the engine lost power. Attempts to re-start the car were not immediately successful. In two of the three cases, the engine did re-start. However, the e-starts occurred over 4 hours after the initial loss of engine power. In one of the three cases, the car could not be re-started. In this last case, the car was towed to the dealer and as of today (10 november), the dealer has not determined the cause of failure. A near miss accident occurred in one of the cases. After the engine stopped, another car nearly rear-ended my disabled car. The other car skidded and served out of the way of my disabled car.

Filed Oct 14, 2014 · Fuel system · 61,000 miles · PA

While driving at highway speed glow plug light began blinking and car lost power and went into "limp" mode. Had car towed to dealer where it was determined that the in-tank fuel pump and diesel high pressure fuel pump had both done bad, possibly a cascading failure. Repair was performed at no charge despite being outside of warranty. Eight months later and 18,000 miles later at approx 79,000 miles, similar symptoms and failure as determined by the same dealer. This was again repaired by vw under "goodwill warranty" . There must be some sort systemic or design failure with the fuel pumps on these cars. There are pages of complaints here and on various tdi web forums documenting instances of fuel pump failures.

Filed Sep 2, 2014 · Engine, Fuel system · 78,500 miles · FL

On the night of august 5 about 8:30pm, while driving at 45mph, my car lost power while driving. I was able to get out of the traffic flow and coast until I could get to a side road and then pushed it into a parking lot. I looked at the engine and saw the serpentine belt was damaged. I also noticed fuel sitting on top of surfaces in the engine compartment. I asked my son to verify if he smelled fuel which he did as I have little sense of smell. After seeing the damaged serpentine belt, I did not attempt to restart the engine. I had the vehicle towed. At the dealer, the service representative attempted to try to start the vehicle and move it and said it wouldn't start, possibly causing additional damage since the serpentine belt was shredded. After some investigation the dealer's service manager explained that their leading theory is that diesel fuel leaked from fuel filter gasket onto the serpentine belt. Then the shredded serpentine belt took out the timing belt and caused the engine to rotate out of time causing internal damage. Car had been maintained per manufacturer schedule by this dealer, and this failure occurred 6k miles after most recent service. Dealer was unsure why the diesel fuel leaked, but the high pressure fuel pump and fuel filter seemed viable problem points. After getting engine parts replaced at great expense and getting the engine running on aug 30, 2014, dealer indicated that they couldn't detect a fuel leak and said serpentine belt condition showed no condition to indicate failure but failed anyway causing the cavalcade of engine damage. Many parts were replaced or removed and reinstalled during the repair, so it is questionable that there was no fuel leak.

Filed Aug 5, 2014 · Brakes, Fuel system · 38,000 miles · CA

While driving at approx 75 MPH in the fast lane of an interstate freeway my 2011 vw golf tdi shut off. Without warning, the glow plug lamp began flashing and check engine note came on the dash. At the same time the car lost all power and began running very rough. While negotiating traffic in an attempt to pull over (quite dangerous without power and tractor trailers now passing my slowing car) the car shut off taking the power brakes and power steering with it. I was able to safely get off the highway due to the wide shoulder in that area but this would have been another story had this happened in an area with no shoulder or safe pull off. My car has been properly maintained at service intervals and fueled from name brand, high volume filling stations. Vws own tests of my car indicated no fault of my own and nothing amiss in the fuel but rather catastrophic failure of a high pressure pump which displaced metal into the fuel system. This sort of failure is common enough (noted in a simple internet search) and flat out dangerous when it occurs at speed since the car gave no indications that it was going to shut off at speed (and fail to restart without being towed to the dealer). Worse yet, vw is aware of this issue with the tdi diesels but has stopped short of issuing a recall to install new parts that will not fail so soon and without warning. The car was fixed under warranty (car has only 38,000 miles) however they replaced the parts with the same failure prone parts. Web anecdotes from others with similar failures have noted that it happens in hotter areas (90-100 degree temps). This was my experience as well as I was in the middle of a long drive in 100 degree temps.

Filed May 16, 2013 · Fuel system · 30,800 miles · NV

Engine warning light, loss of power, engine stall. Dealer said fuel pump failed, contaminated complete fuel system. Entire fuel system must be replaced. *tr ## VIN failed ##

Filed Jan 22, 2013 · Fuel system · 55,000 miles · CA

I was driving on i15 southbound, the engine malfunction symbol appeared on my dash board and all of a sudden the car lost power and stalled. After paying over $800.00 in towing fees to the nearest vw dealer in ontario california. The dealer is asking if gasoline was put in the tank. They are saying that metal shards were found and gasoline is the only cause of that malfunction. I am the only driver of the car and I have never put gasoline. I always fill up at the same gas station due to the fact that not all gas station have diesel.

Filed Mar 28, 2012 · Engine, Fuel system · 22,000 miles · MS

During regular slow traffic driving conditions my 2011 volkswagen golf tdi displayed the "engine control malfunction" light on my instrument panel. I quickly pulled over and turned off the engine. After waiting several minutes I started the vehicle again and the light turned off. After about 10 minutes of driving, the light came on again and I noticed an extreme loss of power. I pulled over again within a few minutes and turned off the engine. This time I waited almost 15 minutes before trying to start the vehicle again and it would not start. I thought I was out of diesel as the low fuel light had also just come on so I called someone to bring me 5 gallons of diesel thinking maybe I was out. After refueling, the vehicle still wouldn't start so I had it towed to the closest vw dealer. The dealer said it was the fuel pump and I am currently waiting for it to be repaired. This happend on a saturday and it is now 4 days later.

Filed Feb 20, 2012 · Fuel system · 17,260 miles · AR

Warning bell chimed; glow plug lights flashed and car lost power but kept driving. Took into dealer next day. Told on phone there was moisture on glow plugs but statement said low fuel pressure code p0087. Statement said fuel looked ok and car drove fine - sent home with no repair. Two days later same thing occurred except car went into limp mode and had to be towed to shop. In shop for 6 days - replaced aux fuel pump. Nine days later exact same occurrence - limp mode and towed to shop again. Car currently in dealer shop for the last 10 days. Last word from dealer is dropping fuel tank to check for debris.