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.
2011 Volkswagen Golf fuel system problems
48 complaints (44% of all complaints for this car). Typical mileage when it fails: 30,800.
- owner complaints
- 48
- of this car's complaints
- 44%
- typical mileage
- 30,800
- crashes
- 0
- recalls
- 1
Which part fails
Owners did not name a specific part.
At what mileage
Complaints by mileage at the time of the problem.
Volkswagen Golf fuel system problems in other years
Specific symptoms reported on the 2011 Volkswagen Golf fuel system
Phrases found in the owners' own descriptions, so one complaint can mention several symptoms.
Related recalls
Fuel system, diesel
- What is wrong
- Volkswagen is recalling certain model 2009-2012 jetta and jetta sportwagen vehicles, manufactured from may 2008 through september 2011, model year 2010-2012 volkswagen golf vehicles, manufactured from may 2009 through september 2011, and model year 2010-2012 audi a3 vehicles, manufactured from september 2009 through september 2011, that are equipped with a 2.0l tdi common rail diesel engine/clean diesel engine. The fuel injection pulses could coincide with the natural frequency of the injector line #2, in specific load and RPM conditions. This resonance creates additional stress in the fuel line.
- Risk
- Due to the resonance condition, injector line number 2 could develop small cracks which could lead to fuel leakage. Leaking fuel in the presence of an ignition source, may lead to a fire.
- Remedy
- Volkswagen will install an improved fuel injector line for the number 2 cylinder on certain vehicles and will install vibration dampers on all of the injector lines. Volkswagen and audi will notify owners to have the vehicles repaired free of charge. The safety recall is expected to begin during november 2011. Owners may contact volkswagen at 1‑800‑822‑8987.
Recall number 11V490000 · Recall details
Related investigations
Diesel Fuel Injector Line Leakage
By letter dated October 3, 2011, Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (VW) notified the federal safety agency that it will conduct a safety recall to address a defect in approximately 168,275 model year (MY) 2009-2012 Volkswagen Jetta, Jetta Sportwagen, Golf, and Audi A3 vehicles equipped with the 2.0L TDI Common Rail Clean Diesel engine (the federal safety agency Recall No. 11V‑490).The recalled Jetta and Jetta Sportwagen vehicles were built from May 2008 through September 2011, the Golf vehicles were built from May 2009 through September 2011, and the Audi A3 vehicles were built from September 2009 through September 2011.According to Volkswagen, in U.S. applications of the above cited TDI vehicles including engine codes CJAA and CBEA, the fuel injection pulses could coincide with the natural frequency of the injector line #2 in specific load and RPM conditions.This resonance creates additional stress on the fuel line which a small number of parts (based on the statistic spread of line strength) cannot withstand over its lifetime.As a contributing factor, VW indicated that a supplier used tube material with scratch marks from a grinding process during certain production periods.Lines manufactured in these periods were installed in vehicles produced in the following 10 months:December 2008, January-February 2009, October 2009, March-April 2010 and September-December 2010.Injector lines using this material exhibit a significantly higher failure rate.Dealers will replace injector line #2 in all vehicles built in these months.In addition, as a precautionary measure, all recalled vehicles will have vibration dampers installed on all four fuel injector lines.Analysis of the federal safety agency complaints, VW complaints, VW field reports and warranty claims found allegations of injector line leakage in 443 subject vehicles.The leaking line was not identified in 62 of the vehicles.For the 381 that did provide information about which injector lines were leaking and/or replaced, 358 (94%) involved an injector line #2 leak/repair.Almost three-quarters of the injector line #2 leak/repair incident vehicles were built in the 10 months identified by VW, which accounted for approximately one-quarter of the recalled vehicles.The failure rate for injector line #2 in vehicles built in the 10 months affected by the supplier line scratching issue is 6.0 incidents per thousand vehicles (IPTV).The failure rate for injector line #2 in other production months of recalled vehicles is 0.8 IPTV.The leak/repair rates for the other injector lines are all well under 1 IPTV.The action taken by Volkswagen is sufficient to resolve the issues raised by this investigation. The agency will continue to monitor this issue and reserves the right to take further action if warranted by the circumstances. Accordingly, this investigation is closed.
PE11023
High-Pressure Fuel Pump Failure
The Office of Defects Investgation (ODI) opened EA11-003 on February 7, 2011, based on 160 complaints to ODI and Volkswagen involving high pressure fuel pump (HPFP) failures in model year (MY) 2009 through 2010 Volkswagen Jetta and Golf and Audi A3 TDI vehicles and questions regarding fuel sample results provided by Volkswagen as part of its response to PE10-034.During EA11-003, ODI analyzed design information, field experience and test data for MY 2009 through 2012 Volkswagen Jetta, Golf and Touareg and Audi A3 and Q7 vehicles equipped with TDI engines. Volkswagen has not identified any design or manufacturing defects in the subject TDI Clean Diesel pumps and has stated that the subject pumps were designed, tested and approved for use in the United States market, with substantial design margins for fuels that are out of specification.Volkswagen believes that misfueling with gasoline is the primary cause of HPFP drivetrain failures in the field.Only the Q7 vehicles were built with misfuel protection devices.In May 2013 Volkswagen initiated a service campaign to install misfuel protection devices in all MY 2009 through 2012 Jetta, Golf and A3 vehicles.Volkswagen implemented misfuel protection devices in all of the subject models beginning in MY 2013. ODI?s analysis of HPFP drivetrain failure incidents indicates that most failures do not result in engine stall while driving and, when pump drivetrain failure does result in stall while driving, it is usually preceded by numerous warning symptoms (e.g., glow plug warning lamp, chime, limp mode, and driveability symptoms).The failure data for the subject vehicles show relatively low stalling rates (less than one percent at three years in service) for each of the pump designs used in the subject vehicles.There have been no reports of crashes, injuries or fatalities related to the alleged defect. Based on these facts, this investigation is closed.The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by the federal safety agency that a safety-related defect does not exist.The agency will continue to monitor complaints and other information relating to the alleged defect in the subject vehicles and take further action in the future if warranted.For additional information, see the closing report in the document file for EA11-003.
EA11003
What 2011 Volkswagen Golf owners say
Most recent owner complaints, unedited.
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.
2011 golf tdi 2door. Started throwing and error code of p2ba6. Took it for diagnostics and they stated that issue was a previous recall and was fixed already. I contacted vw directly to see how to go about the situation and they stated the car was fixed in 2011 and even though I only have 44k miles on the car they will still not fix the issue because it is out of warranty. In conclusion the part that had already gone bad and recalled has been fixed once they are refusing to replace the new part since it has been replaced. Clearly shows that the recalled part has not fixed the issue with it.
Takata recall my car has had a weird shuttering in any gear when coasting at a regular speed. I took it to one dealer and they said nothing is wrong with it you basically just don't know how to shift. Two weeks later I noticed a soft muffled hush sound that reminded me of a rock in a tire. When looking underneath the car we noticed dark liquid coating the bottom cover. We took it to a different dealer and after hoisting it up they called us and said that the flywheel had sprung loose due to faulty torque and a spring sprung into the transmission causing a hole and rupturing it. They also mentioned that this same part had been replaced back in 2014 but we were unaware . Our thought is this has been an ongoing issue and whomever replaced it the first time did not do it properly because no one and nothing should be able to understand torque the bolts at the proper pressure. However I believe it has something to do with the overall mechanics of the flywheel and transmission and clutch combination. There is something faulty and has caused this to happen. This car was bought less than a year ago.
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.
The 2011 vw golf tdi shut off while being driven. The steering wheel locked.
My golf tdi suffered a catastrophic failure of the high pressure fuel pump (hpfp) causing my vehicle to stall in the middle of traffic. Luckily every warning light on my dash lit up about 30 seconds prior to complete failure allowing me to begin to merge from the left hand lane and coast with my hazards on to the right lane. From initial symptom to complete vehicle failure was less than 1 minute. Searching online this is a common failure, one that results in upwards of an $8000 repair.
While exiting the off ramp of the highway at 1100 at night the car died and I was lucky enough to make it to the side of the road as traffic behind me was locking up their brakes and swerving to avoid a collision. After an expensive tow and finally getting the vehicle to the dealer I was told the high pressure fuel pump had exploded in the tank sending metal into the whole fuel system. I am told the repair bill will cost around $6500 to fix. This car has 54000 miles and I had received a letter from vw stating my high pressure fuel pump had an extended warranty a month prior however vw will not pay for the repair costs. The vw dealer told me they did a fuel sample test and the fuel did not have enough lubrication in it which caused the fuel pump to fail. As I have researched vw has had more than 3500 reported cases of these fuel pump failures and refuses to stand behind the bosch products they use. I also talked with the service station where I purchased the fuel to let them know the pump failure is being blamed on lack of lubrication in their fuel and they have not had one other complaint of fuel issues reported. On a side not I filled my dodge diesel truck with the same pump and fuel and have had no problems. To me this is a serious problem that vw is not taking responsibility for and if there is not a recall on these fuel pumps it is only a matter of time before someone gets killed because a known bad part that is not getting replaced.
High pressure fuel pump went out on my 2011 golf tdi. My family and were driving down the road when it completely shut down almost causing an accident. Vw covers up to 120,000 miles, my vehicle has 122k miles. This car is my daily driver and almost lost my job due to this problem. Hpfp is a faulty pump and vw denies to cover this expense. I do not have $8000 to cover this expense, and I will keep on contacting vw to fix it. Other cars with higher mileage have been covered, but not mine. I am on of thousands with this tdi hpfp problem. I always use chevron diesel, so there is no way it can be "contaminated" it is vw faulty piece. I hope someone reads this and helps me out, thanks.
Tl*the contact owns a 2011 volkswagen golf. The contact stated that while driving at 35 MPH, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the fuel pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.
Questions about the 2011 Volkswagen Golf fuel system
Does the 2011 Volkswagen Golf have fuel system problems?
Owners have filed 48 complaints about the fuel system of the 2011 Volkswagen Golf, 44% of all its complaints, more than any other problem.
At what mileage do 2011 Volkswagen Golf fuel system problems start?
The typical (median) mileage in owner complaints is 30,800 miles.
Was there a recall on the 2011 Volkswagen Golf fuel system?
Yes, 1 recall: 11V490000. Check your VIN to see if your car still needs the free repair.
What year does the Volkswagen Golf have the most fuel system problems?
The Volkswagen Golf model years with the most fuel system complaints are 2017 (56 complaints), 2011 (48 complaints) and 2010 (32 complaints).
Other 2011 Volkswagen Golf problems
Engine 26Transmission 21Electrical 18Airbags 12Acceleration 4Lights 3Steering 3Body 2Brakes 2Driver assistance 2Suspension 1
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