2013 Volkswagen Jetta: won't start

Filed May 2, 2026 · Fuel system · FL

Driving vehicle on highway, vehicle lost engine power, no acceleration possible. Attempt to restart vehicle resulted in no start. Subsequent evaluation of fault revealed high pressure fuel pump failure.

Filed Feb 23, 2025 · Engine · UT

Car one day decided to have issues. It wouldn't turn over. So we called a row truck to come take it and run diagnostics. The tow truck driver showed up and on his decision making as im not a professional like he is he said can it turn on I said no so he pursued with saying that he is going to Jumpstart the battery in his words he says that's mainly the issue is a dead battery so he wanted to jump it with his portable jumper box as we are hooking it up to the vehicle I am inside and he connects the cables and tells me to try and turn it over in doing so the intake manifold had completely blown up. Right in front of the tow truck driver and it sounded like a cannon went off. He told me after he could hear again as well as me. We both have never experienced anything like that before. The pictures I'm providing are the damages of what jump starting the vehicle did.

Filed Apr 18, 2023 · Fuel system, Transmission · SC

Driving on the interstate, my spouse stated that the car just lost power. Fortunately, he was able to pull off. But once he tried to start the car, it wouldn't do anything. The car was towed to my home. We took the car to the local VW dealer to have the recall completed. Since the car had to be towed there, we were told that we would have to pay $500 for a diagnostic before anything can be completed. I took the car to a local repairman and he stated that the fuel pump was bad. We replaced it and the battery. The car now will not start at all. We are getting an error of "hybrid system failure", "air bag failure", epc light is on and transmission warning. The car tries to start but will not.

Filed Oct 27, 2020 · Transmission · 150,000 miles · UT

I started my car with no issue but when it was put into reverse it began making a horrible clunking/grinding noise then shut off and could not start after. To be clear: the car was in motion before making the noise and shutting down, but had not gone far before dying. I did not make it out of the parking lot. It hadn't had any issues at all before this and has always had it's maintenance taken care of on time. We took it to a vw dealership to have it checked and it turned out that the entire transmission needed to be replaced. We had it replaced and it seemed to be running okay, but as soon as we took it home it wouldn't start up again. We once again took it to a dealership and found that the mechatronic unit was also bad. We had taken it in to have it checked since we heard there was a recall on the mechatronic units in some vw vehicles but we're told that it didn't apply to our VIN number. I believe that they did not include a number of different cars in the recall that should have been included. I am definitely not the first person to have this happen after being told that the recall didn't apply to their call.

Filed Aug 6, 2020 · Electrical · 60,000 miles · VA

The problem started at around 60,000 miles were the car would not start unless you jiggled the key around a lot and progressively got worse we're when the car was running the key would be stuck and you would have to continuously jiggle the key around to get the car to turn off. Then as it got worse, when you could get the car to cut off the key would not come out of the ignition. I am at the point now that the key will not turn at all to cut the car on. Luckily the key is not stuck in the ignition. I am having to replace the ignition which will cost in best case scenario around 675. In the event the keys have to be reprogrammed it will cost a total of 850. These are estimates from what the dealership has quoted in parts and labor, the ignition is currently being replaced and I have not received a total. Seems like this is a common problem and should be fixed by volkswagen. Replacing lock cylinder and ignition switch.

Filed Jan 24, 2020 · Transmission · 86,000 miles · NC

Complete loss of drive while driving, check engine light came on, gear indicator flashing "d" and a wrench. After making it to the side of the road and trying to get power back, the car would not start.

Filed Dec 30, 2019 · Transmission · 100,000 miles · MO

Car would slip/stall when accelerating from a dead stop. Check engine light came on. Then car would not start. Dealership said it needs a new transmission assembly.

Filed Jul 1, 2015 · Engine · 95,000 miles · IL

My car is a vw jetta tdi 2013, 95,000 miles, not even 3 years old, got it brand new. I started to drive away after doing some shopping. As I was leaving the parking lot, the car stalled. The check engine light came up and so did the glow plug light. The car did not start again after several attempts. I had it towed to the shop. The day after, I was told that the fuel pump had disintegrated due to the internal heat. When doing so, all the debris went inside the fuel system and engine. In order to repair it, the vw car dealer said they had to open all the system and flush it to clean everything and they would charge several thousand dollars to fix that. Although I was not happy with their diagnostic and price, I had to do it. I need the car to get around to go to work. I told the car dealer that this incident was not normal. They said that they did not know what caused it. I have done all the service and maintenance as suggested by the manufacturer. On the other side, it just happened that last week, vw issued an extended warranty for up to 120,000 miles for the fuel pump for diesel cars years 2011 and 2012. I called them and they said that they could not cover the 2013. Obviously, they know something was wrong with those previous models. I think they should include this problem and extend the fuel pump warranty for this car as well and -in this case, cover for the thousands of dollars that this is going to cost me for having a "faulty pump". Updated 11/12/15 *bf updated 11/06/2017

Filed Mar 17, 2015 · Transmission · 18,000 miles · DE

While driving, my car just lost speed and power and drifted until it hit zero. My car still turned on, and my engine worked fine, but the clutch wouldn't start in any gear it would just rev the engines and the RPM's would go up but the car would not move. There was no prior clutch, transmission or powertrain issues with the car until the exact moment that the clutch burned out. Car was towed to vw for repairs and I had to get a hotel room for the night plus a rental for 5 days as I had to be in rhode island and the car broke down in new york. Total clutch burned out with several large cracks in clutch plate, service manager stated it was due to build up of snow/ice in around tire and creating a drag on the vehicle and increased torque on the drive train. There are many complaints of very similar issues located on the internet, vehicle was built with a clutch that can barely handle the torque output of the engine but cannot handle any additional torque resulting from normal driving conditions such as snow and ice. Required total cost was $1,800 for repairs and labor, plus $500 for the hotel room, food and rental vehicle.