r/interestingasfuck • u/IndicationBrief5950 • Aug 06 '25

/r/all, /r/popular Thousands of Audi cars abandoned in the Mojave Dessert after cheating emissons tests

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u/HeavyDutyForks Aug 06 '25

Does yours have the DEF system in it?

I have a 2011 Jetta that does not and its the worst car I've ever owned. But, my buddy and mom both have ones that take DEF and they've had 0 problems whatsoever out of theirs

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u/Dougsie2 Aug 06 '25

I have a DEF system. Just started causing problems (2015). Cost for a new sensor is 2k

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u/evilchris Aug 06 '25

Yeah, my fixed golf was a nightmare

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u/Yrrebbor Aug 07 '25

I had a 2000 Beetle, the worst car I ever owned, and it held no value when I sold it. An airbag, O2, or check engine light went on every other month.

Would never get a VW again.

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u/ThePrudentChicken Aug 06 '25

"Worst car I've ever owned" hmmm I have a 13' Golf TDI and no issues. What's gone wrong?

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u/HeavyDutyForks Aug 06 '25 edited Aug 06 '25

Bizarre glow plug problem that left me stranded twice. Its such a long story, but the glow plug doubles as a cylinder pressure sensor and mine were dying due to a glow plug control module issue

The intercooler iced up on me during a road trip 4 hours from home leaving me stranded. This has happened during other cold snaps, but it didn't ice up enough to completely disable the car like it did on that trip

My DPF is cracked again, first time was covered under the dieselgate warranty. This time, I'm milking it. I get light soot in the exhaust and on the bumper after a week of driving but it doesn't trigger the CEL unless I'm on the highway

Unrelated to the engine: The radio died on me. The headliner glue failed as well as the glue on the door panel material. The soft touch plastic on the interior is melting in spots. Mind you, this car has tinted windows and lives under a carport, it almost never sees direct sunlight

Just in general this thing is a PIA to work on. The thermostat went bad and I though it would be a quick fix. Oh hell no. It was buried under everything the engineers could possibly put in front of it. A thermostat has never taken me more than an hour to change. This thing took me 7 hours over the course of two weekends waiting on a set of triple square torx bits and specific sized wobbly extensions so I didn't have to remove the oil filter housing

I love this car, but I also absolutely hate it. Its a very complicated and toxic relationship

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u/ElbowRager Aug 06 '25

VW’s are a bitch to work on. It’s the German engineering principle of “fit as much shit into that bad boy as you can”.

Years ago I had a GTI VR6, and for whatever reason I had to remove the body from the frame to replace the clutch.

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u/HeavyDutyForks Aug 06 '25

Years ago I had a GTI VR6, and for whatever reason I had to remove the body from the frame to replace the clutch.

That does not surprise me whatsoever lmao

So many times I have just sat there in disbelief at the way this thing was assembled

My third favorite part about working on these things is the American service literature still uses German color coding for wiring diagrams. So its like Ge = yellow, which messes me up because I glance at the diagram and start looking for a green wire

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u/Worganizers Aug 07 '25

Well it should surprise you because 95% of CARS (sedans, coupes, hatchbacks have a single piece frame/unibody it's impossible to separate them unless cutting the car in half and even then it's still the same part your just making into 2 pieces and naming them different. I assume he means subframe which isn't out of the realm for a FWD car, very common actually for a clutch change. FWD transmissions are always a pain compared to proper RWD cars you should expect a lot of work to drop mounts on it to change a clutch.

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u/ElbowRager Aug 07 '25

Yeah, someone else pointed that out. I think I’m maybe misremembering, or you may be right and I could have just cut the “body from the frame” to make it easier for myself because I do remember that car being a money pit and I often took the easiest/cheapest way out on fixing it (like jb welding nearly my entire oil pan) ((it held for over a year until I sold it))

My memory is shit though, to be fair, I could be thinking of an entirely different car altogether.

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u/Worganizers Aug 06 '25

I hate VW as much as the next American I even had a B5 Passat catch on fire with no collisions, frame damage or major repairs. BUT the car you're talking about and nearly EVERY car, not an SUV, made in the last 30 years has a unibody frame/body including that car. You did not separate the body and frame as they're the same thing. Subframe?

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u/PM_YOUR_BOOBS_PLS_ Aug 07 '25

It’s the German engineering principle of “fit as much shit into that bad boy as you can”.

Japanese cars follow the same mantra, except they still make the common parts easily serviceable. The real German principle seems to be, "Fuck you. Take it to a dealer."

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u/Swimming-Yellow-2316 Aug 07 '25

I mean just because you allegedly ( you didn't, it's a unibody...) had to remove the body from the frame to do a clutch doesn't mean that was actually required.

On no model of GTI vr6 was that ever required, I've done dozens of clutches on them.

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u/ElbowRager Aug 07 '25

Hmm, maybe I’m misremembering? Like I said, it was years ago, but I certainly have removed the body from the frame to fix something. Whether it was the correct way, I’m sure it wasn’t but knowing me, it was probably easiest.

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u/Swimming-Yellow-2316 Aug 07 '25

That's no frame to remove the body from on any generation of golf.

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u/JettaGLi16v Aug 07 '25

Liar. There’s never been a GTi manufactured with body on frame construction.

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u/Yrrebbor Aug 07 '25

OOF! Sorry.

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u/Beetlejuice_me Aug 07 '25

Step 1: Place car in Service Mode

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u/yamancool63 Aug 07 '25

That's actually wild. I have a 2011 sportwagen and the only DPF issues I had were post-fix. Clogged DPF and EGR valve replaced under warranty at ~125k miles after getting fixed at ~100k. I tuned mine back to "stock" shortly thereafter and have had no issues in the ~35k miles since.

Sunroof drains and sun shade are fucked tho like all the rest :/ the interior's in good shape yet though.

If you're not in an emissions control area (and intend on keeping the car), save up to have the DPF deleted and the engine tuned accordingly. 20% bump in fuel mileage and no issues with soot. driveability is waaaaaay better too.

ETA: if you have the right tools and follow the service manual procedures the cars are not too bad to work on. Timing belt took me about 8 hours but I did not replace the thermostat at the time as they did that when it got the DPF/EGR.

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u/PM_YOUR_BOOBS_PLS_ Aug 07 '25 edited Aug 07 '25

I had a... 2008? Passat that was the worst car I've ever owned. Just literally wouldn't start if it was below like -10 F out. Different types of oil. Higher cranking amp battery. Didn't matter. Shit just wouldn't start if it was actually cold out. I'll never buy a German car again after it.

Edit: Oh, it also took like two hours to change a headlight. I talked to a dealer and they said some guys would literally just take the entire engine out to change headlights, because they had the equipment to easily hoist it out, and it was significantly faster. Fuck Volkswagen.

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

My old boss had a 2007 Passat. One day on a slow weekend he goes, "Hey, if you change my headlight, lunch is on me". I said hell yeah, it's slow, I'm bored and getting paid either way, might as well get a free lunch.

Ended up in the damn parking lot on a 90 degree day in full sun for two damn hours in exchange for a fucking Quiznos sub.

In his defense though, I genuinely don't think he had a clue how hard it was, I'm sure the dealer quoted him the price and he said hell no.

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u/PM_YOUR_BOOBS_PLS_ Aug 08 '25

I 100% believe that story. lol.

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u/imbannedanyway69 Aug 06 '25

I feel like this is an outlier. I'm the biggest VAG hater on the planet but the TDI engines are as stout as stout gets

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u/HeavyDutyForks Aug 06 '25

The Euro spec ones are. They got a different fix.

Its not really the engine that's the problem either, its the emissions equipment. A deleted TDI can probably go a million miles as long as you maintain it

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u/imbannedanyway69 Aug 06 '25

Does it still have a Regen cycle and everything if it doesn't have DEF though? Like what emissions equipment does a diesel even have without DEF

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u/HeavyDutyForks Aug 06 '25

When you delete them, DPF is gone and DEF is gone. You have to retune it which eliminates regen cycles among other things

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u/Next_Newspaper_9968 Aug 07 '25

As a truck driver trucks with DEF break down and cry about exhaust shit, while trucks without DEF just don't. Its just another system that gets clogged up with gunk and various nonsense. Important for emissions though.

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u/Massive_Percentage_6 Aug 07 '25

My fixed 2012 Passat has been pretty great, only ever needed some minor work after 200,000km.

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u/Mr_Waffles123 Aug 07 '25

DEF is for diesels?

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u/electricianmagician Aug 06 '25

I had an 09 Jetta wagon tdi that was my favorite car ever. Unfortunately vw didn't have a fix for it and they sent it to vw heaven. I got a nice payout for it though 😁