Jonathan Lathbury
New User
This message is a reply to an archived post by Allan In NE on November 03, 2011 at 08:46:14.
The original subject was "Re: 1990 VW Jetta idle problem".
I know exactly what this problem is. My son has the exact same car. 1990 Wolfsburg edition, German built, 5 speed manual Jetta. Great little car. A friend of mine also has a 1990 Mexican built automatic Jetta. Both cars have the same engine and are quite similar with just a few little nuances. Both are daily drivers.
Well last year my son and I were on a long cross country trip in his Jetta and it started to do the same thing. I replaced the fuel filter but to no avail. Sometimes it would clear up and sometimes it would bog down to the point that we could not maintain 40 MPH on the highway. It acted like fuel starvation and that is exactly what it was. Root cause, Ethanol in gas.
VW expressly states in the owner's manual to avoid all alcohol blended fuels. But who reads the owner's manual? After I got home I opened the gas tank, wiped it out as best as possible and re-filled with clean pure non-ethanol or E0 gas. Problem cured. The car ran 85 MPH on the hwy with no issues and gas mileage jumped 10% to 15%. Since then all we run in all our vehicles is E0 gas.
E0 gas is hard to find but you can locate it on Pure-Gas.org. Not only will it get your better fuel economy and performance, it will also prolong the life of your fuel system. Ethanol is corrosive and very detrimental to your vehicle. Likewise it does not lower emissions but rather raises NOX readings.
The problem with that earlier car is that the gas got old in the tank. E10 gas has a very short shelf life, six weeks at best. The other poster who said water in the gas is exactly right. E10 gas will draw moisture right out of the atmosphere and screw up the operation of the engine. I have a 1989 dodge pick up truck that suffers that problem if there is E10 in the tank.
And as for my friend's 1990 Mexican Jetta with the automatic transmission, that car now gets 28 to 30 MPG and runs great on the hwy.
The EPA wants us to willingly ruin our vehicles by using E15. Don't do it. Unfortunately E0 has become a boutique fuel in some parts of the country but it is well worth the extra cost in order to preserve your vehicle. Just remember Pure-Gas.org.
The original subject was "Re: 1990 VW Jetta idle problem".
I know exactly what this problem is. My son has the exact same car. 1990 Wolfsburg edition, German built, 5 speed manual Jetta. Great little car. A friend of mine also has a 1990 Mexican built automatic Jetta. Both cars have the same engine and are quite similar with just a few little nuances. Both are daily drivers.
Well last year my son and I were on a long cross country trip in his Jetta and it started to do the same thing. I replaced the fuel filter but to no avail. Sometimes it would clear up and sometimes it would bog down to the point that we could not maintain 40 MPH on the highway. It acted like fuel starvation and that is exactly what it was. Root cause, Ethanol in gas.
VW expressly states in the owner's manual to avoid all alcohol blended fuels. But who reads the owner's manual? After I got home I opened the gas tank, wiped it out as best as possible and re-filled with clean pure non-ethanol or E0 gas. Problem cured. The car ran 85 MPH on the hwy with no issues and gas mileage jumped 10% to 15%. Since then all we run in all our vehicles is E0 gas.
E0 gas is hard to find but you can locate it on Pure-Gas.org. Not only will it get your better fuel economy and performance, it will also prolong the life of your fuel system. Ethanol is corrosive and very detrimental to your vehicle. Likewise it does not lower emissions but rather raises NOX readings.
The problem with that earlier car is that the gas got old in the tank. E10 gas has a very short shelf life, six weeks at best. The other poster who said water in the gas is exactly right. E10 gas will draw moisture right out of the atmosphere and screw up the operation of the engine. I have a 1989 dodge pick up truck that suffers that problem if there is E10 in the tank.
And as for my friend's 1990 Mexican Jetta with the automatic transmission, that car now gets 28 to 30 MPG and runs great on the hwy.
The EPA wants us to willingly ruin our vehicles by using E15. Don't do it. Unfortunately E0 has become a boutique fuel in some parts of the country but it is well worth the extra cost in order to preserve your vehicle. Just remember Pure-Gas.org.