NHTSA Complaint #10441047 — 2009 VOLKSWAGEN JETTA

CAR IS 2009 VOLKSWAGEN JETTA TDI 2.0L COMMON RAIL INTER COOLED TURBO DIESEL.L ISSUE OCCURS AFTER DRIVING IN BELOW FREEZING WEATHER, AND ATTEMPTING TO RESTART AFTER WEATHER HAS GONE ABOVE FREEZING (SUCH AS DRIVING TO WORK IN FREEZING WEATHER, TEMPS WARM UP DURING THE DAY, OCCURS ON ATTEMPT TO DRIVE HOME). VEHICLE WILL START, THEN DIE AFTER A VERY BRIEF RUN OF 5 SECONDS OR LESS. RESTARTS WILL RANGE TO VERY LONG CRANKING BEFORE A VERY ROUGH RUN, OR NO CRANKING WITH ALL LIGHTS AN EQUIPMENT GOING OUT DUE TO VERY HIGH AMP DRAW ON STARTER MOTOR. WATER AND OIL IS NOTED DRIPPING FROM THE INTER COOLER PIPING AS IT LEADS TO THE ENGINES INTAKE. PIPING REMOVED TO ALLOW SOME WATER TO DRAIN OUT. AFTER SEVERAL ATTEMPTS OF 1 REVOLUTION AT A TIME, CAR WILL START TO TURN MORE AND MORE IF A PAUSE OF 30 SECONDS BETWEEN ATTEMPTS IS ALLOWED. SUSPECTED WATER SUCKED INTO COMBUSTION CHAMBER AND HYDRO-LOCKING ENGINE. WATER IS SUSPECTED TO SEEP PAST THE PISTON RINGS INTO THE CRANKCASE WHILE PAUSING BETWEEN START ATTEMPTS. THIS IS PROVEN WITH FROTHY MOISTURE ON THE OIL FILL CAP AFTER EACH INCIDENT. SUSPECTED ISSUE IS MOISTURE FROM EGR SYSTEM GOES INTO INTAKE AIR, AND IS FREEZING IN THE INTER COOLER IN FREEZING WEATHER. WHEN WEATHER WARMS UP WHILE THE CAR IS OFF, THE WATER WILL POOL IN THE INTER COOLER PIPING. UPON ATTEMPTED RESTART, WATER IS SUCKED INTO THE ENGINE CAUSING ANYWHERE FROM SOME ROUGH STUMBLING TO FULL HYDRO-LOCK. INCIDENT HAS HAPPENED 6+ TIMES IN VARYING SEVERITY. ISSUE IS KNOWN TO HAPPEN TO CO-WORKERS CAR WITH THE SAME TURBO DIESEL ENGINE ON THE SAME DAY. NO CODES THROWN FOR ANY OCCURRENCE VIA OBD TESTER. ONE TIME, THE GLOW PLUG LIGHT FLASHED SEVERAL TIMES. *TR