98 new beetle codes / resolution

Howdy,

I have no questions, but wanted to toss this info out into the ether
as googlefood in hopes that it helps someone.

The wife's lately-seldom-driven '98 New Beetle was throwing these
check engine codes:

p1582 idle adaption at limit
p1128 long term fuel trim sys too lean.

The 2 codes my independent tech first tried to address by cleaning up
the throttle body with carb cleaner and degunking it. That made us
feel better but didnt' fix the problem.

Next step was a similar cleanup done to the mass airflow sensor (MAF).
Once that was done, voila, codes gone and never came back.


I was also hearing a sucking noise near the firewall.

The sucking noise turned out to be a cracked very poorly engineered
vacuum hose coming off the brake booster. One shop said I had to go
to VW for the part. Another independent said that was ill advised as
the hard plastic teh oem part uses will just crack again sooner than
it should. He used some hose he had laying around to repalce it and
it's been working fine.


Third, the original Michelins on this car went for 75000. They were
quite bald, and the tires were cracking --almost to the point where
you saw the belt separating from the tire. But here's the amazing
thing: they were still some of the roundest, smoothest at speed on teh
highway tires I've ever had. And here I always have been told
Michelins are overpriced. I haven't had a Dunlop, Kumho, or Firestone
stay round for more than 35k much less 75k and nearly falling apart.
Kudos to Michelin.

Fourth, the driver's door key lock became so hard to operate that I
thought the key would break. Tech ordered a new door cylinder from
VW matching the existing key code. Took a couple weeks to come in,
but the replacement was dead easy once it did. And it didn't cost
that much either.


Finally, on a more obvious note the following codes I saw once:
p04422 Evap small leak
p0455 evap gross leak

were corrected by tightening the gas cap.

Happy driving.

Cheers,
Todd

If it never rains and there are never puddles where you drive then
bald tires might be ok. For the rest of us who are sane we replace the
tires when or before the wear bars appear. You never know when you
might come across a puddle that could be safely navigated with tires
and tread but slicks would cause a loss of control. Kind of stupid to
drive on bald tires.

http://www.safetires.org/faqs.html

On 12 Dec 2007 04:51:22 -0600, vw.DeleteThis@toddh.net (Todd H.) wrote:

>
>Howdy,
>
>I have no questions, but wanted to toss this info out into the ether
>as googlefood in hopes that it helps someone.
>
>The wife's lately-seldom-driven '98 New Beetle was throwing these
>check engine codes:
>
> p1582 idle adaption at limit
> p1128 long term fuel trim sys too lean.
>
>The 2 codes my independent tech first tried to address by cleaning up
>the throttle body with carb cleaner and degunking it. That made us
>feel better but didnt' fix the problem.
>
>Next step was a similar cleanup done to the mass airflow sensor (MAF).
>Once that was done, voila, codes gone and never came back.
>
>
>I was also hearing a sucking noise near the firewall.
>
>The sucking noise turned out to be a cracked very poorly engineered
>vacuum hose coming off the brake booster. One shop said I had to go
>to VW for the part. Another independent said that was ill advised as
>the hard plastic teh oem part uses will just crack again sooner than
>it should. He used some hose he had laying around to repalce it and
>it's been working fine.
>
>
>Third, the original Michelins on this car went for 75000. They were
>quite bald, and the tires were cracking --almost to the point where
>you saw the belt separating from the tire. But here's the amazing
>thing: they were still some of the roundest, smoothest at speed on teh
>highway tires I've ever had. And here I always have been told
>Michelins are overpriced. I haven't had a Dunlop, Kumho, or Firestone
>stay round for more than 35k much less 75k and nearly falling apart.
>Kudos to Michelin.
>
>Fourth, the driver's door key lock became so hard to operate that I
>thought the key would break. Tech ordered a new door cylinder from
>VW matching the existing key code. Took a couple weeks to come in,
>but the replacement was dead easy once it did. And it didn't cost
>that much either.
>
>
>Finally, on a more obvious note the following codes I saw once:
> p04422 Evap small leak
> p0455 evap gross leak
>
>were corrected by tightening the gas cap.
>
>Happy driving.
>
>Cheers,
>Todd