The repercussions from VW’s Dieselgate have just begun and the first round of ECU reflashes to align engines with emissions standards are resulting in less power and more fuel consumption.
It’s been two long years since VW’s Dieselgate scandal hit the world but only know are solutions and fixes being rolled out. Owners who opted to take an ECU reflash to clean up emissions instead of going for a hefty rebate are seriously reconsidering their decision. According to the our good friends across the pond, The Guardian, on their expose on the fixes they dropped earlier last week (Mar. 29, 2017) it looks like more than a handful of VW owners who went in for engine rework are leaving dealerships less than happy. Less power, more fuel consumption, and intermittent engine behavior not in line with normal operations have many VW owners concerned that this will cause more problems in the long run.
The Guardian cites a another news source, Honest John, that published a report back in September of last year with eight separate reports of 2.0 TDI’s in VW Tiguans losing power after an emissions fix. However, the comments section has remained a bulletin board for upset owners to continue to provide their stories on just how horrible this new emissions fix has affected them.
One commenter who popped in earlier this month confirms Honest John’s findings.
“In 10 days I’ve had lack of torque throughout the range, weird rattlly noise at low revs, engine fans on full blast after a run almost every time I drive it, had 6 Engine Fault Workshop messages this evening which chime in and then immediately disappear. I think I’ll be calling VW in the morning. I’d be happy if they put the old code back in.”
Another service manager commented shortly after that this new fix will more than likely affect secondary emissions equipment downwind of the exhaust manifold.
“…as an ex VW service manager i can confirm that the new software is a danger to both the EGR valve and the DPF filter.”
And in a related story out of Sweden, an independent news source tested close to a dozen vehicles before and after cars were brought in for an emissions fix and most of them lost power while increasing fuel consumption.
It’s one thing to cheat on diesel emissions in the first place but it’s altogether a separate issue to then lie to your customers that they’ll be getting a comparable car after they’ve “cleaned things up.”
It’s not like these results are all that surprising. We knew from the outset that any quick emissions fix would result in less power and a shifted power curve away from the torquey response most VW TDI owners are used to.
We’ll have to wait and see just how bad these emission fixes will affect us here in the United States. In a country that prides itself on wide open spaces and muscle cars, torque will be more of an issue here than anywhere else.
