Any non-VW haters in the crowd? 2.0 ABA question, and a story

So a disclaimer:  I'm a recovering VW Mk2/Mk3 fan boy...Sold my last Mk2 about 5 or 6 years ago, and got rid of my fairly extensive collection of spare parts, transmissions, engines, harnesses, coilovers etc...

I autocrossed them, I didn't "stance" or pose them lol, so I've got that going for me right?

My last Mk2 Jetta was one that I really should have kept.  Clean shell, 2.0 ABA short block with a milled 1.8 digi head, Techtonics tuning race header and exhaust, Techtonics 276 cam, custom built trans with OD 5th gear and a Quaife diff.  Mk 3 subframes front and rear with Koni's and GC coilovers.  Big sway bars, custom interior with Cooper S seats.  Really fun car, but I was having less and less time for fun and it turned into my commuter and it really sucked for that.  Stiff, noisy, no stereo or much left for sound insulation.  But damn it was fun to drive. 

So moving on to the present...I found a super clean '99 Mk3 Jetta Wolfsburg for sale and My daughter just started driving a few months ago, so...I bought it for her. She doesn't know yet.  I want to fix a few things on it before I give it to her.  She's away visiting a friend for a couple weeks so that works out perfectly.

One owner, binder full of records, OEM roof racks, 2 sets of keys, owners manual etc etc etc.  Car spent it's whole life in Kelowna BC and then it passed an out of province inspection in April this year when he moved to Alberta.  The car really is in beautiful condition. There are 2 tiny spots of true surface rust on the passenger rear quarter.  Floors are solid, rockers and front quarters are clean.  Interior is clean although some fairly significant wear on the drivers side seat bolster due to the stiff and awesome sport seats.

It's not perfect.  The OEM head unit was swapped out for an improperly wired Alpine unit that doesn't work right.  Easy fix.

Rear power windows don't work.  Should be easy to fix

Cruise doesn't work.  I know how to fix that.

Needs a new clutch cable.  Definitely easy fix.

But here's the issue I'm not sure where to start with.  It runs really nice.  Smooth, starts good, no stumbles or hesitation.  But its SLOWWWWW!.  I know these cars weren't rockets but I've owned enough of them to know that they aren't supposed to be THIS slow.  Like it needs 1/2 pedal to move off without stalling. 

I'm thinking the cat is plugged.  The exhaust is extremely quiet and after running for a while, the underhood temps are pretty extreme.  Fans work properly.  No CEL though, which I would have expected due to OBD2 and having a rear O2 sensor... 

Other possible causes I though of are being off 1 or 2 teeth on cam timing?  I'm not sure the ignition timing is really adjustable, but I think maybe if the intermediate shaft timing was off that could do it too?  I would have thought that the dizzy hall sensor and crank sensor would talk to each other and throw a code for that though.

Any other suggestions on where to start?

As I have stated before, I don't get the VW hate here but, it happens.

Sounds like a good car. I don't have any input for you other than pulling the cat quickly would be easy and would allow you to see if its the issue.

Good luck.

I have this guy saved on my youtoobs.

The Humble Mechanic.  I think he's solely into Golfs. 

NGTD said:

As I have stated before, I don't get the VW hate here but, it happens.

Sounds like a good car. I don't have any input for you other than pulling the cat quickly would be easy and would allow you to see if its the issue.

Good luck.

provided the bolts holding it on are not rusted into one piece, it's an easy job to do and check.

Use vag-com to scan for codes. Cam sensor issues will keep it from having any ignition advance and shut off sequential fuel. O2 issues can lock it into open loop and it will run rich, and slowly. Do you have cel on with key on? If not there are fun things lurking in the computer...

Lots of mechanical things as well, cam timing and int shaft (dizzy) timing could easily cause issues that won't show up in a scan. 

Bad cat is hard to diag without dropping it to see. 

That being said an ABA in a mk3 isn't super quick but agreed that it will move from a stop without 1/2 throttle

The aba is a great engine, you could try removing the cat to test, but as already suggested a good scan tool is a good place to start.

Paul_VR6 said:

Use vag-com to scan for codes. Cam sensor issues will keep it from having any ignition advance and shut off sequential fuel. O2 issues can lock it into open loop and it will run rich, and slowly. Do you have cel on with key on? If not there are fun things lurking in the computer...

Lots of mechanical things as well, cam timing and int shaft (dizzy) timing could easily cause issues that won't show up in a scan. 

Bad cat is hard to diag without dropping it to see. 

That being said an ABA in a mk3 isn't super quick but agreed that it will move from a stop without 1/2 throttle

Awesome info. Much appreciated. Thank you

I suspect EGR is bad and has foiled the MAF 

Easier than pulling the cat... just take out the upstream O2 sensor.  It doesn't give much flow, but you would be able to notice a difference.

Could also be EGR failure, but that usually gives you a CEL warning three years before it actually causes much performance issues.

I don't hate VWs.  If it weren't for 98-03 VWs, my shop would have gone under.  around 40% of our revenue was from VWs even though we worked on anything.  And, since many of the parts were dealer-only, I got to meet new friends at the parts counter.

But... I will never criticize that you love VWs.  I love rusted old iron classic cars and I will sink thousands of dollars into resto-modding some old station wagon that I found in a field with a tree growing out of it, so I get it.  Adrian loves LR4s.  Frenchy loves Jags.  You stick with the sick that you know.

Curtis said:You stick with the sick that you know.

Haha, you said it!  I really don't know why I love them.  My 2nd car (first "real" car) was a 1985 GTI.  It was seldom right, but never left me sitting, and accidentally introduced my to the world of autocross.  I guess I've always been fascinated that any car could be so tolerant of outright abuse, but completely intolerant of the slightest neglect...

doc_speeder said:

Curtis said:You stick with the sick that you know.

 

Haha, you said it!  I really don't know why I love them.  My 2nd car (first "real" car) was a 1985 GTI.  It was seldom right, but never left me sitting, and accidentally introduced my to the world of autocross.  I guess I've always been fascinated that any car could be so tolerant of outright abuse, but completely intolerant of the slightest neglect...

I had a Mk2 Jetta with 285k that I got for free from a great uncle when he passed.  I diagnosed what was needed:  water pump (and housing), timing belt to be safe, and an axle.  $180 in parts and an afternoon of work and it was a bulletproof commuter until the clutch fried at 318k, at which point I sold it for $250 to a college student who could do the work.  I drove it for 3 years and made $70.

Things may have changed, but I saw so much frustration in my customers' later model VWs.  The oil vent hose was made from super flimsy plastic stuff.  It was really like corrugated wire loom material without the split.  After 60k of hydrocarbons it was dust.  It has this strange, clip-on o-ring connection that you can't just replace with parts store fuel hose, and you could only get it from the dealer for $181, and that was my wholesale cost.  They also use those "triple square" torx-like bolts that like to strip for many critical things.

But you know what you're dealing with.  I'm about to dive into sprending my first $15k resto-modding Duke's old 67 LeMans, so you'll get zero judgement from me.  I have also put a 5.0L Windsor into a cherry 87 Cutlass Salon just to piss people off, spent $2400 building a killer 486 big block for a station wagon, stuffed a Caddy 500 into a 66 Bonneville, and an LS1/T56 into a 1984 grocery-getter base model S10.  I left the 185mm rubber on it so I didn't have enough traction to explode the 7.5" rear axle.  Sideways at 75 mph by just stabbing the throttle?  Yes please.

Enjoy that Wolfsburg.  Fun cars to drive.

My good friend had a Wolfsburg when they came out. I drove it several times. It never felt slow to me and had a nice turbo boost feel as it revved. I remember not liking the clutch, but maybe I would have gotten used to it. I can still remember the crayon smell and the blue gauge lighting. It looked good at night.

This was the 1.8 turbo (I assume that's the engine you're speaking of).

I don't hate VWs, I came THIS close to buying a Mk2 GTI that was so fun to drive. Then I heard horror stories about the 90s cars and stayed away ever since.

I've had an 85 GLI, 90 GTI, 94 GLX (vr6), 97 Jetta 2.0, 2003 20th Ann. GTI, 2004 R32. Minor probs on the 85 and 2003. They were all fun to drive and never left us stranded. 

I don't hate VWs. In fact, I love Mk1, 2, and think 4 are good looking. Later ones sort of run together. You lost me at Mk 3, but I expect you to care not one whit nor for it to diminish your enjoyment.

You don't have to drop the exhaust or pull an O2 sensor to check for a clogged cat.  Unless you do not have a vacuum gauge.  Hook the gauge to intake manifold vacuum port, start the engine and slowly rev it up to about 2000 RPM.  Normally the gauge would read around 17 inches of vacuum (more is better).  If the gauge slowly drops down towards 0 you have an exhaust restriction.

I had 2 Mk2's before. One was a stock 1.8, the other one I put a ABA + turbo in it. Quick car, sold it years ago. Last year I got a 2007 Mk4 Jetta City with the 2.0 engine. It's a very slow car. To drive normally you almost have to floor the thing. Doesn't really matter, parts are cheap and it keeps running.

All I have to say is... "You bought it for her." Yeah, right. We believe you. No really we do. 

I'm currently 20 yro, my first car is a 1999 Wolfsburg edition Jetta, i loved it, it was in pretty bad shape (specially since my father brought it for just 600$) had 200k miles in the odo it has it's code and tumbling idle but runs great, it's standard but i don't even need to press the gas to move. That's incredible, i have gone through hell and back having to replace the Alternator, battery, starter (also having to put a push start), fan, tensioner, harmonic balancer, wheel bearing, fixing the light wiring, the alarm, door power windows. While also having issues with rust. But still with the engine overheating and everything it's still kicking ass!! I could never ask for a better car in my opinion. I don't care that the ABA gets flamed or what ever the berkeley having 125 pounds of torque under the hood makes a great difference!

I am not a VW expert but I have worked on them a little, I would suggest checking to make sure the timing advances correctly, and if not try a different distributor.