Blogs

I love Portland, OR! I am staying in the city itself, and it is so cool. The transportation system here is light years ahead of any city I have been too. Gary and Todd (my VW-Audi Trainer) have been enjoying the various "brewskies" in the local area. For me it has been the food.

Pressure Loss Fault Code P1297 in VW's with 1.8 liter Turbo Engines

Fault code P1297 may be set if the car is driven under load or revved up and then returned to idle. Fuel mixtures may go lean as well. If these symptoms occur, check the pressure relief valve in the crankcase breather system. If the valve is NOT moving freely, you found the problem. Replace it.

On 1999 and later Volkswagen A4 platform cars: Customer complains of a “flashing coolant light when first started cold”. When verifying this complaint, coolant must NOT be warmed up. Back probe the signal wire with a DVOM set to the A/C voltage scale, turn the key on and check the voltage reading. A reading above 0.5v will turn the coolant light on.

With the meter still connected, open the coolant reservoir and gently clean the coolant level probes with a flat tip screwdriver or similar tool and watch for the voltage to drop.

Toyota's not having a good year. The NHSTA reports two more Toyota recalls for accelerator pedal/floor mat related issues:

2006 - 2007 Lexus GS300 and GS350 AWD models.

According to the NHSTA, a plastic pad that is part of the floor mat may interfere with normal operation of the accelerator pedal. The accelerator pedal can become stuck on this plastic pad in a partially depressed position and not return to idle position.

2008-2011 Lexus LX570, 2003-2009 Toyota 4Runner, and 2006-2010 Toyota RAV4 models.

The Detroit News is reporting that 44,000 Toyota Highlander hybrid's are being investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over concerns that their engines can stall and fail to restart.

On January 10 Toyota launched an online poll to solve what Automotive News calls "one of the most vexing questions in the automotive lexicon"… what the plural form of Prius should be. "Prii" won.

BMW has announced a new sub-brand it will call "i", focusing on a range of advanced stand-alone hybrid, range-extended and plug-in electric models.

Honda is raising the stakes for fuel efficient gasoline powered compact cars by announcing two new versions of it's Civic, both more fuel efficient current Civic models.

The 2012 Civic HF has a 1.8 liter gasoline engine and is expected to to get 41 mpg highway, compared with 36 mpg for the current gas powered Civic.

The folks at Volkswagen continue to confuse us with products that just don’t make sense from any angle.

Consider the 2011 Touareg Hybrid, with a base price over $60,565 and EPA estimated mileage at 20/24. Really? That’s $12,615 MORE than the base price of the TDI version, which by the way has EPA estimated mileage at 19/28.

Our intrepid traveler lands at the airport in Munich, Germany and bumps into the unexpected...