k so the gf has a 01 jetta, i know i know, shes getting a ford as a next car, trust me ill make her, this things the biggest pita ever [gunfire], anyways back on topic....

everytime she lets the car sit for a few days, such as being out of town or me getting stuck driving or w/e, the car sometimes wont start or wont run anywhere near right, usually it will stall once in gear and try to go, if it does start....once we do get it to start, we have found that if we leave it in park and variably rev the motor for about half an hour it will then run right, its almost like it has old gas in there or something, idk, we both get gas from the same places, and i have left my old car for a week or two and it run perfectly once i start it,

sorryfor rambling just never really seen anything like this happen over just a day or two, any suggestions (despite the obvious 'buy a new car') would be awesome

I'm not sure what that could be. Sorry but I hate vw's they r very complicated. The only thing that I really know about them. Is that they run on vacum, so if it does not have a good vacum its gonna run like crap

yea they are very complicated, but its not really like a vaccum cause once you rev it a bit it runs fine, we dont even bother going under the hood at all, so idk, its just a pain

Is it completely dead upon returning to it? If so it sound's like there's a power draw killing the battery and then wiping out the Keep alive memory. Once the car is restarted it has to go through a re-learn for the PCM.

Drive the car a while then park it, turn it off and put a voltmeter on the battery, the volts will prolly drop.

Would the downtime also be when it's wet or raining? Sounds like bad plug wires getting wet for my first guess, but it could be a lot of other things too..

no it doesnt do it when it rains just whenever it sits for a few days, ok so i talked to her about it and apparently it starts most of the time after it sits it just wont drive... ie it dies, unless she sits there and revs it, its never completely dead when she gets back to it, weve never had to jump it or anything

Go through your regular maintenance on that car. Then see if the problem still exists. I'd include a little extra preventative paintenance (LOL) like checking the negative cable on both ends, positive on both ends, tighten and clean battery terminals which should be regular maintenance anyway.

Just so you'll know what I'm thinking: fuel filter, plugs, wires, air filter, and the battery stuff. You might can skip the plugs and wires if you have one of those horrid VW designs with the intake manifold stretching over the top of the plugs so that changing plugs is a full day job removing the upper intake first.

I'd also check the relay box and swap the fuel pump relay for another relay with the same part number- like a headlight relay, or whatever matches as long as it's not the engine management relay or EFI relay.

Go through your regular maintenance on that car. Then see if the problem still exists. I'd include a little extra preventative paintenance (LOL) like checking the negative cable on both ends, positive on both ends, tighten and clean battery terminals which should be regular maintenance anyway.

Just so you'll know what I'm thinking: fuel filter, plugs, wires, air filter, and the battery stuff. You might can skip the plugs and wires if you have one of those horrid VW designs with the intake manifold stretching over the top of the plugs so that changing plugs is a full day job removing the upper intake first.

I'd also check the relay box and swap the fuel pump relay for another relay with the same part number- like a headlight relay, or whatever matches as long as it's not the engine management relay or EFI relay.


fuel and air filters are new, one of the first things i thought of, battery is good, just checked that the other day, o and whenever this happens the chesk engine light comes on, but once its rev'ed for a while and it drives the light goes off, and if i remember correctly the intake manifold is in the way, ill have to look this weekend

Generally when the check engine light comes on and goes off with the problems you're having it's a crank position sensor. The only way you'll confirm is with a scanner to pull the code it throws.