my baby is sick

[trucold]

Well my 03 GTI is sick. She is sputtering a bit and I have a CEL on that flashes. Maybe the coil packs are shot, and I also have a weird code from a "degraded coolant performance system". Hope she doesn't die. Any thoughts let me know. She has about 85,000 miles, sputters and rides rough along with the CEL. No mods as of yet . TY for any help.

[veedubmechanic]

repalce the coilpacks, spark plugs , and coolant temperature sensor

[VWARRON]

Certified Vw Tech.your Cel Code Is Code P2181.cooling System Performance.this Is Mostly Due To A Faulty Thermostat,cooant Flow From A Broken Propellar On Coolant Pump And Temp Sensor.and At 85k Miles You Are Dur For A Timing Belt Replacement.which The Coolant Pump Is Driven By This Belt.this Can Be Done In One Repair.also Make Sure You Do Your 80k Major Service Which Could Repair Your Spit And Sputtering.good Luck.

[Ross Love]

Replace your coilpacks. Then find out what color your coolant temp sensor is and tell us. If it is black ( i believe) then get one of the new green ones because the old black ones were prone to failing.

[SC2ner]

You can test the water pump by removing the overflow hose and putting it into the resevoir. If coolant is sputtering out then you have a broken prop on the water pump.

I second having the timing belt done now. Replace all the tensioners and rollers.