Any VW Pros out there?
 

My friends '94 Passat has started acting up this morning and now has died.

Apparently the car will run fine, then for whatever reason quit running?! It will then start a few minutes later run for a while then die again. Electrical seems to be okay in that everything works.

Just filled up w/fuel yesterday. My thought might be a fuel filter...Any ideas?

Try running the car with the gas cap off and see if it prevents a vacuum from a non-venting cap.

John

She's on the side of the road right now...I'll try to get a hold of her and give it a shot.

Thanks.

sounds like it could be the fuel filter. I have had a similar experience that was the fuel filter.

Had a similar experience with a Corrado of the same vintage, dealer couldn't find anything immediately but turned out to be the motronic speed sensor going bad. Had to finally die completly for diagnosis. I remember this being a problem on BMW's back then as well.

Here is more detail....

Car was filled up yesterday at about 1/4 tank, it is now 3/4 full. While driving around 30 mph the engine makes "a little bit of a jerk", does not make any noise but shuts down and the engine light comes on (ignition is on). Radio works, lights work and don't dim, etc.


NEW INFORMATION...
When restarting, the engine will not turnover, no clicking, no noise at all. After a few tries it will turnover and fires up right away and stay on or shut down again.

Not sure if this is the VR6 or the 2 liter, but these cars can have MAF sensor problems that send them into a "limp" mode or shut down. You might want to pay a visit to the forums on VWvortex.com.

Sheesh - shows what I know! Old time fixes don't work with new type cars.

Wayne: I smell a VW board alongside the Beemer/Pcar boards!

John

Two other suggestions that I did not mention in my earlier reply. 1) Try doing a hard restart of the ECU by disconnecting the battery for about 5 to 10 minutes. 2) Clean the MAF sensor in isopropyl alcohol (soak it for a few minutes).

JP911,
This is the VR6...I'll check the VW forum as well.

Thanks.

On these cars you should be able to check the fault codes coming from the computer. I've diagnosed a couple problems on my Jetta. You probably need the Bentley manual or at least the Haynes for the proceedure. On my Jetta you remove a panel in the dash that reveals a socket. The dealer normally plugs their computer into this but you can jumper two of the wires and then get blink codes out of the dash lights that correspond to various fault codes. Good luck!

Check the FI power supply relay on the fuse box. IIRC it has production #109 on top. It most likely has a broken solder joint where one of the pins come through the circuit board. Resolder it and it will good as new.

I had a Passat do this several times... loose fuel cap was one issue.

Was it recently placed on a lift or jacked up? I believe there is some sort of sensor that shuts down the car if it is jacked up or something like that. (anti-theft device) My car was totally dead. Brought it to the dealer (on a tow truck) and it was fine. Seems the little sensors were sticking or something and the trip onto the tow truck bed resolved it. Computer fault codes confirmed that as well.

Again... check your gas cap and try the hard reset by disconnecting the battery.

Karl

I will try the cap and battery tonight. Thank to everyone for all your help....hopeully it will be just that simple.

the float level is wrong in your carbs...

oh wait...

sjd

You mention that the car will NOT crank after dying, and after a few tries, WILL crank. This has nothing to do with the EFI, fuel pump or anything else, for that matter, besides a bad power connection.
Check out the power wires from the alternator to starter, from starter to battery, and frm battery to fusebox.
My best guess would be a bad ground connection. Check the ground strap from negative battery terminal to body, to transmission/engine mounting bolt.
Remember, if the engine won't crank, it's a power supply problem.

Forgot to mention, there is no sensor that cuts power when the car is towed or jacked up.

www.vwvortex.com

the pelican of VWs

PWM74,
I went to VWVORTEX and got 2 responses. One was "a bad ignition" and the other was "does it have a chip". This board has been by far the most helpful and offered the best suggestions.

I disconnected the battery overnight and opended the fuel cap. Hope it will get her to work this morning.

I'd go with a bad ignition switch. Sound like it especially that you mention that the starter doesn't engage all the time. These stupid things seems to fail after a while. Happened in my 1993 Corrado VR6 (i still miss this car) and the same thing in a 93 Passat VR6. Wife's Cabrio did it last fall too.

If it doesn't crank, wiggle the key a bit with when you are on the 'turn that starter' position.

Cars would die for no obvious reason, and after a while (a day or 2) couldn't be restarted.

HTH

Marc-André