Vento random stalling.

[ozzypole]

Hi. My son's Vento is playing up. It goes like a swiss watch...most of the time, but occasionally, without warning, stalls. No spluttering, no coughing, just stops. It winds over, but does not fire. After a few minutes rest, it starts up and away he goes. He took it to the local VW dealer, paid $125 to get a diagnosis. Turns out it is a faulty engine speed sensor. They have quoted $173.26 for the part and $250 to fit.
Does anyone have any idea where else to source this part, where is it located and how hard is it to replace? Any help/advice would be appreciated.
Thanks.

[HaydEn]

First call as always would be to Matt at camdenGTI

[ozzypole]

Thanks. I'll drop them a line right now.

[Umai Naa!!]

The quote should have a part number on it.

Type that into Ebay, and see how you go. It's a pretty common part, so you could probably get one overseas a lot cheaper.

It's a bit of a labour-intensive job to replace, but straight-forward nonetheless.

[ozzypole]

Unfortunately the quote failed to include the part number. Have been on to the dealership but the service manager was in training meetings most of the day. Will try again tomorrow.

[Bora Sport]

Before going too much further I would be looking at the ECU relay. Part Number 165 906 381, Black in colour, position 3 on the Fuse Box Relay Plate.

The symptoms are exactly as you describe. It is just like someone has turned the ignition off. Often though by the tme you have rolled to a stop and turned the ignition off the car will start again. Sometimes it will do it once in 6 months and sometimes twice in one week. Our Vento always showed the speed sensor fault code every time it was scanned and the car ran fine for over 440,000k's.

Just thought I would mention it.

[ozzypole]

Thanks for the replies guys.
The engine speed sensor is definately the culprit. I really need a part number for mine so I can source a new one on fleabay or somewhere similar.
As mentioned the dealer quoted $173 for an original, another quote was for $260 plus postage. Surely I could do better!

[ozzypole]

The problem goes on! The part number for the Engine Speed Sensor on Impulse Sensor is 037906433C. I looked around and got a new one from ebay England of all places for about $35 delivered. Guess what? It didn't go! Put the old ond back in and bingo, it works again! Go figure!!! Time will tell if the old part fails again or if the job's done. Does anyone know if that new part needed to be synchronised with whatever on board computer is fitted?
Once again, thanks in advance for any input.

[ozzypole]

Bora Sport: Before going too much further I would be looking at the ECU relay. Part Number 165 906 381, Black in colour, position 3 on the Fuse Box Relay Plate.

The car had been going without incident...till today. So I looked at that relay you mentioned Bora Sport. Wasn't seated properly, so I pushed it right in and still nothing. Pulled it right out and looked inside at the PCB. On another search the writer mentioned dry solder joints, and there appeared to be at least one dodgy solder. Pushed it back in and hey presto!!it's alive again!! We'll see how long this fix lasts. Another web site said that black relays from Malaysia often fail where-as grey ones from Portugal (both genuine VW parts) are a better unit. Again we'll see.
Once again fellas, thanks for the advise. Will keep you posted.