Died while driving?

[stefcio007]

Accelerating to about 5k rpms and then the rev count oddly fluctuated and then dropped to 0 and my battery and check oil light came on and power steering went. No response from throttle.

Had to quickly turn into a side street (couldn't believe how much of a different not having power steering makes)
and restarted. Let it run for a little.
Everything was fine after that.

What could have caused it to suddenly die like that? I've had it run rough before after that kind of scenario and usually letting it go into neutral for a second or two fixes it up and I can continue.

It's never gone out like this before though.

[cliftronix]

Coilpack?

[stefcio007]

Coilpack?

How can I check? (sorry if noob)

[cliftronix]

How can I check? (sorry if noob)

You can check your whole ignition system through this method
VWVortex.com - How to test VR6 coilpack (from Bentley)
but the easiest way is to just replace it with a working one and she if there is any change.

I had the same thing happen to me a week into owning my vr but hasn't happened since then.

[wai]

The first thing to check would be the battery. How old is it?

[The_Hawk]

Earthing? Sudden and total power loss screams electrical to me.

[stefcio007]

Earthing? Sudden and total power loss screams electrical to me.

I've had the stereo completely reset on me once or twice so that sounds likely and my battery level without engine running shows around 11V, normal?

[wai]

I've had the stereo completely reset on me once or twice so that sounds likely and my battery level without engine running shows around 11V, normal?

No.

Get it tested under load. You probably have some cells out.

[HaydEn]

Does the car start?

[stefcio007]

No.

Get it tested under load. You probably have some cells out.

Shows about 14V with the car running.

Does the car start?

Yes, starts.

[stefcio007]

Did some recent tests and it's ~13V while driving around. (logged with a VAG-COM)
When starting the car the battery level drops to 9.25V.
With the car just sitting there and keys in it's 11.63V.

Hasn't happened since and the car is running fine.

[wai]

The voltage while driving will be mainly from the alternator.

I'd still get it tested because if you have cells that have died or are about to die, it all happens very suddenly and then you do not have a choice as to what battery to get and where from.

Most battery resellers will do a load test free. On my Hiace SBV, I had trouble getting the central locking to work reliably. I took it in to Battery Allsorts here and told them it might be the battery. They did a load test and said the battery was fine (around 5 years old). Next door was an auto electrician who they suggested I see. Well, it turned out to be actuators that were loose and so the operation was not fully locking or unlocking the door. The battery place got nothing for it and the auto electrician charged me something like $40 to diagnose and fix the problem.

So, there are places out there that do the right thing. Oh, the battery lasted at least another 4 years when I traded it on my Caddy.

[AALocksmiths]

While you had your VAGCOM connected did it show any fault codes?
And does it show you live data of what the electronics are doing?

[stefcio007]

While you had your VAGCOM connected did it show any fault codes?
And does it show you live data of what the electronics are doing?

Only fault code is crankshaft position sensor.

Yes, there are sections where it shows live data, I set it up to show them while driving and log it.
I'm not sure if there is a lot of electrical load data I can read. From memory it was only "Battery Voltage" that I could view.