Slightly scary yet random fault

[Jondarren]

This one caught me totally by surprise last night, so it will be interesting to see if anyone else has experienced something similar.

I was driving home from work last night and all seemed to be going fine with the car and it was running as normal. I had just entered the Harbour Tunnel and the car just died. The rev counter just dropped to zero as if it had stalled. I was in gear and braking as i headed into traffic, and what's strange is that I had full lights and power to the car. Even the radio stayed on.

Luckily i was slowing in traffic so had the presence of mind to hit the hazards and coast while i attempted to restart the engine. It just wouldn't fire. All i got was the sound of the engine turning over but no ignition.

This continued for about a minute as i rolled down hill deeper into the tunnel. Eventually, the car started and it got me home no worries.

So, i'm looking for a diagnosis. The car has had trouble firing on ignition when i first start any journey, but once running its been fine. I'm sure its an electrical issue of some sort, but more with the ignition than the battery.

Your help would be very much appreciated.

Jon

[Golf Loon]

Coil. I bet it was raining that day .

[The_Hawk]

What car is it?

[Mrk_Mickey]

Mine's done that...cold morning, driving for bout 15 mins before the car and I got to a red light and it decided to cut out. I started it, the revs hit and then immediately dropped again...started it, had to keep flooring the throttle to keep the car alive before i took off.

Strange, strange behaviour...here's hoping your problem isn't difficult to find and not too expensive either, man.

[TSi2NV]

Hey there by the way you have described your problem it sound like a coil problem as someone has already suggested, shouldn't be to ecpensive to fix

[Jondarren]

Coil. I bet it was raining that day .

By coil i take it you mean the Ignition coil? I had issues with my SEAT and a new ignition coil fixed that right up.

I reckon it could be the same thing so i might do a quick swap for the one in my SEAT and see what the results are.

Loon, i got my coil from you before. If that's the faulty part here, do you have any for a MK3 GL Golf?

I think it was raining yesterday, but i can't remember. It definitely has been damp these past few days.

J

[DVR68U]

should be the same coil as the seat
cheers brenton

[gtimk5]

The power relay for the ECU gives this problem. Relay number 30 from memory.
Had me stumped years ago but the $37 relay fixed it.
Andrew

[Jondarren]

should be the same coil as the seat
cheers brenton

Yeah it's a match. Hope this cures my issues.

[Bubu]

This story reminds me of a problem I had a couple of years ago.

My old mans battery went dead and he had no other way to go to work (he cant drive manual), so I took out my battery and we put it in his car. When he came back home I got the battery back and installed it back into my car. All worked and car started.

A couple of weeks later the car died on me for no apparent reason. I couldnt figure it out. It then ran fine for another week and it started to die on me again. I thought it would be the fuel pump for sure. So I went through the trouble of changing the fuel pump. A few days later it happened again.

In the end I found out, cant remember how, that the electrical connection for the fuel pump at the battery was not making proper contact. It was only then I realised that some electrical wires must have moved when I took the battery out of the car few weeks earlier.

[Jondarren]

The power relay for the ECU gives this problem. Relay number 30 from memory.
Had me stumped years ago but the $37 relay fixed it.
Andrew

Ahh interesting. I'll do the Coil switch first and if i'm still getting issues with the car turning over, i'll take a look at replacing the Relay.

Much appreciated.

And i'll check the wires at the battery terminal. Might as well start at the power source.

[Jondarren]

Ok, after a service and a check over at TCCA they found a hole on the underside of the hose running from the Air Map Sensor (or whatever the black box is that sits on top of the engine). Had it replaced and all seems to be running ok.

The car is still running a bit lumpy and over the weekend i experienced starting issues. The car cranked over but wouldn't fire up. Eventually got it going but unsure of the cause.

I've replaced the Ignition Coil and swapped out the Fuel pump relay (167) incase there was issues there. Still waiting for my ECU Relay (30) to arrive and then i'll change that.

However when i had a service, they ran the VAG COM unit and it showed a camshaft sensor fault. Could this be the problem with the car not starting?

Quoted $250 to replace and fit new part so want to ask before i drop more coin.

Cheers

Jon

[Mrk_Mickey]

It's unfortunate with the curse of the mk3's that the VR is so expensive to replace lol. Let me know how you go mate, I might have to pursue a similar path to see what's intermittently wrong with mine

[Jondarren]

Hey Mr Mickey,

Did you solve your issues yet? I found a hole under the hose as shown in the pic so might be worth checking yours:



Cheers

Jon

[DVR68U]

lol you guys have different motors