Randomly dies

[DubBug24s]

I can drive, for instance i drove 150 miles yesterday no problem then this morning i drove three miles and the power cut, the steering wheel locked and my battery light came on. I had to drop the clutch to kick start it And not get hit. Does anyone know what this might be?

[Smileybug]

How old is the battery? Could be that or alternator perhaps. Autozone and the like can check those for you for free. I'd start there.

[MyOtherRidesAVette]

Typically a car, once running, will run without the battery. So I'd scrtch that. The fact that the steering wheel locked up (Did it, or did you just loose your power steering?), indicates that the power was completely cut to the ignition, just as if you had turned off the switch. The engine dying would not cause the steering to lock up. If this is the case, I think you can also eliminate alternator problems. I'd look to a loose wire in the ignition circuit, or a bad switch. Either way, the steering locking up while the car is in motion is a very serious situation, that could easily be fatal. What if you had been at a high speed, or in a turn?

You're going to have to be a little more specific, or a little more sure, about what happened with the steering. I'm not even sure it is possible for the steering to lock under the circumstances you have stated.

Edit: After re-reading your post, about the generator light (you don't have a battery light, while called the generator light by VW, this is actually for the alternator) coming on, I really doubt you steering locked up. Power through the ignition wire was not interupted, or you should have had no warning or indicator lights. The light simply came on because the engine had stalled and the alternator was not putting out current. As no lights came on prior to the "stall", I think you can rule out alternator problems. I must speculate the light went off when you got the engine restarted. I'm only guessing, but I would think the stall would have thrown a code, not necessarily resulting in a CEL. I'd get it scanned with a Vag-Com scanner of some type for a stored code.

MORAV