2000 Bug 1.8 turbo Randomly dies

[lindasworldwannaplay]

My daughter has a 2000 Beetle and it will randomly die. It mainly happens when she is slowing down to make a turn or stop at a stop sign. When she slows down to go over speed bumps, by second one its deal. engine light will come on. and she has to put it in park turn off key and start again then its fine until it decides to do it again.

It also does it alot when you are pulling up to a stop sign or making a turn into a up hill driveway.

We have changed water pump,Air conditioning compressor, plugs, mass air flow, coil packs, fuel filter, changed gas to 100%, changed oil dipstick tube, cleaned throttle body, and now we have disconnected the Stereo because i saw on here somewhere that could be it if it has a short. We just did that yesterday so still waiting on that one to see.

Any other suggestions?

[Smileybug]

Have you had the car scanned for codes? If the CEL comes on, there is a reason, and the code is stored.

[jbremount]

Originally Posted by Smileybug

Have you had the car scanned for codes? If the CEL comes on, there is a reason, and the code is stored.

Agree, Auto zone will scan your car for free.

[Stlbug]

One thing you could do if you haven't already, is to follow all of the connections to and from the battery. including the ground that dissapears under the battery. and the starter too. Look for worn through wires and make sure all connctiions are good. According to your post the car dies when you slow down. When you slow down all you are doing is deprssing the brake pedel.I don,t see how this can kill the engine.This is weard. Does the engine die when parked and stepping on the brake several times?, or try turnning the steering wheel back and for several times.If that kills the engine then you got a short in the steering collum. These things you can do before you take it to a pro.

[MyOtherRidesAVette]

Originally Posted by lindasworldwannaplay

My daughter has a 2000 Beetle and it will randomly die. It mainly happens when she is slowing down to make a turn or stop at a stop sign. When she slows down to go over speed bumps, by second one its deal. engine light will come on. and she has to put it in park turn off key and start again then its fine until it decides to do it again.

It also does it alot when you are pulling up to a stop sign or making a turn into a up hill driveway.

We have changed water pump,Air conditioning compressor, plugs, mass air flow, coil packs, fuel filter, changed gas to 100%, changed oil dipstick tube, cleaned throttle body, and now we have disconnected the Stereo because i saw on here somewhere that could be it if it has a short. We just did that yesterday so still waiting on that one to see.

Any other suggestions?

I'm assuming you have done that grocery list of repairs because of individual need and are not throwing all these repairs and parts at trying to solve this stalling issue. And I would doubt seriously a short in the stereo would have anything to do with this issue. Nor would any electrical short, it would cause battery drain resulting in starting problems, not running problems.Hook it back up and let her have her tunes!

There are only two things that can cause an engine to stall while it is running, interruption of power to the ignition system, or interruption of fuel delivery, neither of which would throw a code. Either would just indicate to the OBD that the power was turned off. If it's getting fuel and firing, it's running. if it's not getting one of those two things it won't run.

Most non-electrical fuel starvation issues would not be related to motion, e.g. plugged fuel filter, fuel injector problems, fuel line freeze up, faulty fuel pump, and I could probably think of one or two more. Now what could be motion related 1) water in the fuel tank (water is heavier than gasoline and will lay in the bottom of the tank, motion of the right kind can cause this water to enter the fuel pump pick up), ditto for water in the fuel filter, 2) contaminants or loose particles from tank scaling, which also lie in the bottom of the fuel tank and "wash" onto the fuel pump pick-up screen.

No offense, but if your daughter is anything like mine the gas level is probably always closer to the empty mark than the full one. This causes air in the tank to form condensation in the tank with temperature change. And a real no-no is getting gas at a gas station while the fuel truck is dropping gas and stirring up all the water and sediment on the bottom of their tanks. Here's a short read on water in your gas. Even mentions the problem is accentuated going up hill, but of course this is related to the individual car and how the pick-up is located.
What You Should Do If You Get Water In Your Gas Tank

You commented "changed gas to 100%", not sure what you mean but I guess you drained the tank and put in fresh? Did you actually remove and clean the tank? Remove the fuel pump and clean the pick-up screen? Have you treated the fuel tank to dispel the water with a drying agent. Did you notice any temporary improvement when you changed the fuel filter? Did you inspect the inside of the filter for evidence of contaminants?

Now, a look at the electrical side of the issue. What circuits supply power to either the coil for firing the spark plugs or the fuel pump for delivering the gas, that if interrupted, would cause an engine to stall. Notice I said interruption, not short. A short would cause permanent damage to the wiring or cause a fuse to blow.

Start with the source of the power, the battery or the alternator, discount both and the connections at either, because if their was a failure other issues would result, and if there were a bad connection on one, the other would temporarily support the system on it's own and keep the engine running.

Here are the things that you can check for tightness, (I can't imagine slowing, stopping, or turning motion would have an affect, however, bumps could):
▪ The first common point for all is the battery fuse box. Check to make sure all the connections are tight, but especially on both the second and fourth fuses from the left. The second [S176] services the fuel pump relay and the starter/ignition circuit the fourth [S163] services the fuel pump.
▪ On the main fuse panel, fuse position #28 (Fuel Pump), #29 (Ignition Coil)
▪ On the main relay panel, relay position #4 (Fuel Pump Relay 409), #2 (Load Reduction Relay 100)
▪ On the engine, power connection to coils (a plug or plugs serviced by a #14 black wire w/ violet tracer, coils connection to ground ( #10 brown wire with yellow tracer connected to cylinder head)

Now, the one thing in the entire electrical circuit that I would be most suspect of (and I say this because they have been problematic) would be the starter/ignition switch (and oddly enough the brake light switch on the pedal is wired into this same circuit). Both the coil power and the fuel pump relay are switched through this component. A loose wire or a faulty contact could very easily be the source of the problem.

Beyond visual checks, there are numerous other connections and wiring that can be faulty, but can only be checked, since they are erratic, by doing a voltage drop test one component at a time, which will detect a bad wire or a loose connection.

The other components which could come into play would be one of the many ECMs which can only be checked with VAG equipment, and there is one item, the vehicle speed sensor, which is used in multiple applications throughout the ECMs that could also be faulty.

My bet, if it's not a fuel issue, is the ignition switch.

Hope all of this makes sense, and helps.

MORAV