key2002 Beetle Turbo S starts but dies immediately?

[dianewest]

I have a 2002 Beetle Turbo S that starts, but dies immediately. I drove it down the driveway for a few seconds, backed it up, turned it off, went into my house, back out to start it again, and it dies immediately. We changed the battery, that wasn't it. Don't have an owner's manual, wondering if it's the key? Only have one key, so can't check it with another one. Anyone have any thing else we could check out?

[2002turboS]

It may be a clogged fuel filter or fuel line. I had that problem recently in my Turbo S, and that is what the problem was.

I was able to fix the problem with two cans of fuel line cleaner, but I cannot remember the name. (It had a "40" in the name, and I got it at the VW service). It was rather expensive, $20 per treatment, but still way less than the dealer fixing the problem.

It also me be the fuel pump, a worse problem. I would start with the fuel filter, and some kind of "Gumout" type treatment.

Next, always use "quality" gasoline. Never conveinence store or grocery store cheap gas, and not Arco or Texaco. Use Chevron, Union 76, or Shell. Yes, there is a difference, and always use Premium. Our TS's need that.

Good luck to you, and welcome!

[gt2437]

is the immobilizer dash light lit?

[dianewest]

We weren't given the owner's manual from the dealer when we bought the car two years ago. I don't know where the immobilizer light might be on he dash. Is it right next to the bottom of the dash lights? We noticed an amber or light yellow light there that was on, and we don't remember seeing it before. It kind of sounds like maybe the key is misprogrammed all of a sudden (anything you know of that might make that happen? i.e., dropping it, etc.?) Or maybe an anti-theft switch went on perhaps? It feels fine, like it will start and run great, except it then dies. Thanks for your advice. We're getting a manual soon, but I don't think that has any maintenance tips. Just will show us maybe where the lights are and what they mean.

[dianewest]

Thanks for that advice. We just serviced the Beetle TS right before this happened. We put in a fuel cleaner/gum out agent at that time. I like the idea of the better gas for the car, I hope to remember that when fueling up.

[kcfoxie]

The immobilizer light is towards the top of the cluster, it's a yellow beetle with a key as the rear wheel, the key's teeth run forward to the front wheel. If that is lit, the car has stopped recognizing its key.

[dianewest]

Thank you. We just got the owner's manual are were able to find out what all the lights on the dash mean. We checked the fuel pump and filter, they were fine. A friend told us to unhook the battery, even though the manual, etc. indicates "NOT!" to do that ever. Our other choices were unhook the battery, and hope it resets all the codes, or tow it 30 miles to a VW dealer. Either way, we'd have to tow it. So we unhooked the battery (holding our breath), after putting it back in, it automatically reset all the codes, the Beetle TS started to purr like a kitten. Thanks for all your help, I probably will never find out what went wrong, but it's working again great. I hope, case closed