Stalling Problem

[tecnica]

Hello all,

I've solved alot of problems using this board - but I've come to a stall, literally.

I buy and sell VWs, and recently picked up a manual 01 Jetta 1.8T. Upon driving it back to the shop from auction, the car stalled while driving. It puttered and was eventually killed by my use of the accelerator. I pulled over, attempted a restart which it did right away without problem (ridding my thought of a alternator or battery problem). I was able to then drive another 10 miles or so when it happened again. Same M.O. I decided to keep the car under 3k rpm and was able to get home no problems. I checked voltage of the battery and tested the alternator to ensure they are working properly - and they were. I connected my VCDS and received no faults codes of any kind.

My first thought was fuel pump related. Perhaps a bad pump, pickup tube or just a bad filter. Some have mentioned a crankshaft position sensor or engine speed sensor as the culprit. I've also seen vacuum leaks as a supposed issue. Unfortunately, most of these threads have no answer as to the final fix, leaving me with just ideas.

As a precaution, after one of the stalls I limped it to a nearby gas station thinking I may have had a bad fuel gauge and it was empty (light just came on when driving showing 1/8 tank). As I got out and neared the gas cap, the pump or something was clearly audible and sounded like a piston on a shock moving back and forth (car was still on at idle during this time). Since fill up, the problem still exists. And during driving I feel that something it kicks during light acceleration, like wavvy, as if its being bogged down.

Any insight to this issue is appreciated. It seems like they are multiple ways this could be broken and I dont want to just throw money at it. Thanks guys!

[Andaloons]

Hello all,

I've solved alot of problems using this board - but I've come to a stall, literally.

I buy and sell VWs, and recently picked up a manual 01 Jetta 1.8T. Upon driving it back to the shop from auction, the car stalled while driving. It puttered and was eventually killed by my use of the accelerator. I pulled over, attempted a restart which it did right away without problem (ridding my thought of a alternator or battery problem). I was able to then drive another 10 miles or so when it happened again. Same M.O. I decided to keep the car under 3k rpm and was able to get home no problems. I checked voltage of the battery and tested the alternator to ensure they are working properly - and they were. I connected my VCDS and received no faults codes of any kind.

My first thought was fuel pump related. Perhaps a bad pump, pickup tube or just a bad filter. Some have mentioned a crankshaft position sensor or engine speed sensor as the culprit. I've also seen vacuum leaks as a supposed issue. Unfortunately, most of these threads have no answer as to the final fix, leaving me with just ideas.

As a precaution, after one of the stalls I limped it to a nearby gas station thinking I may have had a bad fuel gauge and it was empty (light just came on when driving showing 1/8 tank). As I got out and neared the gas cap, the pump or something was clearly audible and sounded like a piston on a shock moving back and forth (car was still on at idle during this time). Since fill up, the problem still exists. And during driving I feel that something it kicks during light acceleration, like wavvy, as if its being bogged down.

Any insight to this issue is appreciated. It seems like they are multiple ways this could be broken and I dont want to just throw money at it. Thanks guys!

The first thing I would do is a vacuum leak test. It's very easy and cheap.

I would follow that with a new crank position sensor (also called engine speed sensor.) It is located on the block to the left of the oil filter housing. Cheap and easy fix.

Lastly, if neither of the first two solve your problem I would do a new fuel filter. Again, cheap and easy fix. The filter is located in the fuel line under the car coming from the fuel tank to the engine compartment.

If those three thing do not solve your problem then I would start looking at the fuel pump.

Good luck!

[tecnica]

To complete this thread

It was the engine speed sensor aka crankshaft sensor aka impulse sensor

[Andaloons]

Glad it was solved! Well done!