....sat and waited by the side of the road :(

Before the evening culminated in this depressing sight

Heading off to take Mrs pasty to her Christmas Party and a spirited bit of acceleration up a hill resulted in the car losing all power completely and utterly.

Luckily i had enough momentum to coast to a stop in a side road and get 99% clear of danger.

Thought it was limp mode at first so went for the classic turn it off and on again but while it will turn over it simply will not start.

Only option was a call to the breakdown people.

A hour and a half of twiddling my thumbs later (I had Mrs Pasty collected by a friend so she could still make the party) and a pretty clueless recovery guy turned up.

Scanned it but found no faults, poked around under the bonnet but found nothing disconnected (funnily enough neither had I) commented that the engine rocked a lot when it was turning over (had he never seen a PD engine before) and was concerned that the oil light came on after a minute of turning over (surely that long without catching robs it of pressure?).

After disconnecting the battery for a couple of minutes and trying again just in case that cleared the electrical gremlins (which unfortunately it didn't) the only option was to be recovered home.

The car is now hanging its limp head in shame in front of my garage while I work out what the hell to do with it!

Bad times indeed! :(

Anyone in the Gloucester area got a VAGCOM laptop?

Anyone anywhere got any idea why it will turn over but not start?

Anyone explain why the "young" 50k car has suffered more problems in less than a year than the 126k red car has in 4?

That's liiiiife..

Tough one Cliff,

Nothing spring to mind, apart from getting it on VAGCOM, hope it gets sorted soon (and cheaply)

Karl

(had he never seen a PD engine before)

Doesn't fill me with confidence, there are many many thousands of them

out there.

Nothing spring to mind, apart from getting it on VAGCOM, hope it gets sorted soon (and cheaply)

Yeah I'm hoping it's just a sensor or something.

Shall get my tame vw master tech over to investigate.

Doesn't fill me with confidence, there are many many thousands of them out there.

No at that point I kind of knew it was going to be recovery home or bust

Not sure what it could be. So initially it was just ticking over in what felt like limp mode, and you turned it off, then it wouldn't start again? Hmmm. I wonder if it will just suddenly start OK again in the morning?....

I have seen a simular problem with my dads previous car 1.9pd (ford galaxy)

same as you described

vag com said something about a cam sensor

with it not turning over again it seemed as the timing had slipped so out came the tools tried to time it up and the belt had slipped two teeth on the cam

new belt fitted timed up and away she went ..... definetly worth a look

Oooo guess time!

Errrrmmm i wonna say fuel pump or ecu but neither of them are common faults....

Blaaa crankshaft sensor poo'd?

I wonder if it will just suddenly start OK again in the morning?....

I dunno jase

I went round a round about and accelerated (rather hard) up a steep hill

I did about 200 yards and I felt it loose all power.

Before it lost momentum i thought "oh limp mode better off/on it" rotated the key which killed it but it wouldn't start again and hasn't since.

I've gotta go collect mrs pasty later so I'll try it just in case before taking the safe red option

Process of elimination I'm afraid. Have a good look tomorrow for the old usual stuff.

...worth a look

I'll defo mention it to the tech if/when he turns up

I guess it gives me a good reason to "work from home" next week if I can't find the fault

I dunno jase

I went round a round about and accelerated (rather hard) up a steep hill

I did about 200 yards and I felt it loose all power.

Before it lost momentum i thought "oh limp mode better off/on it" rotated the key which killed it but it wouldn't start again and hasn't since.

I've gotta go collect mrs pasty later so I'll try it just in case before taking the safe red option

His was caused in a very simular way he accelerated very briskly out of a driveway onto a main road in rush hour as the gap was small simular distance .... id almost put money on it

I may or may not have been giving chase to a mk2 octy vrs i was following but I couldn't possibly comment either way.

Is she ok being picked up by the gold rimmed car? Or will you have to meet her round the corner? :-P

On a serious note, sorry to hear its thrown a fit, I'd have vagcom'd it for you but bit of a trek.

It'll be fine matt it'll be under the cover of darkness so no one will ever know!!

I was tempted to ask if I could be recovered to unit18 however apparently my breakdown only covers recover to home address

had a similar thing happen on the missus' old MkIII Golf 1.9TDi, uphill (steepish) gave it some beans then pffffffffffft, nothing. Waited an hour or so for VW Assistance to arrive, he flicked the key and away it went. As Jason said, it may pop back to life if you wait a bit.

After a visit back to the site of the breakdown and nights sleep a new question has formed...

The car definitely went initially into limp mode as I still had drive.

The turning I pulled into was simply too far up the hill too have lost all drive immediately.

Soooo is it possible that when I switched the engine off and attempted to restart on the move at probably around 45-50mph up hill it damaged something?

Is the starter going to be massively confused by trying to turn over an already moving vehicle?

Although it can't be broken as it turns over now but it won't start.

If the clutch was down i wouldnt worry about damaging anything. But yeah the car may be abit confused starting at 40mph!

Hmm, had a thought...

Have you cleaned the egr valve on this one yet?

Could be jammed open and trying to start on exhaust gasses or somthing.

Edited 15 December, 201213 yr by hutchysrs50

Did you depress the clutch/select neutral when you attempted the

rolling restart?

I've restarted on the move before using both these techniques and

had no issues. If not I reckon you've stripped the teeth off the starter

motor so it's spinning but not catching.

Tried a bump start?

I reckon you've stripped the teeth off the starter motor so it's spinning but not catching.

I reckon this. While I reckon I'd have been sensible enough to have dropped the clutch before turning the key again it is entirely possible that in the panic of the moment I did not.

Bugger. Would explain the lack of diagnostic falt codes though.

Electronic gibbons won't pick up sheared metal

If the engine is rocking when cranking, surely that suggests it is being turned over though? :wonder:

Hmmm good point. Maybe I'll wait for the tame tech to turn up,

Aren't cars wonderful until they go wrong!

You'd know if the starter is just spinning, it would just be making a more high pitched noise. Any type of mechanic should know that fault within seconds.

Sensor of some sort gone. I would go with cam/crank sensor. Not sure which. Something is telling the car not to inject fuel to fire.