Dan2
20+ Year Contributor
- 72
- 0
- Oct 6, 2002
-
California
92 Talon TSI AWD, 124k miles, stock except 16G, exhaust, injectors, AFC, and MAFT.
The car still runs excellent 99% of the time. But it's left me stranded twice now and happened four times in the past 2 months.
First time: I was driving home from work, going in 4th gear at about 3000 RPMs, when all the sudden the RPMs dropped to 0. The ECU clicked off as if the car stalled. Then a second later it started up again. It repeated a few times (each time clicking off and dropping to0 RPMs) but I managed to limp it home because it wouldn't die completely while idling.
Second time: Coming from work again, I was idling at a stoplight about a minute after starting it up. The car died at the intersection. It started back up but immediately died again and the ECU clicked several times. I could start it up after a few seconds of cranking then it would die again. I towed it home. I then replaced the alternator (which I knew was going bad), cleaned all the battery terminals/cables, fuel pump relay near ECU, and fuel pump.
Third time: A week later, coming from school it did the same thing as the 1st time. It would die like that, and a few seconds later if I tried to start it up, it would run for a few seconds maximum, and managed to park it somewhere, drove it home later (when for some reason it drove perfectly hours later).
Fourth time: Leaving the house for work, it died a block from the house, same symptoms as the 2nd time. I changed out the ECU and haven't re-tested it yet, but I have a feeling it'll come back. My ECU is the 2nd one since I bought the car, and I replaced the caps the day I bought it, about 2 years ago.
Any other suggestions? This is a weird one.
The car still runs excellent 99% of the time. But it's left me stranded twice now and happened four times in the past 2 months.
First time: I was driving home from work, going in 4th gear at about 3000 RPMs, when all the sudden the RPMs dropped to 0. The ECU clicked off as if the car stalled. Then a second later it started up again. It repeated a few times (each time clicking off and dropping to0 RPMs) but I managed to limp it home because it wouldn't die completely while idling.
Second time: Coming from work again, I was idling at a stoplight about a minute after starting it up. The car died at the intersection. It started back up but immediately died again and the ECU clicked several times. I could start it up after a few seconds of cranking then it would die again. I towed it home. I then replaced the alternator (which I knew was going bad), cleaned all the battery terminals/cables, fuel pump relay near ECU, and fuel pump.
Third time: A week later, coming from school it did the same thing as the 1st time. It would die like that, and a few seconds later if I tried to start it up, it would run for a few seconds maximum, and managed to park it somewhere, drove it home later (when for some reason it drove perfectly hours later).
Fourth time: Leaving the house for work, it died a block from the house, same symptoms as the 2nd time. I changed out the ECU and haven't re-tested it yet, but I have a feeling it'll come back. My ECU is the 2nd one since I bought the car, and I replaced the caps the day I bought it, about 2 years ago.
Any other suggestions? This is a weird one.
