Sputtering, running rough, and battery problems too

[cawille]

Hey all, i'm fairly new to this website and this is my first post but I have found lots of valuable information on here so I was hoping someone would be able to help me.

I'm at college and today is my last day of exams, I went to go get me car so that I could head home, 91 Talon Tsi, and it started up completly fine as usual. I let it warm up for about 5 minutes before I started driving. Just as I was pulling out of the parking lot I began to notice my radio was cutting in and out. Weird, but I kept driving. So I pulled out of the parking lot and gave it some gas as I was pulling onto the street and the car started to sputter, a lot. I ended up pulling back into the parking lot. I turned the car off and went to turn it on and my battery was dead? It turned over once but then died...I've never had a problem like this before. I waited around for about 10 minutes until someone came over to give me a jump. The car started right up, but again as soon as I started to drive it sputter and seems to run rich, or seems like one of my cylinders isn't firing? Anyways, I took the car down one of the main roads to try and open it up and it won't rev past about 4 grand, the car just runs rough. I managed to make it back to my dorm building, turned the car off and the battery was dead. I guess I will just have to find someone to give me a jump so that I can get home. It's only about an hour away and I have no access to tools here to do any work on the car...

any ideas?

Thanks,
Casey

 

[BogusSVO]

Sounds like you have an issue with the ALT.

The ALT is not charging the battery.

So all the power the car needs to run is coming from the BATT.

I doubt you will make it home off a jump.

If you had a Batt issue, the car would run fine once jumped off, due to the Alt providing the power.

 

[1gAWD92]

He is correct.
I had that same problem. The alt died on me in my work parking lot. i replaced the alt (in the parking lot) and was good to go.....

 

[trillatl]

Don't got buying parts... Get the battery and the ALT tested... You could have a short somewhere in the car draining the battery like I did...

 

[V8srslow]

Can check the charging system but I found that the alt can test fine cold, but heat kills alts. I bet it's the alt not charging. Test when it's hot.

 

[my dreamt dsm]

I put my money on the battery. I had the same problem. As soon as I turn on the radio, heater, open windows. My car would stall even though the engine is on.
When I was at cruising speeds it was fine. But if I was idling, I do any of the mention above, it would stall or die. When I jump start it, it would start, but as soon as I turn it off. It won't start again. I bought a new battery and never had the problems since. This happen about a month ago.
My battery was bad. I would look into that first since it's easier. If you ruled that out you can mess around with the alternator afterwards.

 

[obsidian]

Alternator.

 

[95TSIDsH]

definitely sounds like the same alt issue i had get both tested before spending money

 

[cawille]

I had the car towed to AAA and it ended up being a broken negative ground on the battery. Started the car up and still sputtering. So I changed all the plugs checked the plug wire order and everything was fine. Unplugged MAF to see if it would make a difference and there was nothing. What should I do now? I'm getting spark on all 4 cylinders, I checked each one. And it smells like its getting gas for sure. My friend seems to think he has it narrowed down to my Cam Angle Sensor. Any other ideas? Anything would be great. Thanks

 

[project-talon tsi]

Plug ## maf back in that won't do anything but cause u more issues. I wud also check ## maf u said u disconnected it and nothing car ran the same well ## explaining similar issues I delt with. Car shuddered and wouldn't rev past 4 ran like shit I checked my stuff nothing seemed wrong wel securing my hood prop I noticed my maf was unplugged so urs might not be working. Not sure how to test exactly but ull need a diagram of the plug for ## maf look up how to test maf plug if the plug confirms power try replacing mafs(smallboxconnectedtoairfilter) try salvage yard first check ## vacuum lines and motors also hope this helps

When u check ## plugs did u check if the connector in the plug got pulled up on one of the ends causing it to have horrible spark

Plug ## maf back in that won't do anything but cause u more issues. I wud also check ## maf u said u disconnected it and nothing car ran the same well ## explaining similar issues I delt with. Car shuddered and wouldn't rev past 4 ran like shit I checked my stuff nothing seemed wrong wel securing my hood prop I noticed my maf was unplugged so urs might not be working. Not sure how to test exactly but ull need a diagram of the plug for ## maf look up how to test maf plug if the plug confirms power try replacing mafs(smallboxconnectedtoairfilter) try salvage yard first check ## vacuum lines and motors also hope this helps

 

[2ndGen]

everyone who just replied is correct. Ive only been posting for a while but I wanted to contribute a little. My car did the exact same thing as yours. Radio started to dim and I got those three dummy lights to dim on my dash (battery e brake coolant) and the car sounded horrible. Took the alternator off and got a ride to auto zone and they had to test it three times to show that it failed. I have a lifetime warranty so they had to fork over a rebuilt one for free. Hope you got everything resolved