Cut out at traffic lights and won't start again..please help!!

rlc1985

rlc1985

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Hi People,

I have an audi a3 1.8, 2001. It cut out at traffic lights today and won't restart. Theres no indication on the dash of any problems, the battery and starter and still trying to turn the engine over but its not having it. I got it towed home and tryed to jump start it and it would'nt have it, when i reached home it started straight away after ticking over for 5 minuits i jumped into it and it cut out again???. Im thinking it may be a fuel problem has anyone got any idea's of what it could be???

thanks for any help:unsure: Rob
 
plug into vagcom....... see if theres any faults

could be a few things, my money would be on the knock sensor though from past experience, best check vag to confirm though
 
did it just cut out while running or when you switched it off an tried to restart it wouldnt also is it a 1.8 t engine or N/A
 
looked up the maf, mass air flow sensor. So its on the air filter part of the car can they get that ****** that the car won't start all together then?. I'll try and unplug it and see what happens. cheers Rob
 
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And i've heard of this vagcom a few times now, is it worth getting i've seen them on ebay. Where do i plug it into my car?. And does it just come up with error codes that relate to the problem with the car on a laptop. And will mine be a 16 pin connection its just a a3 1.8 sport y-reg. I have searched on the net for where to plug vagcom into the car and can't find anything. My knowledge of cars is quite good but all the more modern stuff with computers plugging in is confusing me lol.:wacko:


I've left the car overnight and it turned over this morning and ran for 10mins i gave it some revs to try and push any blockages hopefully through, i unplugged the MAF sensor and tryed to drive it but as i tryed to pull off it cut out again and won't restart i put the sensor back on and still no luck.. :banghead:
 
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you need an obdII lead.... about £10-£15 off ebay then upload the freeware..... unless you want to do some serious logging and buy the £200-£250 lead off rosstech where you will get the full program

ive just got the ebay lead for fault code checking
 
Cool, i've just got one off ebay for about a £10. Where abouts do i connect it to the car?.
The cars acting strange i will leave it for about half an hour and it will start, then when i turn the it off and turn it over again it won't start, i was thinking maybe like the carbs flooding. I have spotted a perished pipe though going to the vacuum part sort of at the back of the engine block which was completly disconnected i have put that back on but the car still won't turn over. So i have removed the negative on the battery for 10seconds to reset ecu and going to leave the car for 20 mins then try again. and thanks again for any help chaps. im totally lost with this one at the minuit and really need to get it going today.
 
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Either under the asy tray or under where the headlight switch is, look just below it.
 
this is sounding increasingly like the knock/speed sensor located just below the oil filter..... simple fix if your ok with tools, you'll need the front end jacking up, you may also need to get to it from above as you cant get ya hands in a position to pull the sensor out due to the tight space..... knock sensor is about £40-£50 for a pattern part...make sure you get an S3 one as i was supplied a golf item that fitted but didnt work....dealers charge around £80 if you want OEM. I'd also get a new dipstick tube for £3-4 as you will most likely break yours if it has never been replaced ;)
 
That knackered vacuum pipe seems to have done the trick i've cut the bad bit off the pipe and pushed it back on for now it didn't work straight away but i left it 20mins.. probs cause the carb was flooded and the petrol had to evapourate.

The car started fine and even seems quicker maybe cause the air fuel mixtures better now and i've managed to drive it home from a friends house. I have ordered some new 3mm pipe off ebay to replace it as i think that is the problem and ordered that vagcom lead which will come in handy as the engine management light is still on the dash. thanks Rob
 
1animal1 said:
make sure you get an S3 one as i was supplied a golf item that fitted but didnt work....dealers charge around £80 if you want OEM. I'd also get a new dipstick tube for £3-4 as you will most likely break yours if it has never been replaced ;)
Click to expand...
OP has a 1.8 N/A, not an s3, shoulda gone to specsavers

rlc1985 said:
That knackered vacuum pipe seems to have done the trick i've cut the bad bit off the pipe and pushed it back on for now it didn't work straight away but i left it 20mins.. probs cause the carb was flooded and the petrol had to evapourate.

The car started fine and even seems quicker maybe cause the air fuel mixtures better now and i've managed to drive it home from a friends house. I have ordered some new 3mm pipe off ebay to replace it as i think that is the problem and ordered that vagcom lead which will come in handy as the engine management light is still on the dash. thanks Rob
Click to expand...

good job finding the problem! but just so you know your car doesnt have a carb
 
thanks dela, what controls the fuel and air mix then is the 1.8 then is it injection?. Only had the car a month and not really looked at the engine bay untill i had a problem lol. And do you know how i can upload pic's on here of the problem from my desktop?. cheers
 
upload pictures to a site like photobucket then paste the link into here for piccys ;)
 
forsite1-1.jpg

audi%20a3
audi%20a3
audi%20a3

Nice one 1animal1.....

This is the vacuum pipe that had completely broke away, so its been cut and put back on for now.
 
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top one is the egr valve and the bottom pic is the egr soleniod vacumm valve thingy-me-bob.

you say sorting the pipe has fixed the starting problem?
 
I have to think cooling down made it run again and the light on the dash is due to limp home mode, due to a faulty crank sensor as already pointed out.

There are not many parts that will make the car cut out and not restart usually it's more of a low power or economy due to maf, or vac hoses off etc.
 
Well i've just been towed home again. Thought the problem was solved and it isn't just cut out again. I have just spoke to someone who works on audi's & vw's and they said there 95% sure that it is the (Oil Pump) and it is a common problem???. When it cut out dead this time the oil light came on in the main part on the dash and then went off again.

Thanks for the suggestion ByzanA4 the crank sensor is the one under the oil filter right?..

And is there a part number for this???. I'm not taking it to audi so they can pull my pants down over the price.
 
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RLC...yes under the oil filter......

not heard of the pumps going much personally.... but the light would point in that direction for obvious reasons.... the crank issue would flag the engine management light eventually rather than the oil light ;)
 
the oil light is going to come on if the car has cut out anyway.

The NA engine can have an oilpump failure the same as the 1.8ts, but unless the car is rattling its head of and heat siezing i cannot see a corralation
 
cheers 1animal1, well im confused because the engine management light was on... and as it stalled the oil light flashed on and off in the main display on the dash.. So it's not real clear weather its the crank sensor or the oil pump then?.

Both are going to cost money which i don't really have at the minuit, and knowing my luck so far with this car i will replace the crank sensor and it will be the pump..


cheers aswell mark didn't spot your reply there. Think my best bet is to wait for the vagcom lead and go from there.
 
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as with any sort of guesswork/diagnostics start with the cheapest/easiest possible suspects first! :)
 
yup i agree..... plus Mark seems to know more than me regards the oil pump, sounding more and more like the crank sensor..... get that program uploaded and the wire plugged in before you do anything else -

click into 'select module' then select 'engine'....this should start to load the chassis number etc, then click on error codes, then copy and paste that into here or search on this link to see what the fault could be http://wiki.ross-tech.com/index.php?title=Category:Fault_Codes&until=17526%2FP1118%2F004376
 
cheers chaps for the help, got to wait a few days now for the vagcom lead to come off ebay then hopefully i'll get somewhere with it. I'll post back on here how i get on with it.



Just reading this old thread has got me more worried seems like it could be one of many issues even with vagcom and changing the crank sensor.

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?t=81476



Don't know if it means much to anyone but i unplugged the MAF when it was running the other day and the engine cut out. Seems just like replacing everything untill the problem is solved.. Seems very expensive that way though and time cossuming and theres me thinking an audi would be reliable.. :banghead:
 
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Sorry to keep posting on this people. Car was left over night and i unplugged the MAF and it started again this morning but stalled straight away, plugged the MAF back in and it was fine let the car heat up to normal temperature and it was running for 15 minuits and its just cut out again.

But when the engine was running... Aswell as the managerment lights being on still. Now the light that comes on when you take traction control off was staying on. Could this mean anything else?.
 
It means you need the codes read from the ECU, as anything else is guess work.

The ESP light will come on when the MAF is off, its one of the readings it uses to determin power etc. The ESP light tends to stay on when the MIL light is on anyway

Use that £10 VAg-Com cable and read the codes
 
Vagcom lead has come... Can't even get it working.... its the obd 2 lead and came with CD software, vagcom and vcds-lite.. Im running it on windows vista. The driver automatically installed for the lead and the port has changed to COM1 in device manager is says its working fine connected it to the car, ignition on. Started running a scan then it crashes, and i have to restart the pc.

It comes up with suggestions what the problem could be a few that i know are fine.... k-line?.. and firmware update.
I've tryed running both vagcom and vcds and they both crash, i've done the test and saved and is noticing my car.
 
Do you have an aftermarket radio fitted? If so you may need to remove it temporarily as it can casue comm errors
 
Don't know if this means anything.. When i run the test it says..

port: ok
interface : found
type :serial pass through
opto/iso: NO
ross tech design: NO


Says also car is NOT ISO/OBD ll compatible but IF ITS AN AUDI/VW/ SKODA try SELECT and individual controller. Stil crashes if i do that aswell.
 
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cars pre 2001 are usualy not OBD2 comp,you need to select kwp2000 protocol from memory and then go from there,
 
my car is y-reg 2001. Where do i find kwp2000 protocol?. This is the first time i have used this programme.

Sorry just found that kwp2000 i'll try that. cheers .... just tried that, didn't work.
 
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