87 GTI 16V

Ignition switch would be my guess.

I had a chance to work on the car this weekend. A test light indicates there is current at the coil (yellow wire terminal) with the switch in the on position. I pulled the wire and replaced it with a jumper from the positive terminal on the battery only to see the same results - the engine dies after the switch is rotated from the start position. A different ignition module didn't help either.

The tach has had spells of acting erratically with the engine running very poorly. But a grounded tach wire won't even allow the engine to fire.

Wayne Faas

in article snipped-for-privacy@junkmail.com, Randolph at snipped-for-privacy@junkmail.com wrote on 6/4/04 1:11 PM:

As a diagnostic measure, try unplugging the connector from the differential pressure regulator on the fuel distributor. The motor control system can shut off fuel supply (e.g. to save fuel when coasting) Disconnecting the wires to the differential pressure regulator will put the regulator in a fail-safe mode. If this makes the engine run, the problem has been narrowed down quite a bit.

Another test would be to remove the fuel pump relay and instead put in a jumper between terminals 30 and 87. This would prevent the knock sensor control unit from shutting off the fuel pumps. I doubt this is the case, tough, as this would let the engine run until the fuel in the fuel accumulator is depleted. If I understand you right, the engine dies as soon as you let go of the key?

Wayne Faas wrote: