Just picked up a 90 jetta and the motor quits at random. I was told the pre-pum was just replaced, so I'm pretty sure it's not that.
Driving along the engine just quits with no warning. Turning the key to off, then back to the on position will start it again. The headlights stay lit when the motor quits....
Could you provide more detail about when it quits... Does it start to loose RPMs and does it seem the more gas you press, the slower the car goes?
If it's somthing similar to that, It may be a bad wiring harness.
My 91 golf did that for nearly 2 years off and on. It got to a point that it would do it all the time and I could barely get 20km to school without pulling off the highway to let it sit for a minute and try again.
What my garage did for me was run a by-pass switch on the engine coolant temperature sensor into my dash and whenever it acts up i just flip the switch off and it disconects the sensor... thus the car keeps working fine and I'm happy.
Cheers.
Andrew
91 Golf Coupe
2005 GTI (h> Just picked up a 90 jetta and the motor quits at random. I was told the
Could be the ignition switch assembly. Try starting the engine and then wiggle the key. Try hitting the underside of the steeringcolumn and see if this triggers the engine shutdown. Ignitionswitch assemblies tend to get worn out because some people have a lot of keys on their key ring and all that weight is hanging of the ignition key.
It quits abruptly like you've turned the car off; definitely a electrical short. I can just push the clutch in, turn the key to the off position, then back to the on position again, and the motor will kick in again. No need to engage the starter.
I was thinking it could be the ignition switch, but if the circuit was breaking there woulndn't the headlights shut off, like when the key is in the on position?
If you have a tach, what does the tach do? Does the tach immediately drop to zero even while the car is in the process of stalling or does the tach drop slowly? If it suddenly goes to zero then it's ignition related. If it drops slowly (well, "slow" meaning not-instantaneous), it's more likely to be fuel related.
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