VW Golf - Brief disappearances of power - Why?

qwerty · 22 Dec 2008 at 17:07

VW Golf 2.0 FSI

While driving from Bristol to London today, thee car lost all power for around 10 seconds about 5 times. I would be cruising along nicely then the revs and speed would just start falling with the accelerator pedal doing nothing. After about 10 seconds on each occasion, the power would come back and the car worked normally again.

What could be the problem?

MikeHunt79 · 22 Dec 2008 at 17:14

Probably some sort of sensor gone wrong I imagine...

Smithy · 22 Dec 2008 at 17:20

Sounds like fuel starvation.

Lashout_UK · 22 Dec 2008 at 17:28

Got any fuel left?

qwerty · 22 Dec 2008 at 18:19

Lashout_UK said:
Got any fuel left?

Yes, half a tank.

Also, the car was only serviced a month ago so it can't be something that was obviously about to break.

MagicBoy · 22 Dec 2008 at 18:22

Some sort of electronic sensor. Get it plugged in to the diagnostics.

CliffyBiro · 22 Dec 2008 at 18:25

My cousin's Clio was doing the same. Turned out to be an emissions sensor that was faulty.

JRS · 22 Dec 2008 at 19:14

qwerty said:
Also, the car was only serviced a month ago so it can't be something that was obviously about to break.

Uh....yes, yes it could be something that was obviously about to break. Even if (actually.....especially if) said service was done at a dealer.

Though my money would be on a sick sensor.

qwerty · 22 Dec 2008 at 19:27

A faulty sensor sounds like a possibility, especially since the 'Emissions sensor' light has been coming on intermittently recently.

How much is that going to set me back?

CliffyBiro · 22 Dec 2008 at 19:35

qwerty said:
A faulty sensor sounds like a possibility, especially since the 'Emissions sensor' light has been coming on intermittently recently.

How much is that going to set me back?

First just check the connection yourself.

Defcon5 · 22 Dec 2008 at 22:27

EPC fault maybe, although that should bring the dash light on.

qwerty · 22 Dec 2008 at 22:38

skippi90 said:
First just check the connection yourself.

Hmmm...I'm not mechanically minded. Is it easily accessible? Maybe I'll have a look on google...

Firestar_3x · 22 Dec 2008 at 22:43

Defcon5 said:
EPC fault maybe, although that should bring the dash light on.

I was thinking EPC fault since i've had a similar loss of power symptoms in the past (but not on this engine) was an EPC fault and that did indeed bring a dash light on, other cause of power loss could be a coil starting to go down.

CliffyBiro · 22 Dec 2008 at 22:44

qwerty said:
Hmmm...I'm not mechanically minded. Is it easily accessible? Maybe I'll have a look on google...

Should be a wire from exhaust.

UltimateBadger · 22 Dec 2008 at 22:44

Do you have your foot on the gas when the power goes?

dalin80 · 22 Dec 2008 at 22:45

qwerty said:
Hmmm...I'm not mechanically minded. Is it easily accessible? Maybe I'll have a look on google...

there's about 30 connections related to emissions control upto and including the ecu.

if the light has come on that means a error code has been logged and just about any garage should be able to retrieve it for you.

CliffyBiro · 22 Dec 2008 at 22:45

UltimateBadger said:
Do you have your foot on the gas when the power goes?

If it's like what my cousin had, the car won't go over 30mph very easily no matter how much gas you give it.

qwerty · 22 Dec 2008 at 22:49

UltimateBadger said:
Do you have your foot on the gas when the power goes?

Yes. Theres normally no power til the car slows down to about 40mph then it comes back on its own.

I've tried keeping my foot on the gas throughout the power outage, and taking off and putting back on again. No difference.

dalin80 · 22 Dec 2008 at 22:51

skippi90 said:
Should be a wire from exhaust.

if iam thinking of the right engine it has two lambda sensors each with 4 wires.

qwerty- what your describing sounds more like run home mode, the ecu knows there is a error effecting emissions so it forces you to [cynic]go to a main dealer and give them more money[/cynic] have the car rectified for the good of the environment.

CliffyBiro · 22 Dec 2008 at 22:52

qwerty said:
Yes. Theres normally no power til the car slows down to about 40mph then it comes back on its own.

I've tried keeping my foot on the gas throughout the power outage, and taking off and putting back on again. No difference.

Try switching off the engine and restarting. I bet full power will be restored.