99 Passat Sputtering then dying

[sllygirl]

I got in the car this morning to come to work and it drove fine. Got in the car to grab a bagel. It sputtered a bit while I was driving, then at the first stop light it suputtered and then turned off. I started it back up and had to keep one foot on the gas and on on thr brake to keep the car on. I took it home and parked it, started it up to see how it would idle, and it started up, then sputtered for a few seconds, then was fine. Anyone got any ideas? Fuel injectors? Fuel pump? We check to make sure the battery cables were finrmly in place and they were. Any help would be awesome!

Thanks!

[boschmann]

Which engine? Is the check engine light on?

[sllygirl]

Its a v6 I think 1.8T. I recently had the oil changed and tranny fluid changed. The check engine light only comes on after it dies along with the battery light.

[00Psst]

Originally Posted by sllygirl

Its a v6 I think 1.8T. I recently had the oil changed and tranny fluid changed. The check engine light only comes on after it dies along with the battery light.

The V6 and the 1.8T are two different engines. Without more info, could be a number of things but sounds like the engine is probably either starving for fuel or for air (particularly if its the 1.8T). The battery light is coming on after the engine dies because the electrical system is still on but the engine isn't running - typically its not a battery issue if the car turns over.

I'd check the air filter first - I always start with the easiest and then work my way up. You might also want to see if there is someone with a VAG-COM in your area that might be able to come over and scan the car for codes. You can find a list of folks who have one here: http://www.steve-hall.com/cgi-bin/VAG-Locator.pl

[sllygirl]

Just to let everyone know that the check engine light finally came on after the car wouldn’t idle at all. It would just die after about 1 second of idling. So we hooked a scanner up and it said that it was the Mass Air Flow Sensor inside the airbox. We looked at Kragen and they wanted $205. We called the dealer the next day and they wanted $95. Quite a bit better from a Stealership. It took 10 minutes to replace and no more problems. Still had to hook the scanner back up to get rid of the check engine light but hey not bad.

[00Psst]

Originally Posted by sllygirl

Just to let everyone know that the check engine light finally came on after the car wouldn’t idle at all. It would just die after about 1 second of idling. So we hooked a scanner up and it said that it was the Mass Air Flow Sensor inside the airbox. We looked at Kragen and they wanted $205. We called the dealer the next day and they wanted $95. Quite a bit better from a Stealership. It took 10 minutes to replace and no more problems. Still had to hook the scanner back up to get rid of the check engine light but hey not bad.

Happy to hear it all worked out for you - and especially that you were able to solve it for under $100 from the dealership.

[alexvwpassat]

Yo, this sounds like my problem!
I am going to check out the mass air sensor.
Thanks