GTI cutting out, oil light flashes

[neil1780]

Firstly are you getting a spark? second, where did you get the crank sensor from? I put one in mine and the car started an ran for 10-15 mins then cut out. It was from Partco and was cheep crap. Gsf have had good report on here around £50. Also were all the relays new or from a scrap car as they might be faulty as well the main ones are #30 and #167. Also try cleaning your isv.

Some of the 16v guys might know a bit more.

[hd_andy]

Hi All,

Just thought I would update this thread with my experiences.

I had the cutting out issue and replaced the ECU relay, everything was fine for 6000 miles (6 months) until I changed the oil and it started cutting out again.  It made sense that i may have disturbed the wiring of the crankshaft sensor, I bought a new one from a local motor factor for £43 and replaced it.  It certainly needed replacing, the wire close to the sensor was corroded and falling apart.

We are now 20,000 miles (2.5 years) on, and unfortunately it has just started cutting out again.

Seems to be in different circumstances this time though, before it could happen at 70mph on the motorway, now it is slowing down for junctions, traffic lights, roundabouts etc. 

At first I was wondering whether a pattern part may have been a mistake - the routing for the crankshaft wiring gets very hot.  However I plugged in the VAG COM and no faults, so perhaps I will look at cleaning the throttle body etc next.

Andy

[MK3 Menace]

Sounds like the crankcase breather pipe or vacuum hoses are perished or split.

Give them a good check over, mine did this and it was the crankcase breather hose caving in when lifting off the throttle and causing the car to cut out.

Put new vacuum hoses on it and take the crankcase breather pipe off and give it a good clean out. Careful though as they can be brittle. If you can see a crack/split or what not replace it as that will be your problem.

Dan

[hd_andy]

Good shout Dan,

The crankcase breather being the solid pipe that runs from the twin rubber pipes on the top of the rocker cover down to below the dizzy somewhere??

I had it all apart at the weekend and cleaned out all of the intake and vent pipes.

I also noticed there was a fair bit of slack in the throttle cable, so i adjusted that a bit.  No problems so far so hopefully its sorted.

That pipe that you mention is a bit worse for wear though so might be worth replacing that.

[MK3 Menace]

Yeah thats the pipe, comes from the flying saucer on the rocker box under the black square. it goes into the crankcase by the dizzy yeah.

If it looks tired it might of perished.

I knew mine was dead when I ran an air line through it after giving it a good clean and small amount of fluid crept out the sides of it. Tiny pin holes but bad enough for it to suffocate itself when slowing down.

I have a replacement pipe somewhere that came from an Audi80. Has same ends and is the same length but slightly different shape. If your near MK feel free to come try it.

[hd_andy]

Nice one, cheers Dan.

I'm in Oxford so may well take you up on that.

Its behaving itself at the moment, but I'll give you a shout if(when) it starts happening again!

Andy

[tam]

hi im having the same problem with my mk3 golf gti, r reg,8 v, its scary to drive thought vw was relable cars its cutting out  on me and u have to wait 5 min and then it will start again lost confidence been told that it might be crank sensor so gonna change it on sat hopefully! will let everyone know if it will be fixed!!

[Seanl]

Generally they are. Bear in mind that your car is about 14 years old so its not gonna be without the occasional problem. 

[tam]

had crank sersor  changed, was  driving  without problem for few days, few days later  parked waiting for someone and  it wont start   after that my hubby decided to change distributor carb and  something inside, and fingers x now car is running  good!

[Mellls]

I've got cutting out problems, replaced a cap that had a hole in and was whistling then this cutting out problem started that nearly all are talking about on here,  at the moment I'm crawling around at 40mph short journeys (with the cap thats got a hole in) to keep the temp down but after reading all these REALLY helpful pages I'm gonna try replacing Relay No30 part No 165906381 and check my pipes for caving when I release the throttle too.

Most on here have said that problems occuring on P reg, mines a J reg mk3 so fingers crossed.