car cutting out...

[Dubcrazy]

heya all


im a vw nut for many many year and although im a air cooled fella i have owned a number of water pumpers over the years, as long as it's a vw im pretty much happy....

My reason for wondering on over here is my daughters first car, a 2000 polo 1.4. We brought it for her as she really wanted a vw and high on her list of must haves were A/C, remote c/l and other such mod-cons.

Its a great little car but its developed a issue that i am having problems tracking down.. The car starts and runs perfect for about 15 minutes then the dash goes off with all instruments cutting out then the car just cuts out.. if you leave it half hour(ish) it will start run perfect again for about 15 minutes then do the same thing. My mechanic has put his scan tool on the car and it says its a communication error but it doesn't say what not that he can work out any hows.....

Im quite proficient around cars and there workings but the electrical side is most definitely my weakest area, it has been suggested it mite be the power supply relay (30)?

im just trying to get as much information as possible before i start ordering stuff, getting vw parts where i live (C-Qld) is a nightmare and most are shipped up so i cant just trial and error..

thank you for any insight you mite be able to give me..

steff....

[wai]

Sounds like a sensor is failing once it gets hot. The error might not be logged if it completely shuts down. It may be a case of having to trace things the old fashioned way and not rely on the system to tell you what's causing it.

[Dubcrazy]

i thought that at first but why would a sensor cause the dash to cut out?

[Jmac]

No it wouldnt mate, 2000 would be the 6n2, like the one im doing the turbo upgrade on . . First thing i would be checking the integrity of the all the fuses and strips in the fusebox aboive the battery, it losing a main or possible even an earth. For it to take out the dash too is unusual. One other thing i would be tempted to do is disconnect the connector off the ign switch and hot wire it or even use a donor without physically installing it, make sense? it could be giving up when it heats up seen that before and yes it has ign feed to the clocks. Hot wiring it just remember to take the starter wire off when it starts of course. That would be a really quick way to rule that out. dont wirry about immob as you will still have your key in the ign barrel and turned like normal. Let me know how ye go. I got a few bits for them and have access to another if i dont have it.
Cheers
Jmac

[Dubcrazy]

thanks jmac,

ill have the car home this weekend from the mechanincs and il;l give it a try... ill let you know how i go..

steff...

[Dubcrazy]

just got home from the mechanics and he said the scan tool is showing a communication error between the dash and ecu..

he also said he spoke with some fella named dan from the sunshine/goldcoast? thats right up on the diagnostic's and he said that there is a box(relay like in action) thats down the bottom of the steering column that acts a a splitter for the power.. when the ignition is turned on it goes to this box and it feeds power to everywhere else?? i have no idea what it is but someone mite?

i will hopefully have the car back home tomorrow so i can start trying to work out where the issue is...

thanks for any input

steff....

[Dubcrazy]

ok i have the car back home and i cleaned the flues block thats over the battery, the ends of the fuses were a little corroded so i cleaned and sprayed the contacts with the electrical cleaners... car started and i left it sit running.. at 12 minutes the fuel gauge dropped out and the carstopped, but it started straight away which it normally doesn't do and ran fine for 25 minutes. i left it for a shirt while (picked kids up from school) and when i returned to it i started it and drove it home, about 4 k's.. didn't miss a beat .

so i wonder if it mite be connected some how to the fuel gauge?

sorry if i keep posting dribble but i just want u's all to have as much info as possible so that we mite get to the problem as i want my daughter to be safe and able to get to her destinations with out breaking down in the middle of no where....

thanks

steff...

[wai]

Just a thought. Have you checked the breather for the fuel tank? It could be that the fuel pump cannot suck against the vacuum being created if the fuel tank breather is bot working correctly.

You can check this by seeing how long it runs with varying amounts of fuel in the tank. The lower the amount of fuel, the longer it will run. Also, if you have the fuel cap off, it should have no problems, however you do not want to drive around with the cap off. If it stops and you get an inrush of air when you open the cap, the breather is probably the culprit.

Just a thought.

[sports racer]

Have you fixed it?

[Dubcrazy]

not sure, i cleaned the fuse box over the battery last weekend and it ran well and didn't cut out, im plaining to fire it up tomorrow and just run it with out driving and see how it goes... it was cutting out before whether it was being driven or just sitting there


steff