Anyone know what's wrong with my car??

**R3K8C24** · 11-30-2008 06:56 AM

So on the way driving to my GF's house, I stop at a red light, and all of a sudden my car shuts off while in drive, so I put it in park and I try to start it back up and it starts fine, but now with a CEL on and the ESP light on, but then dies right away.

At first thought I was thinking the battery, but it can't be because the car starts perfectly fine, but dies immediately after starting with no idle at all. Plus the windows, radio, etc. all work fine.

Then I tried to restart it and give it some gas simultaneously to see if that helped, and it did, but as soon as I let off the gas....DEAD. So I had to start the car as I'm giving it gas, and put it in drive all at the same time, and I was able to make it to my GF's house. She lives right around the corner from the light I was stalled at. As I'm pulling up to the house, it just dies again. I'm just frustrated at this point and don't wanna deal with it, so I just leave it there and we take her car to go out.

We get back, I try and start it and it starts fine, but it didn't go through the warming up process where you hear the fan blowing all loud until the cars warmed up, and goes to a normal idle when it should have because I left it there for 11 hours and the engine should have been coooold like when I start it up in the mornings. But wutever...im just happy it didn't die out on me. It still has the CEL on and the ESP light on. While driving home I noticed that as i'm coming to a complete stop, the idle dips below normal and it feels like its gonna die out, but then it catches itself or that's what it feels like and idles back to where its supposed to be.

I'm gonna take it in to the dealer on Monday to see what the problem is, but I'm curious to find out beforehand if anyone has any idea. I'm not gonna be driving it at all until Monday when I take it in. I have a 04 1.8t CVT btw. This is my first problem with the car.

Anyone have any idea of what the problem might be?

Thanks

**mattiouti** · 11-30-2008 10:26 AM

intercooler piping? just a guess

**Pothole** · 11-30-2008 11:24 AM

sounds like a vacuum line maybe?, did you do any noodling under the hood, ive knocked things loose before while cleaning the engine bay

**combsatl** · 06-29-2009 07:49 AM

Hey Guys -

I get this exact thing happening. I just bought a used 04 A4 1.8T - CVT, non quattro. Sometimes, when I come to a stop (in drive) the engine will dip below where it's supposed to be idling at and give kind of a jump - maybe down to 700rpm - then idles back to normal. I don't have a CEL and haven't tinkered under the hood except to change my plugs, oil and what not. The car drives with absolutely NO issues once it's moving. The other strange thing about this is: this won't happen when I'm in tiptronic mode - only when in D or S.

What would I check to see if I had a vacuum leak or if something was knocked off? Should I take it in? I found a pretty nice European car shop up the road from me (I hate the dealer).

Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!

Eric

**pondside36** · 06-29-2009 09:13 AM

There are several check valves in the vacuum lines, they are black and grey and get brittle and fail. There is also the suction y pump that comes off the back block to the brake resevoir. It is just another type of check valve that seperates after time. There is a check valve right there as well. It is located between the engine and fire wall on the driver side. There is another check valve on the passenger side above the intake. The intercooler hoses are in the front below the radiator, and run from passenger side to driver side. The DV is in between the radiator and engine slightly to the passenger side and connects to the turbo outlet hose. The small line on top is a vacuum line and connects to the intake manifold in the front of manifold. That should be enough places to look for a vacuum/boost leak if that is the problem and not a CVT problem. Good luck.

**combsatl** · 06-30-2009 07:40 AM

Thanks a ton! I'll have to sit down and do that when I have a free moment. In all honesty - I don't care (and kind of hope) it is my CVT! When I financed this car through my bank they gave me an option of adding on a 36k warranty and since my 04 had 85k on it, I figured that would be a pretty smart thing to do. The warranty covers essentially all major components of the car, including the transmission. I pay $250 and get a new tranny - not too bad, eh?