1998
vw
new beetle
2.0L
156k mi
The car idles rough, stalls out, and won't immediately restart. When trying to restart it sounds like it's trying to turn over but just wont catch. Intermittent problem.
Bought the car one month ago.
It has an after market radio.
I noticed on the way home from buying that the lights on the display and the radio would pulse brighter (without discernible pattern).
I stopped for gas on the way home and the car wouldn't immediately restart. I tried a number of times. After about 30 min it started right up and got me home.
I called the guy that i bought the car from; he acted very surprised.
They had just replaced the battery.
After about a week of owning the car without further incident I took the car into a vw guy to get the belts changed and a tune up done. He did the belts and a tensioner and said ( I believe after inspecting spark plugs) that a tune up had just been done.
He cleared out a generic hvac code and the check engine light went off.
I noticed on the ride home that it initially idled a touch rougher than I'd remembered. (a/c doesn't work and is never turned on)
After a few miles it seemed to smooth out.
The next 3 or 4 days it was a dream.
Then I took the car out for some errands. After about 10 min and 3 mi, I noticed the car idling rough at the stop light. It stalled out and wouldn't restart. After about 15 minutes, a nice young man helped me push the car off the road. i tired the car again and it started right up. I made another stop before continuing home without further incident.
I went to and from work another couple days. On the second day, a guy told me my brake lights were out on both lights, but no the fin. These had both been working when I bought the car.
The front headlight had been out too. I took the car over to a big box store and replaced the bulbs (which are all different fuses, I think). While I was there, I asked the guy to use the computer to scan for codes. A generic one for hvac came up. The guy there said he's been driving for years with a similar code and that on the low end it'd cost 100s of dollars to find and ultimately just save me a few mi/gal.
The next morning the car fired right up and I took it to work (about 15 mi away). it started right up to get me to lunch. On the way back from lunch I was stopped at a red light. I looked up to go and it had stalled itself out. There was no jerking or unusual noise.
The car wouldn't restart right away. I tried for about 15 min before calling aaa.
The tow guy said he had some experience with cars and poked around for a minute. He firmly thought it was an alternator issue.
I had car towed to mechanic who tested gas pressure, batt, and alternator voltage. We noticed that the pos cable is about 1/3 severed and that the clamp on pos terminal was a little loose.
He tightened clamp and car immediately started. He sent me on my way.
About 5 min later the car stalled out on an entrance ramp to a busy expressway. (I may have failed to downshift.) The car wouldn't restart. i played with the batt cable- to no avail. AAA call #2 got me home.
She's been parked here ever since.
I've read about people with after market radios having the same pulsing light issue until they beef up batt cables. Or I can go the dealer route for more cables. Either way I'm looking at $90 - $150 for the cables alone.
I'm too po' to be guessing.
While I know I need to get that pos cable changed out, I'm wondering if collectively these experiences suggest a different issue for avoiding the stranded thang again in the near future.
Suggestions I've seen on 2 similar posts:
* idle control volume relearning on high tech scan tool (from the batt being changed. dealer only thang?)
*cam shaft sensor
*vac leaks
*throttle body cleaned
I've been out of town a week and a half. I thought I should try her to see. It didn't start the first time. The second time it started normal and after 3 min idling got very rough. I tried giving her gas again. It didn't make any difference. I let her idle another 2 min; yhe idling got more and more "wild." I turned her off before she stalled out.
I'd like to get as far as possible before towing her to a mechanic cause I want to try to have the right amount of $ to fix.
Is there a simple bigger picture that explains all of this?Could it be as easy as a batt cable or a simple push of buttons on a "high tech scan tool?"
Thanks for any help! :)