1.6 FSi Sport Engine cuts out and will not restart for 30 minutes

Ultra40

Member
My wife has a 2002 A2 1.6 FSi Sport (39k miles, main agent serviced since new and running on high octane fuel) that has an intermittent fault which is presently baffling Portsmouth Audi (Harwoods).
The symptoms are as follows:
1. The car will drive happily for some miles (5 to 50 miles) until parked.
2. After being parked for 5-10 minutes the car starts and appears to drive normally for around 100 metres.
3. At the first need to stop (road junction, roundabout etc) the engine cuts out as the vehicle comes to a stop with the clutch depressed.
4. Trying to restart the engine immediately results in the engine misfiring - it sounds as though the ignition is firing too early and checking the starter motor.
5. Subsequent attempts to restart with the accelerator fully depressed eventually (1-5 minutes later) results in the engine starting but it does not sound normally smooth until the RPM is about 2-3000. However if the clutch is released the engine generates no power (not enough to even rock the car forward) and immediately cuts out again.
6. After an indeterminate time between 15-30 minutes with the ignition switched off the car will start normally as if no problem exists.
7. The car is subject to an approved Audi warranty and so Audi assistance turn up in the guise of the AA with a trained mechanic toting an electronic diagnosis kit. Reading the vehicles computer shows a pressure anomaly between the fuel filter and the injectors but no real explanation of the cause. (The AA mechanic - Audi qualified - suggested there may be a pressure sensor fault or a flow valve fault).
8. I'm not a vehicle engineer but from previous vehicle experience (cars/motorcycles + petro;/diesel) the first symptom sounds and feels like a timing problem which then morphs into something that feels more like fuel starvation.
9. Audi Portsmouth has not yet been able to replicate the problem (it's intermittent) and they say no error codes show up.
10. As far as I can tell the engine is not producing a low power output but as my own vehicle is a BMW K1200RS motorcycle it’s a bit difficult for me to tell!
11. Having now worked my way around this forum it seems that a number of people have similar sounding problems - A2 cutting out, running unevenly or failing to start but I haven't found anyone with what seems to be exactly the same problems in combination.
12. I’m presently assuming that this is a vehicle specific problem. From the number of similar reports from other A2 drivers I’m beginning to wonder if there is a fundamental design / engineering fault with the A2 and if so could it be that there was a relevant factory recall which this vehicle missed. (A number of other manufacturers have had similar problem – e.g. Toyota and GM)
Any suggestions or pointers would be really helpful; certainly for me and possibly also for the garage!
 
Hi Ultra40,
I have just a very similar fault and it turned out to be the engine speed sensor had the work done and not had any reoccurrence of the fault.
Cost including Fitting £ 200.00

Hope This helps.

Steven
 
Good news and Bad news.

The good news is that Portsmouth Audi no longer have an intermittent fault to deal with:) because the car no longer runs - period!:(

I don't yet know their diagnosis, but I'll update this post when I know.

PS Steven, they thought about your suggestion and decided to try changing the engine speed sensor as you suggested but I don't know whether they did so befor the fault ceased to be intermittent.
 
I really hate to say it but "injectors" there i said it. Probably not what you wanted to hear but at least you have a warranty to fall back on. My car stuttered and ran odd for months then one day-nothing but one cylinder and the engine shacking and coughing. good luck mike
 
Latest news from Portsmouth Audi is that they changed the engine speed sensor but that did not solve the problem. Even worse the engine has started running again so the fault is confirmed as intermittent.

Poutsmouth Audi are still working to diagnose the problem, but in the meantime I Googled the same problem on the search string 1.6 efi engine and, guess what, it seems to affect more than just the Audi brand as the engine was fitted accross the VAG range.

The story continues....
 
Now fixed - but it took 2 Audi dealership mehcanics 5 days. The problem was a faulty fuel pressure - but a bad electrical connection wasn't helping the diagnosis.
 
My Audi a2 1.6 fsi sport has exactly the same fault as yours ultra 40 it has been with the mechanic some time now and he is baffled with the fault he says when the engine is hot for some reason it stops injecting the fuel through to the engine and logs a high fuel pressure fault so any help or information you may have would be very much appreciated
Kind regards phillip
 
Hi Phillip, I did get the problem fixed - it took the main agent who supplied the car s/h nearly 4 weeks to fix under warranty.

Interestingly the mechanic told me that if I'd been paying rather than the warranty they would have changed the ecu first then the injection system. As they were paying they tried everything else first to avoid having to pay for parts. Parts would have been nearly £4K and would not have fixed the problem.

The solution was a small fragment of plastic (I didn't see it) in the fuel tank that was occasionally getting sucked into the fuel line. This blocked the flow of fuel causing the engine to stop. Once the engine stopped sucking fuel, the low pressure in the fuel line equalised with tank pressure and the particle settled back down into the tank until the next time.

I think this must have been a very low probability fault unless there is a plastic component in the tank that fails regularly.

The problem took so long to diagnose because the garage thought the fault was with the engine management or injection system not simple fuel starvation.

If you would like to give me a call 07948 308868

David
 
It took a while to find but in all honesty....what a find!

Well done to your dealer. Needle in a haystack springs to mind.

:)
 
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