99 beetle 2.0l weird engine problems

Hey, first I would scan the car for trouble codes.

The locks; automatically lock by themselves. That is normal.

Speedo issues; could be a failing cluster or a speed sensor failing. See if there are any trouble codes for the issue and you could run "output" tests in VCDS; to see if the speedo motors are bad. This will activate; a full "sweep" of the each of the needs/gauges.

Lack of power; could be a number of issues, (fuel, ignition, etc.). Please get those codes, post them up here and we will go from there.

How long have you had the car and how many miles are on it?

I should have said this better..

The door locks will go up and down by themselves 20 times and sometimes only once or twice
The speedo sensor is broke and hasn't worked for a year. But the speedometer moves all over the place when the car has these spasms.
The lack of power happens during this whole locks and speedo going nuts.. they all happen at the same time..

165 on the odo. But idk how many years it hasn't worked. My gf has had it over a year.
I'll have to scan the car again.. but last time I did there are no related codes to these issues. One for a misfire which is fixed now and one other code. I think a 02 sensor.

These codes were on the car several months before it the car got posesed haha

It still does the full sweep on start up.
I'm very mechanically inclined and have tried everything I can. Cleaning grounds.. etc.

The speedo sensor isn't bad, it's the plastic gear in the trans that is broken

Hey, I had a problem with my locks going up and down, like crazy; it ended up being, the drivers side door lock switch. You could remove switches and see if the problem goes away. Wiring harness issues in the door is a common problem as well, the part going from the body to the door. If you have a vw compatible scanner;, you should be getting trouble codes for the electrical problems.

If the speed sensor or trans gear is bad; that may cause some drivability issues with the transmission. A current scan with a vw scanner, would help troubleshooting going forward.

This thread has some good info:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4537122-Limp-Mode-P0722-OBD-code-and-Vehicle-Speed-Sensor

The problem with the engine intermittently shutting off completely sure sounds like the engine speed sensor, an increasingly common problem these days:

http://newbeetle.org/forums/2-0-liter-gas/60706-engine-speed-sensor-replacement.html

Why would all of these happen all at the same time tho. Even with the speed sensor being broke all these years it hasn't affected anything till now

Also about the door lock switch wiring. Am I able to hurt disconnect power from those snd make it so the car doesn't need the keyless remote.
I wouldn't care if locking and unlocking was needed to be done with the key itself

dillon93dillon said:

Why would all of these happen all at the same time tho. Even with the speed sensor being broke all these years it hasn't affected anything till now

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The engine speed sensor which can cause the stalling is different from the transmission speed sensor which is used by the speedometer. You have two different problems going on.

dillon93dillon said:

Also about the door lock switch wiring. Am I able to hurt disconnect power from those snd make it so the car doesn't need the keyless remote.
I wouldn't care if locking and unlocking was needed to be done with the key itself

Click to expand...

The lock bounce may be caused by a bad door latch. The latch has three microswitchs on a circuit board which tend to develop solder cracks. I think two of the switches are used to sense the key rotation. An intermittent connection could be causing the car to get door unlock signals as you drive. Here is my DIY on the door latch:

http://newbeetle.org/forums/questio...ms-new-beetle/59654-door-latch-resources.html