Help!

1190 Views 12 Replies 6 Participants Last post by D2Beetle, Feb 19, 2014

drowe29

Discussion Starter · Jan 21, 2014

2000 Beetle; 1.8L Turbo. Daughter overheated it; broken hose. Fixed hose; car puttered out and died. Restarted with boost but died immediately when removing cables. Replaced alternator, battery fully charged. Car starts with a boost but still dies immediately upon removing the cables. She loves this car but I fear my husband may bash it in with a tire iron soon. He's beyond frustrated. Any ideas?

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Chef Nails

· #2 · Jan 21, 2014

Does the immobilizer light come on? If so the immobilizer is tripped. mine did this a while back and it drove me nuts trying to figure it out. Disconnect the negative battery cable, let it sit for a while then reconnect it. That is how I got around it.

Best of luck,
Chef

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Chef Nails

· #3 · Jan 21, 2014 (Edited)

Drowe I just re-read your post and I believe my first response was mistaken. You're not having exactly the same issue I was, although I think I can point you in the right direction. After I bought my NB I decided to clean up the area where the battery was since there was some corrosion going on, and I discovered a number of things there. The power distribution block on top of the battery has a number of fuses that should be checked, and if you remove the battery and the plate that it sits on you will no doubt find some corrosion and a lot of debris that gathers over time. I cleaned all of that up and checked all of the wiring under there when I replaced my battery and it has been tooling along since. Check all of the wires to the power distribution block, and if it needs to be replaced don't rush out to a dealership because you'll pay serious $$$. You can get the same part off of the internet much cheaper.

Good luck with the car.

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drowe29

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jan 30, 2014

Changed the whole block out; new fresh fuses and all. It STILL will not hold a charge long. Unhook the boosters; the lights begin to pop up then ABS starts flashing and the car dies. Truly thinking about junking this thing.

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2004NBTURBOS

· #5 · Jan 30, 2014 (Edited)

there is a lot to look at here.
#1..is how bad the car over heated.
#2...when it's running with the boosters hooked to it, how is it running?, good idle and throttle response? Is the oil clean, meaning no water or air bubbles in it?
#3...a code scanner will be your best friend in a situation like this, it ought to at least point you in a direction.

my first thought, with anything electrical, is always start with the grounds. There are a few on these cars. That's where i would start, after getting it scanned with a Vag-com.

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drowe29

Discussion Starter · #6 · Feb 6, 2014

We had it scanned; it showed a mass air flow and then some o2 sensors. Just rechecked the alternator; that tested fine, tried a new battery and it does the same thing. Changed the fuse block on the battery also. I don't know how bad it overheated. She's a teenage girl. God love her. It still had some antifreeze in it when I got to it; when the mechanic was fixing the hose and filling it, he had it running and it was running fine. It was after I took off in it that it started to act up. The oil looks good; The car runs okay for about a minute then it starts to spit and sputter. I read alternator wire harness somewhere on the web but can't seem to locate this part; not sure if its actually called something else or not.

Ideally I would love to get this car running for her again; at the least I would like to figure out the problem so she can sell it and move on.

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2004NBTURBOS

· #7 · Feb 6, 2014

Well lets back up a sec, and look at the codes.
A Mass Air and a O2 sensor. Intake & Exhaust. Seeing as the O2 sensors are fore and aft of the catilytic converter. I would kinda look in that area first. A car with a clogged cat will idle ok, but as soon as you start to drive it the exhaust pressure builds up it will start acting up. Ask your daughter if she has heard any rattling down in that area under her car kinda under her feet, or smelled anything like rotten eggs from the exhaust. I am just throwing this out there, I will tell you now that I am no mechanic, just a guy who loves cars and especially Beetles.

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Robertino

· #8 · Feb 6, 2014

So let me get this straight..You jump the car and it runs but the minute you take off the cables it just dies?

Let's try something...

Jump it and let it run for 5 minutes with the cables attached until it warms up to normal. Remove the cables and see if it stalls still. While it's warming up take a look for any abnormal lights, noises etc...(by the way while its warming up listen to the engine and how its running)

I'm not ready to say anything but usually if a customer came in with a Lexus with the same issue I would be looking at the charging system because when you are jumping the car you are using someone else s charging system and not yours ! then the second you remove the cables your car is left on it's own. So if it dies then the car is not supplying enough juice to keep the car running. A few culprits would be the immobilizer, the ECM the alternator and some fuses (relays) and so on.

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drowe29

Discussion Starter · #9 · Feb 7, 2014

The car can run fine until those cables are removed. After being attached for five/ten minutes; and after fully charging the battery; the car runs good for about 10 minutes; slowly lights begin to flash all over the board, the headlights and fan die out and it stalls and will not turn over again. Changed the entire fuse block on the battery and had the alternator rebuilt and even had it tested again. Is there another area he should be checking? VW's are new to him; where is the ECM and the immobolizer? Can an o2 sensor cause the charging system to go all quirky? We figured those codes had to do with the spitting and sputtering when you take off but not the charging system.

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Robertino

· #10 · Feb 8, 2014

Honestly VW's are new to me also , but not cars in general. I was a Lexus tech and a Honda tech so I've had my share of electrical diag. What you are describing is either a massive discharge of your battery which effects the charging system or the alternator is bad. A simple and dirty way to check if its the alternator is to take off the positive while the car is on.
NOW I KNOW THERE WILL BE PEOPLE WHO"LL SAY DONT but if you do it right you'll be fine. Here is what I would do if it was my car. 2 scenarios
#1 jump the car, remove the jumper cables from the battery and take off the positive. If the car runs then your alternator is ok.
#2 (the dirty) remove the battery from the car , jump the car solely by attaching to the positive and negative , then when the car is on take off the jumpers and see if the car stays on.

In both scenarios do not reconnect the cables back on the battery while the car is running. Turn off the car , then reconnect the cables to the battery.

If the car battery is bad and it's shorting out internally , it could suck up the power that the alternator is putting out, then again your alternator could be bad even though it's rebuilt.

When ever a customer came in and told me his/her dash lights lit up, that was a pretty good indicator that the alternator was on it's way out.

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drowe29

Discussion Starter · #11 · Feb 19, 2014

The alternator is actually out of the car because we thought maybe it was a bad rebuild. We had the alternator tested and the alternator tested good; the battery tested good. It's something in between. Thinking of putting the alternator back in; and sending the car on out the door cheap unless someone has a miracle up their sleeve.

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esse10

· #12 · Feb 19, 2014

alternator test

Robertino said:
Honestly VW's are new to me also , but not cars in general. I was a Lexus tech and a Honda tech so I've had my share of electrical diag. What you are describing is either a massive discharge of your battery which effects the charging system or the alternator is bad. A simple and dirty way to check if its the alternator is to take off the positive while the car is on.
NOW I KNOW THERE WILL BE PEOPLE WHO"LL SAY DONT but if you do it right you'll be fine. Here is what I would do if it was my car. 2 scenarios
#1 jump the car, remove the jumper cables from the battery and take off the positive. If the car runs then your alternator is ok.
#2 (the dirty) remove the battery from the car , jump the car solely by attaching to the positive and negative , then when the car is on take off the jumpers and see if the car stays on.

In both scenarios do not reconnect the cables back on the battery while the car is running. Turn off the car , then reconnect the cables to the battery.

If the car battery is bad and it's shorting out internally , it could suck up the power that the alternator is putting out, then again your alternator could be bad even though it's rebuilt.

When ever a customer came in and told me his/her dash lights lit up, that was a pretty good indicator that the alternator was on it's way out.

You don't have to go through all that trouble diagnosing the alternator and battery. Just put a digital meter on the battery while the car is at Idle and if it's within range of 12.5-14 VDC your alty is charging and the battery is not shorted not pulling it down. More than likely he has corrosive grounds somewhere not making a good connection back to the battery negative. good luck man....

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D2Beetle

· #13 · Feb 19, 2014

I concur with Robertino - You posted that it will run fine for 10 minutes, then get the battery fully charged, start it, let it run for two minutes and disconnect the positive cable to the battery; if the engine dies it is the alternator.

If you do decide to send the car on its way, and you are not to far from me, I might take it off your hands.

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