Golf Mk 4 Automatic Stalling

[aether_uk]

Hey guys,

I have a VW Mk 4 Golf TDI 02 plate with an automatic gear box. In the past few months it’s developed a problem whereby it stalls on me but it always starts back up. It tends to stall on me when the engine is cold and as I come to a rolling stop at a junction it will judder and stall, sometimes followed by the message ‘alternator workshop!’ It also sometimes over-revs prior to stalling. I’ve had the alternator checked but they couldn’t find a problem and there were no fault codes reported when I had it hooked up to a computer. Does anyone have any ideas as to what might be going wrong? I’m beginning to think it’s more of an electrical problem rather than a mechanical one. Anyone experienced anything similar? Any help gratefully received.

Thanks,
Ash.

[aether_uk]

anyone?

[MK4 auto]

I have the same problem on my MK4 1.6 auto engine AEH. car stalls when its warm. I have noticed that Idle speed goes down to 770-780 when is warm and I know that for this engines normal ide speed is 820. once it stalled it stragles to start end car loses acceleration. even if I push the pedal to floor and rev to 5000, it still does not want to pick up the speed. when eventually speed goes to 30-40 m/h then I can feel jumpy revs.
can it be idle speed control valve? any ideas?

[herby0001]

Have you considered the crank speed sensor? If that's dodgy, the car will be all over the shop with timing and fuelling.

[MK4 auto]

Thank you for your reply.

I took my car to garage and ask them diagnose, they gave me list of the codes, some of them which may be generated while I was cleaning throttle and cables where unplugged. Anyway computer scan bring up some codes and only one of them was making sense Engine Speed Sensor. However when I asked if garage was sure what was wrong with the car they honestly replied that it was only guessing and changing some of the sensors would not guarantee cure. Nowadays diagnostic only with computer scan is pure rip-off. Main dealers charge up to £100 and it does not guarantee accuracy of diagnose.
Without changing anything I spoke with my cousin, he is not a mechanic but trust me he knows a lot about cars. Once I described symptoms, he advise me to check level and quality of gear box oil before I do anything else. And I did so. Gear box was appeared to be leaking and obviously oil level was well below minimum (half of required).
After changing seal, filter and oil of gear box (£190 including labour, I would say highly overpriced), car does not stall anymore.
Nevertheless when idling revs are not dead steady so it can be some faulty sensor. I wonder if I can remove Engine Speed Sensor without removing oil filter?
So chaps if anyone is having problem with stalling, please check your gear box oil before doing anything else