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My MK IV Volkswagen Golf stalls and engine cuts out - what's causing it?

My car can suddenly stall and engine cut out after driving half a mile.

Try to restart it and the revs will not stay up to idle speed and the engine cuts again. If I rev the engine for a while and then the revs smooth out a bit and it will then run. When the engine is in idle the needle of the rev counter oscillates a bit.

What's wrong?

Asked on 31 October 2016 by Monica Mawson

Answered by Alan Ross
Well firstly check all air/vacuum pipes for splits/loose connections.

If all okay then it may be prudent at this stage to carry out a diagnostic check, reason for this is that the problem could be one of the many sensors fitted has a fault.

You should then get a fault code ( ie P ---- 4 numbers) which can then be related to the actual problem.

Things it could be are:

MAP sensor
MAF sensor
ECT sensor
APP sensor
EVAP canister purge valve
HO2S Sensor ( Lambada sensor)
CKP Sensor

Hence the reason for the diagnostic in the first instance.

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