Audi just shuts off no warning while driving and won't restart. First time ever, in 11 years

[Marc Boucher]

This is crucial information for me, that the timing belt slipping (my fear) could have caused this.  Is removing the cover the only way to verify if the timing belt has slipped?  Given the events described below, would that be the standard/recommended first diagnostic step--to remove the cover to get at the timing belt?  Is that 1/2 hour work or so?  Or is there another way to more easily verify if the timing belt has slipped before changing out electronics?

thanks again
MC


From: NIck Miller 
Sent: Saturday, August 13, 2011 1:57 PM
To: Marc Boucher 
Subject: Re: Audi just shuts off no warning while driving and won't restart. First time ever, in 11 years


Just because there is no spark doesn't mean its ignition related.  Ii believe if a timing belt jumps it cuts fuel and spark.  With my 5k it was the same way when I jumped a tooth on my timing belt.  No fuel,no spark, cranked forever barely tried to start.  Have him verify timing,  the cover on the nf comes off pretty easily.

On Aug 13, 2011 12:29 PM, "Marc Boucher" <mboucher70 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Last night my Audi just shut off, no warning, while driving. In 11 years, this is the first time its ever done that. Its never even run rough.
> 
> I wasn't able to restart it, in fact it didn't even kick as thought it was attempting to start.
> 
> I was going about 50 miles per hour. It wasn't particularly hot and it had been running perfectly until that moment.
> 
> I tried to discern if the problem was electrical or fuel. In about an hour worth of cranking, (on and off of course so as to preserve the battery), it only barely kicked over once for 1/2 a second. That 1/2 second led me to believe that it must be fuel related. That tied to the fact that there was no smell of gas after a lot of cranking.
> 
> Then again, the fuel pump (and filter) had been changed about 7000 miles ago. And when the pump failed, it was kind of puttering, and would restart and run for short times.
> 
> I was far from my regular Audi garage so I had it towed to a CAA garage (equivalent of the AAA). They later called and left a message saying that its the "Ignition Booster". So they will call the Audi dealer on Monday, ask for a price for this part, and get back to me.
> 
> I googled "Ignition Booster" and I believe what they're talking about is generally referred to as the "Ignition Amplifier".
> 
> This morning I called a local store that sells parts for European cars at a cost far less than the dealer. He refers to the part as the "Ignition Transition Unit" which looks like a plug, which looks like what I saw online under "Ignition Amplifier".
> 
> Car is an Audi 100, 1990, NF engine, non-quattro, non-turbo.
> 
> Here is the sequence of events: One moment car is driving normally at 50 mph, then we hear what sounds like a backfire, at that same moment, car starts to lose power, yellow check engine light goes on, and about 1 second later the tachometer drops to zero, and we coast to a stop.
> 
> I need to make a decision as to whether I let this garage start changing out parts, or bite the bullit and get it toed for probably $200 to my usual Audi garage.
> 
> This my question is, does this sound like a probable cause (Ignition Amplifier/booster/transition unit) ? The guy at the parts store was skeptical because he says that its just not an item that they see fail. But I checked back with the garage and according to the receptionist, the mechanic noted that there's no spark.
> 
> Your best guess, based on your prior experiences would be appreciated.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> MC
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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