joecnh

Ok, here we go. 1991 100 with 225k on her. Motor sounds great and I am sort of attached to the vehicle. Problem: When starting from a dead stop (warm engine) she will take off from the stop but stall aprox 100 feet later. It won't start after stalling. BUT after being towed to the garage it will start right up making it difficult to discover the problem. The stalling only occurs 1 in maybe 20 stops. The dealer in the area kept the car for 2 weeks and (I checked the mileage) drove it for about 150 miles and could find no fault. I pick up the car and it stalls on the way home! Ahhhh you are probably thinking I am doing something wrong (God knows what) but the same stalling has occurred to my daughter and sister as well when they borrowed the car. Having given up on the dealer (they seemed to be bothered by a "old" Audi) I brought it to a local mechanic and had a tune up (plugs,cap,rotor,wires,fuel filter,air filter)and guess what...it stalled on the way home after picking it up! I have officially named this car Damien for it is starting to haunt me. This beast is forcing me to go back to my old love affair with W123 Benz's. The sad truth is I do like the car. HELP!!!!

Shepper

the best way to start diagnosing would be to mess around with it right after it has stalled. i know, that could be tough, but try to get it to stall in an area that you can work on it... in a parking lot or something.

then, when it's stalled check for two things... spark at the spark plugs, and fuel to the injectors.

If you're missing one of those things, then you at least have a starting point.

Shepper

Check for codes also!

kmnphg

it has to be an electrical problem, could be bad sensors.

try to clean all electrical plug/contact, ground contact etc.

good luck

TBR

This is a shot in the dark but here goes. I work on alot of Audi's and have never had anyone with that problem EXCEPT me. This may not be your problem but advice is free. I had an 88 5000tq that was doing that and every time I checked I had spark. I would leave the car or tow it home and low and behold it fire right up. Finally I got pissed and hooked up my fuel pressure gauge with a lot of hose and drove the car with the gauge in my hand. Intermittently my fuel pressure would drop off and was a little weak most of the time. I installed a new pump and things were great until one day I drove to Indy and low and behold it stalls. I pulled my fuel pump relay out and took it apart and found the contacts to be discolored. My weak pump had created such a current draw that it took the relay with it. Check your fuel pressure and if your not that adventourous than buy a second relay ($25) and put it in the glovebox. Next time the car dies switch the relay and see what happens. WHen a relay gets hot sometimes it wont open and as it cools down it goes back to working. This is a very intermittent problem and will set no codes but will cause you much grief as it always happens at the worst time.

ottochal

Years ago I had exactly same symptoms on my old Audi. Plugs, filters, fuel distributors, ... you name it. I basically rebuild the car. Stalled again. Finally I found a lot of crap in the tank, which sometimes clogged the pick-up screen. Tank out, cleaned it, back in the car, problem solved. Good luck, man.

QCRAZY

My first thought was fuel pump relay too!

joecnh

The saga continues. Ok, here we go: Fuel pressure checked out ok. Cleaned Idle valve (was clogged). Replaced any and all vac lines that appeared worn. Purchased new fuel pump relay in case of future problems. Mechanic drove it for aprox 30 miles then called to tell me to come and get the possesed beast out of his bay. Day 1 came and went without incident. Day 2 and Damien returns. This time however it wouldn't start in the driveway. I changed the relay to no avail. With a no start I figured this could provide me with some answers providing it wouldn't "cure" itself after being towed back to the garage as before. It arrived at the garage and still wouldn't start due to no spark. The mechanic's first statement was "Replace the Ignition Control Module, it is a dealer only item $$$$$.". How difficult to check codes? How much for a ICU? Given his labor rate and the "Lemon speech" from my girlfriend and my refusal to give up due to male pride, what am I to do?

QCRAZY

...located in the distributor. I'm not sure if you can replace it seperate or not on the 5cyl.

HTH!