I posted this on the vortex but its slow.....i know its unrelated but i wass hoping someone has some idea....thanks guys....if any mods object to this post please delete it..thanks

Hi everyone...im not new to the forum thing...yes i searched...im on the audiforums but am posting here for my girlfriend...she has a 2003 2.0 new beetle 5spd...the other day the ECP light came on after getting gas. after going out to dinner the light was still on...i knew this wasn't the best light to have on/be driving with..but we were close enough to make it home. While driving the light went off..and about 10 seconds later....the light came back on....the speedo dropped and stuck at 10mph...tach was stuck at 1k...gas went to zero....e-brake light went on...ABS light went on...dash went dark...the odometer began strobing on and off..we pulled over turned off the car and made it home, about 1 more mile....the next day she had it towed to a VW dealer and they just told her nothing was wrong with it........im pretty sure there is a big problem....can anyone shed some light?
thanks a lot in advance

--Evan

 

same as Audi really (codes mate) but I suspect a bad ground/alternator or battery

 

yea welcome to the wonderfull world of german electrical problems.. is the car still under warenty? it can be a bitch trying to find a bad ground or short somewhere, hope its just a battery or altinator but probibly not

 

dealership said they couldnt find any problems and yes...its under the cert. warranty....bah

--E

 

I was thinking if he meant ESP light (electronic stability program) because this could have a similar effect like fuse #42 being blown would knock the VSS out there fore locking the rev counter at 1k similar to the engine cutting out and every thing goes dead, just a thought

 

well thats the main problem with a bad short or ground, there intermitant and usually the dealer dosent want to mess with them because they are hard to find, i would just keep bugging the dealer till they fix the problem your best bet is to next time it happens call a tow truck and have it brought to the dealer so they can see the problem first hand so they know there is a problem..

 

yep that is EPC it has to do with the drive by wire and since your cluster died my guess is it is a cluster issue

 

all this new stuff lol it does your head in the more they include the more that goes wrong

 

I wonder why they don't use a data logger like the not so old days that way the fault could easily be found (much better than leaving it in the garage) a sort of real time fault finder

 

EPC has been around since 2000 my A4 had the same problem they replaced everything that had to do with the EPC cluster gas pedal and throttle body still the light was on no running problems just had the light on the dash finally they found it was a pinched wire underneath the carpet

thank god for assured warrenty haha