Thank God for AAA. My precious TT is sitting at some shop right now.

I was driving back home from a friend's house tonight. My gas gauge had just hit the first red line and triggered the notification. Everything seemed normal, car pulled nice and hard as usual... took the onramp and got up to speed. I set cruise control at 70mph and after a couple miles I noticed I was losing speed as if it had disengaged... this sometimes happens when I hit a pot hole, so I pressed the accelerator. No response, and I think the engine stalled at that point even though I didn't feel a jerk.... however I did see my boost gauge responding to my inputs as if the turbo was still on (?).

I pulled over onto the shoulder and tried for about 10 minutes starting it. It would crank and crank but wouldn't fire up. After a little while I finally got it to start, but it stalled after a few seconds.

I remember I just cleaned my fuel senders a couple weeks ago and that led me to start doubting my gauge's reliability again.

I put some gas in earlier today and according to the math I shouldve had about 40 miles left based on the avg MPG the screen was showing. I still considered the possibility I was out of gas and my lines were dry. I had a friend bring me fuel and I made sure I could hear the senders when I turned on the ignition.... I did this a bunch of times in an effort to prime the system... still wouldn't start. Again, it would just crank and sound like it wants to fire up but just doesn't make it. No CEL is displayed.

So I called AAA, and while they were on their way I tried a few more times. Now all I hear is a rapid clicking sound and my displays reset... dead battery at this point because of my efforts? Anyway the shop is closed tomorrow and I hope they are open Monday because I need to make it back upstate so i can get to work Tuesday

In summary:
-- Car stalled at 70 mph, boost gauge still responded to my pedal inputs
-- Possbility that I ran out of gas
-- Put some gas in, but still wouldn't start
-- After numerous attempts, cranking sound is replaced by rapid clicking noise (due to dying battery?)

Any ideas?

 

battery is almost dead - ticking noise

maybe your fuel pump failed and couldn't get gas to the engine ??

I'm just guessing though.

 

Maybe I blew off a hose...

Would that cause this to suddenly happen? I mean, the car wasn't even sputtering or jerking... the engine just turned off.

 

timing belt or fuel pump most likely....battery doubtfull

 

the fact that the car started briefly says its not the timing belt.. IMO.

battery being dead is result of cranking and cranking and cranking and cranking.

There was also someone on AW that had an issue with the engine speed sensor going bad. Search over there. The user was sparTTan.

 

my friend, before you go to something really expensive such as fuel pump, maybe its time to change the fuel filter. im new with audi's but my cousin got a free 02 chevy truck from his cousin thinking it was the fuel pum that was bad. we troubleshoot it and we found out that the fuel filter is bad, it cost my cousin less than $20 for a truck. just my .02 cents

 

Diehlryan wins. I just got a call from the shop saying my engine speed sensor is bad. The downside is no one on Long Island has one so they need to order it. I'll have to rent a car to get back upstate and pick it up next weekend since I can't afford to miss work[&o]

 

woohoo! chalk another one up for the 180 guys!

I shouldn't take credit for this one.. just shows I waste too much time at work reading the different forums and learning about the TT. My knowledge base is due to others misfortunes.

 

and i didnt read that part about him starting it for a second.....this happens early in the morning...not reading full posts haha
well i;m glad to hear its not the timing belt....your very lucky and if you havnt changed it yet do so!

 

Well I just talked to the shop again after they replaced my engine speed sensor. They started the car and let it run for a while until it stalled. Now they are saying my primary fuel pump is at fault, and once again they're 100% sure based on what their computer tells them. They say this is unrelated to the speed sensor issue that they just fixed.

I got rid of my POS saturn, which never gave me these kinds of problems and never left me stranded like I am now. Is this what I should expect from Audi? Should I be looking at a 350Z instead?