My daughter has a 98 A4 and goes to school 700 miles from me. Car had belt break at 90,000 miles (previous owner). Engine was overhauled (1 new piston, head replace,ect..) with everything replaced on front of engine (I have reciepts and talked to the mechanic before I bought the car). It now has about 110,000 miles. Tonight she caled and said the car just quit. Over the phone the only thing I could have her check is the fuel pump fuse (she said itlooked good, but I had her swap it out). Is there a way to see the timing belt to see if it is turning without tools? It turns over fine. She doesn't know how it should sound without starting. Any suggestions?

 

any codes, possible things can range from a clogged fuel filter to bad coil packs

 

Thanks for the quick response. I told her it was possible fuel or spark. As far as codes, it just happened about an hour ago so is at a gas station until she can find a place in Brookings, SD that will take a look at it. It is 10 deg there so I said possible frozen fuel line. Her boyfriend knows nothing about cars . She ha had the car for about 1 1/2 years and this is the 1st problem other than little things.

 

Theyd have to pull a cover to look at the belt. Its probably over their head to inspect that. If it happened after refueling i would have her try to start it with the gas pedal all the way to the floor. She may have overfilled it and saturated the charcoal canister. Could also be bad gas from a gas station.

 

I think she said it has been a few days since she put in gas. Today she started it and drove about 4 miles and shut it off. Restarted it about a half hour later and made it about 3 mile towards home when it quit. Good advise so far, keep it coming. I'm about ready to crash for the night, so see you all in the morning.

 

the belt broke at 90k miles? which belt? the timing belt?

 

Yes, the timing belt was replaced at 90,000 along with lots of other stuff and the clutch, I should have made myself more clear. She called this morning and has found a place that does VW repairs and is going to take a look at it today or tomorrow. Fingers crossed that it will be less than $400 (that is what it would cost for me to go there and haul it home).

 

did the belt break while the car was running? if it did then im pretty sure thats what messed the car, the timing is all off. someone that knows 2.8's better then me should chime in.

 

The timing belt broke before we bought the car.The enginewas rebuilt. She has put about 20,000 miles on the car since the belt was replaced. Yesterday she was driveing and it just quit. We don't know if belt broke again or not (hope not). A mechanic will be looking at it tomorrow.

 

Obviously the timing belt isn't broken if the car is running now.
I'd have her find an independent VW mechanic to have a look at it. Could be something as simple as a vacuum leak, bad ignition control module. Without the codes, it is difficult to tell what the issue may be