THought I would follow up with you guys. I bought the bently repair manual and Vag-com. I did have a Fuel pump relay circuit fault. I had already ordered a used relay just to make sure it was not something that cheap ($13 off ebay). I also was pinning out the ECM signal so I had unplugged the ECM. Whether the used relay fixed the problem or there was a poor connection somewhere I have driven 120 miles with no issue. Thanks for the help.

 

Well.... I don't know what to think now. After driving it for about 600 miles it shut off again so the relay was not the problem. I have 1 new fault code which sounds bad:

18011 - Internal Control Module: Failed Self-Test
P1603 - 35-10 - - - Intermittent

Does this mean the ECM is bad? The worst part of all of this is that it is so intermintant. I don't have a chance to pin out the ECM voltage supply/ground or continue to pin out the relay. Hoping someone else has seen this error. Thanks again.

 

I answered this for you in the general tech forum too but in case you don't see it.
An internal control module malfunction is never good, if it were a internal check sum error i would tell you its a bad ECM right off the bat. Since you only have one code and its a control module malfunction there is little it can be besides the ECM un-fortunately.

 

I had a very very similar problem with my 01.5 ...I think it was returning the same codes that yours spate out too.....It turns out it was a weak soldier on the chip...do you have any chip work?? ...if its soldiered double check to see that its connected at all of the joints of the chip. Definitely sounds exactly like what I was going through....I replaced the shifter (automatic) and a few other things before we just took the ECM out and replaced it..then it worked great!

 

Well... my woes continue. I replaced the ECU and my car still shuts off. I am going to read the codes again (if any) tomorrow. I am thinking I need to check the ground on my ECU. Anyone know where the ECM is attached to the chasis? Any other ideas?

 

AAAHHH HHAAA!!! I fixed it. There are a bunch of ground wires tied to the firewall directly behind the coolant resevoir. The nut that holds the three ground wires to the firewall was very loose. Infact i wiggled them and the car shutoff. I sanded all the connections and tightened back up. I am 99% sure that was the problem. Thanks.

PS: I now have a stock ECU M-Box for sale since I replaced it and it was not the issue. PM if you are interested. Great to get that spare to get flashed and retain the stock to pass emmissions. Should work for 2001.5 B5 S4.

 

Pic:

 

Thanks so much for posting, and figuring this out...

I've been having the EXACT same issues as you for months...

Tightening that nut fixed all the issues.

Thanks again