88 Jetta, engine cut out on highway this morning!

Going 65-70 on the highway and the engine just shut off. Just about every dummy light started flashing. I checked under the hood, but didn’t see anything jumping out saying “im broken”. Any ideas what this might be? Fuel pump?

Broken timing belt?

oh boy I hope not!

How many miles since the belt was replaced?

no clue. I bought it from a friend that thinks the owner before him did it, but no clue when exactly. The odometer reads about 116,000, but doesn’t always work, so true mileage is unknown.

Remove the oil fill cap and observe the camshaft while someone turns the engine with the starter. If the camshaft rotates as the engine is turning over you can breathe a huge sigh of relief and start looking for another cause.

If the engine is turning over and the camshaft isn’t moving you’ve found your problem.

Well, the first of many, but at least you’ll know.

oh excellent. Thank you for that! I’ll check it out.

This may be an interference engine…while the damage may already be done, I’d rather do this test with a wrench on the driveshaft pulley bolt than with the starter, to reduce additional damage.