A few months ago, this car began to die sometimes when I slowed down to a stop–then it took a few minutes before starting again. At the same time, it frequently wouldn’t restart if I stopped briefly, say at a gas station. it always did restart, but again, it took a few minutes. When it didn’t start, it chugged a little but, but the chugging was slower after a few tries. I took it to a mechanic who couldn’t find replicate the problem and told me to take it to a VW dealer, whcih I haven’t done yet.
Then it just stopped having any problems for about a month. But now it’s starting again. I gave a friend a jump recently and noticed corrosion on the connector. Could that be the problem? Any other ideas that I could check myself?
Do you have a local independent VW mechanic? Dealers are generally OK, but they are more expensive and not better than independents.
I don’t recall what year they changed, but later model VWs have a special computer access that requires a special tool (VAGCOM) to talk to it to find out what is going on inside. Most general shops will not have it. Also experience counts so having someone who specializes in VWs helps.
Any corrosion on a connector can cause such problems. You may want to try just cleaning it off. Note: cleaning the outside is not enough, you need to get the contact surfaces clean. VWs are known for this kind of problem.