Ok ya'll I need some friendly advice... (and I've searched plenty and come up with very little).

I have a 2001 coupe A4 that has stalled out on me twice in two weeks (both times on a Monday in the exact same intersection...weird)

The first time it stalled it was running a little rough, died, would not start back up. I had it towed to get it fixed and it was determined the crankshaft position sensor was bad. I get the car back last Saturday and it ran like a champ all weekend.

Now this past Monday on the way back to work from lunch break it died on me again. After about an hour went by it fired up and ran perfectly. I again had it towed away to have it looked at.

Before I had it towed again I noticed there was a hole in a vacuum line going from the passenger side head into the throttle body. I also pulled the codes from the dic (see below)...

Can anybody here make any good suggestions as to what might be going on here? I cleared all of the codes since they're historical to see if any come back that way the tech working on it will have a good starting point. I think I have an electrical demon living in my car.

10PCM: P0171 H
28TCS: U1016 H
58SDM: U1016 H
A0LDCM: U1016 H
A1RDCM: U1016 H
A6-SCM: U1016 H
B0RFA: U1000 H
B0RFA: U1016 H

 

Anyone??

 

Possibly MAF or vacuum leak.

 

Fuel pump would be my 1st guess-do you have a pressure guage? Try to catch it when it's ill and see if you have any fuel pressure when it dies.

 

I was initially thinking fuel pump too when it first happened. I don't have a pressure gauge. I might have to get one this weekend.

Now the techs are thinking it has something to do with my aftermarket alarm. I am very hesitant to pin the problem on the alarm b/c I've had the alarm for nearly a year now and have never had an issue with it (professionally installed).

 

I would like to know how they determined the crankshaft sensor was bad. Also, it did not fix the problem, and a misdiagnosis should not come out of your pocket.

 

Im surprised that you didnt see any NO COMMS DIC messages but, maybe they cleared before you read them. The nex time your car dies,,, read the DTCs immediately before you do anything with the ignition switch. See what DTCs or messages are present.

My first guess would be a problem with the serial data buss. The MOST common cause with that is the door connectors in each accordion tube

Pull the power connector apart and see if you see any of the female pins that are deformed If they are, bend the little toung back up for a better connection.

BC

 

I too am surprised that no warning lights lit up when it was stalling out.

When I get the car back I will pull the door panels off and look into the deformed contacts you mentioned above.

 

That's why I suspected fuel delivery as the problem-if it's the pump you get no warnings.

 

There NOT in the door. There in the door frame. Remove the accordion tube and pull the wires out of the door frame:





BAD FEMALE PIN

 

I got the car back Saturday and checked out the connections in the door accordions and everything looked fine.

Monday and Tuesday morning I had a weird message pop up on the dash saying "active handling warming up". It was 72* outside...I'm starting to wonder if the wiring on the IAT sensor is losing connection and that is throwing the car off. The wires seem very stiff from the age/heat. No error codes though..

 

The p0171 is a LEAN code for the drivers side---Could be a bad 02 left sensor but i suspect as others it may be a fuel volume or pressure problem--Check fuel pressure on fuel rail--change fuel filter

ALSO If they replaced the crank position sensor--- You MUST do a "Crank position sensor RE-LEARN procedure" This can be done by any tuner with HP or EFILIVE or any shop with a TECH II--Typically though you get a code when this is needed--But not always

 

"active handling warming up" is normal! My 01 zo6 does it often, mainly if I jump in and back out in a hury turning the wheel quickly.... What shop did the work on your car? Did they replace the vacuum line with the hole in it? Hows the car running now?

 

Active Handling WARMING UP has nothing to do with temperature. It means that the ACTIVE Handling System is trying to determine the ZERO position of the steering wheel.
If you crank up the car and have the wheels tuned or turn them and don't give the EBTCM time to compute steering wheel zero, it will give you that message. If it pops up infrequently, it isn't an issue. If it comes up a LOT and you are not doing anything to not allow the EBTCM to conduct it computations,, you may have a Steering Wheel Position Sensor issue or an alignment issue.

BC

 

Corvettes of Houston always does the work on my car and they are A+ professional so I know its not sketchy mechanic work.

The vacuum line was replaced and the car seems to be running great. However it was running great after the CSP sensor was changed.

I will probably have the O2 sensors on the driver side replaced when I do headers/x pipe shortly. They aren't that expensive and it would be the perfect time to replace them.

 

They have some good mechanics but don't get me started with the rest of the bunch. I refuse to go there anymore.

They did install my LG headers and HF cats for a decent price. My only complaint with the lg set up is the slip clamps keep leaking.

If your not throwing any more codes then you should be good to go! If your still getting the PO171 check the O2 sensors and make sure none of them are loose! Its not a bad idea to replace the O2 sensors with the header install. If you don't want to replace them your self why not have them do all 4 at the same time to save on labor down the road?