Weird problem with Kermit the Rabbit...

[vwminister]

I'm experiencing a strange intermittent problem with the green Rabbit pictured in my photo to your left. While my wife was driving the car last week, the engine died suddenly, as if someone turned off a switch. She restarted, with some difficulty and a few minutes later it died again. This time, she could not restart. Actually, it would start fine and the engine would stay running as long as the key was in the "START" position. As soon as she released the key, the engine shut-down quickly again. Of course, while the key is in START, the starter is also still engaged. My wife pulled the car off the road by holding the key in START and 'driving' it off (ouch!).

Same thing as I troubleshot it. Car would start normally, but died immediately after I released the key. By the way, all the warning lights, etc., stayed on when the car died after releasing the key. Despite this, I hoped it was the ignition switch. I pulled the connector and hooked-up another switch...same problem. ...Hmmm...

Funny thing is, as I was troubleshooting, problem suddenly went away. After several unsuccessful attempts to start with replacement switch, car started fine and idled normally. I siezed the opportunity and moved all of the suspect wires and connectors looking for a loose or broken one. No luck.

So now car appears to be healed, but I think that it's just in remission. I am going to drive it for a few days (it's my wife's car), but problem could come and go at will and I will be at it's mercy.

Any ideas of what could be happening or how I should troubleshoot from here?

[glutamodo]

That is odd. Did you plug the new switch in under the dash, or did you go all the way in and install it?

It's hard to troubleshoot something that's no longer acting up, unfortunately. I wonder if it might be a problem with the fuel pump relay. I'd make a jumper wire and keep it handy in case this happens again, and pull the fuel pump relay and pop the jumper in there and see if that does it. If it happens again, check for voltage to the coil as well.

What year is the Rabbit? Is it a US-made model or a German built one? And if it's German, have you ever replaced the fusebox? (The non-US models are well known for their fuseboxes going bad and causing all kinds of weird electrcial issues)

-Andy

[vwminister]

I thought about the fuel pump relay. The relay works in START mode, and it looks like it is energized by 'ignition on' (terminal 15) whether through the start circuit or the run circuit. It follows that, if the relay works in start, then it should work in run. I am not entirely sure, though, so I will try it next time problem bites me.

The car is a 1980. I think it is a Westmoreland car. I have several Rabbits, so I should look. I thought about the fuse panel also. Usually terminal A8 is the culprit, which is a fuel pump relay terminal. For the reason I mentioned above, I thought that it was not likely. Again, I will check next time...

Thank you very much for your response. Most of my experience is with diesel Rabbits. I only discovered how much fun the gas models are to drive last summer. This car has a GTI engine & trans and some suspension goodies. It looks for all the world like a mundane grocery hauler (except for a cool Cabriolet sport steering wheel and an added tach), but it is a total kick to drive!

Michael