Engine cut out whilst driving.

[Billy Boy 1]

On the last two occasions of driving my 1.9 it has stalled whilst driving along at approx 30 mph with my foot off the accelerator. The engine would not fire up again until I became stationary with the ignition off and then the key turned again in the ignition. It is as though some sort of fuel starvation has occurred! The car's battery, alternator and plugs are all good.

Any ideas out there? I'd hate this issue to occur at 70 mph!

[jackherer 543]

That could be a faulty tachymetric relay.

 

 

[Billy Boy 1]

Thanks jackherer - I have a local garage which usually does my spannering - is this part easily sourced and is replacing the relay a straight forward repair? Thanks.

[kachel 5]

The relais is easy to replace, but let them also check the connector where the relais is plugged in. I have had the same issue, in my case it was the connector not gripping enough around the connections of the relais. 

But it seems that the failure of the relais itself is more common. 

[Billy Boy 1]

Thanks for that info Kachel -After Jackherer's informative post I had a look for the relay near the battery tray (phase1). I was astounded what I found instead of a nice neat 7 pin black box. I will post aa daylight  photo on this thread tomorrow :-/

[DamirGTI 323]

Here's mine "barbecue box" , was few years ago it almost set fire to the engine bay , luckily i caught it in time :

 

 

[Billy Boy 1]

Interesting images DamirGTI thanks for sharing.

 

I have no tachorelay as you can see just a small nest of wires bound together with insulation tape! A previous owner must have either been short of funds or liked a fix around. 

I assume it will require a competent auto electrician to sort this out!

 

Any comments about expertise and money required would be appreciated!

 

[DamirGTI 323]

To be honest , it doesn't quite look like the tacho relay wiring , + there's just 4 wires that i can see , should be 7 ... surely it's something else rather than the tacho relay "bodge" job ?

 

Tacho relay should be inside that black box underneath (if it's a Ph1 model) , 7 pins/wires .. if they really did some "bodge" job how on earth they've managed to power everything up without using even ordinary 5 pin relay it's beyond my understanding .

 

 

D

 

 

[Billy Boy 1]

Hi All,

I have now had chance to unpick the insulation around where the tachometric relay should sit on a phase 1 -  Any ideas what's going on?

Thanks in advance.

[jackherer 543]

Those are the grounds for the headlights and radiator fan, they're nothing to do with the tachymetric relay, or even the engine!

 

If you take a picture from further back we might be able to spot it and point it out for you.

[DamirGTI 323]

The relays are inside this black box on Ph1 GTi's , it's underneath the battery on the left chassis leg :

 

 

 

... so , undo the battery terminals and lift the battery out from the engine bay and you'll see this black box on the chassis leg just next to the gearbox mount - open up the top cover and you'll find tacho relay inside , and two more standard 4-5 pin relays if i remember (lights and horn ?!) .. anyways , the biggest relay inside the box with 7 pins will be the one you're looking for .

 

 

D

[Billy Boy 1]

Thanks jackherer and DamirGTI - I love owning and driving my GTI but I have no technical expertise! Grateful to you folks.

[Billy Boy 1]

Replaced the relay now. We will see how we go! - Does this photo show the original 32 year old part?

[jackherer 543]

1 hour ago, Billy Boy said:

Does this photo show the original 32 year old part?

 

No, I've never seen one like that before.

 

They're normally made by G Cartier.

 

11/99 looks like a date code.

[DamirGTI 323]

There where quite a lot of cars from the 80's-90's which had same type tacho relay .. i used to find them on a scrapyard on Alfas , Fiats , Audi , Opel/Vauxhall , Lancia , Seat , Volvo , WV and some other Peugeot and Citroen models , even the Ferraris from the 80's had them !

 

As said OE used to be "Cartier" or "Bosch" .. years ago , when mine (Bosch) failed i found used one in my pile of spare parts , that one was from a Opel/Vauxhall GSi , and it's still on my 205 working without any issues .

 

New ones , they're a bit pricey nowdays for what they are ... so if you need one or a few spares try looking on a scrapyard , i'd recommend having a spare one in the car just in case , not that they fail so often , but when they do you'll be left with a "no start" in the middle of nowhere ..

 

Also , usually they can be repaired easily .. most of the time just need contacts re-soldering , broken coil winding wire re-soldering , burnt diode replacement and the likes . 

 

D

Edited November 23, 2019 by DamirGTI

[Billy Boy 1]

Hi jackherer and DamirGTI this is the pack and of my new tachymetric relay.

 

Thanks Billy

[DamirGTI 323]

Yes , 13 2040 is the right one ... that'll be fine , myself been using various Huco electrical parts and they seem decent quality made , no complains .

 

D