I lost spark!!!

[david.uno24 0]

So I leave work today, I’m driving down the road, and all of a sudden my car dies... It didn’t make any sounds, it just died. I tried to turn it over, but it wouldn’t fire. I pulled one of the plug wires to see if it had spark, and it didn’t seem like it. So I pulled it off of the ?coil pack? and plugged it back in. I turned it over while trying to ark it off of the intake manifold, and it started right up. I turned it off, plugged the wire back up, and fired it up again. It sounded fine. So, I decided to try and drive it home. I started driving over the bridge, and it died right before the crest. I had to coast it all the way down the other side. I got out and checked the same things that I checked before, but nothing was working. I don’t think that I was getting any spark from the ?coil pack? (what do you call that thing anyway... I know its not a coil, but what is it?). Any thoughts on what happened to make me lose spark?

[Karr-Man 0]

did u check spark more than one HT lead? maybe u have a loose connection on the low tension circuit leading to the coil pack... only say thios ocs u would expect it to keep running on 5 lumpily if only 1 spark wasnt getting thru... when one oif the coils in my coil pack went i did manage to get it running on 4 but very lumpily

[david.uno24 0]

Well, its definitely not just one of the leads, because it wont fire at all. I have been trying to Google the problem, and the closest thing that I can find is sometimes people will be driving, get out to do what ever, and when they try to start it up again it wont start (these same people have checked everything from the coil pack, to the ecu, the crank sensor, and the cam sensor, and nothing works). This kind of sounds like my problem accept that my car died while I was driving. Nothing preceded it, it just turned off, and then wouldn’t start again. I NEED HELP!!!

[xyber 1]

Immobiliser system cutting in?

[Phat VR6 3]

Is it dizzy or coilpack type (obd1 or 2) what year is it?.. Could be the rotor arm or cap on the dizzy. lead from the coilpack to the dizzy, or the coilpack before the dizzy.

As xyber says you wanna try by pass the immobiliser

Also you sure its not fuel related? Tanks not empty is it :-d Just sounds fuel related to me the way it started again ran ruff and died again

[xyber 1]

immobiliser cuts ignition and fuel so could be something to do with it, itf it is that the normal culprit is the wire coil around the ignition switch not picking up the signal from the transponder chip in the key, which I think a VW specialist can bypass via VAGCOM or something similar

if you have access to VAGCOM give it a scan and see what pops up

[richievr 1]

could be the crank sensor. if that has died the ecu will not know the engine is turning over hence you get no spark.

well worth getting it checked out with vag-com if you have access to it.

[david.uno24 0]

!!UPDATE!! So, I decide to start trouble shooting today, and I start with the power connection to the coil pack. Using my multimeter I see it has power, so I plug it into the coil pack, and check every plug one by one going downt the line off of the coil while turning the car over. 1-5 have no power, but when I come to #6 the meter all of a sudden shows a reading. *-) So I decide to go back and check the other plugs, and wouldn’t you know it they all have power (sounds kind of like when I pulled the plug wire off of the coil pack and immediately plugged it back in the first time it died... It started right back up after that.).

Anyway, I figure that since the coil pack all of a sudden has power that this was probably my problem. I plug everything back up, and low and behold it starts like a dream... What is this? Is my coil pack about to die, or is this just a freak of nature? Any thoughts?

I have to admit that this is really my first experiences working on a DUB let alone a VR6, and these screwy electrical problems have me pretty confused.

By the way, the car is a 1998 Jetta GLX, it has just over 126000 miles on it (obd 2, I don’t even thing they made a vr6 available in the states until 95). I filled up on gas about 6 hours before it broke down for the first time, so I know it isn’t a gas thing (especially since it started after messing with the coil today. lol). And lastly... What is an immobilizer? I really cant say that I have a clue what that is. Thanks for all of the help and advice... Keep it coming.

[david.uno24 0]

By the way... I forgot to mention that when I was pulling plug wires off of the coil pack the other day that I managed to hit one of the hoses coming off of the overflow, it blew off spewing hot radiator fluid all over my hand and the rest all over the deck. I couldn't get the hose end back on, and while trying to I broke the little spicket off of the Y pipe on the radiator hose. I am having some great luck with this car lately...