i was driving my wifes 2000 V6 passat wagon w/tiptronic on the highway w/ the
cruise control on about 15 mins. into the trip and the vechicle made a strong
shudder/lurch like i hit something but i didnt and it lost complete power
(eng.and ign.) everything went dead and i coasted off to the shoulder and
stopped,it started right back up and didnt lose the serpentine belt or
anything that i could see wrong.my wife said i must have accidently hit the
shift lever into neutral,...would that cause that to happen and would that
cause that to occur?or is there something else that might do that,.im stumped
..never did it before or after that happened today.never had a vechicle that
ever did that either before..any ideas would be appreciated..........thanks in
advance

no ,im not on of those idiots that ride on the brake pedal,.and if you read my
message it said i lost all power,.ign. and eng,everything was dead ,no idle .no
electric.nothing ,nada,zilch,still stumped ,and waiting for a knowlegeable
answer

This happened to me in my dad's 1993 Volvo 960... I was going for the
sunroof button (its obstructed from view by the steering wheel, and close to
the ignition switch) and the car suddenly lost all power... Turns out I
slightly nudged the key, and the car switched itself off..... kinda scary
doing 135kph with the cruise on. I checked the position of the key, right in
between position I and II.

...... If your passat is anything like my Golf tho, there is nothing near the
ignition swtich tho.

Maybe there was just an electrical problem somewhere.
"RLGIRSCH" <rlgirsch (AT) aol (DOT) com> wrote

This probably doesn't pertain to you since you have a newer car. But
I've managed to do that once or twice in my 91 Jetta. It's always when I
forget to tighten the battery terminal back down. And sometimes it can be
months later after I've been driving on the road for a few hours. It works
itself loose. The first to go is the radio, every other bump it shuts off,
then the whole car starts to do it. First time freaked the hell out of me
because I thought I broke something. After I found a loose battery terminal
it's always a 10 second fix where ever I am.

Whoa! Take it easy. Woodchuck is among the most knowledgeable you'll
find in this group. Your reply post sounds condescending and won't
win you favor for future help.

TOE


rlgirsch (AT) aol (DOT) com (RLGIRSCH) wrote in message news:<20030713130922.02871.00000150 (AT) mb-m29 (DOT) aol.com>...

I just remembered a really weird situation that my wife had while
driving my New Beetle about a year ago. She called from the side of
the highway telling me she was out of gas. When I arrive to pick her
up, I jumped in the Beetle and turn the key and PRESTO, it starts just
fine. It was low on gas but certainly wasn't out. We drove 4 miles
the the gas station and filled it up and the problem never recurred.
This is similar to your situation, but I don't know if all the
electrical died... maybe yours will never return. Also, it's
unfortunate that it will be *very* difficult to track down the issue
when it won't occur on a regular basis.

Good luck and please let us know what you find.

TOE


rlgirsch (AT) aol (DOT) com (RLGIRSCH) wrote in message news:<20030714072632.02894.00000090 (AT) mb-m02 (DOT) aol.com>...

When my Pontiac was brand new in 1996 (a week old or so), I let it run low
on gas once. I made a sharp fairly fast left turn in a parking lot and foop!
The engine cut out. But it started up fine again and I drove to a gas
station and filled it up. Never happened again. I guess the turn sloshed the
gas away from the pickup and starved the engine. Could this be what happened
with your wife's New Beetle?


"TOE" <toe (AT) ramvw (DOT) com> wrote