[barrypf123]

My 2008 EOS has now shut down twice while driving in the last 10 days, once on the highway at 60 MPH or so and once last week while sitting at a red light on the way to and a block from your dealership. In both cases, the shutdown was sudden and no engine warning lights came on. Dash gages all went dark but some electronics continued to work -- windows, turn signals, no power steering or brakes. After some time (5 minutes the first time and about 20 or so minutes the second) it restarted. The second time was a block from the dealer and once I got it there, they ran all the scans and tests, and found nothing, no codes or anything else wrong. This is obviously a serious safety issue and the car is really undriveable. I read some earlier posts about this and wonder if anyone has any recent info or ideas. I love the car otherwise.

 

[BostonEOS]

YIKES!!! Thats scary, especially on the Highway....

So your saying the dealership scanned the car with their VW scanner, and NO error codes were found?

Do you have ODB11 or VCDS? To scan the car periodically for codes?

IF I had to guess, something connected to the engine electrical system. Which explains what kept working, and what didn't. The details, to diagnose, would require a skilled mechanic and VW diagnostics....

 

[silvershadow]

First things first: I suggest you should cease driving the car until this problem is resolved as "Murphy's Law" will inevitable apply and the next unpredictable failure could place the life of you and your passengers in jeopardy at worst and greatly inconvenienced at best.

I, for one, would not want to be in the position of driving or being a passenger your car on a highway/freeway or similar with a "B-double" trailer combination close behind when this problem reoccurred. The end result would certainly not be in the best interest of you and your passenger.

Your insurance coverage may also be jeopardised by you personally driving or allowing another person to drive a vehicle with a known safety defect that had not been checked and rectified.

 

[barrypf123]

Thanks to you both. Yes, we have stopped driving the car. I had it toed to an independent mechanic I've used in the past, and he couldn't find anything either. I consider the car unsafe to drive and it sits in my driveway for now.

And yes, the dealership receipt, for which they did not charge me, said they ran diagnostics and "found no static or sporadic codes stored. Tested battery and alternator, both pass." I asked the service manager what next and he said nothing comes to mind but they could run more diagnostic tests which could get expensive. I'd have to have more confidence in likely positive results to proceed.

I do not have any devices to scan the car.

 

[BostonEOS]

Thanks to you both. Yes, we have stopped driving the car. I had it toed to an independent mechanic I've used in the past, and he couldn't find anything either. I consider the car unsafe to drive and it sits in my driveway for now.

And yes, the dealership receipt, for which they did not charge me, said they ran diagnostics and "found no static or sporadic codes stored. Tested battery and alternator, both pass." I asked the service manager what next and he said nothing comes to mind but they could run more diagnostic tests which could get expensive. I'd have to have more confidence in likely positive results to proceed.

I do not have any devices to scan the car.

Here's my basic advice.

a) Dont drive it on the highway, except maybe in the right (slow) lane.

b) Get something called ODBeleven from Amazon ($65) which you can plug into your ODB port, and get diagnostics data off.

Keep checking the car, for error codes, using ODBeleven, and drive the car only in "city" scenarios, till you can figure this out.

Now if it were me, I would drive it within the city, on short trips etc. Otherwise there's no way to get further data on whats wrong, and you're pretty much stuck with a paperweight.

 

[2phast]

It almost sounds like a CPS (crank position sensor), although I am most familiar with this on Mercedes. When the CPS heats up to operating temps, the unit will short and the engine will die and not restart till the engine/cps cools down. This is repeatable, at least on a Mercedes, by just starting the car and letting it run in place till it heats up, then it will die. I don't know if this would throw a VW code but if you can locate the CPS and use a VOM to measure the ohms (when cold), then start and let the car run in place till it dies, then repeat the test, if its shorted, then you won't get any ohms reading at all. This is how I verify the issue on Mercedes.

 

[voxmagna]

If a modern ECU engine stops without generating fault codes then it's usually a problem which diagnostics sees as normal and has to ignore. E.g loss of the power supply, faulty ignition switch, loss of fuel aka the tank ran out empty or the immo coming on. Throttle control might be involved but I'd expect the engine to cut out back to idle? The way the engine cuts out is important. Totally dead quickly can be like turning off the key or the immo. activating, whereas dying slowly with some hiccups can be fuel related. As 2phast says the CPS, although it isn't quite in this category, but is effectively the ECU engine 'clock' on which everything else depends.

The OP has no error codes and diagnostics won't generate them so in theory live real time monitoring of the CPS would just show it stop. But in practice if there was a power source problem, it (and diagnostics using the same power source!) would stop anyway and you would be changing the CPS for nothing and still have the same fault. 2phast has experience of a CPS heat related problem but I've had them stop working at high rpm when the sensors and gaps become more critical.

ECUs are very complex devices and an intermittent fault in the ECU could be equivalent to a reboot, ignition on/ restart. I had this problem once on a non-V.W company car which was never resolved. The last time it happened was when I drove up to a junction ready to make a quick pull away, the engine died and I was nearly T boned. I refused to drive it again.

You can only diagnose this type of intermittent fault whilst it is ocurring regularly. If you dive in changing this and that without evidence, you risk hiding the problem, only for it to come back later. If the OP buys diagnostics I'm doubtful he would learn anything from this type of fault if there are no fault codes? All gas engines need fuel, air and sparks at the right time to run and that's where to start.

A regular garage or DIYer relying on diagnostics tools will struggle with this fault and I can see them racking up hours of labor? A good auto electrician may be a better option because all the symptoms point to a power source failure. A bad CPS or fuel problem wouldn't put out the dash display. Get somebody to check the main engine compartment fusebox for any burning and the loom ground terminal which is under the battery tray. Power steering stops when the ignition is turned off.

 

[barrypf123]

Thanks, all. The car dies by going totally dead, one second it's running flawlessly and then nothing. Re the dash, the gages all stop working but the display in the center was still on. As you note, no power steering or brakes or AC.

Maybe of interest -- it's dead right now in my driveway. Hasn't been run since Monday afternoon. The lights come on nice and bright when the key is inserted and turned and the center display is on, but the engine makes no move to start.

 

[BostonEOS]

Thanks, all. The car dies by going totally dead, one second it's running flawlessly and then nothing. Re the dash, the gages all stop working but the display in the center was still on. As you note, no power steering or brakes or AC.

Maybe of interest -- it's dead right now in my driveway. Hasn't been run since Monday afternoon. The lights come on nice and bright when the key is inserted and turned and the center display is on, but the engine makes no move to start.

Ok, so when this happens, what still works?

That works help figuring out where the fault lies, by understanding what's still got power and ruling that out...

 

[barrypf123]

Here's what is working right now: interior and exterior lights, turn signals, windows, dash lights, lights on the heating and AC controls but no fan, door locks. It's like when you turn the key half way; when you turn it the rest of the way - nothing. Like the second half of the ignition switch is not working.

 

[voxmagna]

You can now eliminate the CPS and ECU. The interior lights and door locks should still operate when the ignition switch is off, which rules out an ignition switch problem. When the car is in the state of 'No go' will it crank? When the key is in, does the red immo. led on the door stop flashing and start flashing 30 seconds after the key is removed and the door is closed? If it doesn't flash, does it start flashing if you try manually locking the car from outside with the key? V.Ws use the same electrical concepts on their cars. The engine bay fusebox contains fuses for all the high current draw power consumers. From this, other circuits are spurred off to the dash panel fusebox as sub-circuits. Many circuits are controlled electronically in the Central Electrics module but that shows no fault codes?

I think you or somebody else needs to do some work and look at the main engine bay fusebox, its wiring and the loom ground terminal underneath it as I already suggested? A few have had dirty contacts on a high current fuse which has then melted the ABS fusebox! Do not ignore the possibility of a burn up in the loom which can produce illogical symptoms which won't be solved looking for a common fuse or trying to work it out from diagnostics fault codes

Whoever works on your car needs wiring diagrams and know how to fault find using them - or just carry on guessing.

Fuse Box melting in 2012 VW EOS 2.0T DSG version

Hey, I have bought VW EOS 2.0T DSG version 2 weeks back because. Its 2012 model with 43000 miles on it and the previous owner has serviced it regularly but just after 2 weeks of using it front right low beam,high beam,indicator and fog lights and in back exact same has happened but on the left...

www.vweosclub.com

 

[barrypf123]

All the lights and door locks are working and the ignition switch behaves normally to the half way point. Then nothing, no engine cranking. Doesn't it seem that the most likely problem is the ignition switch?

 

[voxmagna]

Take a chance and replace the switch, if it doesn't fix the problem, then try looking for something else?

 

[KatsEosCar]

My 2008 EOS has now shut down twice while driving in the last 10 days, once on the highway at 60 MPH or so and once last week while sitting at a red light on the way to and a block from your dealership. In both cases, the shutdown was sudden and no engine warning lights came on. Dash gages all went dark but some electronics continued to work -- windows, turn signals, no power steering or brakes. After some time (5 minutes the first time and about 20 or so minutes the second) it restarted. The second time was a block from the dealer and once I got it there, they ran all the scans and tests, and found nothing, no codes or anything else wrong. This is obviously a serious safety issue and the car is really undriveable. I read some earlier posts about this and wonder if anyone has any recent info or ideas. I love the car otherwise.

A long shot is that it may have to do with gas tank vapor lock. Or something like that. I had that on my Volvo where it stopped running at 1/4 or less fuel in the gas tank. Obviously this is just a guess but it was the problem with my Volvo. To be honest I never could figure out how to fix it. And it only happened on the highway. Good luck.

 

[barrypf123]

Well I finally got around to replacing the switch and it worked great for 24 hours -- took it out for a half dozen drives, turned it on and off many times, the last around noon today. Now it's dead again, same as before -- everything works when you turn the key half-way, then we try to start it, nothing, total silence. I saw a suggestion for other VWs that it might be a Power Supply Relay, but so far I can't find that. Anyone know where that's located on the eos -- or have other suggestions?

PS, I did play with the gas cap as I too thought of vapor like or similar. But this seems pretty clearly to be electrical.

 

[BostonEOS]

Well I finally got around to replacing the switch and it worked great for 24 hours -- took it out for a half dozen drives, turned it on and off many times, the last around noon today. Now it's dead again, same as before -- everything works when you turn the key half-way, then we try to start it, nothing, total silence. I saw a suggestion for other VWs that it might be a Power Supply Relay, but so far I can't find that. Anyone know where that's located on the eos -- or have other suggestions?

PS, I did play with the gas cap as I too thought of vapor like or similar. But this seems pretty clearly to be electrical.

How much did it cost you to replace the switch?

Try doing it again, if it's not too much, and see what happens.

If it works again, then something is affecting the switch. Could your key be doing something to the switch?

 

[barrypf123]

I splurged on the dealer switch -- $95. If I do it again, I'll try one of the $20 versions. Is there some way to test if the switch is damaged? Obviously it was fine when I installed it and for about 24 hours after.

 

[BostonEOS]

I splurged on the dealer switch -- $95. If I do it again, I'll try one of the $20 versions. Is there some way to test if the switch is damaged? Obviously it was fine when I installed it and for about 24 hours after.

You could try a voltmeter, to see if there's anything flowing between the connections, I think. It "seems" like its being damaged thru "use".

Now IF that is the case, I dont know if your "key" is doing something to it, or if there's some "overload" which is "burning out" (Vox/All, is that possible?) the switch?

 

[voxmagna]

You will need a wiring diagram to understand how the switch is wired internally, then test all the switch contacts. If there is a recurring fault on one of the switches, you will have to see if it is being damaged by what the switch connects to. You can start by checking the bad switch and if you find the same switch contacts are now bad, you cut open the switch and have a look at the failed contacts. If they are open circuit, black and melted, you know the fault could by coming from what the switch is connected to, which is the steering column control unit. I would look at the interface connector between the steering column control unit and the ignition switch - or the module itself could be faulty?

Unfortunately, internet replies on an intermittent fault like this may be unreliable for you because they only depend on what you see, the feedback you post, opinions as to what is wrong, your own pre-conceived ideas and where you are looking. A trained auto electrician with 'eyes on' will exclude nothing, include other possibilites which aren't discussed here and won't be influenced by what you or others think is wrong.

 

[moods_38]

My 2008 EOS has now shut down twice while driving in the last 10 days, once on the highway at 60 MPH or so and once last week while sitting at a red light on the way to and a block from your dealership. In both cases, the shutdown was sudden and no engine warning lights came on. Dash gages all went dark but some electronics continued to work -- windows, turn signals, no power steering or brakes. After some time (5 minutes the first time and about 20 or so minutes the second) it restarted. The second time was a block from the dealer and once I got it there, they ran all the scans and tests, and found nothing, no codes or anything else wrong. This is obviously a serious safety issue and the car is really undriveable. I read some earlier posts about this and wonder if anyone has any recent info or ideas. I love the car otherwise.

Sadly the EOS suffers from this… I am on my third EOS and each one had the same problem. My second car had to scrap it as it was too dangerous to drive and dealer could not fix it. Two things that cause this…. Faulty Fuel pump, dirty fuel pump filter…after replacing the two items I still had the problem…… finally “charcoal” container had to be changed. All fine after that. Both the fuel pump and charcoal container are expensive items to buy