Worrying experience...

[chrisn6]

Hi boys & girls,

On returning to my car today after parking it on a very slight upward incline (5 degrees?) the engine turned over without a hint of trying to fire. I tried maybe 7 or 8 times with a few lengthy attempts. The car had never failed to fire within a few seconds over the 20 months ownership. I called for breakdown assistance and after five minutes, decided to try again. It fired up immediately! I cancelled the recovery and drove home. Started perfectly a few hours later also. I hate intermittent problems like this. Anyone else experience the same issue? Of course I'm now worried this will happen again at any time. I did try activating and deactivating the alarm several times. No warnings on the dash. Could the slight incline have caused fuel starvation? Seems very unlikely.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

~Chris

[Shoppinit]

Maybe you've got a dodgy transponder transmitter / receiver ring (that interrogates the key transponder). Can happen. If it happens again try to see if the immobiliser warning light stays on.

[chrisn6]

Thanks Shop. I did check the immobiliser warning and that went off each time. I think it started without me actually switching the alarm off/on. The keys were in the ignition and I thought, nothing to lose and 'bam', it sprang to life! Not looking forward to getting stranded soon...

~C

[chrisn6]

Hey guys & girls,

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but after 5 weeks of trouble free starting, the same exact thing happened today. This time, after about 8 or 9 attempts at turning over without a hint of firing, and a wait of a further 3 or 4 minutes while I called up the breakdown service, I turned the key while on the phone and it sprang into life! So, it is no longer an isolated incident. The immobiliser light was not on during any of the attempts so it's unlikely to be that I would think.

Do any of you think it could be the fuel pump relay? Anything else that I should look at?

Thanks again for any help.

~Chris

[Simon T]

Sounds like a job for MRC or Unit20 to me.

[bakustax]

You sound like you might be an unlucky cu*t

[chrisn6]

You sound like you might be an unlucky cu*t

Evidently, hahaha!! MRC and Unit 20 are too far away for me. Could be a job for Virdee...

~C

[chunky79]

You sound like you might be an unlucky cu*t

Now now backdoor, language like that and you will upset some users

[Shoppinit]

Could be crank position sensor. Fairly common and will prevent the engine from firing.

[chunky79]

Where are you based? Someone might be able to help out with Vagcom.

[chrisn6]

Thanks for that Shop. Is it worth replacing the Fuel pump relay just in case or is that unlikely? Chunky, I'm in Chiswick, London. I do have the free Vagcom. Problem is, if it's all starting fine again, as it is now, will the Vagcom show up the fault?

~C

[rossi46]

Admittedly not on an RS6, but I had very similar symptoms on another car (Volvo) ; Despite my local garage trying various things without success, I eventually insisted they replace the camshaft position sensor and that was 2 years ago .. the car has been fine ever since.
Sorry, can't help re the Vagcom question

[chrisn6]

Thanks Rossi. Looks like I'd best drop it off to Virdee. Oh well...

~C

[chrisn6]

Just wanted to say thank you to all, especially Shop. I ran the Vag Com Lite and it showed "Engine Speed Sensor (G28): no signal/communication - Intermittent". Guess I need a crank sensor! Anyone here know a cheap supplier?

Cheers,

~Chris

[chrisn6]

Found this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Crankshaft-Se ... 4d05eac027

I'm sure it's much cheaper than from a stealer!

~C