Hello everyone,this is my first post.Hope I can find some help.My case is related to a 2001 model year Cabrio that is driving me up the wall with a weird problem.The car is fine until I stop for gas,only.After this it will not start for maybe 10-20 mins.Starter -batt.work fine.It then starts and continue to work fine until the next fill up,usually 2 weeks time.Have tried at differentgas stations thinking it was the quality of the fuel,but it just keeps ocurring.Have new plugs,filters,dist.cap ,rotor ,ign. cables installed after it started,but to no avail.Anyone who has had a similar problem or any insight?.Thanks in advance for any info

 

are you running it empty, and then filling it up? Could just be that there's deposits in the bottom of the tank, and when the fuel is in there the flakes are getting moved around, or are even floating. That's my best guess...make sense??

 

Thanks Bagel. No the tank is never that low ,in fact I have tried at all levels.If the tank were metal and rusty then I think your idea might be in the right direction,I have seen rust flakes on the fuel pump inlet screen,enough to inhibit the pumps suction therefore affecting its output pressure on other vehicles but don't forget we have plastic tanks.

 

That is definitely a weird problem. I wonder if it has something to do with vapor lock...read this I just pulled from the net:







It occurs when the liquid fuel changes state from liquid to vapor while still in the fuel delivery system. This disrupts the operation of the fuel pump, causing loss of feed pressure to the carburetor or fuel injection system, resulting in transient loss of power or complete stalling. Restarting the engine from this state may be difficult. The fuel can vaporize due to being heated by the engine, by the local climate or due to a lower boiling point at high altitude. In regions where higher volatility fuels are used during the winter to improve the starting of the engine, the use of "winter" fuels during the summer can cause vapor lock to occur more readily.
Hope this helps.

 

My son had a VW Rabbit that did the same thing. It turned out to be the heat shield on the starter. The engine would overheat the starter and it would short out. Stopping for gas didn't give the starter time enough to cool off. We had to replace the entire starter with a post production model with a better heat shield.

 

The way I understood it is that the motor turns, but it doesn't start...that means the starter is turning the engine.

 

That is one weird situation that has been causing your VW Cabrio parts go crazy... Though, the vapor thing has more of the sense with your problem... I also heard about it when I had some conversation with my mechanic, but to think that the climate could really affect the the physical state of the fuel in the tank is quite dazzling and surprising at the same time... I'm sure that it this theory is true, most auto manufacturers had already prepared to prevent this kind of situation... Goodluck!!!

 

0o, Never really came across or heard About this Situation..