'99 Golf Loses Power on Acceleration
 

Hello to all -

I'm Wayne and am new to the forum. I have this '99 Golf 2.0 automatic that I am trying to fix up and sell for my daughter, who now has a new car.

The initial problem I'm having is that although the engine runs fine and the tranny appears to shift ok, once I get up to about 22/23 MPH, the car loses power. The engine is still running - but drops to idle speed and the gas pedal does nothing - until I get back down below about 20 MPH. Then it's fine again. I can put it in neutral and there seems to be no problem revving up engine to max rpm. But put it back in gear and 22/23 MPH is all I get. So it appears to be some kind of a speed limiter or governor kicking in. And it's related to speed - not rpm???

Any thoughts at all on this?

Thanks in advance for your help!

That sounds like Limp Mode.

You need to get your motor scanned (preferably with VAG-COM\VCDS) for any error codes logged in the ecu and post them, that will save a lot of guessing.

AutoZone will do a free scan in the hope you buy something of them.

Thanks for the info. Guess I'm kinda "out of it" as I never heard the term "Limp Mode" previously. Since you brought my attention to it, I've done some online searching and have found others with limp mode concerns. One described my symptoms to a "T". So will get it checked out. I'm hoping it's just a code that needs to be cleared or something simple. I had just changed out the battery as well as partially drained/filled the auto trans . . . and tested the cruise control - all processes that different people say can cause the code to trip.

Regards,

Yours isn't a TDI but the suffer from Limp Mode. Limp mode: What is it, what are the causes, and how to fix it for the Audi and VW TDI diesel turbo

Thanks SO VERY MUCH for the info on Limp Mode. Once I found out that's what it was - I did more research on it. Since the engine light was NOT on, I presumed that perhaps a broken vacuum line that I'd replaced had caused the fault but not recovered yet. Anyway I found the answer from someone posting online about a similar situation. I could NOT believe this would fix it, but it did. The procedure was to disconnect both terminals of the battery and connect the cables together for about a minute with the key on (something about draining built up charges in capacitors). Again, it came right out of limp mode and operated fine with no re-occurrence - so I didn't ask any questions - and the car sold within a week!!

Disconnecting the battery cables and holding them together to discharge any capacitors in the system is an old trick which fixes a lot of different problems.

Glad to hear everything worked out for you wayneyada! Thanks for keeping us updated.