Without seeing the error codes there is no point in guesing.

Oh your VIN number 3VWSC29M9YM032968 now shows up in VIN search tool. It says it was built on 23/08/1999 and the engine code is AEG and the gearbox code is EGT and the colour is LC5H and it shows a picture of it if you hold your mouse over the green code.

Its a French site but if you want to know want to know what all the option codes mean you can download VAG Option Codes List this is what was fitted when it left the factory.

fuel filter made no difference. what is a coil pack? this guy said that maybe it is out and causes my car to drive for a while and then quit and then start again. I know coils, they almost never went bad in the old days. Thanks and I don't want to spend money guessing, it cost too much no (didn't used to), but if anybody has a realistic guess about this car.... Thanks again, Bob

Well if you had done what I suggested first of then that may have shown up anything wrong?

The coil packs are the ignition coils that produce a high voltage which jumps the spark plug gap to ignite the fuel.

I put in a new fuel filter. It needed replaced because it was eithr bought at the dealer or old, but did not fix my problem. The instructions that I read online caution about fuel pressure, but there didn't seem to be much. Is this a clue? Anyway, the car quit and I had to wait ten minutes the next day for it to start, so this was no my problem. One guy said the coil pack might be heating up, another said that maybe the fuel pump (ugh) might be heating up and quit. What is a coil pack. I rarely put in coils on old cars. They seldom went bad. Any ideas? Thanks.

What do they look like?
 

Where are they? How are they changed? Etc. BTW, I had a diagnositc run (for free) but all it showed was misfires and the guy who did it didn't really know what the codes meant. It runs great when it runs, so I didn't think the diagnostic was helpful. Thanks

C'om on you guys! On warmer days, this car engine dies quicker. I google coil pack and somewhere it said that the engine may die if the coil overheats. This part costs big bucks and all I care about is it getting me home. I've had 3 20 min waits to cool down since I wrote last. One guy recommended that I take off the coil pack and sand off the rust. does that make sense? I may make it to the dealer for an 80 dollar diagnostic, but I don't necessarily trust them -- they will not give back my money if they find problems but the car still dies. At this point I don't care about misfires. I'm almost to the point of dealer. Autozone and Advance said that it has misfires, but that wouldn't cause it to die dead. If the coil pack is bad and the engine heats up to normal, would that cause it to die dead until it cools down? Thanks.

Turned out to be the crank sensor. Thanks