Power steering and light failure....close call

jeff lebowski

Hi,

I had the quite unpleasant experience of driving along, happy to be going home from work when all of a sudden, my lights shut off, the power steering died and all the lights on my dash went out. I pulled in, hazards on then turned the ignition off and then back on and it all was back to normal.

Continued on my journey (as I had no option given my location at the time) and it happened again.

I'm going straight to the garage tomorrow but anyone got any idea what might cause that? The second time it happened I was going around a sharp corner beside a pier....hairy!

The cars a 2006 A4 2.0 TFSI Quattro

Cheers

Did the engine cut out too?

cubix

Had a similar problem on an old shape 98 primera. Turned out to be a faulty ignition barrel, when the knee would knock off the keys while driving:eek:. Before going to the garage it may be worthwile wiggling the key while the car is running with out turning it off

Owen

+1 on did the engine turn off too?

Plug

Injector fault perhaps? Seems to be a common fault with these.

jeff lebowski

Yeah, engine cut also...and come to think of it, my knee may have knocked off the keys a couple of times

Would that be a big job to sort? Due to drive to Dublin tomorrow from up north and want to get it done in the morning without any messing around if possible.

Thanks for the advice!

Fishtits

Get the codes read and take it from there

Dilbert75

Fuel pump failure? Fuel filter blocked?

king_of_inismac

Sounds to me like alternator failing. Did all the dash lights come on when the car died? Any problems starting the car?

MugMugs

king_of_inismac wrote: »

Sounds to me like alternator failing. Did all the dash lights come on when the car died? Any problems starting the car?

Battery light would have come on before the motor died.

analfabets

Fishtits wrote: »

Get the codes read and take it from there

+1
Could be something as simple as loose battery terminal connection or really complicated issue. You will be guessing all day. Get the codes read ASAP.

avalon68

I had a peugot206 a few years ago and the same thing kept happening - they could never seem to find the problem despite replacing half the feckin car. After a VERY close call with a truck, and a screaming match with the dealer, the garage replaced the car. For me it used to happen when I clutched and braked at the same time, but it was so intermittent they could never figure out what it was....

R.O.R

Used to happen to my vRS occasionally. It was the engine dying that caused all the other effects rather than the other way around. Made stopping in traffic good fun - having to keep revs up to stop engine stalling, while braking, takes a bit of practice.

Unfortunately, I have no idea what caused it. Can't even remember if it sorted itself out, or if I dropped it in to someone.

Joe10000

jeff lebowski wrote: »

Yeah, engine cut also...and come to think of it, my knee may have knocked off the keys a couple of times

Would that be a big job to sort? Due to drive to Dublin tomorrow from up north and want to get it done in the morning without any messing around if possible.

Thanks for the advice!

If you think that could be it why not seperate the car key from the bunch for a while.

deadlast

Same thing happened to me a few times and the final time it ended up on a tow truck as it wouldn't start again, turned out to be a dodgy relay in beside the ignition.