Questions and Answers

Volkswagen Passat Intermittent Power Loss
Q. Hi Vincent, My 1998 Volkswagen Passat, 1.6 liter with 80,000 miles starts fine on a cold start and then after 5 or 10 minutes cruising at about 3,000 rpm the revs drop intermittently with loss of power. It feels like the engine is about to stall.

When I clutch, it seems to recover and the power loss may come back and may not. On a warm start it takes a few seconds to start and is then a bit sluggish. Noticed the temperature sensor on the dash was gone so cleaned the connections and that seems to be okay but does seem intermittent, sometimes reads low, sometimes mid range.

My mechanic thought it might be the temperature sensor but a new one didn't help. He also cleaned the throttle body and it seems to have had some improved effect but the sluggishness is still there. Plugs and Oil were changed recently with new air filter only 5,000 miles ago. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
PJS

A. It sounds to me like a fuel problem. Either a clogged fuel filter of a fuel pump going bad.

I would replace the fuel filter first and if that doesn't help, a fuel pressure and volume test to see what the fuel pump is doing.