What Should You Do If Your Engine Cuts Out When You Stop?

If there is anything that you expect from your everyday runaround, it's predictability. In other words, you'll expect it to start on any cold morning, deal with rush-hour traffic as normal and always respond with reliability whenever you're driving in town. However, something is not quite right today, and your engine is playing up. To be specific, it has decided that it will shut itself off whenever you arrive at a stop sign, prompting you to crank the ignition switch every time so you can get going. This is not normal, so what exactly is going on?

Isn't It Supposed to Do This?

You may be used to your car shutting off if it is stopped for more than a second or so, as modern-day vehicles are equipped with a sensor that is meant to do this. Engineers are trying to save you money and cut down on the volume of emissions, and all you have to do is reapply the "gas" once again, and the engine will come back to life.

Annoying and Worrying

This is different, however, as the engine starts to misfire for a split second before cutting itself off and you don't intend to remain at the stop sign for more than a split second as you turn off to the right. This is disconcerting at best and potentially dangerous at worst, as if the engine decides to lose power when you are actually turning a corner at some speed, it could isolate the power steering as well.

Vacuum Leak or ECU?

A technician may tell you that this is probably caused by a vacuum circuit leak or an issue with the ECU. If you have a warning light on the dashboard as well, then you will need to plug a diagnostic gadget into the ECU. This will provide you with a code that can be cross-referenced to trace the fault.

Too Cool

Alternatively, your air conditioning system could be consuming too much power, especially if it is on full blast to try and keep the occupants cool. In some circumstances, the A/C can push the engine idle speed down too far, and this can trigger a shut-off.

Getting This Fixed

Unfortunately, these issues are beyond the scope of an average weekend mechanic and you may need specialty tools in order to rectify them. Consequently, you should take your vehicle in to your local mechanic as soon as possible so that they can restore your car to full health.

For more information, contact your local Audi car repairs service.