Gut Wrencher

[ambermarine]

Whilst on a recent trip down south I went to Manchester to see a buddy and during my trip I took a wrong turning so I did a threepoint turn in a tight spot, I then proceeded to my buddys house . When I came to make a right turn the indicators did'nt work looking at the clocks I then realized they were dead on trying the windows to give an hand signal they did'nt work in fact nothing was working although the engine was working and the car was operating with full brakes.

I proceeded to make the small journey to his front door fearing that if I stopped and turned off the engine I would be stranded in the middle of the road.

When I arrived safely at his door i switched off the ignition and switched it back to start and the car started and everything worked.

To say the least I was mighty relieved and could'nt understand what had caused this loss of power.

I checked everything on the fuse circuits and there was nothing amiss.

After some further thought I came to the conclusion that I had turned off the ignition when I made the three point turn catching the keys whilst spinning the steering wheel,now that sounds crazy but if one thinks about it the scenario makes sense.

If you are driving along and turn off the ignition and cut power to the engine and drivetrain you will lose brakes, power steering ,probably knacker the gearbox and come to a dead stop with terrifying results.

So there must be a dedicated power supply to the drivetrain whilst the vehicle is in motion.

Now there is a way of proving this theory but if you lot think I am trying it ,dream on.

[cruisermark]

when i had may mark 4 i used to have this scenario - all lights and clocks would go off but the car would still be running - the first time it happened was the drive home from the dealers ! - imagine my shock.

it turned out to be the ignition switch located behind the key barrel - it s a round cylindrical gizmo with various circuit making/breaking mechanisms inside - it turned out the "lid" of the switch had become loose on the back and every so often there would be enough looseness to break the connection causing the black out

i replaced this and never had the problem again. - i would of thought turning the key would of caused the engine to shut off.

if problem persists the ignition switch is what you need to look into

[Maduggo]

This used to happen on my mk3, never cured it or even tried to, did not happen regularly, after a few seconds of no dash or any other illumination it would just go back to working normally.

The remainder of the car worked as you would expect it, smooth drive, brakes fines.

[Malc]

I used to get this phenomenon too on this Mk3, ages ago now. It's not done it for ages, my indy told me it was the ignition barrel and I think someone on here said that too at the time.

My indy said the only solution was to change the barrel if it progressed......... he had had the same problem on a VW of some sort too.

So i haven't and, touch wood, it won't need to as the problem seems to have self cured

Malc