Q: PCV hose broke, car stalled, replaced hose, car still stalling. Smell of gas (rich exhaust smell).
I was driving on the highway uphill, and was on Boost and all of a sudden lost acceleration, I then lost power steering as the car turned off. I pulled over and found the split pipe. It was a small 90 degree breather hose coming out of the crankcase for the PCV system. If you can belive it I had some hose in the car, so I shoved it on without any clamps and got the car home. Since then I've replaced the hose with an OEM part, but the car won't idle properly. I turn the key, it takes more starter motor cranks then it should to get going and then it slowly comes up to its normal idle speed (950rpm) then depending how it's feeling it will either die straight away or last a few minutes before shutting off. The shitting off isn't a rough bouncing idle then dying, it just turns off as if I removed the key. I personally can't find any other split hoses (don't rule out a boost leak because there is a good chance I just missed it), I've cleaned my MAF and IAT sensor and throttle also.
My car has 59000 miles.
My car has a manual transmission.
Hello. You do likely have a major boost leak or vacuum leak present. Volkswagen’s are very sensitive to any type of vacuum leak. On Volkswagen’s, even if the oil dipstick is is removed it will produce a vacuum leak cause the engine to idle erratically. I suggest that a smoke test is performed on your vehicle by a shop or technician which well help find the leak(s). A different way to test it is to spray starting fluid around your areas where a vacuum leak might be. The RPM’s increasing when spraying starter fluid would indicate that there is a vacuum leak present nearby the area being sprayed.
Please keep in mind that the technicians here at YourMechanic can perform such diagnostics.
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