HELP - engine problem before i take it to a garage...

[megthebay]

Hi,

I have a 2001 1.9TDi 130 Sport B5.5 Passat with an intermittent stalling problem. I have taken the car to a garage and had the ECU fault codes read - there were none.

Basically, the car generally runs well - it has the usual amount of power and turbo boost. But sometimes when the engine is returning to idle (eg at junctions) it dies instead. Nothing I seem to be able to do with the throttle helps, the revs just go down until it stops. Once the engine has stopped like this, it can be restarted but it requires lots of cranking. If you keep cranking it, it will eventually catch on 1 cylinder and if you continue cranking it will run and return to a stready idle.

The other symptom is if you ask the car for full power in top gear whilst driving along, it stumbles a couple of times before the power comes in. It does this after the usual turbo lag, it feels like a flat-spot!

The problem is getting worse, the car stopped 6 times on the way home from work today so I am going to book it into a garage tomorrow to see if they can find anything but I thought I would ask on here before shelling out money on a garage visit. Can anyone think what might be causing this intermittent problem (bearing in mind the clear ECU fault codes)?

Thanks,

Simon