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Generator light on as car stalls

fleasedfleased Member Posts: 21
edited February 2019 in Volkswagen
The Engine light came on last week on my 2005 Jetta (around 100k miles) and the revs seemed to spike a little now and then. Other than that, it was ok. The next day the engine light was off and the car drove fine for a few days. On the friday drive home from work I was coming to a red light, slowed down and the car stalled and the red generator light was lit. After fumbling around in a panic, I pulled out the key, re-inserted it and the car started fine. I drove the rest of the way home and as I slowed down to turn down my street, it did the same thing again. Again, I tried to start it and it started first time and I made it home ok. Tried it yesterday to see if it would start and it started easily and sounded normal. I'm not prepared to sink much money into the car since I'll be moving out of state in 6 months and probably won't be taking it with me. Does anyone have experience with this issue and was it solved without breaking the bank?
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    Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    You might be lucky if that code that lit up the CEL is still in there--so have the car scanned and this might give you a hint. Intermittent stalling can be caused by a long list of things, so there are easily 20 guesses you could make---and guessing is expensive.
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    fleasedfleased Member Posts: 21
    Thanks for the response. Guess it's a gamble paying the $130 fee to run codes if it's an expensive fix and I end up junking the car. Not sure if I should just sell for parts and walk away. Thing is, it's been a brilliant car and has barely given me any trouble since it was new. I made the mistake of vocalizing that fact recently, and then this happened. That'll teach me...
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    Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Yes, they know when to strike--when you are weakest! LOL!

    Don't you have a local repair shop that can run the codes for you for less than that? We're talking about 10 minutes work here to just "read" the codes. Now, diagnosis might cost more but even if they just gave you the #s, that might allow you to do some research online.

    Keep in mind that the codes don't tell you the EXACT component to replace! They only refer to a system or circuit in distress. This is where the skilled mechanic comes in, to interpret the codes and drill down further into the problem.

    Certainly, if the car has generally been good, it's worth a couple hundred dollar fix. You really can't buy a clean, reliable used car these days much under $5,000 anyway.
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