I had a strange thing happen on my last road trip in my 92 talon tsi.

When driving on the highway with cruise, the car suddenly felt as though it had zero power, the boost went way up, and the check engine came on. When I pressed the gas, it felt as though there was no power. The car maintained its speed, I assume because of the cruise control. After about 30-40 seconds, everything went back to normal with a surge that felt like launching at the starting line.

This happened 3 or 4 times. When I turned off the cruise, it did not fail at all. Is it possible the cruise control could be impacting this? Possible relay problem? I had problems engaging it.

The car goes in next week to be checked out.

Thanks in advance.

talon829

Sounds like it could be an ECU issue. Might want to pull it and check the caps.

I had the same problem with my 1G! That is exactly what it was doing on SCDC last year. I couldn't explain it as well as you did.
I would drive like 2 hrs on the highway before mine started to do it. Yes I would look at the ECU as a culprit for this shut down.
We thought it was my aftermarket fuel pressure regulator, NOT!

So, I had my Talon in to a mechanic and they could not pull a code on this issue. Either there was no code retained or the ECU just did not retain it. I had them check the entire fuel system and the ECU and they found nothing. All tests passed.
I just don't understand this.

Next question I have is: Could a failing cruise control switch cause issues with the way the car runs and performs? It cost about $400 to replace it.

talon829

1. No, that doesnt sound like its your cruise control. However, if it was, I'm sure you could find the part used for pennies on the dollar of $400.
2. I'd check your ECU before the CC stuff.

No signal from the ECU is a direct sign that it's no longer operating correctly. Get a new ECU and it'll more than likely fix your problem.