Expert: Sean Halliday - 7/19/2006

Question
Hello I hope you can help me all the VW experts are on vacation. I have a 98 VW Jetta GL(4cyl,2.0,std-91,000 miles)and I was teaching ,my wife how to drive stick, anyways the car stalled on her 2 or 3 times, when I got back to drive it the car would start right up but would stall when removimg my foot from the gas pedal.All the electrical components worked fine and no engine light turned on. I noticed the brake pedal became very stiff and the brakes worked very little or not at all.I was able to drive the car home but I had to leave my foot on the gas pedal or it would began to stall. My question is could it be safety mechanism for the brakes, a fuse, antilock brake system, or something with the engine? I have not had any major problems like this with my car I hope you can help me out. Thanks

Answer
your car has a brake booster under the hood it is right in front of the steering wheel in the engine compartment.looks like a drum usually black.there should be a hose which goes to it,look to see if it has pulled out of the drum as what you describe usually happpens when it does.also i would look at your motor mounts because this shouldnt happen unless you engine is shaken pretty hard as in stalling.if the mounts are worn the engine flops around and causes all kinds of problems.look at all the hoses just in case.. as it is a vacuum problem you have.loose hose or split hose.