VW Polo Advice Please

toby_puppy

Hi I have a 2001 VW Polo, 1.4 petrol.

Bought a couple of months ago, 75k on the clock.

Apparently for the last two years of ownership it had been parked up most of the time, only covering about 5k.

When I bought the car, I took the car to my local garage, had a full service, spark plugs, oil changed the works and it went through MOT fine. I've used this garage for 20 years and they are reliable and have always done a good job for me.

Recently the EPC (emisssions warning) light came on and it was taken to an auto electrician who diagnosed a misfire and they said it was likely to be a bit of dirt in the petrol. They cleared the code and put some fuel cleaning fluid in it. They advised me to start using Shell fuel instead of supermarket fuel as they had a number of cars in with similar problems. They checked the car over in general too and said it seems fine.

It hasn't happened since but I notice that when I'm in 2nd or 3rd gear, the car feels a bit juddery (around the 20-30mph speed). Once I've got into 4th and 5th gear it seems OK again.

It's hard to explain as it's not a massive judder or anything, just almost like a slight loss of power and smoothness, almost a sluggish feel but only really at around the 20 - 30 mph speed range.

I'm wondering if it would be worth having an engine tune or is that just a gimmick? What else would be likely to make the car feel like that. It's probably quite subtle because the passengers don't notice it, but I do when I'm driving it.

thank you

anotherbaldrick

What sort of motoring is it getting, if it is only doing short runs it might be worth finding a bit of clear dual carriageway and within legal constraints put you foot down and blow the cobwebs out.

forgotmyname

Lots of short journeys previously maybe a sticky EGR valve.

Garage said dirt in the fuel and put cleaner in? FLushing the dirt out and changing
the fuel filter would have been a proper job.

citykid5

buy a egr blanking plate from ebay about £3 simple to fit remove the manifold heat shield 3xbolts then undo 2xbolts on egr valve insert blanking plate,the re fit bolts and heat shield.this usualy improves the performance and economy,failing that get a can of carb cleaner and give the throttle body a good clean inside,it often becomes oiled up

toby_puppy

Hello, thanks for all your replies

The car normally does 4 x 4 mile journeys per day 5 days a week.

At weekends, I usually do a run of about 25 miles each way motorway, sometimes a bit more - at the weekend I did a hundred mile round trip.

The fuel filter had already been changed on the major service.

I will try the egr suggestion.

Just wanted reassurance that there isn't anything obviously major wrong with the car. To explain how it goes around 20 - 30 mph, would be similar to in winter before the cars warmed up properly - just not quite smooth enough, feel like you need to change into a lower gear to get it to pick up.

Thanks again guys

dazzadub

take car on motorway or dual carrage way and give it some welly, its advised you do this every no and again. take it upto 70-80 and give it loads in each gear

Hammyman

jostenning wrote: »

I'm wondering if it would be worth having an engine tune or is that just a gimmick? What else would be likely to make the car feel like that. It's probably quite subtle because the passengers don't notice it, but I do when I'm driving it.

thank you

Take it for a drive in the country. Rag the backside off it, driving it like you stole it for a good half hour at least then take it on a long run (40-50 miles) to clear its lungs out. The last thing it needs for the next few weeks is more short trips driving around like Miss Daisy.

Years ago I got my grandads Maestro. It was a similar thing in usage. Completely dead and gutless. After a good hiding and actually getting used it improved immensley. I did rolling road it before and after and when I got it it barely scraped 65BHP which is terrible for a 1.6L engine. A few weeks later it was up to just short of 100BHP.

toby_puppy

Right, looks like I'm gonna be the new Stig then, lol.

Will give that a try and blow away some cobwebs.

I had thought of giving it a good thrashing at the weekend but then thought I'd probably damage it and cause the emissions warning light to come on, but looks like I should listen to you guys and give some welly!

ps love the Miss Daisy comment :rotfl:

toby_puppy

2001 model, petrol 1.4 engine with 75k miles on clock.

MOT history reveals it did approx 12k miles a year for the first four years of it life then under 5k miles per year for the last five years.

The last two years, it did under 3000 miles as previous owner was working abroad and the car was parked up.

When I bought it I took it to a local garage and had a full service - air and fuel filters changed, new spark plugs, oil change.
About a fortnight later then emissions warning light came on. I took it to garage and they did a diagnostic which came back as an engine misfire.

They said it was likely to have been a bit of dirt in the fuel which caused it, they fuel cleaner in it, reset the light and advised me to use Shell for fuel.

For the last month, I have only used Shell petrol and kept a float of about a quarter of a tank in it.

Today the warning light is back on, just constantly lit, not flashing.
The only other comment I would make about the car in general is that I notice that between 3rd and 4th gear change, the car is a bit juddery (just slightly) like a bit of a power loss and doesn't fee smooth. It seems to come out of that when I'm at 30mph or above, ie in 4th or 5th gear. If I'm in 2nd or 3rd it just feels a bit sluggish and not running nicely. As I said, it's only subtle so a passenger in the car wouldnt notice.

I have googled the warning light and so far it's come up with: coil packs, lambada sensors and egr valves.

The reason I bought this car was I had a problem with my previous car with engine management light which could never be solved and I wanted to get away from all that sort of worry, but looks like I've managed to get a problem car again.

Just wanted suggestions and ideas - and is it safe to drive with it on?
　
I took it for a run again last night, seems to be round the 2000-3000 revs it
feels a bit shaky

I took it on the motorway and once it gets to top speed it seems to drive
fine - it just to me seems a bit sluggish getting to max speed and not very
nippy at lower speeds, although it starts first time and isn't cutting out.

I hope I haven't done any damage by doing this, was just trying to blast off
any dirt etc. The light it still on. Trying to get hold of a different auto
electrician to look at it.

Someone said it's probably because I've bought a car that only did a couple
of thousand miles a year, it's probably gunked up the injectors or something
((

I didn't realise it had done a low mileage in the past five years - it's ten
years old and done 76000, so I thought it was 7k a year but turns out most of
the mileage was done in the first 5 years of its life.

s_b

needs code reading
this model suffers cat breakdown
a co at the mot station would be a possible pointer

toby_puppy

hi, if it did need a new cat have you any idea of a rough cost?

also, what if i got a whole new exhaust system - the tailpipe on this one looks quite old, does the cat come as part of a new exhaust pipe?