Car juttering

abbas5001

Hi everyone 

just wondering if someone can offer some advice. I have a 2010 diesel VW Golf. In 2019 my mum borrowed it and put petrol in it! Worst thing is she drove it and it obviously broke down. She then proceeded to keep trying to start the engine and then asked my cousin to jump start it! Her car is a petrol and she got mixed up to my utter detriment.

I obviously got a professional to drain all the fuel out and he did his best to drain as much as possible from the I think the injectors/engine.  I know the worst thing that can be done is to drive the car and let the petrol damage the engine etc unfortunately.

after the event the car never ran quite the same, the sound wasn’t quite right but only I could notice it as I drove it every day. Gradually I noticed a more noticeable difference in the noise of the car running and it would jutter at times. I took it to my garage and they said the airflow sensor needed changed and DPF sensor. They changed it but I didn’t notice any change to be honest. After that I used to just use redex every couple of months when I noticed it would sound juttery and always use premium diesel and to be honest that made the car run really smoothly.

however last few months that hasn’t been fixing the problem, I don’t know whether it’s now also just the age and mileage (just reached 100,000 miles) which is having an impact so I took it to another garage who said they would change the fuel filter but it’s made no difference. It’s particular noticeable when you first turn the engine on. It jutters and the rpm is just moving up and down. 

I don’t know what to do if I can fix this, can anyone help?

peter12345678910

Airflow sensor can be cleaned, it does not need to be replaced. Was it expensive to change the fuel filter! Are they not the same for petrol and diesel cars? Maybe take a sparkplug out it can give a clue to the engine condition. Pressure engine tests can be done too, they are normally one of the things you do when you buy a second hand car, quite easy to do with the torque Pro app. Another thing related to the airflow sensor, is to check the air filter condition.

Also was the new airflow sensor an OEM one? 

The_Fat_Controller

peter12345678910 said:

Airflow sensor can be cleaned, it does not need to be replaced. Was it expensive to change the fuel filter! Are they not the same for petrol and diesel cars? Maybe take a sparkplug out it can give a clue to the engine condition. Pressure engine tests can be done too, they are normally one of the things you do when you buy a second hand car, quite easy to do with the torque Pro app. Another thing related to the airflow sensor, is to check the air filter condition.

Also was the new airflow sensor an OEM one? 

It's a DIESEL, there aren't any spark plugs, LOL !

Bigwheels1111

I would have thought that any damage, if any was done would have caused bigger issues by now.
Has it had a fuel filter change before 100k.
I put a quarter of a tank of unleaded in my old rover diesel by mistake, I just filled the tank with diesel and kept going.
Was fine and did 150k more miles until a tree jumped out in front on me, the tree won.
1994 car and engines would run on anything, neat veg oil worked very well.

My friend golf played up because he did not change the fuel filter, loss of power.

Petrol damages diesel engines because: Diesel acts as a lubricant, helping the fuel pump to do its job. Petrol does the opposite - it increases friction between parts in the diesel engine. The friction isn't good news for your diesel engine.

peter12345678910

Fat controller, I did not know diesel cars have no spark plugs. Maybe pressure tests are a little complex, maybe that is a no no, what is the idle noise to the original poster like?

Big wheels, he did change the fuel filter and it made no difference.

The problem may not be related to the fuel, use torque Pro to check for car errors, the car computer may have picked something up. 

Car judder may also be caused by something tyre or suspension related. Sometimes a car suspension is broken but it may not be obvious.... 

Goudy

I'd guess you have a fuel/air imbalance.

It could be something fairly expensive like the high pressure pump or an injector problem caused by the misfuel, then again it could be something a bit more straight forward like a clogged EGR valve, at 100k it's probably crammed full of sooty and oily crud by now.


If it's stuttering and juddering at idle I wouldn't think it's anything to do with the tyres or suspension.

Your best bet is to find a local diesel specialist to have a look at it.

biscan25

My money would be on an injector. Should be fairly easily for a garage to diagnose and not too expensive if it is just the one!

The_Fat_Controller

Is juttering a hybrid condition, somewhere between stuttering and juddering ?