2003 VW Polo engine management issue
Discussion
Hi I'm wondering if anyone could help me?
I just bought a 2003 VW Polo 1.2 3cy with 80,000 miles on the clock and a fresh MOT from an auction for £850 and which broke down on the way home and I wondering if anyone could help pinpoint the issue?
We picked up the car this morning and it appeared to be in good condition, it started without issue and all the basics (windows, lights, wipers etc.) worked fine.
The first issue we found was the indicator while working fine didn't tick which was annoying didn't bother us that much.
The next issue we found was more significant, when I tried to give the windscreen a quick wash the fluid sprayed fine but the front wipers (which we had tested before setting off) wouldn't work on any setting while the back worked fine. We left it in a car park for 10-15 minutes while we had lunch and when we tried them after getting back they worked at first but after turning off and on again to be sure they stopped again, we tried them maybe a dozen more times and they worked about 25% of the time. Shortly after setting off it started to rain so I would try and get them to work every 30 seconds or so and after about a 15 or so minutes they miraculously started working and stayed on for the rest of the journey without issue.
Apart from that the car drove superbly, the engine pulled well considering its size, refinement and comfort were very good and there was no sign what so ever of any other problems with the car so overall we were very happy with our purchase. That is until after 70 miles of driving the engine management light started flashing out of the blue before staying on. I had enough time to acknowledge this and mention it to my passenger before the engine became limited to 2000rpm and there was a strong smell of overheated electrics (like a blown power pack on a PC) . I pulled over and turned the engine off, waited 30 seconds and restarted the engine. It started fine and revved as normal in neutral (the wipers had stopped working again though). I set of again and almost instantly the same thing happened and this time the engine would turn over put not restart (although the wipers did start). My passenger is fairly mechanically minded and could find no issue under the bonnet and even the smell was only in the cabin.
After getting it towed to a local garage and leaving it for an hour I went back to pick up a few things I had left in it and after unlocking it both front windows opened fully on their own accord without anyone having touched them since we tested them that morning.
Some other forum posts have mentioned spark plugs been replaced in attempts to fix it and they were changed at 30k, 37k, 41k, 50k, 63k and 70k. I have no idea if that is relevant in anyway?
Sorry if the wall of text is to much but I thought the more details the better and I appreciate you taking the time to read this far.
I just bought a 2003 VW Polo 1.2 3cy with 80,000 miles on the clock and a fresh MOT from an auction for £850 and which broke down on the way home and I wondering if anyone could help pinpoint the issue?
We picked up the car this morning and it appeared to be in good condition, it started without issue and all the basics (windows, lights, wipers etc.) worked fine.
The first issue we found was the indicator while working fine didn't tick which was annoying didn't bother us that much.
The next issue we found was more significant, when I tried to give the windscreen a quick wash the fluid sprayed fine but the front wipers (which we had tested before setting off) wouldn't work on any setting while the back worked fine. We left it in a car park for 10-15 minutes while we had lunch and when we tried them after getting back they worked at first but after turning off and on again to be sure they stopped again, we tried them maybe a dozen more times and they worked about 25% of the time. Shortly after setting off it started to rain so I would try and get them to work every 30 seconds or so and after about a 15 or so minutes they miraculously started working and stayed on for the rest of the journey without issue.
Apart from that the car drove superbly, the engine pulled well considering its size, refinement and comfort were very good and there was no sign what so ever of any other problems with the car so overall we were very happy with our purchase. That is until after 70 miles of driving the engine management light started flashing out of the blue before staying on. I had enough time to acknowledge this and mention it to my passenger before the engine became limited to 2000rpm and there was a strong smell of overheated electrics (like a blown power pack on a PC) . I pulled over and turned the engine off, waited 30 seconds and restarted the engine. It started fine and revved as normal in neutral (the wipers had stopped working again though). I set of again and almost instantly the same thing happened and this time the engine would turn over put not restart (although the wipers did start). My passenger is fairly mechanically minded and could find no issue under the bonnet and even the smell was only in the cabin.
After getting it towed to a local garage and leaving it for an hour I went back to pick up a few things I had left in it and after unlocking it both front windows opened fully on their own accord without anyone having touched them since we tested them that morning.
Some other forum posts have mentioned spark plugs been replaced in attempts to fix it and they were changed at 30k, 37k, 41k, 50k, 63k and 70k. I have no idea if that is relevant in anyway?
Sorry if the wall of text is to much but I thought the more details the better and I appreciate you taking the time to read this far.
Edited by Bobbygondo on Thursday 18th December 11:46
Hate to disappoint you, but, I think you have basically bought someone else's problem car that was taken to the auction as no-one would buy it after a test drive.
It sounds like there are MSASSIVE amounts of intermittent electrical issues with the car &, I suspect, the cost of sorting all of these issues out will be WAY more than the cost of the car.
Having said that the only way forward is to either treat each issue in isolation or to look for common denominators in the hope that it is only one issue.
The only common thing I can think of is electrical (particularly earth) connections. So you need to start by disconnecting the battery, and then delve into every little hole & disconnect/check/clean/reconnect every plug/socket in the wiring. Check the earth is connected to the battery chassis & engine well. Also check for water ingress & treat with wd40 as required.
Then I would reconnect the battery & see where you are at.
After that look at each issue in turn to see what happens next.
It sounds like there are MSASSIVE amounts of intermittent electrical issues with the car &, I suspect, the cost of sorting all of these issues out will be WAY more than the cost of the car.
Having said that the only way forward is to either treat each issue in isolation or to look for common denominators in the hope that it is only one issue.
The only common thing I can think of is electrical (particularly earth) connections. So you need to start by disconnecting the battery, and then delve into every little hole & disconnect/check/clean/reconnect every plug/socket in the wiring. Check the earth is connected to the battery chassis & engine well. Also check for water ingress & treat with wd40 as required.
Then I would reconnect the battery & see where you are at.
After that look at each issue in turn to see what happens next.
Dont know much specifically about them, but does a Polo of that era use conventional wiring, or does it have a pile of modules that communicate via CAN for systems to work ?
Clearly the car was put through the auction for a reason.
Unless you can find someone familiar with the problem...it could end up costing you a fortune. Or you might get incredibly lucky.
Clearly the car was put through the auction for a reason.
Unless you can find someone familiar with the problem...it could end up costing you a fortune. Or you might get incredibly lucky.
Luckily, things like "burning smells" make faults a bit easier to find (just follow your nose and look for "burnt" or damaged looms etc.
iirc, these polo's suffered from water from the windscreen lower scuttle panel, finding it's way into the engine ecu, mounted below said scuttle?? Check this!!!
iirc, these polo's suffered from water from the windscreen lower scuttle panel, finding it's way into the engine ecu, mounted below said scuttle?? Check this!!!
Max_Torque said:
Luckily, things like "burning smells" make faults a bit easier to find (just follow your nose and look for "burnt" or damaged looms etc.
iirc, these polo's suffered from water from the windscreen lower scuttle panel, finding it's way into the engine ecu, mounted below said scuttle?? Check this!!!
Sounds like a very good starting point.iirc, these polo's suffered from water from the windscreen lower scuttle panel, finding it's way into the engine ecu, mounted below said scuttle?? Check this!!!
It sounds like you bought a lemon that someone decided to cut there loss's on and get rid of,
I maybe wrong but I think some of the fabias and polos have a early type of CAN system with the windows dropping it suggests this is so,
A live scan with vagcom might show what's happening and where the problem is,
I worked on a tdi mk5 golf that had some similar issues, I'm not saying your problem is the same but water had ingresses to the ECU and corroded the internals, it was working out close to 1800euro to replace the ECUs as there paired so the owner had us put it back together and towed it to a dealer and traded it against another car,
06 A4 tdi the guy that mapped it broke the housing for the ECU which is below the windscreen, there was about inches of water under the carpet(floors raised to cover all the electrics) honestly could of threw in some goldfish, about 900quid of 2nd hand parts got it going then sold to let someone else deal with future problems,
Could be a dodgy connection/water ingress, broken wire, corroded earth, dodgy module, fecked ECU, If you knew anyone with the RossTec software I'd have it plugged in as
I maybe wrong but I think some of the fabias and polos have a early type of CAN system with the windows dropping it suggests this is so,
A live scan with vagcom might show what's happening and where the problem is,
I worked on a tdi mk5 golf that had some similar issues, I'm not saying your problem is the same but water had ingresses to the ECU and corroded the internals, it was working out close to 1800euro to replace the ECUs as there paired so the owner had us put it back together and towed it to a dealer and traded it against another car,
06 A4 tdi the guy that mapped it broke the housing for the ECU which is below the windscreen, there was about inches of water under the carpet(floors raised to cover all the electrics) honestly could of threw in some goldfish, about 900quid of 2nd hand parts got it going then sold to let someone else deal with future problems,
Could be a dodgy connection/water ingress, broken wire, corroded earth, dodgy module, fecked ECU, If you knew anyone with the RossTec software I'd have it plugged in as
Just had a call from the machanic we left it with last night and he says the coils connected to spark plugs had fried and blown a fuse in the engine managment system. He also said even though the service history says the spark plugs had been replaced often they clearly hadnt been.
Thanks for all the insights but hopefully i dont need anymore 😉
Thanks for all the insights but hopefully i dont need anymore 😉
Sounds like a BSI unit fault up until the point where the engine died. Could the BSI unit affect the engine ECU? Probably!
I'm sure you're covered by the SOG act even if you bought the car at auction, it should be good for the purpose it was sold for which it clearly isn't. You'd need to act quick though.
I'm sure you're covered by the SOG act even if you bought the car at auction, it should be good for the purpose it was sold for which it clearly isn't. You'd need to act quick though.
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