VW Polo running problems
Discussion
Hi, an employee of mine has a 3 cyl Polo, 1.2 petrol on a 53 plate. It has done just under 60k. It was idling roughly and the engine management light came on so she took it to a local garage. They plugged it in and diagnosed a coilpack which they fitted. They turned the light off. A week later, same story, rough idle and light on. The same garage look at it again and tell her the engine is 'faulty' but they can do it for an estimated £500. she declines.
I decided to have a look. There was a new coilpack, fair enough. I pulled the plugs out and compression tested it. The nearside 2 were low, and a bit of Googling showed that the EGR valve can cause sticky valves, so a tub of Forte Top End Treatment was put in it. It now seemed ok for a couple of weeks but then started idling roughly again. The light has been on all this time as I don't have the means to turn it off. I took it to a garage run by a friend to see if the tickover can be raised. He said no but he had plugged it into the diagnostic machine and it was showing a faulty coilpack. We swapped it but as it made no difference I decided not to fit it.
So she put up with it until the other day when the light started flashing, indicating potential cat damage. Her boyfriend has a friend who said he'd look at it. Guess what, he changed a coilpack, changed the plugs and switched off the light. The car now idles roughly and smells like it's running rich. The light last flashed this morning, 5 flashes and it went off again.
Each time the coilpack has been changed it is No. 3 cylinder.
I'd be grateful for any ideas as i'm sure this is damaging the cat.
I decided to have a look. There was a new coilpack, fair enough. I pulled the plugs out and compression tested it. The nearside 2 were low, and a bit of Googling showed that the EGR valve can cause sticky valves, so a tub of Forte Top End Treatment was put in it. It now seemed ok for a couple of weeks but then started idling roughly again. The light has been on all this time as I don't have the means to turn it off. I took it to a garage run by a friend to see if the tickover can be raised. He said no but he had plugged it into the diagnostic machine and it was showing a faulty coilpack. We swapped it but as it made no difference I decided not to fit it.
So she put up with it until the other day when the light started flashing, indicating potential cat damage. Her boyfriend has a friend who said he'd look at it. Guess what, he changed a coilpack, changed the plugs and switched off the light. The car now idles roughly and smells like it's running rich. The light last flashed this morning, 5 flashes and it went off again.
Each time the coilpack has been changed it is No. 3 cylinder.
I'd be grateful for any ideas as i'm sure this is damaging the cat.
shogun001 said:
I seem to remember the 1.2 Polo of that age having a bit of trouble with the cam chain and it jumping a tooth?
I'd be looking at that too - we had an Ibiza with the same engine and they are notorious for the chains jumping a tooth. VW made several alterations to the guides and tensioners.It could be dodgy coil packs - we had the same position coil pack (no.1 cyl) fail 4 times in the 5yrs we had the car. None of the others failed.
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