Help! 2002 VW Bora, does it have a MAF?

[ZoeE-G]

Hi everyone - my first post on here so hope I'm posting in the right place. First off, I know little about engines so please be kind!

Before Christmas my cambelt snapped while driving on the M1 (because I'm an idiot and didn't know about replacing it). Following work done:

New belt kit
New head gasket
16 new valves (all were knackered)
Throttle body cleaned

My Bora ran ok for a few days then I noticed intermittent loss of power coming out of 1st gear when engine had warmed up and a bit of juddering and hunting with the revs - all intermittent.

My garage ran the codes (which I didn't make a note of and they're all cleared now) replaced all the spark plugs as they were damaged from the cambelt snapping and checked for vacuum/leaks in hoses.

Car drives fine while running cold, when it warms up I occasionally get same problems coming out of 1st gear (using trying to pull away at a roundabout or junction so a bit scary) - no codes are coming up. The engine just isn't ticking over right to me and my garage agrees - they're going to try new coil packs and see how that goes.

They couldn't find a Mass Airflow Sensor (thought this was odd) - would a 2002 Bora have one?

Also can anyone think of anything else? It's really stressful driving as I panic when I go into 1st that I won't be able to pull out quickly enough to avoid an accident.

Thanks in advance!

[anonymous-user]

should have a maf as modern cars have them.

the maf can be cleaned easily before replacement, but best option is getting someone with vagcom to run live diagnostics.

i don't think it would be coil packs as they are pretty obvious when the go in my experience.

[Ahbefive]

Don't tell me you spent a grand fixing a bora?

[anonymous-user]

Is it a petrol? Unless its the 1.8T (which im assuming it's not because you said they changed 16 valves when sorting the engine)

Then it will have a MAP sensor (manifold absolute pressure) not a MAF.

Throttle bodies are also electronic so could be one of those.

Get someone with VAGCOM to do some live diagnosis while the car is hot and juddering etc, they will be able to tell where the problem is.

[sunbeam alpine]

A quick google suggests that your car should have a MAF. I would be slightly concerned that your garage is unable to locate it! I would be looking just after the air filter housing - normally it is in the pipe feeding air toward the engine.

There should be a cable/couple of wires connected to the MAF. Once you've located it, try removing the cable (normally it's some kind of snap-on connector). It's perfectly fine to run the engine/drive the car with the MAF disconnected. What will happen is that the car will detect that the MAF is disconnected and will default to a "safe" map. If you find that the car runs better with the MAF disconnectd than it does currently, this will confirm that the MAF is faulty and you need to replace it.

[chris285]

as above with the MAF, as described it is on the air inlet pipe between the air filter and turbo/inlet

Get it on vag cam like said, it should help point to the fault

[anonymous-user]

The easiest way is unplug it. If it runs st then maf is OK. If no change it is fubared. Maybe someone can help you with this like a Friend.

Electrical cal contact cleaner can clean the mesh as well worth a try.

[colin_p]

Learn2MergeInTurn said:

Is it a petrol? Unless its the 1.8T (which im assuming it's not because you said they changed 16 valves when sorting the engine)

Then it will have a MAP sensor (manifold absolute pressure) not a MAF.

Throttle bodies are also electronic so could be one of those.

Get someone with VAGCOM to do some live diagnosis while the car is hot and juddering etc, they will be able to tell where the problem is.

Spot on.

The 1.6 16v engine only has a MAP or as VW call it 'thrust' sensor. It does NOT have a MAF.

A tiny little thing located on the timing belt end of the head tucked down amongst some hoses.

[ZoeE-G]

Thanks for the replies everyone - just to confirm it's a 1.5L petrol engine.

I've had the codes read before when the lights had just gone out a few minutes beforehand. The garage tried reading them the day after but all the codes had cleared!

Am I right in thinking there are different code reading machines? Ones that are more superior? I'm not sure if my garage used VAG-COM previously.

Can I also check the difference between MAP and a MAF? Bit worried my mechanic can't find it (if he can't I've no chance).

So, changing the coil packs may not be the answer either?

Sorry for all the questions, I've never had problems with my other cars!

[colin_p]

It won't be a 1.5 it will be either a 1.4 or 1.6 if it is a 16v engine.

With regard to your mechanic, perhaps you should find a better one?

On those particular engine, there are two main operations that need to be done via diagnostics.

1, Throttle body alignment / adaption.
2, EGR valve adaption.

Both of these are done by going into Engine-Basic settings-Channel 000 to clear any laerned values than either channel 058 or 087 to perform the adjustments (its been a while and I may have the channel numbers wrong but they are easily looked up).

[Ahbefive]

ZoeE-G said:

just to confirm it's a 1.5L petrol engine.

Pretty sure it's not.

[ZoeE-G]

colin_p said:

It won't be a 1.5 it will be either a 1.4 or 1.6 if it is a 16v engine.

With regard to your mechanic, perhaps you should find a better one?

On those particular engine, there are two main operations that need to be done via diagnostics.

1, Throttle body alignment / adaption.
2, EGR valve adaption.

Both of these are done by going into Engine-Basic settings-Channel 000 to clear any laerned values than either channel 058 or 087 to perform the adjustments (its been a while and I may have the channel numbers wrong but they are easily looked up).

My fault - it's a 1.6! So, by carrying out the above it wont matter if there are no warning lights on the dash? Can this only be done by using VAG-COM?

[anonymous-user]

colin_p said:

Learn2MergeInTurn said:

Is it a petrol? Unless its the 1.8T (which im assuming it's not because you said they changed 16 valves when sorting the engine)

Then it will have a MAP sensor (manifold absolute pressure) not a MAF.

Throttle bodies are also electronic so could be one of those.

Get someone with VAGCOM to do some live diagnosis while the car is hot and juddering etc, they will be able to tell where the problem is.

Spot on.

The 1.6 16v engine only has a MAP or as VW call it 'thrust' sensor. It does NOT have a MAF.

A tiny little thing located on the timing belt end of the head tucked down amongst some hoses.

Thanks, everyone had me questioning myself when they were saying it has a MAF

[ZoeE-G]

Actually, I remember them running throttle body allignment/adaptation already - I was there with them when they ran through diagnostics.

So, to clarify I'm looking for a MAP and not a MAF? Maybe this was why the garage couldn't find a MAF...

Does anyone think this may be a coil pack issue? Seen as this is the garages next port of call to try.

[colin_p]

ZoeE-G said:

My fault - it's a 1.6! So, by carrying out the above it wont matter if there are no warning lights on the dash? Can this only be done by using VAG-COM?

The throttle body needs to be clean before alignment but yes this should help.

These engines can be quite difficult to set up, especially after a re-build. Unlike a normal 16v engine which would have a single cam belt turning the two camshafts, these have a main belt that turns one cam and then a tiny little belt from one (the driven) cam to the other cam. VW produced this engine as a small block 4 cylinder with the block footprint being about the size of a sheet of A4 paper hence the silly cam drive setup.

It can be very difficult to get the timing cock on with near enough not being good enough. And even worse, after a re-build they may not ever run properly again. Don't ask me how I know this...

But here is a clue...

Burnt exhaust valves


Refurbished head


Block cleaned and prepared


It never did run properly despite all the time, effort and cash I threw at it. Gave up in the end at huge loss!

My advice is if you cannot get it running properly with only a little more effort is to give up and get rid of it before you loose any more cash!

[ZoeE-G]

Yeah, I really do feel like a moron not getting the cambelt replaced and driving motorway speeds caused such massive damage to the engine.

I'll be getting my husbands Golf TDI in a couple of weeks so it'll be sayonara Bora.....but, I want be able to sell the Bora on, meaning get it sorted first (I wouldn't sell it as it is).

I'll just ask again: does anyone think it might be the coil packs that need replacing? Just to add, I've had the throttle body cleaned.

[anonymous-user]

A 2002 1.6 bora with all the work will be worth not a lot. I would cut your losses and sell as is on ebay.

[rotarymazda]

I know Boras aren't very popular on PH but MrsRotary had one for 14 years. After 165K miles, it was left so sit on the drive, still with its winter tyres on from 2014.

With the snow coming this week, I thought my RX7 would be unusable so started up the Bora, took it for an MOT yesterday, passed and I am back driving it again today.

It's a 2.0 petrol pushing out a mere 115bhp but nothing ever seems to go wrong with it. I'm now thinking of keeping it for the kids to learn to drive in.

[freddytin]

ZoeE-G said:

Actually, I remember them running throttle body allignment/adaptation already - I was there with them when they ran through diagnostics.

.

Get them to retry this ^^^^^....I helped a friend with a similar issue, and carrying out the throttle body alignment sorted the issue.

No special tools required , but had to Google the procedure. All in all it took 10 minutes on the driveway..

Certainly worth a try

Edited to add. I,m pretty sure is was all carried out by a sequence of timed on /offs via the ignition key...No dirty spanner / mucky hands nonsense

Edited by freddytin on Thursday 12th January 09:22

[ZoeE-G]

I've not had any problems with it up until now - and that was my fault as I didn't get the cambelt replaced (idiot).

Unfortunately, I can't any codes showing up so it's guess work whether it's a faulty coil pack or my MAP sensor.