1.8t engine problem. Please help

[golf 4]

Hi i have recently brought a vw golf gti turbo which i am having a bit of trouble with. When im driving at low revs sometimes the car feels all juddery and hesitates on the power. It is starting to realy annoy me now. Does any one have any suggestions as to what this could be?

[Ordinary Bloke]

I had a 2002 Audi 1.8T and two of the coil packs broke in cold weather, there was a very quiet replacement-during-service policy at the time because it turned out to be a manufacturing fault, moisture got into the pack, froze and cracked the housing.

I'm not sure how you tell if they're broken, my car misfired and went onto reduced-power and warning light mode each time. Maybe it's in the service history somewhere.

[Dr G]

Got a friendly independent nearby? They can drop it onto diagnostic and tell you which packs are playing up.

[Scoop940]

What age car? It makes a difference to the faults that develop

Coil Packs
Ignition amp on pre 2000 cars
MAF sensor
Temp Sensor - Causes mayhem

[LaSarthe+Back]

Scoop940 said:

What age car?
Temp Sensor - Causes mayhem

IIRC the AGU engines have different coil packs to the rest of the range.

I had this problem last year just as the cold weather bit. Temp sensor for me.

[golf 4]

the car is a 1998 agu engine code gti turbo. I replaced the airflow meter on it and it has made it better but not fully solved the problem

[LaSarthe+Back]

I bet it's the temp sensor. Mine was like it, and I managed with it for a little time. Until a time when it would take 3 goes at starting on the cold mornings.

When it did start sometimes it would rev on it's own up to 2-2.5k revs!! Not exactly somewhere in the rev range I want to be straight from start up!!

I'd suggest to live with it for a bit. But be prepared to shoot down to Audi/VW for a new part. £22 all in IIRC. DIY fitting is E A S Y!!! PM me if you need some help.

You won't do any damage to the engine. It's when the thermistor fails and sends the ECU crazy with measurements which the ECU knows are not possible.

Does it only happen from cold? Mine was fine once warmed up.

Cheers

ETA have you got VAG-COM? It's soooo useful. Even if it's just the free version.

Edited by LaSarthe+Back on Tuesday 13th November 20:52

[CarlT]

golf 4 said:

Hi i have recently brought a vw golf gti turbo which i am having a bit of trouble with. When im driving at low revs sometimes the car feels all juddery and hesitates on the power. It is starting to realy annoy me now. Does any one have any suggestions as to what this could be?

I had this on a '99 GTI 1.8T 0 it was the MAF sensor !

[LaSarthe+Back]

CarlT said:

golf 4 said:

Hi i have recently brought a vw golf gti turbo which i am having a bit of trouble with. When im driving at low revs sometimes the car feels all juddery and hesitates on the power. It is starting to realy annoy me now. Does any one have any suggestions as to what this could be?

I had this on a '99 GTI 1.8T 0 it was the MAF sensor !

I am currently having this problem, though it only hesitates for 1/4 sec at a certain point through the revs in a certain gear. Granted this could be the initial symptoms of failure...

It's worth running without the MAF connected (just take the loom out of it. It's connected to the intake pipe from the airbox.

[Scoop940]

Dump valve can also give some odd driving problems.

Do you hear a muted chirp on gear changes? Or more of a smoooth woosh..

[golf 4]

I have upgraded the dump valve to a bailey one. The car is much smoother but the temperature gauge on my car reads 70oc even if i been driving for ages. Could this be the temperature sensor playing up?

[LaSarthe+Back]

golf 4 said:

I have upgraded the dump valve to a bailey one. The car is much smoother but the temperature gauge on my car reads 70oc even if i been driving for ages. Could this be the temperature sensor playing up?

thermostat is stuck open

had an identical problem. Luckily not to bad to change. Bit arkward though