Golf MkIV 1.6 Petrol (2000) - Erratic Idle
Hello, I hope I am posting on the correct forum. Anyway, I would be very grateful of any advice you can offer on the following:
Problem: Generally my car runs well considering it has 144,000 on the clock (starts first time, does not stall, has smooth transition through gears and revs etc) but every so often it begins to hunt/rev up and down when idling, blipping between 12000 and 14000 rpm (I have a short video of this but could not figure out how to upload it) and becomes very "grabby" when driving - by which I mean, when I take my foot off the accelerator it feels almost as if I have depressed the brake (the car jerks forward rather than smoothly slowing down). These symptoms usually persist until I have finished driving and then when I come to drive it again (usually in a day or two's time), it will drive fine again before eventually starting to display this behaviour again.
What I have done so far to try and fix the problem:
1. About 3 months ago I paid to have a VW garage take a look at it. They said they could find no problems but cleaned the throttle body which seemed to have fixed the problem - obviously not.
2. This weekend I:
- removed the throttle body completely and cleaned it with carb cleaner (although it was already very clean). I also looked in side the motor housing on the throttle body which showed no signs of wear and was spotless.
- checked all the pipes between air intake and throttle body and nothing seemed broken or leaking.
- removed the air intake manifold (the black plastic thing that goes over the top of the engine?) which seemed clean and in good condition.
- checked the spark plugs which all seemed to be burning the same and at the correct colour (using Haynes manual as a guide).
- Installed a new air filter.
- Ran VCDS Lite (free version) and found the following error codes: 00557 - Pressure Switch; Power Steering (F88): Short to Ground, 00533 - Idle Speed Regulation: Adaptation Limit (Add) Exceeded and 17978/P1570/005488 - Engine Start Blocked by Immobilizer
I am assuming that the 00533 fault is likely the cause of my erratic idle problem. Researching the error code on VAG COM Wiki it states:
Possible Causes
Air Leak between Mass Air Flow (MAF) Sensor and Engine
Injector(s) faulty
Fuel Pressure Regulator faulty
Throttle Body faulty
Intake Air Filter dirty
Possible Solutions
Perform Throttle Body Adaptation
Check Hoses and Pipes to/between Components
Check Intake Air Filter
Check Fuel Pressure Regulator
Check Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) Valve
Check Injector(s)
My question to this community: Given the steps I have already taken and in order to try and minimise cost as much as possible (I'm skint) what order would you try the remaining "Possible Solutions" listed above or would you try a totally different solution given your knowledge and experience and the symptoms being shown by the car?
Further info that may be relevant: I have not been able to perform a Throttle Body Adaption as my free version of VCDS does not allow this. My car failed its MOT last week on emissions being too high but the test centre said that actually they could not even complete the emissions test properly because of the car's erratic idle (I have put a bottle of Cataclean in the fuel to hopefully help with the emissions problem).
Thank you very much for any advice.
Cheers Alex
1 Attachment(s)
Re: Golf MkIV 1.6 Petrol (2000) - Erratic Idle
Quote:
Originally Posted by
alexwilliams
Hello, I hope I am posting on the correct forum. Anyway, I would be very grateful of any advice you can offer on the following:
Problem: Generally my car runs well considering it has 144,000 on the clock (starts first time, does not stall, has smooth transition through gears and revs etc) but every so often it begins to hunt/rev up and down when idling, blipping between 12000 and 14000 rpm (I have a short video of this but could not figure out how to upload it) and becomes very "grabby" when driving - by which I mean, when I take my foot off the accelerator it feels almost as if I have depressed the brake (the car jerks forward rather than smoothly slowing down). These symptoms usually persist until I have finished driving and then when I come to drive it again (usually in a day or two's time), it will drive fine again before eventually starting to display this behaviour again.
What I have done so far to try and fix the problem:
1. About 3 months ago I paid to have a VW garage take a look at it. They said they could find no problems but cleaned the throttle body which seemed to have fixed the problem - obviously not.
2. This weekend I:
- removed the throttle body completely and cleaned it with carb cleaner (although it was already very clean). I also looked in side the motor housing on the throttle body which showed no signs of wear and was spotless.
- checked all the pipes between air intake and throttle body and nothing seemed broken or leaking.
- removed the air intake manifold (the black plastic thing that goes over the top of the engine?) which seemed clean and in good condition.
- checked the spark plugs which all seemed to be burning the same and at the correct colour (using Haynes manual as a guide).
- Installed a new air filter.
- Ran VCDS Lite (free version) and found the following error codes: 00557 - Pressure Switch; Power Steering (F88): Short to Ground, 00533 - Idle Speed Regulation: Adaptation Limit (Add) Exceeded and 17978/P1570/005488 - Engine Start Blocked by Immobilizer
I am assuming that the 00533 fault is likely the cause of my erratic idle problem. Researching the error code on VAG COM Wiki it states:
Possible Causes
Air Leak between Mass Air Flow (MAF) Sensor and Engine
Injector(s) faulty
Fuel Pressure Regulator faulty
Throttle Body faulty
Intake Air Filter dirty
Possible Solutions
Perform Throttle Body Adaptation
Check Hoses and Pipes to/between Components
Check Intake Air Filter
Check Fuel Pressure Regulator
Check Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) Valve
Check Injector(s)
My question to this community: Given the steps I have already taken and in order to try and minimise cost as much as possible (I'm skint) what order would you try the remaining "Possible Solutions" listed above or would you try a totally different solution given your knowledge and experience and the symptoms being shown by the car?
Further info that may be relevant: I have not been able to perform a Throttle Body Adaption as my free version of VCDS does not allow this. My car failed its MOT last week on emissions being too high but the test centre said that actually they could not even complete the emissions test properly because of the car's erratic idle (I have put a bottle of Cataclean in the fuel to hopefully help with the emissions problem).
Thank you very much for any advice.
Cheers Alex
Problem solved! I can't believe it but having removed the power steering pressure switch/sensor I found the sensor and the sensor housing were swimming in fluid (see attached photos). Having removed the switch the car now runs smooth as silk. Idle is steady as a rock. Only problem is that disconnecting the sensor has triggered an airbag fault warning but this should be resolved as soon as i replace the sensor. Anyway, car may very well still fail on the emissions given the terrible MOT test results but it is such a relief to have it driving properly again - I have had this rough idle problem on and off for about 5 years now and it has never been properly fixed despite several different garages looking at it. Thanks so much to everyone who has replied to my post and thank god for forums like this! Attachment 35878
