Exhaust emissions/temperature gauge problem/starting problem

**joncope** · 21-12-2008,09:41 PM

Hi there.

Took my 2002 VW Polo (50,000 miles) in for a service a couple of weeks ago. All fine. Five days later on a lengthy motorway drive I stopped at a service station. Spent about 10 minutes in there. When I came out and tried to start the car, it took two or three goes, then started, then stalled. I got it started but needed to rev it a bit at lights to keep it going. I also noticed that the temperature gauge was stuck at zero. Thought this was a bit odd as I had been driving for about 100 miles at around 70mph before I stopped at the services. After about 20 miles more motorway driving, the started working again. I then reached my destination, stopped, spent about an hour there and when I returned to the car (which would have cooled by then) it started fine, but the exhaust emissions light came on. I took it to a Kwik-Fit (as Kwik-Fit had serviced it originally). They said their diagnostic computer was telling them it was some sort of intermittent fault with the catalytic converter. Since then it has been fine to drive save for a few problems starting it from warm, and the exhaust emission light even went off for a short journey recently. Has come back on since. There seem to be a fair few threads about similar issues. Anyone got any ideas? My local VW garage have mucked me around in the past claiming, when the ABS light was showing, that I needed a new hydraulic ABS pump controller for £700+ part and fitting. They did this job and the light remained on. My local LSUK (Lucas) centre - sadly now in administration- diagnosed a problem with the dash electrics so I got a refund from the VW garage.

**vr6mark** · 21-12-2008,10:02 PM

The catalytic converter won't make it difficult to start, I would more say it has a split hose somewhere on the engine breather or inlet system and the lambda sensors are picking up excess air and triggering the catalyst effiency code, Kwik Fit generally are no good when it comes to diagnostics.

**joncope** · 21-12-2008,10:24 PM

If a spilt hose did happen to be the case, would that make it unwise to drive it in the short term?

**vr6mark** · 21-12-2008,10:31 PM

It could damage the cat in the long run, the unburnt fuel will do it no good, you will be OK for the short term though, have a good check of your engine hoses e.t.c as you may be able to do a temporary fix. Also do you know if Kwik fit read the generic OBD codes or the actual VW engine fault codes????

**joncope** · 21-12-2008,10:41 PM

Thanks for your reply. I had the original Kwik-Fit service done in Falmouth, had the codes checked at the Kwik-Fit in Bath, then took it back to Falmouth for them to give it a good looking over. I didn't take in much about the codes in Bath other than "blah, blah, blah it's gonna need a new catalytic converter blah, blah 700 quid." I was on a boys weekend with some mates and we'd actually had a bet on what pie-in-the-sky figure they'd pluck out of the air for whatever was wrong - my guess was £680. And I guess there wasn't much in it for the Falmouth garage as I imagine they'd have been obliged to fix any problem they hadn't spotted during the service for free (possibly).

**vr6mark** · 21-12-2008,10:57 PM

What engine size is your Polo?

**joncope** · 21-12-2008,11:10 PM

It is a 1.2, 65 BHP

**vr6mark** · 21-12-2008,11:23 PM

I would also be inclined to clean out the throttle body on it then, they get gummed up, use some MAF cleaner or carb cleaner liberally with a old tooth brush to remove the black deposits

**joncope** · 21-12-2008,11:43 PM

Many thanks, I have never done anything under a car bonnet, but will try and find a decent local VW garage and suggest these things to them for checking a.s.a.p.

jc

JUV · 23-12-2008,11:21 AM

Try and find an independent VW specialist in your area with the right diagnostic gear - Kwik-Fit and the like won't have it, and a proper VW dealership will charge the earth, but if you find a good independent they should be able to pinpoint the problem and sort it.

We have the 2002 1.2 65ps, and have had a few similar problems - the latest due to a faulty throttle body (a small motorised valve in the engine that's connected electronically to the accellerator). It's caused the emissions light to come on and off, irregular revving, loss of power, and the EPC light - apparently it's the EPC light that suggests the valve itself is faulty, and not just coked up (we've already had it cleaned out). It's just about to cost us £370 unfortunately.