Polo ignition problem

[mahutchinson]

I have a 2004 Polo Twist 1.4 which is just starting to cost money (tyres, front brakes changed this year, oil consumption becoming very high). In the last few days it has not started first time. The problem has never occurred before and the battery is fine. I did read somewhere that many people have found the immobiliser connections to be the problem and apparently it is fairly easy to take the steering column cover off to check them. Anyone have experience of this problem or can confirm that this may be the solution ?

[Crasher]

Does it turn over, fire and then cut out or just not start first try??

[mahutchinson]

Thanks for the ridiculously quick response ! It just turns over.

[Crasher]

No so fast this time! I am having PC problems at home and super busy at work.

If it turns over and does not fire, that is not the immobiliser. The first thing you need to do is have the engine ECU scanned for fault codes.

[mahutchinson]

Well I gave in and took it to the VW garage as we needed the car to work reliably for various reasons. Ironically, it has been working fine for the last couple of days but was apparently the coolant heat sensor needing replacing. £170 hit for that.

[Crasher]

That is THE most common problem I see. I often fit two coolant temp senders a day but only one today so far. £170 is a bit evil for that job though, I charge £75 including a full printed out code read for the whole car.

[mahutchinson]

That is THE most common problem I see. I often fit two coolant temp senders a day but only one today so far. £170 is a bit evil for that job though, I charge £75 including a full printed out code read for the whole car.

VW appears to be roughly double for everything they do so that's about par for the course. I didn't take it for servicing at VW this year because of that but the Haldex coupling oil is due for changing according to the handbook and no-one outside VW has ever heard of it so I may have to go back to them next year again.

[Crasher]

It doesn’t have a Haldex unit, that is for four wheel drive Golf’s etc. I keep Haldex filters and oil in stock for the Golf 4 Motion, R32, TT Quattro, S3 etc. It also requires a very special spanner to remove the filter, but again, not relevant on a Polo Twist.

[mahutchinson]

It doesn’t have a Haldex unit, that is for four wheel drive Golf’s etc. I keep Haldex filters and oil in stock for the Golf 4 Motion, R32, TT Quattro, S3 etc. It also requires a very special spanner to remove the filter, but again, not relevant on a Polo Twist.

Interesting - it's clearly stated in my handbook as if applying to all models after 4 years. There is no note that it applies only to certain models, as there is with some other extra-service issues.

[Crasher]

I can assure you it is only fitted to models with the part time four wheel drive system.

http://www.haldex.com/en/GLOBAL/Applications--Products/Applications1/AWD