ardandy 0 Posted May 25, 2008 Ok here's the situation. Drove to leeds about 45 mins. Absolutely perfect! About 6 hours later set off to go back home. Had real problems starting, idling was iffy and it cut out a few times. If I pressed the accelerator fully nothing happened, the only way I could get it to rev at all was to blip the throttle quickly. After a few minutes like that it stabilised a bit but the idling was still lumpy, we decided to set off to see how it was. For the whole journey back it was like I'd left the hand brake on or something! Pressing the accelerator fully or partially didn't make a difference as you'd expect. I could only just gradually speed up. Any sort of incline almost killed it and the revs fell off. In parts it probably looked like a new learner driver was driving, with it been jerky! On a particular steep hill I had to drop to 1st and crawl up! Another thing I noticed was that when pressing the accelerator fully/a lot, everynow and then I'd hear a metallic 'ping/ding' followed by a brief jerk. The exhaust was slightly louder than normal, more boomy but in a normal sounding way. When I stopped there was a lot of pinking coming from the exhaust as if it was very hot, the plastic centre tunnel in the cabin (where the handbrake is) also felt as if I'd been on a m-way for a few hours, warm. Oil and water temps were normal. It's getting serviced on thursday, so its been a while. On previous occasions if it's been a while between services I've noticed that a couple of spark plugs were black/oily, usually no.1. If a spark plug or 2 were knackered could they cause this type of problem? Going down hill sounded perfectly normal (on overrun) if that helps. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Toad 0 Posted May 25, 2008 Hmmm, sounds like the timing could have jumped few teeth. Have you had the timing chain tensioner changed? Doesn't sound good dude... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ardandy 0 Posted May 25, 2008 No, nothing since Jan has been done to the car. Sits in the garage and comes out weekends. If it is this timing chain thingy, what then? Oh, and it got slightly more responsive the higher the revs if that tells you anything? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chrisr 0 Posted May 25, 2008 what engine is it? my 2.0 16valve had simillar problems, But you had to hold the accelerator pedal down fully to start it & it would cut out when you let off the revs, got told it could be the idle controll valve, changed that & it was still the same, had the RAC come & look at it he unplugged the cold start sensor & it ran like a dream, the patroll man says the problem could be down to the temp sensor. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ardandy 0 Posted May 25, 2008 It's a VR. Blue temp sensor was replaced in Jan. I've had a faulty sensor before and this is way worse. I'm thinking a fuel issue or knock sensor after reading this; viewtopic.php?f=1&t=57830&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=hesitant Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vwstorm 0 Posted May 25, 2008 could be a air flow meter Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ardandy 0 Posted May 26, 2008 Is possible I suppose but that was proven to be working fine in January when I had a new ECU put in. Bloody thing! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim 2 Posted May 26, 2008 Get it VAG-COM'd mate as first step - might not be anything too serious and might show up on there! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim Bowen 1 Posted May 26, 2008 sounds like a problem i had once with an old car and it was due to the timing, a tensioner had come loose, lucky it didn't do anything to the engine could be loads of things, im sure i've heard similar when the cat has collapsed Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ardandy 0 Posted May 26, 2008 A few pics of the exhaust, possibly the culprit? Almost seems scorched at the tailpipe, wasn't like that before. Also a bit hanging down in the middle! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vwstorm 0 Posted May 26, 2008 i've had a broken up cat before car ok on light throttle soon as yoy floored it that was it no power. lift the car and bang the cat with your hand if it rattles cats gone Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Toad 0 Posted May 26, 2008 The thing hanging down is a broken exhaust rubber. not the end of the world, and it looks like it's been running pretty rich with the thick soot on the tailpipe. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ardandy 0 Posted June 13, 2008 Well the garage has rung up with what the problem was (got it serviced there too). Turns out a spark plug (1) was fouled up! All those issues and it was a dodgy spark plug! Still, I was expecting a new cat & exhaust so v happy about the cost! :) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ziderapple 0 Posted June 15, 2008 Good news. Thought it was going to be something more serious than that. Thing is, why was that plug all fouled up? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
