bad cruising in my 2.0 16v

[quicky1980 0]

Its hard to explain this one but ill try.

My car starts up fine, and generally runs great except when im doing city driving.

The problem seems to happen in lower gears and travelling quite slow.

 

For eg i can be driving fine at 4000rpm in second but when im travelling at 3000rpm the problem crops up. its annoying cus the car does alot of buking.

The car seems to misfire, almost as if it wants to stall, but as soon as i put my foot down to accelerate the problem disapears until i return to 3k

Dont know how else to explain it. And no its not because i have got the car in the wrong gear.

 

I have ideas that it could be the lambda probe being faulty as my spark plugs look as if they are running rich.

Should i disconnect the lambda probe to see if this is the prob. if so where do i disconnect it?

 

Im also worried it could be the ecu, could water/age have effected this part?

 

What about the isv, i doubt it would be this cus i thought this only helped with idle.

 

Or do you reckon its just a case of basic setup? ie timing, mixture?

 

Would really appreciate any help as this problem is really annoying and no one seems to have a clue.

thanks

[steve_16v 0]

I used to have a Toledo (abf engine) with very similar symptoms, as it happens it was written off before I found out what it was but none of the mechanics I spoke to about it knew what the problem was. I did find a thread on seatcupra.net with some suggestions though click

 

From what I managed to find out it seemed like the ecu was the most likely culprit.

[khurrado 0]

Im also worried it could be the ecu, could water/age have effected this part?

 

 

There was a 2.0 16v ECU with blitzchip on ebay a few days ago(£5-damn i missed it!!)

[Sanj 0]

Hi having the exact same probs on my car, it started on last sunday. I thinkit is to do with the Lambda but not 100% sure. Check your exhaust near the CAT end to see if its blowing too.

[quicky1980 0]

I missed out on that ecu too, ebay went down just before i could bid on it.

i dont think its mechanical in a sense, reckon its more ignition related. may try and borrow and ecu off someone to see if it sorts it out.

 

Also my exshaust does seem to be blowing, what does this have to do with the lambda probe?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I had that same problem on one of my old 1800 valvers and it turned out to be a worn distributor. But it could be your Lambda if not that, as past 4000rpm on full throttle the lambda is ignored anyway, so top end running will be OK.

 

It's probably OK when cold too?

[quicky1980 0]

it cant be dizzy as i have placed a new one on there. Im leaning towards the lambda probe idea

what do these normally cost?

[CoxyLaad 0]

if its a K jet have you tried replacing that little black ignition module? Them little bastards can cause allsorts of trouble!

 

It will cost you next to nowt to test it, just get one of any mk2 golf from a scrappy, and swap it over. at least it will be another thing ruled out. My mk1 behaved in a similar fashion, and that was the culprit.

[quicky1980 0]

sorry which little black thing? do you mean the ecu resistor? i have a golf mk2 16v can i use it off that?

[quicky1980 0]

hmm might try that out this weekend, just got some parts off a mate to see if it will sort it out

i have spare lambda,isv and fuel reg

and i have a golf too lol

ill let you know monday how it goes

[quicky1980 0]

right had the weekend to look at my rado.

Tried a different isv this made no difference, also mine didnt have the black ignition madule so doubt its kjet

Tried unplugging the lambda probe and this didnt make any difference to the running, so im thinking this is the culprit.

Just want some unbiased input.

[bcstudent 0]

The 9A 2.0 16v uses KE-Motronic engine management. The Lambda probe is a likely culprit I'd say. I've never actually owned a car with a Lambda probe but I'm fairly sure there's a test procedure you can go through before parting with your hard earned.