Engine problem?or lamda sensor

curtisg40 · July 18, 2011, 04:49:40 PM

Started the g up last night to move it into another car parking space and when it started it sounded like it was fighting?hunting for fuel, it was also blowing white smoke and what looks like water and black soot coming out of the exhaust a friend of mine said it might be the lamda sensor but they are £70 so i want to rule anything else out before buying a new sensor

can anybody shed some light, any help will be much appreciated

and if anybody is local to the bournemouth area/south coast who wants to earn a few quid having a look for me as i want it fresh for the polo show give me a shout and ill come to you

thanks all

DKnight · July 19, 2011, 09:30:35 AM

it can only really be the lambda probe or the blue temp sender, both are easy to check.

The lambda plugs in next to the throttlebody, a long 4 wire plug with an earth on, just unplug it before starting and see how it runs.

If it still runs bab it is not that.

Does it continue to do it after more than 10 15min? fire it up and if it is running bab still just unplug the blue temp sender (note you have to do this when it is i already running, it wont start if unplugged before)

See how that effects the revs again.

As an outside chance sometimes bad idles can be down to simple things like a blowing exhaust

curtisg40 · July 19, 2011, 12:22:08 PM

I'll have a look tonight when i get home from work thanks for your help dknight

curtisg40 · July 20, 2011, 10:59:52 PM

Bit more of a problem now

started her up this evening to try and fix the problem and the engine runs lumpy for about 15 seconds then cuts out I have no idea what the engine is doing
Can anyone help?

hayesey · July 21, 2011, 09:25:03 AM

have you unplugged the lambda?

samg40 · July 21, 2011, 09:28:38 AM

Coil.

curtisg40 · July 21, 2011, 10:29:19 AM

yep i unplugged the lambda(which i think is located on the throttle body with 4 wires on?) and it still ran lumpy :S started it up again and then disconected the blue temp sensor and it still ran like a tractor then started it up again and it ran for 15 second and then died and did this a few times before i gave up pulling my hair out as i need it for the polo show next weekend, sam you say it might be the coil is there a way of checking it or shall i just replace it?

samg40 · July 21, 2011, 12:27:56 PM

If you know anyone with a polo mk3 or mk4 you can swap them but I think GSF do them for about £30 and you can get them on ebay but check the quality. The coils are rubbish and degrade over time anyway so are worth replacing every now and again. You'll need shorted bolts if yours is an original mk3 one as they replaced them with the mk4 style one.

Mine was doing very similar things the other week and wouldnt run at all, the car idled like it was trying to shake itself to pieces, after replacing the coil it is absolutely fine.

curtisg40 · July 21, 2011, 12:52:23 PM

i think it must be the coil then sam, it was shaking so bad my radiator came lose ill keep you posted i should be getting it fixed on the weekend Thanks for your help

samg40 · July 21, 2011, 01:02:43 PM

Lets hope so its a quick and easy cheap fix if so. Keep us updated.

PeteG40 · July 21, 2011, 02:21:15 PM

Quote from: SamG40 on July 21, 2011, 12:27:56 PM
If you know anyone with a polo mk3 or mk4 you can swap them but I think GSF do them for about £30 and you can get them on ebay but check the quality. The coils are rubbish and degrade over time anyway so are worth replacing every now and again. You'll need shorted bolts if yours is an original mk3 one as they replaced them with the mk4 style one.

Mine was doing very similar things the other week and wouldnt run at all, the car idled like it was trying to shake itself to pieces, after replacing the coil it is absolutely fine.

you mean yuou stole my coil!

samg40 · July 21, 2011, 02:42:19 PM

Quote from: PeteG40 on July 21, 2011, 02:21:15 PM
Quote from: SamG40 on July 21, 2011, 12:27:56 PM
If you know anyone with a polo mk3 or mk4 you can swap them but I think GSF do them for about £30 and you can get them on ebay but check the quality. The coils are rubbish and degrade over time anyway so are worth replacing every now and again. You'll need shorted bolts if yours is an original mk3 one as they replaced them with the mk4 style one.

Mine was doing very similar things the other week and wouldnt run at all, the car idled like it was trying to shake itself to pieces, after replacing the coil it is absolutely fine.

you mean yuou stole my coil!

I ant steal it if you gave it to me!

curtisg40 · July 22, 2011, 09:01:52 AM

ok so i've replaced the coil, double checked every spark plug, checked blue temp sensor and lambda, i checked the distributor and the afm, i'm just scratching my head as to what my engine is doing :S.

can g40s plug into vagcom?

i think i might have to take it to a garage

metz · July 22, 2011, 09:44:29 AM

you need the 2 into one plug for vagcom, depending where you are (im in rotherham) i don't mind plugging it into my full version of vagcom to check. bear in mind its going to have blue temp sensor faults logged already now since you unplugged it im guessing.

hayesey · July 22, 2011, 10:30:09 AM

there's stuff about vagcom in the faq section