2008 Volkswagen Polo 1.4 SE - Engine judder when at idle

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Thu 1 Aug 2013 11:44
2008 Volkswagen Polo 1.4 SE - Engine judder when at idle - adidas

Hello all

New to the forum so go easy on me! I was looking for a bit of advice so I'll start from the beginning. My car has been declared SORN and been off road for about a year. It's done about 34,000 miles at the moment. Drove like a dream before it was SORN.

It has FSH and I recently had it fully serviced and MOT-ed a month ago with an oil change, new battery and 2 new tyres. In the last 2 weeks been a little judder-y when idling, feels like the engine nearly cutting out and worse if left for longer periods and worse over time, like the whole car shaking. I thought it might be overheating but the temperature gauge never went up (just looked like steam on the bonnet when it was raining). I also noticed loss of power at times when driving in lower gears. The fuel consumption on one of my last journeys went up crazily, 100 miles and half a tank of petrol used! No engine lights come on.

Anyway, called the RAC and they scanned the car for error codes, none found. Oil and water level good. They noticed no.3 spark plug a little sooty and foulled (I'm trying to read the report and think this is the word), removed and cleaned, replaced and rescan again when engine allowed to idle then removed the plugs again and changed between position 1 and 3 again number 3 foulled. Compression check OK. Suspected injector number 3 sticking.

Took to my local garage, agreed that fuel injector number 3 was the problem. Replaced and also full set of spark plugs done. No other problems noted. I had my air filter changed as it has always been a little smelly when putting the air con on.

Got it back yesterday. It's running better but still juddery a little at idle but nowhere near as bad as before. The RPMs are running at idle between the 7/8 mark under the large ten on the counter. Driving fine and no loss of power. Yet to see the fuel consumption as only driven it a little. I would say that the juddering is normal but when I had it before the SORN and immediately after the service this year it was almost still at idle and no judder at all. The other problem I've noticed recently is that the electric button on my driver side is a little intermittent at working but I think this was an issue when I bought the car and was fixed.

Anyone have any ideas?

Edited by adidas on 01/08/2013 at 11:46

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Thu 1 Aug 2013 23:08
2008 Volkswagen Polo 1.4 SE - Engine judder when at idle - Big John

Especially because it has been stood up for a while I would suspect a coil pack issue myself. Especially with the juddery idle and loss of power at times. Until it gets really bad doesn't always throw up an error code.

Start the engine and briefly floor the throttle - if it sounds a bit two cylinder-ish on pick up(like a 2cv) then it is probably the coil pack.

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Fri 2 Aug 2013 20:02
2008 Volkswagen Polo 1.4 SE - Engine judder when at idle - adidas

Thanks will try this and update on my progress.

Edited by adidas on 02/08/2013 at 20:04

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Mon 5 Aug 2013 11:37
2008 Volkswagen Polo 1.4 SE - Engine judder when at idle - adidas

No the engine sounds fine on revving. The problem is more persistent at cold temperatures. I am taking the car back. On brief discussion with the mechanic, he will have a look at the fuel filter and suggest a change. Will suggest to him tomorrow about any components that need cleaning in case it is anything like the EGR valve and will try some proper fuel, not supermarket stuff and see if that makes a difference.

Fuel consumption isn't as good as I thought it would be, although I haven't formerly checked this by doing a full tank and trip meter reading. Car still not giving as much power on accelerating as before.

Any suggestions?

Edited by adidas on 05/08/2013 at 11:40

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