i'm looking for a bit of advice/help about my '94 polo, which has been off
the road, in the garage, since about the start of july. i know this
explanation will be a bit long and detailed but i'm not sure what details
may or may not be relevant, and please read on if you think you may be able
to help. i
should also point out i don't know a huge amount about cars.

my mum managed to run it to the very bottom of the tank one day, and when it
wouldn't start i assumed it was because it was out of fuel. after filling
it up it still wouldn't start - just kinda chugging, but just not firing up
and turning over, and i was advised that perhaps it was because i had
flooded it in my attempts to start it and therefore to leave it to 'dry out'
before trying again. i left it for an hour, tried it, and on the second or
third turn it fired up and i drove off. that was in the morning.

later that afternoon it cut out completely while driving, while i was
braking approaching a junction. not stalled or anything, just cut
completely, not to be revived. after a lengthy walk home, i returned with
someone (someone who lodges with my mum during the week) who knows a bit
about cars who had a wee look and got it started easily, he thought the
spark plugs and filter and stuff might just be dirty after running the
petrol so low.

however, a few days later (can't remember if it had been driven in between),
mum took it out and again, it just wouldn't start. the garage was called,
they came out and it did start first time, but they turned it off and tried
again, it didn't go and it hasn't started since.

the garage said that it just wasn't sparking and the initial diagnosis was
that the ECU was faulty. we duly tracked a second hand one down but it
didn't work. i think we may have gotten another one which didn't work, and
one was tried from another polo that didn't work either.

it was moved to another garage and the guy there thought it was the
distributor, and we've since gotten two distributors but there is still,
apparently, no spark.

there is a distinct lack of auto electrical specialist people where we are,
and the garage and we are at something of a loss as to what to so now.
anyone have any suggestions?

another question just while i'm here, when they phoned last the garage
suggested it could be a problem with the coil, and it was suggested by
someone that the coil from the VW beetle or camper van we have sitting in
the garage may be suitable to try. is there any truth in this?

cheers,
lou

I had to do all that stupid stuff for my old fiesta + change the fuel pump,
i found out myself after reading a car manual that it was the dirty fuel in
the carbaretor, it was very dirty fuel after running the tank as low as i
could for 6 months (stupid thing to do).

The old fiesta didn't have a fuel filter anywhere so i fitted an inline
filter, this did the job. I had to replace the filter a few times to clear
out the muck. But after that it ran like a dream.

Maybe your fuel filter needs changing should be near the fuel tank at the
back of the car, £15 for a new filter? wouldn't change yourself if you've
never done any work with a car before, fuel is a risky business


"auntie lou" wrote in message
...
i'm looking for a bit of advice/help about my '94 polo, which has been off
the road, in the garage, since about the start of july. i know this
explanation will be a bit long and detailed but i'm not sure what details
may or may not be relevant, and please read on if you think you may be
able
to help. i
should also point out i don't know a huge amount about cars.

my mum managed to run it to the very bottom of the tank one day, and when
it
wouldn't start i assumed it was because it was out of fuel. after filling
it up it still wouldn't start - just kinda chugging, but just not firing
up
and turning over, and i was advised that perhaps it was because i had
flooded it in my attempts to start it and therefore to leave it to 'dry
out'
before trying again. i left it for an hour, tried it, and on the second
or
third turn it fired up and i drove off. that was in the morning.

later that afternoon it cut out completely while driving, while i was
braking approaching a junction. not stalled or anything, just cut
completely, not to be revived. after a lengthy walk home, i returned with
someone (someone who lodges with my mum during the week) who knows a bit
about cars who had a wee look and got it started easily, he thought the
spark plugs and filter and stuff might just be dirty after running the
petrol so low.

however, a few days later (can't remember if it had been driven in
between),
mum took it out and again, it just wouldn't start. the garage was called,
they came out and it did start first time, but they turned it off and
tried
again, it didn't go and it hasn't started since.

the garage said that it just wasn't sparking and the initial diagnosis was
that the ECU was faulty. we duly tracked a second hand one down but it
didn't work. i think we may have gotten another one which didn't work,
and
one was tried from another polo that didn't work either.

it was moved to another garage and the guy there thought it was the
distributor, and we've since gotten two distributors but there is still,
apparently, no spark.

there is a distinct lack of auto electrical specialist people where we
are,
and the garage and we are at something of a loss as to what to so now.
anyone have any suggestions?

another question just while i'm here, when they phoned last the garage
suggested it could be a problem with the coil, and it was suggested by
someone that the coil from the VW beetle or camper van we have sitting in
the garage may be suitable to try. is there any truth in this?

cheers,
lou

Polo carb (still carbed in '94?) has very small jets, particularly idle.
They often block up, and running low on fuel wouldn't help. Fuel filter for
carb is no more than £1 (often 50p at shows).

However if there's no spark it ain't going to go! The coil in a Polo is a
ballast coil (runs on ?10V and uses a resistive wire to drop the other 2V
except when starting), so an old air-cooled VW coil won't be right. I
suppose by-passing the original coil lead would be possible, but you will
not get as good a spark for starting, when battery voltage falls due to the
load.

Of course, some of this may be rubbish in the light of modern electronic
modules etc - sorry if I'm living too much in the past!

--
Dave.
UK VW Type 3 & 4 Club
http://www.hallvw.clara.co.uk/
------
"Joe" wrote in message
...
I had to do all that stupid stuff for my old fiesta + change the fuel
pump,
i found out myself after reading a car manual that it was the dirty fuel
in
the carbaretor, it was very dirty fuel after running the tank as low as i
could for 6 months (stupid thing to do).

The old fiesta didn't have a fuel filter anywhere so i fitted an inline
filter, this did the job. I had to replace the filter a few times to clear
out the muck. But after that it ran like a dream.

Maybe your fuel filter needs changing should be near the fuel tank at the
back of the car, £15 for a new filter? wouldn't change yourself if you've
never done any work with a car before, fuel is a risky business


"auntie lou" wrote in message
...
i'm looking for a bit of advice/help about my '94 polo, which has been
off
the road, in the garage, since about the start of july. i know this
explanation will be a bit long and detailed but i'm not sure what
details
may or may not be relevant, and please read on if you think you may be
able
to help. i
should also point out i don't know a huge amount about cars.

my mum managed to run it to the very bottom of the tank one day, and
when
it
wouldn't start i assumed it was because it was out of fuel. after
filling
it up it still wouldn't start - just kinda chugging, but just not firing
up
and turning over, and i was advised that perhaps it was because i had
flooded it in my attempts to start it and therefore to leave it to 'dry
out'
before trying again. i left it for an hour, tried it, and on the second
or
third turn it fired up and i drove off. that was in the morning.

later that afternoon it cut out completely while driving, while i was
braking approaching a junction. not stalled or anything, just cut
completely, not to be revived. after a lengthy walk home, i returned
with
someone (someone who lodges with my mum during the week) who knows a bit
about cars who had a wee look and got it started easily, he thought the
spark plugs and filter and stuff might just be dirty after running the
petrol so low.

however, a few days later (can't remember if it had been driven in
between),
mum took it out and again, it just wouldn't start. the garage was
called,
they came out and it did start first time, but they turned it off and
tried
again, it didn't go and it hasn't started since.

the garage said that it just wasn't sparking and the initial diagnosis
was
that the ECU was faulty. we duly tracked a second hand one down but it
didn't work. i think we may have gotten another one which didn't work,
and
one was tried from another polo that didn't work either.

it was moved to another garage and the guy there thought it was the
distributor, and we've since gotten two distributors but there is still,
apparently, no spark.

there is a distinct lack of auto electrical specialist people where we
are,
and the garage and we are at something of a loss as to what to so now.
anyone have any suggestions?

another question just while i'm here, when they phoned last the garage
suggested it could be a problem with the coil, and it was suggested by
someone that the coil from the VW beetle or camper van we have sitting
in
the garage may be suitable to try. is there any truth in this?

cheers,
lou

"auntie lou" wrote in message ...
i'm looking for a bit of advice/help about my '94 polo, which has been off
the road, in the garage, since about the start of july. i know this
explanation will be a bit long and detailed but i'm not sure what details
may or may not be relevant, and please read on if you think you may be able
to help. i
should also point out i don't know a huge amount about cars.

my mum managed to run it to the very bottom of the tank one day, and when it
wouldn't start i assumed it was because it was out of fuel. after filling
it up it still wouldn't start - just kinda chugging, but just not firing up
and turning over, and i was advised that perhaps it was because i had
flooded it in my attempts to start it and therefore to leave it to 'dry out'
before trying again. i left it for an hour, tried it, and on the second or
third turn it fired up and i drove off. that was in the morning.

later that afternoon it cut out completely while driving, while i was
braking approaching a junction. not stalled or anything, just cut
completely, not to be revived. after a lengthy walk home, i returned with
someone (someone who lodges with my mum during the week) who knows a bit
about cars who had a wee look and got it started easily, he thought the
spark plugs and filter and stuff might just be dirty after running the
petrol so low.

however, a few days later (can't remember if it had been driven in between),
mum took it out and again, it just wouldn't start. the garage was called,
they came out and it did start first time, but they turned it off and tried
again, it didn't go and it hasn't started since.

the garage said that it just wasn't sparking and the initial diagnosis was
that the ECU was faulty. we duly tracked a second hand one down but it
didn't work. i think we may have gotten another one which didn't work, and
one was tried from another polo that didn't work either.

it was moved to another garage and the guy there thought it was the
distributor, and we've since gotten two distributors but there is still,
apparently, no spark.

there is a distinct lack of auto electrical specialist people where we are,
and the garage and we are at something of a loss as to what to so now.
anyone have any suggestions?

another question just while i'm here, when they phoned last the garage
suggested it could be a problem with the coil, and it was suggested by
someone that the coil from the VW beetle or camper van we have sitting in
the garage may be suitable to try. is there any truth in this?


If it's a Mk4 (introduced in '94 have a look at the chaises code for 6N) then it may
be you ignition barrel (well the switch behind it) they are prone to just giving up and
can cause the sort of problems you describe.