Hi all,

Can any mechanical Merlins out there tell me what's gone wrong?

My car has started juddering (missing?) quite badly in the last couple of
days. Pulling away from a roundabout or going up a hill, and its pretty
bad. Hills that I was able to roll up in 5th, now need 3rd, and I'm not a
fast driver, this is just gentle driving.

The car:
'94 Golf Petrol, 1.8 CL.

The recent history:
The catalytic convertor was changed about 5 weeks ago, it had been making
a racket. Everything was then fine - until a couple of weeks later, maybe
less, the car started juddering! I've been a bit lax on the servicing so I
changed the plugs, no difference, and the HT leads (and king lead) and all
was well. Another couple of weeks passed and then on Friday I thought I'd
better chenge the oil and filter - so I did. No problem - argghh! The
juddering is back right after the oil and filter change!

I then changed the air filter this morning, and disconnected the battery
for an hour in case the computer was confused. When I tried it the
juddering was really bad, from cold, which is unusual, normally it starts
when its up to temp.

I had a fiddle under the bonnet and found that gently squeezing an air
hose caused the revs to drop dramatically and then stall. There was quite
a bit of moisture round the erm...big thing at the back where the air from
the air filter goes. After this fiddle the car initially seemed fine, but
the problems soon came back.

One other thing:
I noticed a weird sound a couple of times, a bit like when you pull away
and the brakes have seized, and they sort of "spoing" back out. Well, this
sound comes apparently from right under the gear stick - approximate
location of the catalytic convertor?

The stress:
Me and my Mrs are going on holiday to Dartmoor in the car on Friday ....or
that's the plan. So any thoughts on possible cause and remedies very
gratefully received.

Cheers.







All the best,
Angus Manwaring. (for e-mail remove ANTISPEM)

I need your memories for the Amiga Games Database: A collection of Amiga
Game reviews by Amiga players http://www.angusm.demon.co.uk/AGDB/AGDB.html