Intermittent breakdown

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rollercoaster
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Intermittent breakdown

Post by rollercoaster »

The AGG (Golf 2.0 petrol non turbo) is being a pain.. as it keeps randomly cutting out. Been in the engine area no loose wires and its just started again for no good reason.
My feelings are its the ignition circuit.
Its even cut while driving but mostly after stopping and trying to start again
Its so far happened when miles from phone signal on Welsh tracks so particularly annoying..
Any ideas?
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Re: Intermittent breakdown

Post by davidoft1 »

99.9 % it’s the distributor

But what’s the idle speed ?

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Re: Intermittent breakdown

Post by DoubleOSeven »

It’s not the immobiliser is it?
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Re: Intermittent breakdown

Post by rollercoaster »

Thanks.
I’ll check with Russel but its a SyncroAndy loom should be fine.
Distributor? Its got a new cap, and coil.
The thing is theres a ticking and buzzing from near the throttle cable, top of the engine. Sometimes its not. Sometimes even after I’ve switched it off.
So I wonder..
Its probably not as complicated as I imagine.
Yesterday it only “broke down” once, wouldnt start for half hour when we stopped to pick blueberries by the track.
Otherwise a day driving in mountains with no phone signal the whole way.
The little family in campervan, swimmkng in pools and generally idyllic.
I have to climb a fair old mountain to get to pick up signal for this message!
No doubt we will make it back to urban life at some point..
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Re: Intermittent breakdown

Post by davidoft1 »

rollercoaster wrote: 09 Aug 2020, 11:10 Thanks.
I’ll check with Russel but its a SyncroAndy loom should be fine.
Distributor? Its got a new cap, and coil.
The thing is theres a ticking and buzzing from near the throttle cable, top of the engine. Sometimes its not. Sometimes even after I’ve switched it off.
So I wonder..
Its probably not as complicated as I imagine.
Yesterday it only “broke down” once, wouldnt start for half hour when we stopped to pick blueberries by the track.
Otherwise a day driving in mountains with no phone signal the whole way.
The little family in campervan, swimmkng in pools and generally idyllic.
I have to climb a fair old mountain to get to pick up signal for this message!
No doubt we will make it back to urban life at some point..


The buzzing is probably the idle control valve

When I say distributor, I mean the actual distributor, they break down and cause intermittent breakdown, difficult to test be generally worse in the summer due to the heat

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Re: Intermittent breakdown

Post by aknapper »

Hall sender in the distributor may be at fault?    Our 3 breakdowns in one longweekend saga pointed to something electrical...  Engine just cut out on a roundabout...  but then when cold would start and we could drive again.
Only real clue was the ICU was very hot to touch.  We thought it was the ICU and replaced it, but turns out it was hot because the hall sender was the problem.
Easily sorted at the garage, but only after recovery and immense frustration at the time
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rollercoaster
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Re: Intermittent breakdown

Post by rollercoaster »

Thanks all!
Good food for thought.
If theres one thing I really need its reliability.
As if its an aeroplane!
Why not?

I will look into replacing the dizzi,
and I’m often a bit baffled by the idle.
Good running helps economy too.

We are back in everyday traffic.
Those mountains are spectacular.
I’ll post about the trip later...
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Re: Intermittent breakdown

Post by davidoft1 »

rollercoaster wrote: 10 Aug 2020, 13:57 Thanks all!
Good food for thought.
If theres one thing I really need its reliability.
As if its an aeroplane!
Why not?

I will look into replacing the dizzi,
and I’m often a bit baffled by the idle.
Good running helps economy too.

The idle is ecu controlled, can be altered through vag com software , check the throttle position sensor is working and clean out the throttle body and butterfly
We are back in everyday traffic.
Those mountains are spectacular.
I’ll post about the trip later...

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Mr Bean
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Re: Intermittent breakdown

Post by Mr Bean »

Just being nosy but I picked these two sentences out of that thread:
 
“The thing is there’s a ticking and buzzing from near the throttle cable, top of the engine. Sometimes it is not. Sometimes even after I’ve switched it off.”
 
“The buzzing is probably the idle control valve”
 
I have no Golf knowledge but shouldn’t the Idle control valve be buzzing continuously?
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rollercoaster
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Re: Intermittent breakdown

Post by rollercoaster »

Well I wouldnt know when its supposed to buzz or not
but I can say that given how it is random.. it doesnt seem right.

The trusty (?) van sat at 60-70 for an hour or more,
and gave no bother over a four hour fast drive,
fully loaded, to its train weight, with big trailer..
so it is running well, its just this random issue of failing.

Looked a little into distributers, but not understanding much.
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Mr Bean
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Re: Intermittent breakdown

Post by Mr Bean »

rollercoaster wrote: 11 Aug 2020, 14:46 Well I wouldnt know when its supposed to buzz or not
but I can say that given how it is random.. it doesnt seem right.

The trusty (?) van sat at 60-70 for an hour or more,
and gave no bother over a four hour fast drive,
fully loaded, to its train weight, with big trailer..
so it is running well, its just this random issue of failing.

Looked a little into distributers, but not understanding much.
I have recently had to replace the idle valve controller on my 2.1 DJ WBX. My symptoms were:  Van would accelerate, go through the gears and cruise all day long. But it would die if I stopped and took my foot off the throttle. I could keep it going if I kept the revs up while I got in gear and away.

When trying to diagnose this problem I found my idle valve had stopped buzzing although I could set a rough and irregular tick over by winding out the idle speed air control (big fat slotted screw on my WBX).  I did think that the idle control valve was supposed to fail safe i.e. get you home mode - but not in my case apparently.

These symptoms are similar to yours as far as I can see and while the Polo installation may be quite different to my WBX I would imagine the idle control valve will have similar functionality. For that reason I am tending to think that your idle valve should

 be buzzing at all when the engine is in the idle mode. Anyone familiar with the Gof installation?
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Re: Intermittent breakdown

Post by rollercoaster »

Regular driving has not brought the fault back,
but the niggle that it still needs sorting prompts this post.

I did say that I thought it was the ignition, at the key..
and though there may be other issues too, allow me to add:

When the ignition is on, and the van has started, and is running..
only a very tiny, and very easily done movement of the key, back,
kills the motor, I find this suspect, 
there must be some kind of switch that the key throws,
and this could be worn or temperamental.

Am I completely off track here?
Is it easy enough to renew the barrel switch anyway?
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Re: Intermittent breakdown

Post by Mr Bean »

I've a little niggle re people with what I call the jailhouse warden syndrome where someone walks around with a heavily loaded key ring clipped to their belt. Strangely enough Mrs Bean has such a key ring  and sometime I feel...  8)

Anyway if you suspect your ignition switch or associated wiring may have an intermittent fault and have any additional items attached to the key then a trial period using just the key alone might prove/disprove this theory. If I remember right the switch - if momentarily switched off, has to be turned back to an intermediate position prior to restarting in order to operate a start sequence.  This may kid you on to believe it is faulty.

( :!: best not twiddle with the ignition switch while driving as you could inadvertently lock the steering :!:
So yes I believe it is more than just an on/off switch. Others may wish to confirm/dispute this. :ok
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Re: Intermittent breakdown

Post by Aidan »

often wear the ignition switch electrical connection maker, always carry a spare, pretty straightforward to change

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Re: Intermittent breakdown

Post by TONYT25T25 »

Mr Bean wrote: 13 Aug 2020, 07:45 I've a little niggle re people with what I call the jailhouse warden syndrome where someone walks around with a heavily loaded key ring clipped to their belt. Strangely enough Mrs Bean has such a key ring  and sometime I feel...  8)

Anyway if you suspect your ignition switch or associated wiring may have an intermittent fault and have any additional items attached to the key then a trial period using just the key alone might prove/disprove this theory. If I remember right the switch - if momentarily switched off, has to be turned back to an intermediate position prior to restarting in order to operate a start sequence.  This may kid you on to believe it is faulty.

( :!: best not twiddle with the ignition switch while driving as you could inadvertently lock the steering :!:
So yes I believe it is more than just an on/off switch. Others may wish to confirm/dispute this. :ok
Never thought about that, my keyring has several keys an alarm fob and other things which get in the way when turning the ignition on and off, I must tidy that up for sure.
 
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