EPC Light and Traction Control Light - Bad Throttle Response

[PoloDaz93]

Hi all,

I have been having an issue with my Polo since it was last serviced around November 2022.

Idle is very “jolty”. Rev counter will smoothly sit at 900 but every 5 seconds or so, the car will physically jolt. Passengers have noticed and asked me about it as the jolt is that strong. Sometimes this affects the rev counter and sometimes it doesn’t.

Overall, the throttle response feels impeded in some way like it is not getting enough air or fuel.

When accelerating rapidly e.g. to overtake on a motorway, if too much strain is put on the engine, the EPC light and Traction Control lights appear at the same time and the car seems to kick into limp mode where the revs are limited and the car moves like a slug.

So far I have tried removing and cleaning the MAP sensor and throttle attenuator connections with electrical contact cleaner. This has had no effect on the issue.

Again, this only started happening when I got the car back from the mechanic. I gave it back to them and they pawned me off saying the diagnostics reader was not showing any faults.

Grateful for any suggestions.

Thanks

[ciclo]

Hi, take a look at this thread, maybe you can find something useful for you... 'since it was last serviced'.

viewtopic.php?p=592910#p592910

[SeanYang0831]

maybe you can head to electronic system failure. bad throttle response usually mostly occurs when the intake system leaks, but you won't get lights, so I don't think it's a mechanical failure.
I'll replace O2 sensor first.