UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Hello,

I have a 1995 Polo 6NS with a 1.2 litre petrol engine with approximately 107,000 miles. Earlier today, I was out for a drive and everything seemed fine. I stopped to park for about 5 minutes. When I restarted the engine, it felt very rough as if it was firing on only 3 of its 4 cylinders.

It is now very sluggish when moving away from a stopped position and I must keep the revs up quite high and let the clutch out very gradually or it stalls. The car starts fine even after sitting for several hours and there is no smoke coming from the exhaust and it doesn’t backfire.

I have taken the distributor cap off and cleaned the contact points on the cap and the rotor with steel wool—the contacts are now bright and corrosion free—but this didn’t change anything.

Does anyone have an idea as to what the problem might be or any tests I can do to narrow down the possibilities?

--John

___________________________________________
Moved to correct section by Tim_GTi

There are some new developments regarding the Polo that might perhaps shed some additional light on the matter.

As I attempted to start the car today, the motor cranked for less than a second and that’s it. It won’t turn over. However, I did notice that prior to turning the key in the ignition, the car’s clock was reading the correct time; as soon as I turned the ignition, the clock reset to 00:00. Each time I turn the key, it resets the clock.

Does this clock problem shed any light on things?

--John