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when you start it from cold, it cranks over for abit (i think could be due to the starter on its way out) and then starts but it doesn't like to idle steady and almost tries to cut out, if i rev it a couple of times it will then idle fine.

any ideas on this, is the long cranking when cold related to the idle problem.

could it be an air leak.

thanks stephen

From how your describing this I have this on my Polo too! My car kinda goes through little periods of doing this! A couple days later it stops then might crop up again couple months down the line then stop! I wouldn't be too worried unless its just constantly doing this? If so get it vag commed see if any fault codes pop up, G

someone told me it might be the coolant temp sensor, telling the ecu the engine is warm so it ends up not putting enough fuel in when cold.

Engine temp sensor when faulty or failing won't start the car at all while the engine is warm... Trust me I had that problem last summer. this sounds familiar to my last problem I changed my sparks and coilpack and now it's sorted.

No harm in replacing all of these! They're all cheap as chips and see if it carries on..

Also take your ht leads off
One by one and check you don't have white gunk in there, it sounds like a cylinder misfire and the main
Culprits of that are coilpack, ht leads, spark plugs distributor.

well today i started it from cold and the idle was rough, i found that if i reved it, it would just cut out but if i just let it idle it would eventually smooth out and run fine.

i've also noticed if its left to idle for long time when warm i can start to smell petol fumes.

cant that just be a coinsidence and you may just have holes in your hoses?... to be expected with cars this old,

whats a coinsidence.

do you think its an air leak.

fixed the problem, it was the coolant temp sensor, replaced it and its now running fine, starts up and idles perfectly.