UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

I will post some pics of the car at some stage but its a bit cold to wash it at the moment
We bought it a year ago from 2 dodgy dealers in Chichester (up till xmas I lived in sussex and worked in Wiltshire LOL),it had a few issues but I decided it had potential,it had been a local car and had 51,000 on the clock - which appeared to be genuine !
Because of its low mileage - it still had the original anti - roll bar which was falling to bits,obviously it was the dodgy dealers mate who had supplied the brand new MOT,I had not got round to looking closely at the car for a few months otherwise I would have reported it to VOSA.
We got this particular reading on the odometer whilst driving round an old airfield near Elgin



While I had the engine cover off recently I also carried out a little work package -
I changed the spark plugs
I also changed the Coolant Temp Sensor to hopefully clear fault code P0118 (CTS low temp) and possibly help with P1151 (long term fuel trim) - we have been getting an Engine Management Light on occasionally especially after a long fast run,after 50 or so miles on country roads it usually flickered a bit and then went off.
I also did an oil and filter change and replaced the air filter for annual service and MOT prep.
I bought the CTS from VW and it looks like the old one is actually the original 2002 CTS - so I guess it lasted fairly well although I do not know how long it has been giving spurious info to the ECU etc .

I think that my wife's late 2002 Polo 1.4 SE lasted all of its 105K miles/13 years with her on its original CTS - my old Passat asked for a new one though and daughter's late 2009 Ibiza 1.4 SC has coughed out a duff measurement warning, so when the weather gets warmer ------.

I'm assuming that you have had the ARB replaced, wife's car needed that at about 5 years old, such is the level of salting on Northern roads! I've always used NKG plugs on VWs, it pays to get hold of a genuine spare COP (Coil On Plug) as unless they have been replaced, they will fail one by one, my VAG supplier of choice is Eldor, and if possible an old version before they moved manufacture to Turkey and basically turned these and any other parts they made there into proper turkeys -- a country full of rubbish makers of rubbish parts both genuine and fake!! Fuel filter, I always worried about that, but still have the one I bought for wife's car, so if you are using good petrol places your one should be okay for a while. While talking about petrol, have you ever tried using Shell V-Power Nitro, the high octane stuff, just a warning, if you do, after a couple of tanks you will not want to gao back to normal UL as the improvement in drivability I found to be amazing - which that engine ends!

Other potential issues, the front Lambda Probe heater circuit usually fails about this mileage, again if it does, buy a VW sourced or exactly the same NTK replacement - which ever is the cheaper for you. Next, the EGR valve circuit, the EGR valve itself should be clean and okay, but where the steel bendy pipe enters the inlet manifold, or into an adaptor plate, or into the bottom of the TB (Throttle Body) gets clogged up with the mixing of recycled hot exhaust gasses and oil mist, that will lead eventually an engine fault being logged, it should be related to the EGR gas flow. MAP sensor, it is easy to reach at the driver's side of the inlet manifold and cleaning it by gently spraying it with brake cleaner a few times should help things and maybe stop some of these fuel trim warnings.

If you have not yet done so, buy a Haynes manual and maybe a cheap scan tool - I needed to check clear faults on wife's Polo maybe once every 6 months including incorrect faults due to stupid VAG S/W issues which they denied and so remained.

Does that car have disc brakes on the rear? If so, maybe buy and fit external return springs, also clean all brakes before an MOT as the adverse road conditions will have gunged them up.

Front TCA rear bushes, I had to replace them on wife's car at about 5 years, I got an Indie (Star Performance in Dysart Fife) to fit SEAT Ibiza Cupra solid bushes, that sorted that out and improved the turn-in and they might just out live the car!

Engine cambelts, they should be replaced at 4 or 5 year intervals, mileage limit will not be reached in your case but the belts etc still need replaced to avoid engine destruction, again I used Star Performance at Dysart Fife.

Maybe take a look on other VAG forums for what you can expect and there will be write ups on how to do it, I'm guessing your engine is a BBY. www.briskoda.net www.seatcupra.net you will need to look in the Fabia MK1 section and the Ibiza 6L sections respectively.

Yes thanks I got a mate to replace the anti roll bar and most of the front suspension before I brought the car up north !
The cambelt was replaced 2 years ago.
I have a cheap scan tool - I bought it to find the codes to help fix the EML problem.
The rear brake discs/pads will be replaced before the MOT !
Are the external springs a later mod ?
The engine is already pulling better after the work carried out so far

Quote:- "Are the external springs a later mod ?"
No, my wife got a new Polo in August and it does not have external return springs fitted, I did buy and fit them to that car as well.

I think that the idea was, Fabia, Polo, Ibiza are quite short cars, so the rear brake callipers are fitted with internal springs, in quite a lot of these cars, the internal springs either failed or became too weak to force the handbrake levers to return to their "off" positions, so the rear brakes dragged and did other things like end up adjusting the pistons so that eventually one or both sides seized on!

Maybe back in 2003 or 2004, a few of owners including me decided that replacing the callipers was not worth while doing, and so guessed which springs that VAG used, could be fitted to these cars - there are holes for these springs on the handbrake bracket and the lever, so fitting is easy.

Longer VAG cars, Jetta etc do have return springs fitted at factory.

Thanks - RUM4MO - do you have a part number for suitable springs please ?

LHS 7M0 615 295 RHS 7M0 615 296 under £3 each one.

Thanks for the part numbers RUM4MO

RUM4MO
I'm assuming that you have had the ARB replaced, wife's car needed that at about 5 years old

Sorry forgot to comment on the ARB - my mate did a little research on the ARB problem - and it looks like it was a design fault - they had used plastic on parts of the ARB and when that deteriorated with mileage/age it allowed the ARB to 'float' sideways,ours had only lasted so long because of its low mileage,I think the later ARB went back to metal for the locators !

Re the ARB design, VAG or Skoda being complete cheap skate idiots, Ford tried that with the early version of the Sierra I believe, what happens is, the ARB which is a torsion device, ie it twists along its length, this meant that the plastic sleeves which were not too free to move under the mounting bushes assisted the ARB paint in cracking open > water got in and corrosion started > corroded steel is bigger than corrosion free steel so the diameter of the ARB inside these plastic sleeves/collars increased and split the plastic sleeves/collars > ARB now free to float side to side and in doing so banging off the aluminium consoles, so you know very quickly when it has happened. I did a temporary repair on wife's Polo so that she could use it - just fitted a couple of jubilee clips until I got it fixed. The only issue being that after dropping the front subframe, a full four wheel re-alignment is needed to keep the car running true and not wasting its tyres etc. As you say, later ARB design has steel end stops so not an issue.

Replaced the rear discs and pads on Monday and took the Polo for MOT on wed morning - Passed ok with only advisories being for the age of the tyres
Engine definitely pulling much better since replacing the CTS/Plugs/Air Filter - hopefully we will get a slight improvement in MPG LOL

Oh go on, spoil yourself (and the car) and load it up with Shell Nitro + - if you do, you might not see an improvement to MPG but it will drive a lot better (even better than now) - maybe!

Tyres, maybe check Tyreleader for reference prices, as well as Mytyres and Blackcircles - oh and KwikFit on-line - before handing over any cash. I've forgotten who is in Perth, just remember that there is one that used to be a "Smileys" - forget who runs it now. An independent tyre here is usually a good place to start at - after you have got printed off quotes to supply and fit from the above places, some of these above places will list your local independent tyre place as their "fitter".

We filled up with Esso super unleaded on wed during a wee trip over to Connel/Oban,we are a little short of Shell stations here - we live west of perth and most of our (sparse) gas stations only sell normal unleaded and diesel.
The tyres are not needing immediate replacement - the advisories were only for slight age cracking but the fronts will be changed before next winter anyway.

Yes that is the problem when you travel away from home, we were up around Ullapool/Applecross etc last Summer - and when in need anything is good enough, another area with few of the "big boys" is the North East coast of England. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with Esso - that is my fuel seller of choice (and Tesco points!)! Shell just seemed to be what suited us when fuelling wife's old Polo - and once used Nitro+ and then there was way back, my wife would have kicked my bottom if I went back to using normal Shell UL. These Esso/BP/Shell higher Octane/price fuels are loaded up with extras that can clean the engine internals, one issue with my wife's car was pinking at about 2000RPM when under load, using the Nitro+ stopped that dead as well as allowing us to get more out of that engine in the way of drivability - yes a marked improvement!

Edit:- have you been any where near the EGR valve gas port in the TB yet, or is that a warmer weather job?

Aha - not touching anything else for a while unless I have to - next job will be to sort the Sunroof drain which dumps water into the rear rh passenger footwell (sunroof is taped up at the mo)
I may have a wee job on my old 306 to look at anyway - the aux belt/tensioner bearing is getting a little noisy after start but it looks like a bit ch of a job (not much access) and not sure if I want to tackle myself because I got bad knees and back LOL.
What are the symptoms of the EGR port ? - our polo running nicely at moment (touches wood )

Sunroof, I think that there are only four pipes that get pushed onto stubs in the sunroof tray, I think that you can see them when the roof is open, well the front ones at least. These pipes fed directly down to about bumper level and tend to get terminated in a sort of a one way valve/split soft rubber thing, maybe these soft rubber things need squeezed to make them open or clear them. I seem to remember that you can see the front two when the front doors are opened, the rear two should appear behind the back wheels. Also, I think that the seal round the glass can fail - the roof should be flush or just a bit above when closed, I think that Haynes manual gives a dimension. Maybe wipe the seal and sealing area with a silicon oil spray, wife's old Polo never had this problem in its life. There should not be any algae dirt leaves etc in the flat area around the sunroof recess.

EGR gas port issues, eventually you will get a "minimum flow" warning fault code, I think that this gunging up of that port will always happen, so it MUST happen to your car, it just needs cleaning out to sort things out, do not disconnect the TB wiring unless you have VCDS - just move the TB to one side while probably spraying it with carb cleaner while it is unbolted. Take a look on the Skoda forum for more info, of just Google it, you will be taken to some of these threads.

Edit:- I'm guessing that water was getting into the rear footwell when it rained, you tapped up round the runroof and now no water is getting in, or has it just stopped raining so much? Water usually gets in via the door frame area where the inner steel frame that holds the window winder stuff is secured to the car door main frame, a Skoda issue that covers these Polos and Ibizas! If that is the case, another Google job as tons of guides out there mainly from Fabia forums.

Water definitely coming through sunroof,started to dry as soon as I taped up the gap,the rear sunroof drains go to near the tailgate hinge,I believe the tube connectors are notorious for popping off so at some stage will have to partly remove headlining to have a look at the RH connector.
Will keep an eye on fault codes thanks : )