Ok so every couple of days my electrics are all reset... i reset them all up to what they should be and it takes a while to do and a few days later its the same thing... now i have no idea where its coming from and if i take it to an auto electrician I'm going to get dry bummed price wise so i was wondering if anyone had any ideas... jsut to mention that my starter motor is also playing up of alte and occasionally doesnt work and i jsut get a whirring noise, at least i think its the starter motor... could the two be related.! cars a VW polo N reg mark 4 :)

JaY!

Sounds like it could be your battery, alternator or battery connections. Everything is resetting because the voltage across them is too low, and that could be the same reason the starter doesn't always work. Do you have to charge the battery after it doesn't start?

Never needed to charge the battery before buddy no. hmmmm, so it night not even be the starter motor? this is getting tedious now as I've got a holiday soon and ahve to drive for 6 hours and I'm not keen on flat batteries etc lol! any ore ideas would be greatly appreciated peeps! also...my fan belt is slightly loose... could this be doing it at all?

So the car won't always start, but it will start after some tries without you having to do anything? If so then I'd check the battery terminal connections, that they're not loose or corroded. That could explain the intermittent starting fault that fixes itself and the electrics resetting occasionally. Hope this helps!

Yep...sometimes it will start first time! and others it wont... jsut turn the key and get a whirring noise...rather like a scalectrix set strangley haha! then i turn the key again and it starts or ill have to do it 2 or 3 times... so the battery terminals on the battery or the ones on the wires? ill check both anyway... any other ideas... sorry for poor explanation mate, its hard to describe...youd have to see it in person if you get me :)

No problem! Not sure how it is on the mk4 but yeah check the bit that actually clamps onto the battery terminal and then however that bit is attached to the wiring. Hope this helps!

if it was starter motor it would make a greeeer noise as you started it but like ray says check battery terminals are connected properly and theres no corrosion on cables you checked the alternator connections this could be another reason does your battery light go out when you start it mate also whats the power like pal and have you tried your lights on heater on radio on all at same time and seeing if the lights go dim try putting as many electrical things on at same time and seeing if it alters performance mate if it does its more than likely alternator mate but do all usual checks frst mate have you changed a bulb recently and put wrong filament in pal dont want to list too many things but whats timing like how does it tick over and does it lack power on acceleration if so distributor is another possbility mate

Had a new distributor and rotor arm just before christams buddy! which wire do i take off the battery first...positive or negative? what a dumb question haha! all lights that should be out on dash do go out yes. yep i can put them all on and it still runs fine, the revs do decrease when i put things on though such as rear window heater and revs drop by around 200... i changed a bulb last night but it was doing it before that. its very annoying lol!

Take the negative off first mate. That way if you touch any bodywork you don't do any damage. Undo the positive first and the whole body is effectively the negative terminal, so if yer spanner touches anywhere, bang!

not sure then mate do you know anyone with a diagnostic computer you can get one from such as halfords for about £25 plug it into like a scart connection under glove box on driver side mounted on left hand side as you are sat in car that will pick any electrical faults up mate

yeah i know people with one, jsut checked battery cable and the negative seems very rotten so think I'm gonig to have a closer look at it tomorrow

that is more than likly you problem mate