H all,

Since Christmas i've had some problems with my Polo, 1.4 R-reg. It has experienced the following symptoms:

• distinct loss of power when accelerating
• high fuel consumption
• when accelerator is depressed over half way there is a blowing sound (accompanied by the loss of power)

I thought it might be the exhaust system blocked or had a hole somewhere. I took it to the local garage who checked it out and said that was fine. But they flushed the fuel system through and told me to run it for a few days to see how it went. The car certainly felt like it had more power and the fuel consumption was better, but it still had the same problem to some degree, which then started getting a bit worse again.

I called the garage who said it might be the throttle head and suggested i get a replacement myself to keep costs down. I got one last week, fitted it myself and the car did seem to be a bit better. However, this week i went on a bit more of a longer journey (20 odd miles with a lot of hills) to find that the fuel consumption got a lot worse again and it really struggled on the hills.

Anyone have any ideas on what else could be causing this? The local garage seem to give up a bit on this so i'm trying to get it sorted myself. Is there anywhere to check to try and find some clues as to the cause?

Cheers,

Andy

A blowing sound accuring in loss of power and poor fuel consumption says to me that the car is missfiring.

When was the last time it had all the ignition components replaced? Spark plug, leads, Dizzy cap, rotor arm?

I have not changed any of those components since i've had the car, so they are certainly over 2.5 years old.

They are all overdue a change then, and they are so cheap it is totally worth doing.

Edited 6 February, 201016 yr by kwijibo_coupe

Hey, bro i totally feel your pain. Mine is doing this to the point that I'm thinking of selling ! in a last bid I've booked into vw hopefully they can sort it .... if they do ill be able to tell you what the problem is ! Tyronne

Id say leads are fucked tbh Id put a very drunk £5 on it... check for weak spark.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I will buy new spark plugs, new dizzy cap, leads and rotor arm and fit them. I keep you posted on the outcome.

Cheers!

I'm having the same problem at the moment with my 91 Polo!! Its doing my head in!!!!

I have recently had head gasket work done, but the car was fine for about 2 weeks after the work then this problem started. The car is drinking petrol and making a blowing noise when i accelerate, also a huge loss in power. So pretty much the same problems as you.

Did you manage to get the problem sorted in the end?? I need HELP!!!

I'm having the same issue too so an answer would be nice please!

possible headgasket??

possible headgasket??

knakerd exhaust manifold exhaust gasket low pressure for emissions a simple fault not to over looked every one seems to it costsaround £2.50 well worth looking at

Had a similar problem recently and it turned out to be a degraded catalyst affecting the exhaust, however this seems to have been checked. The diagnostics indicated throttle body. Hope you have some success.

Right,I bought my lady a golf mk3, i know its not a polo but its similar.All seemed ok but she was moaning how much fuel she was getting through and that it was not that quick for a 1.8.Changed the usual parts plugs leads etc and even the lambda(cat sensor) but still the same,Stuck it on vag-com and it turned out to be the hall sensor in the distributor.I changed that with one from an gti lump i had lying around and its been spot on ever since and runs perfectly.The blowing noise may only really be noticable as because its losing power your sticking your foot to the floor to make it go faster.

May help or may not but vag-com is the way and will save you spending what i did,Only to find it was a part i had lying in the shed which only cost me time to fit.

My 54 plate 1.4 polo has exactly the same problem. Has anyone found out what it is? 

My Polo 1.4 which had been suffering the same problem, ie serious loss of power, heavy fuel consumption, and induction noise like a blowing sound, is now fixed. It was a blocked cat, new one fitter and the car is great again.