It does it when decelerating almost all the time, and sometimes when changing gear. It's not a massive bang, more lots of little pops and the odd medium bang. To be honest, I thought it sounded quite cool when it first started happening but now it's just annoying.

Is it likely to be an air leak somewhere, or perhaps some sort of sensor issue? Any ideas?

Also, I had a new back box put on the other day, just a standard one, and I swear it's way louder than the original was before it expired. Weird... am I hallucinating?

has it got a cat

has it got a cat

Yeah, it's got a cat... could it be something to do with that?

ignition timing might be out

timinig is probably out then , does run ok?

idle ok?

how many mpg you getting?

timinig is probably out then , does run ok?

idle ok?

how many mpg you getting?

It idles fine, runs ok. Seems a bit lumpy on low throttle in high gears below 3000rpm, but only very slightly, I assumed that this was a trait of the model. Throttle response seems very sluggish, again, I assumed that this was normal.

MPG isn't much worse than the 1 litre Lupo I used to drive unless I'm ragging it, so I assume it's ok.

Is it likely to be ignition or mechanical timing? I had the head gasket done the other day, and they put a new timing belt on. Could that be a bit out or is it more likely dizzy type stuff?

Cheers

sounds like it might be ignition timing!

They should have got the cam timing correct when they fitted the belt but the dizzy might just want adjusting.

If the throttle response is sluggish then it could be ignition timing, they are a cable throttle and a very very responsive engine so should feel pretty sharp on the throttle.

properly ignition timing as said :)

Safe, thanks all :grin: - I'd best get the timing looked at then.

yes, normally if the ignition timing is too far retarded the spark 'misses' the fuel and ends up burning a portion of the unburnt fuel as it comes out of the exhaust valve... if left unchecked it can potentially do a lot of damage to the engine, it will run hot. and you might possibly get a bit of detonation at higher loads..

to manually set the ignition timing on a 6n 16v, you need to use vag-com... run the engine upto normal operating temp first before you start.. then with the engine running at idle, and the aircon switched OFF .... select, engine 01, measuring blocks 04, group 01.. in the forth display block it will show an 8 digit binary number, if any of the digits show a 1 then not all the pre-requsites are met, if all the digits go to a 0 then the idle speed will raise to about 1300rpm and the ecu locks the ignition advance to 6 deg BTDC, then just use an advance timing light and turn the dizzy till you get 6 deg advance.

hope this helps

yes, normally if the ignition timing is too far retarded the spark 'misses' the fuel and ends up burning a portion of the unburnt fuel as it comes out of the exhaust valve... if left unchecked it can potentially do a lot of damage to the engine, it will run hot. and you might possibly get a bit of detonation at higher loads..

to manually set the ignition timing on a 6n 16v, you need to use vag-com... run the engine upto normal operating temp first before you start.. then with the engine running at idle, and the aircon switched OFF .... select, engine 01, measuring blocks 04, group 01.. in the forth display block it will show an 8 digit binary number, if any of the digits show a 1 then not all the pre-requsites are met, if all the digits go to a 0 then the idle speed will raise to about 1300rpm and the ecu locks the ignition advance to 6 deg BTDC, then just use an advance timing light and turn the dizzy till you get 6 deg advance.

hope this helps

Nice one Skodaboy, thanks for the instructions. Unfortunately I don't have Vag-Com or a timing light. I'll see if I can blag one and give it a go, or I'll have to get a mechanic to have a look at it. Shouldn't be too costly to sort the timing I'd hope...

Cheers

yes, normally if the ignition timing is too far retarded the spark 'misses' the fuel and ends up burning a portion of the unburnt fuel as it comes out of the exhaust valve... if left unchecked it can potentially do a lot of damage to the engine, it will run hot. and you might possibly get a bit of detonation at higher loads..

to manually set the ignition timing on a 6n 16v, you need to use vag-com... run the engine upto normal operating temp first before you start.. then with the engine running at idle, and the aircon switched OFF .... select, engine 01, measuring blocks 04, group 01.. in the forth display block it will show an 8 digit binary number, if any of the digits show a 1 then not all the pre-requsites are met, if all the digits go to a 0 then the idle speed will raise to about 1300rpm and the ecu locks the ignition advance to 6 deg BTDC, then just use an advance timing light and turn the dizzy till you get 6 deg advance.

hope this helps

i have similar issues so will give this a try myself

^^ yes it's the same process on the 1.6 mpi model too becuase it has the same ecu type, the other models are fairly similar but i would have to look it up

if any of the 8 bit binary numbers i mention show as a 1 i may be able to help with that too, each 'bit' has a specific meaning, and certain combinations can point towards a few potential faults