Bora has started playing up

[Bernoulli]

Hi all,

Was driving the Bora home tonight (cold evening here) and noticed after about 15 mins of driving the car felt different, felt like it was vibrating a little bit and spluttery, especially in the first two gears at low revs - felt like it was choking a bit.

Pulled over, but as I'm not mechanically minded I didn't know what to look for. No leaks, poking my head under the car didn't reveal anything to my untrained eye. Engine bay looks and sounds ok.

The exhaust is spluttering mildly at idle and the revs are surging up and down perhaps 100-250rpm and dropping again straight away.

I nursed the car home, plan to drop it by my mechanic first thing tomorrow morning.

Anyone have any idea what could be happening?

Cheers,
Joe

[dylan8]

Dead sensor of some description. Maf, o2, temp etc.
Or vac leak
Best to get it scanned to narrow it down

[Bernoulli]

Vac leak was something I thought of, didn't consider the others. Thanks mate, I can love with a dead MAF or O2 sensor or the like.

We'll see how I go tomorrow morning.

[dylan8]

Does it smell like fuel or economy gone up or temperature gauge not reading it's normal amount?
My bora feels like it has a cam sometimes due to what I guess is a vac leak (doesn't worry me too much)

[Bernoulli]

Took it to Canberra VW Centre in Belco this morning, as I was explaining it he knew what the issue was - dead coil. I rocked up unannounced when he had a full shed of cars, he changed the #3 cylinder coil and I was gone within 10 minutes of arriving!

$70 was the cost, but as he explained to me - much cheaper to buy from ECS (I've just looked and they are USD$26 plus shipping each) than what he can get them for. Because they're so cheap, I will have to get around to buying a full set and have it on hand incase this happens again.

[lachstar]

Does it smell like fuel or economy gone up or temperature gauge not reading it's normal amount?
My bora feels like it has a cam sometimes due to what I guess is a vac leak (doesn't worry me too much)

Don't want to hijack this thread, but my question is related to this so why start a new one?My golf gti has a smell of fuel and the economy has gone up. Temp doesn't seem to be getting up to 90 anymore so I was wondering if it is a temp sensor issue? Or is another sensor preventing the car from running at the right temp

[leighaus]

Could be a combo of coolant temp sensor and thermostat.

Fuel smell may be unrelated. Where do you notice the fuel smell

[lachstar]

Could be a combo of coolant temp sensor and thermostat.

Fuel smell may be unrelated. Where do you notice the fuel smell

Fuel smell is mainly when its idling not inside the car.. so I was thinking that there is unburnt fuel in the exhaust

Is there any way to check the sensors without a scanner? eg. using multimeter?

[dylan8]

Could be a combo of coolant temp sensor and thermostat.

Fuel smell may be unrelated. Where do you notice the fuel smell

This

iv found excessive fuelling to be a o2 sensor in the past

[leighaus]

i would also guess its your o2 sensor based on what you've said. Are your spark plugs all in working order (i.e not wet).