hi all, this is my first post.

Got a nice w(2000)-reg mk4 1.4 S 5dr last week for £1500 with 100K miles on the clock and full VW service history every 10k miles.

I knew it had a problem before i bought it, did some research, assumed it to be a case of cleaning/replacing some filters, etc. i.e. nothing major - £xx job.

now i've got the car and driven it back a few hundred miles from where i bought it, i have a better understanding of the symptoms and fear it could be something more serious.

The car idles quite low, the revs often go up and down a few hundred rpm just sat at idle. the car drives fantastic (i had a rover 25 before this which drove well, but this corners like a dream) but when i come up to a junction or traffic lights or roundabout, or simply take to long changing gear, the car stalls. When the engine should go to idle, the revs go all the way down to zero and the battery light comes on cos its stalled. normally i just keep it in gear and bump start it whilst still rolling but this cant be good for the car. the main danger is that the power steering obviously goes as soon as the engine dies.

 the same applies to when sat still- if i rev it a bit, the revs just go all the way down to zero when they should stop at idle.

another symptom is that the car judders when driving if you take your foot off the gas slightly. normally i would attribute this to the spark plugs, but it seems to tie in with the stalling problem from what ive found out.

I would originally have said that the throttle body and inlet manifold needed a good clean, maybe the idle rasing a little, new spark plugs and a new oil breather filter, or perhaps its something to do with the air mass meter.

 but ive found out via googling that this problem could be due to a failing cambelt tensioner. in all the service history, none of the boxes for 'toothed belt changed' have ever been ticked. i am going to call all the garages to check this is true as you would expect a 100k golf with fsh would have had it done probably twice by now!

if it turns out the cam belt and tensioner has never been done, this will strengthen my suspicions that it is the cause of my cars unstable power problems.

anyway, this is all ive found out so far about my problem, i thought i should post it up on here to see if you guys think ive got it right and if you have any further suggestions?

many thanks in advance for your help, hope to be posting any further developments on here.

Give the throttle body a quick clean out with a can of Carb Cleaner from Halfords, it costs like £5. I used to have a 1.4 and i got the stalling and then it cuts out with the battery symbol. Quick clean and it seemed loads better. Idle revs were more stable, no,more cutting out. It used to do it always when dropping into 1st gear mainly. But this is just what resolved the issue for me. I always kept the can in my car incase it come back, to which it did few months after. Another shot of the can and wass ok again. Also to be fair for a fiver its worth a shot.

Also The cambelt should of well been changed at least once as they have to really be renwed every sort of 60,000 miles and on the TDI I think its every 40,000

I had exactly the same symptoms a few days after buying my T reg.

All I did was buy a can of carb cleaner, remove the air filter, and squirted a load of cleaner at the butterfly valve whilst revving the engine. It kicked a load of crap out of the back end for 5 minutes, then the problem was solved and it's never happened since.

Yeah its always easier with two people with one person revving(i had the car off though) as it opened the valve up and was able to give it a clean. You can just push it down too, but when i did mine i had quite a bit of smoke out the exhaust which i never had before, but shortly after a quick drive was all fine.

 so nobody thinks it is to do with the cam-belt tensioner?

cambelt tensioner was cracked, just had all the belts, bolts, tensioners done for £150 as they needed doing anyway. the can of carb cleaner straight into the throttle valve stopped the stalling, kicked out tons of black shoot from the exhaust. cheers guys!!

 HI all,

I have a MK4 golf '98 1.6 runs really well exepet forr 2 things, the first problem is when I start her up i get a screeching nosie just after its started, could this be the starter moter needing to be replaced? my other little problem is that the car is stalling at idle. the revs drop down to near stalling, the engine will try to keep it alive for abit but on the 3rd attempt the engine cuts out and I get the battry light that comes on. could both problems be related? i read on the above post that changing the cam belt might fix the stalling problem as mine has similar symtoms.

any help would be so greatly appreciated

Thanks

 you need to do what i did- get a £5 can of carb cleaner from halfords and spray a load of it straight into the throttle valve a few times while a mate keeps his foot on the gas to stop it stalling for a few minutes- open your airbox and you'll see it- a butterfly valve that opens when you push the accelerator. if all sorted, your revs should nicely at the 1K mark, mine does now. dont know about the screeching, thats normally just the fan belt isnt it? dont think they are related.

Thanks for the tip, i will pop out get some, hoping it does the trick, and take a look at the fan belt while i am at it.

mun:

Thanks for the tip, i will pop out get some, hoping it does the trick, and take a look at the fan belt while i am at it.

Sounds like the starter motor is sticking - mine does that too. Currently having an engine re-build, but when I get it back, I'll be taking the starter off and greasing up the shaft.