Hi chaps Can you help me with this problem I had today (in London and very hot day) H-reg GTi Digi 8v. Temperature gauge normally just hangs to the left of the first mark and engine gives me (I think) plenty of beans, but trundling around in the hot weather today forced temp gauge up to around halfway (as it would). Now when I came to accelerate, there was hardly any pull and the engine started making a fluttering sound (is this pinking?) in first and second gear. I had to lift off and gradually reapply throttle to accelerate. I had it tuned last year and changed the blue temp sender (for a VW one) but perhaps I need it tuned again. Any feedback/diagnostics would be welcome Many thanks
There is nothing wrong with the temp guage at half way tbh... Are you running an aftermarket induction kit, or the standard airbox?
Sounds like a hard miss (ign sys) or failing fuel pump, but these are hard diagnose online without feeling/hearing said 'flutter'.
Come to think of it, the first signs of my in-tank pump failing was a fluttering feel under acceleration...
It's all standard. No mods whatsoever. It's hard to describe the sound, it feels like it's bogging down and has a general lack of go. Press the accelerator and it couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding. It's serviced at a good independent garage, though he's not a VW man, he only uses genuine VW parts. He installed a new head kit last year (head gasket, valve stems, timing belt etc) and reset the mechanical timing because he said it was pants and it has run much better since - until today.
if it runs fine with temp gauge sat to left of first mark then chances are your fueling is well out. ecu 'sees' same temp you do (assuming gauge works, +sounds like it does), so chances are youve been running round on cold start map (or choke as they used to call it ) now that ecu is 'seeing' normal temps ie half way on gauge, its leaning things off.. hence the fluttering. easy way to tell would be to carry a 7mm(?) allen key with you and if it does it again, pull over, give afm screw a full turn clockwise and see if its any better. be better to sort cooling system out first tho.. chances are its just a sticky stat but if not loads of good suggestions in coolant faq. then set fueling once its always showing half way on gauge
Thanks for the reply 50footdubdemon, I have one question though, being an idiot: what's the afm. Also if anyone knows a good MkII-savvy garage in SE London then let me know because I'm always on the lookout for one. As I said, the garage I go to now is good but he's not a VW man so he may not be picking up on the peculiarities of Digi GTi-dom
sorry, can i just ask how that felt, if you can describe it, iv had a fluttering when i was on the motorway but only on part throttle around and above 3k, only done it in 3rd, 4th and 5th. thanks
Its was more in the lower gears. I'd put my foot to the floor and nothing would happen, then suddenly a burst of power It got so bad that it would cut out completely when seting off from the lights. I changed everything like plugs, dizzy, leads ect... and it turned out to be the in-tank pump in the end If its still the original i'd change it just for peice of mind. And change the fuel filter to
oh right, looking at the price i dont want to replace anything it doesnt need, doing my bike test soon so will be selling the car once its running right, wouldnt think its the fuel filter, its had 3 cans of bg44k through it before and after the engine swap. mine was pinking quite bad today aswell when changing gear or light acceleration. might try richening up but that only does idle doesnt it? and again, im in london and it was too damn hot. oh and my afm is a 5mm hex, just incase yours is the same. berwboy, sorry to jack your tread. richard mk2, thanks for the help. neil
No worries Neil. When mine was pinking i used higher octaine fuel and it stopped!!! The in-tank pumps are really cheap, like 25 or something from Eurocarparts, or GSF.
if they are i might get one, i have to give them a ring tomorrow. i always use v power or 99 tesco stuff, strange thing is it used to pink with the old engine aswell unless i retarded the timing abit from 6*, which in turn losies performance, which i need with my 282 cam.
My old 8v used to occasionally go fluttery when cornering very hard on left handers, almost like hitting a soft rev limit. I'd also suspect a fuelling issue. Worth checking the lift pump..... @8vDUB.....your pinking will likely be due to running lean when the engine is using the afm flap position to control the fuelling i.e light throttle. You need to remove the top off the afm and slacken the spring tension by a few teeth to richen it up idle co will then need resetting
