I think my car is broken...

SexyBetty

SexyBetty

SexyBetty

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Joined
10 Jun 2005
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Who wants to help the car n00b out again? :p

Well Ive been starting my car in a morning, and as I set off its juddering somewhat, (for use of a better term) Also, I pulled up to a roundabout this morning, and as I slowed down, I lost the power steering for a second or two, which made me think the car had cut out.

And just one more problem, the car does actually cut out, mostly when I'm driving around corners. Its a K reg Golf CL if you need to know. :p

Can anyone tell me what the problem might be so I can get it sorted out? :)
 
Ghost in the Shell said:
i think the problem is possibly in the fuel line - fuel filter etc. the juddering could be a timing belt? does it squeel at all?
Click to expand...

Now you mention it, it squeals quite badly everytime I start the car. Only for a couples of seconds, then it stops.
 
does it cut out very abruptly? My old 'A' reg Passat did that and then would not start for a while.After hours of trying everything it turned out to be a crack in the distributer cap (I only found out when it went dark and I could see arcing of the spark)
The squeal is more than likely a lose fan belt.
In short, if a sudden cut off power then it is likely to be electrical (no spark), if a jerky loss of power then fuel starvation could be the answer.
Quickest and easiest would be new plugs and an inline fuel filter
 
Personally I'd try a tin of that Wynns super duper injector cleaner stuff (assuming the car is injection - I'm not well up on old Golfs :p) It's possible it's just full of gunk.

If it happens more when you're corning, especially if it's only cornering one way or the other, then it could be the fuel pump on the way out.

Could be a few things though, so start with the cheapest and work up :D
 
If it sqeals when you start and you get los of power so the power sterring dosen't work then I'd say the alternator needs a new belt, the belt tightening or it's just had it.

Happened to me on my 206. I lost all electrics eventually and the wipers slowly scratched grit accross my windscreen whilst I tried so hard to get it out of the road. Cos me £300 to fix.
 
try looking for a good independent/specialist or somwhere that is doing a deal on servicing (Plugs,points...if needed,air and oil filters)Throw in a can of Red X(or Wynns) carb/injection cleaner into a tank of petrol and see how it goes.This is the cheapest option and the easiest.The fuel pumps on VW do tend to go on forever, though if you have run out of fuel or run very,very low you may have sludge in the fuel lines
 
The power steering pump is driven by the same belt as the alternator I think, so if it's slipping then you will get a loss of power steering. Tighten the belt and that should fix that one, otherwise the pump might be going and may need replacing.

As for the cutting out I don't know how old your car is but the sparkplugs and sparkplug leads do degrade over time and I've found they ought to be replaced once a year, at least the leads anyway. As a matter of course I normally replace all the electrical stuff when I buy an older motor, for the sake of the £25 or so it costs it makes the car easy to start and reliable. If VWs have a habit of cracking distributor caps then you can replace that too, it's the orangey brown plastic cap that all the sparkplug leads stick into. It'll be about a tenner from any motor spares place.
 
If the PS pump is belt driven off the engine and that belt is slipping (Sounds like it is due to the squeal) I would suggest as the belt slips and gets back traction the engine idle can't adjust quick enough to the change in engine load situations so as the PS pump come back on to suck engine power the car feels like its going to stall.
 
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