Try driving it with your foot lightly on the brake and the other hard on the accelerator. it won’t go. I know when next doors Polo wouldn’t start, they would fiddle with the brake switch and away it would go!
Golf 2013 2.0 diesel Intermittent Fault
- Thread starter freddiemercurystwin
- Start date
Try driving it with your foot lightly on the brake and the other hard on the accelerator. it won’t go. I know when next doors Polo wouldn’t start, they would fiddle with the brake switch and away it would go!
Brake light switch: symptoms, problems, testing, replacement
What is a brake light switch in a car, problems, symptoms of a failed brake light switch, replacement
Well worth getting a code reader and sourcing a list of codes to print out.
The first thing to do, is to clear all of the stored codes, then see what new ones might appear.
He has one. See post #5
Thanks, these are the kinds of things I can get onboard with!I'll dig my (unopened
) Haynes manual out, I noticed on the Haynes YouTube fuel filter change video they removed and discarded all of the leftover fuel in the filter housing, is that strictly necessary? Guess it matters not as I'll need to get (one of those red fuel tanks) with some spare fuel to top up the new filter in anycase.
I just pour it back in the tank.
No! It’ll be full of shît that couldn’t get through the filter! Get rid of it - I tip old fuel filter drainings in with my waste oil for disposal.
I did discard it all, turns out diesel doesn't taste quite as toxic as one might imagine!
So this is still ongoing, it's just gone in today for it's MOT (it passed - the power of it instantly uploading to the DVLA website) and annual oil change, decided to give it to my regular local garage first off, let's see what they say about the juddering .....
OK, so reviving this thread, the car's still suffering from the same intermittent juddering/cutting out, back in Oct 2022 I took it for it's MOT and asked them to assess the juddering issue at the same time, they suggested cleaning or replacing the EGR valve as a first step, I mulled it over and anyway they closed down (owner retired) a few months later.
So back October 2023 I took it to a VW 'specialist' for an MOT and diagnosis who diagnosed the throttle body as being a potential cause, their quote was (compared to others - not cheap) so I paid their diagnostics fee and took the car to another local garage I'd used before, showed them the diagnostics print out and they agreed that that was telling them what was wrong too so they duly changed the throttle body at a cost of about £480 I think.
Moving forward this made no difference, they scratched their heads and were obviously a bit embarrassed but said they knew a mechanic who has the official VW diagnostics gear who was prepared to drive my car for a while with the diagnostics thing plugged in to see if it would show up any errors when it did the cutting out as all other times it's been completely clear. It didn't show up any errors whenever it cut out/stalled etc. He's cleaned the EGR valves but to no avail, apparently it is now showing a crank sensor error and they believe the symptoms are in line with a failing crank sensor so have recommended changing it, they've had the car for over two weeks now, (I've been using their courtesy car).
However they have said that in this model of Golf the crank sensor can only be changed by disconnecting the gearbox - is that the case? Naturally if they are disconnecting the gear box they are recommending changing the clutch/dual mass flywheel at the same time and I would not necessarily have a problem with that as as long as this is likely to fix the engine problem as ideally I wish to keep the car long term, they're going to give me a price for the crank sensor/flywheel/clutch job.
Apologies for the long post but any thoughts please?
So back October 2023 I took it to a VW 'specialist' for an MOT and diagnosis who diagnosed the throttle body as being a potential cause, their quote was (compared to others - not cheap) so I paid their diagnostics fee and took the car to another local garage I'd used before, showed them the diagnostics print out and they agreed that that was telling them what was wrong too so they duly changed the throttle body at a cost of about £480 I think.
Moving forward this made no difference, they scratched their heads and were obviously a bit embarrassed but said they knew a mechanic who has the official VW diagnostics gear who was prepared to drive my car for a while with the diagnostics thing plugged in to see if it would show up any errors when it did the cutting out as all other times it's been completely clear. It didn't show up any errors whenever it cut out/stalled etc. He's cleaned the EGR valves but to no avail, apparently it is now showing a crank sensor error and they believe the symptoms are in line with a failing crank sensor so have recommended changing it, they've had the car for over two weeks now, (I've been using their courtesy car).
However they have said that in this model of Golf the crank sensor can only be changed by disconnecting the gearbox - is that the case? Naturally if they are disconnecting the gear box they are recommending changing the clutch/dual mass flywheel at the same time and I would not necessarily have a problem with that as as long as this is likely to fix the engine problem as ideally I wish to keep the car long term, they're going to give me a price for the crank sensor/flywheel/clutch job.
Apologies for the long post but any thoughts please?
In my car's case....
Crank sensor can cause none starting, or engine to die when it becomes intermit ant. Cam sensor only needed to start, not needed once running. If the tacho signal is derived from the crank sensor, during cranking, the tacho needle will bounce slightly on the stop pin, until it starts. If it starts, it will continue to run, but the tacho will fall to zero.
Were it me, and so difficult/expensive to replace the sensor, I would be attaching a monitor of some sort, to the wire between sensor and ECU. Then when the problem occurred, I could glance at the monitor.
It's only a pulsed signal on the wire. A missing pulse detector, can be made with a 555 timer IC, so it flashes an LED, when a pulse fails to arrive, within the time it should. Just work it out, so if there is a pulse missed at longer than the 900 RPM time, it flashes. Then it will flash to confirm it works at a 800 RPM tickover, but any missed pulses show up at normal on the road driving speeds, above 900 RPM.
900 pulses per minute = 70mS, so design the missing pulse detector, to trigger, if there is no pulse appearing for 70mS.
Another trick, is to carry a tin of freezer spray, and when you have the issue, squirt the area of the crank sensor, to see if any difference, then try the can sensor.
Last edited:
You cant just let people guess at faults and load the parts cannon, its a recipe for disaster.
I would seek out a real diagnostics expert who will be able to test the crank sensor correctly.
I know it may be tough to do this but they are about.
Is it logging any codes now?
I would seek out a real diagnostics expert who will be able to test the crank sensor correctly.
I know it may be tough to do this but they are about.
Is it logging any codes now?
I agree, it's always expensive, using a diagnosis technique of throwing parts at a problem.
- Joined
- 25 Jul 2022
- Messages
- 10,707
- Reaction score
- 803
- Country
That is mostly true.
Sometimes, on common problems, it is easier and cheaper to go for the expected basic fix and ignore the involved diagnostics. But once it becomes difficult to identify, especially when intermittent, a full and proper diagnosis is the only way to go.
In this case it is undoubtedly true