Stalling problems with Golf 1.6CL

[phiney]

Hi

I have a 96/97 Golf 1.6 CL.
Every time I slow down to stop, the car stalls on me. The only way I manage to keep the car running is by keeping my foot on the accelarator to keep the revs up, however, that is actually no good if you need to stop! I drive in heavy traffic every day and as you can imagine, it does start to become hard to keep up with the traffic when you are always restarting the engine - one a good note, a least the car always start first time!

The spark plugs, battery, air filter etc has been changed. For the short term, the throttle cable has been adjusted to give the engine a tick over - however this isn't really a solution for the problem.

Can anyone help! Thanks

[zagrot]

what you described is generaly indicitave of EGR trouble. start by checking the valve for smooth movement and that it seats all of the way when there is no vaccum. the diaphram should not leak down when left with a vaccum applied. a hand operated vacuum guns makes diagnosis easier, you should be able to rent one form the parts store.

[phiney]

Sorry to be so dim, but whatis EGR?

Thanks

[zagrot]

that would be the Exhaust Gas Recirculation valve. i believe that on a vw the EGR is on the intake manifold near the throttle valve.

[JamieLoganUk]

Hi, I've got a 95 GTI thats got the exact same problem, can you post any results you may have?

[FahQ]

I know with the MK3 1.8L CL (ACC motor) the flange between the throttle body and intake manifold is very sensitive. even a hairline crack will cause the engine to idle weird.

With the engine running - try moving the intake/throttle body collector back and forth to see if there is any change in rev.

If that does not work - the N/A cars would have an oxygen sensor in the exhaust manifold - a faulty O2 sensor would cause bad idles

[junkeruk]

I have suffered from a very similar problem in my Golf Mk 3 8v GTI for several years.

At first it was only shifting from 3rd to 2nd and accelerating through 3rd. Clutch goes on and the revs drop off, car stalls. Especially dangerous on roundabouts.

I had a company car for a while and my brother used the golf - he experienced the same thing but it was steadily getting worse. When I went back to the Golf the problem was intermittent with nothing special to distinguish the problem (cold starts or long journeys etc)
I explained the problem to 2 VW dealerships the first charged me 70 quid for diagnostics which proved inconclusive.

I started looking at the forums etc and can see that the audi's skoda etc seem to have similar symptoms. I went back and explained this to the dealerships and they offered to put it back on the computer, I preferred to keep my money so declined. They were adamant that they had never seen this problem before.

I then took it to a private VW / Audi specialist who had a look and checked everything he could think of, including electrics, fuel cleaner, breather etc All were fine and the fuel cleaner made no difference.

Sorry to make a long story longer...

On a stag night the other week and I got talking to this bloke who manages a VW Dealership, explained my woes (yes he got bored too) he immediately said get your throttle body cleaned. Notorious problem apparently!
-2 hours and 48.50 (inc vat) pounds (uk) later the problem was sorted.
Like a different car - best money I have ever spent.
Hope this helps somebody

n.b. he also told me that they have had lots of the new golfs coming back, sluggish performance etc. The solution - the engines will not work properly if you do not use premium fuel.