2010 VW Polo 77TSI 1.2L Petrol misfire issue

[All_Blacks]

Hi guys,

I picked up a VW Polo today from GraysOnline auction and it has a misfire issue. They didn't advise on the listing that it had engine light on so that's a separate issue I have to take up with them. But right now I am trying to figure out if the issue is fixable or not.

I drove it around 80km back to my shop and the whole way it drove pretty bad. There was bad shake in the whole body and loss of power. Everytime I stopped at the traffic lights, the shake would get worse and ESP light would come on. I had to turn the car off and then on to get out of limp mode. It's worse at around 800-1200 RPM or at idle. At 100km/hr, it drives pretty well.

Anyway, made it back to the shop. Changed oil, filter, spark plugs, coil pack and ignition leads as scanner showed misfire in cylinder 4. All of them were in pretty bad condition. After replacing them, the shake kinda went away for couple of kms but came back exactly like before. My mechanic will have a another look at it tomorrow and we might change fuel filter as well just in case it's got something to do with fuel.

I have been looking online but can't find much help in regards to this particular issue. Can someone please let me know if they have come across this issue before or any possible fixes. Please let me know if you need more info regarding the car or the issue.

Cheers

[Lucas_R]

Timing could well be out - the 1.2 and 1.4 TSI engines have timing chain stretch issues.

Or you could be lucky and its just a worn out coil pack (also pretty common and a cheap fix).

[All_Blacks]

Thanks Lucas. We have replaced the coil pack, leads and spark plugs. All brand new parts and the problem is still there. The mechanic seems to think it might be the injector as the engine code only shows cylinder 4. We also changed the fuel filter. Took out all the old fuel just in case the car was sitting for a long time and had bad fuel and filled up with 98 from BP. The issue is still there. I will keep this thread updated once I have a solution.
Cheers

[Lucas_R]

Thanks Lucas. We have replaced the coil pack, leads and spark plugs. All brand new parts and the problem is still there. The mechanic seems to think it might be the injector as the engine code only shows cylinder 4. We also changed the fuel filter. Took out all the old fuel just in case the car was sitting for a long time and had bad fuel and filled up with 98 from BP. The issue is still there. I will keep this thread updated once I have a solution.
Cheers

Ok - seems logical to pursue the possible injector issue on cylinder 4 before looking into other possible culprits. Good luck and hope its a relatively cheap and easy fix.

[All_Blacks]

Sorry it took a while to reply back. The easiest and cheapest fix for me was to replace the engine. I got a second hand one for $550 and installed it over a Sunday. The car runs great, no more misfire or engine lights. Every now and then however the traction off light comes on for some reason. If I turn the car off and on, it goes away and sometimes doesn't come up for days. Don't think that's engine related, could be something else going on?

[ak77]

Did you ever confirm the actual issue?