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Car Forum / UK Car Forums / Car Maintenance (UK group) / July 2009Polo taking a few turns to start?
My mum's Polo (95, 1.4 AEX, 100ish k) takes a few turns of the starter to kick up. Nothing excessive, but more than you'd expect, and once it's running, it runs fine. It's had a full service recently, so the plugs are new, the oil filter is genuine VW etc. and the oil is of the correct VW spec and grade. However, the old oil had been in there for a *long* time, to the point where deposits were visible on the plate immediately below the oil filler (you can't see the cams through the oil filler on these, just another piece of the cam cover). What sort of thing is likely to be the problem? A battery on the way out, or proper engine wear? > My mum's Polo (95, 1.4 AEX, 100ish k) takes a few turns of the starter > to kick up. Nothing excessive, but more than you'd expect, and once it's [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > What sort of thing is likely to be the problem? A battery on the way > out, or proper engine wear? Who serviced it? Are you sure the plugs were replaced? Won't take a minute to pop one out and check. Bear in mind that the service schedule for many cars only has plug replacement at perhaps 40,000 miles. If that gets missed, it's a long time to the next change... WRT the battery, a decent auto electrical garage will be able to test it. (I don't mean Halfords or Kwik Fit!) Best bet if you are worried about your Mum being stranded is to replace it if it is more than a couple of years old, especially if the car has only been used infrequently, and/or for short trips. Chris  SignatureRemove prejudice to reply. >> My mum's Polo (95, 1.4 AEX, 100ish k) takes a few turns of the starter >> to kick up. Nothing excessive, but more than you'd expect, and once it's [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > for many cars only has plug replacement at perhaps 40,000 miles. If that > gets missed, it's a long time to the next change... I serviced it, so yep, I'm sure the plugs were changed for the correct NGK ones. It had a full monty service as it's unlikely that it's had much attention before. The air filter had a manufacture date of 2005... > WRT the battery, a decent auto electrical garage will be able to test it. > (I don't mean Halfords or Kwik Fit!) Best bet if you are worried about > your Mum being stranded is to replace it if it is more than a couple of > years old, especially if the car has only been used infrequently, and/or > for short trips. I've no idea how long it's been on. TBH I suspect my mum would rather wait for it to fail, as generally batteries fail on cold winter mornings, and she's got another car and breakdown cover... >>> My mum's Polo (95, 1.4 AEX, 100ish k) takes a few turns of the starter >>> to kick up. Nothing excessive, but more than you'd expect, and once [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] > wait for it to fail, as generally batteries fail on cold winter > mornings, and she's got another car and breakdown cover... Easy check is try hooking it up to your car with jumpleads & the engine not running, if it starts instantly then the batteries on the way out. > My mum's Polo (95, 1.4 AEX, 100ish k) takes a few turns of the starter > to kick up. Nothing excessive, but more than you'd expect, and once it's [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > What sort of thing is likely to be the problem? A battery on the way > out, or proper engine wear? If it's cranking fast enough, the battery is probably OK. >> My mum's Polo (95, 1.4 AEX, 100ish k) takes a few turns of the >> starter to kick up. Nothing excessive, but more than you'd expect, [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >> out, or proper engine wear? > If it's cranking fast enough, the battery is probably OK. If the battery is over about 4 years old it is probably due a new one, if it was my personal car then I don't generally change the battery till it dies, but a customers car needs to be perfectly reliable. In any case it would be worth getting a battery check done on the vehicle, including checking the integrity of the engine earth lead, starter lead battery connections charging ability etc. A high resistance on one join can make quite a difference to the actual voltage available. "Doki" <mrdoki@gmail.com> gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying: > My mum's Polo (95, 1.4 AEX, 100ish k) takes a few turns of the starter > to kick up. Nothing excessive, but more than you'd expect, and once it's > running, it runs fine. I recently had the Saab's injectors cleaned & refurbed. Perhaps the most immediately noticeable benefit was in the time to fire from a cold start - it's virtually instant now, whereas before it could take a little cranking as you describe. £50 for a set of four, turned-around in a couple of days, from these guys - http://www.injectorcleaning.co.uk/ > "Doki" <mrdoki@gmail.com> gurgled happily, sounding much like they > were saying: [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > £50 for a set of four, turned-around in a couple of days, from these > guys - http://www.injectorcleaning.co.uk/ What fuel did it mainly get used on? I have found that you seem to get more problems with cheap fuels, I sometimes use injector cleaner (add to the tank stuff) on vehicles that seem a little 'off' and it seems to perk them up, but I hadn't considered any effect on starting, but I don't tend to see the vehicles for the first start of the day often enough to know if they are bad. I only ever use branded fuel in my own stuff. >> "Doki" <mrdoki@gmail.com> gurgled happily, sounding much like they >> were saying: [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > to see the vehicles for the first start of the day often enough to know if > they are bad. I don't think this is just from a cold start. It seems to be more or less every start from what I can tell. "Mrcheerful" <nbkm57@hotmail.com> gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying: >>> My mum's Polo (95, 1.4 AEX, 100ish k) takes a few turns of the starter >>> to kick up. Nothing excessive, but more than you'd expect, and once >>> it's running, it runs fine. >> I recently had the Saab's injectors cleaned & refurbed. Perhaps the >> most immediately noticeable benefit was in the time to fire from a cold [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >> £50 for a set of four, turned-around in a couple of days, from these >> guys - http://www.injectorcleaning.co.uk/ > What fuel did it mainly get used on? Considering it's 19yrs old and on about 180k miles, I'm not sure that's either knowable or relevant... B'sides, when I say "cleaned", I'm not talking about borderline homeopathy with an overpriced 250ml bottle of is-it-or-isn't-it-really- autobox-fluid lobbed into 65 litres of fuel, but a proper hour-long session on an ultrasonic cleaner, with replacement of various components and flow/leakage measurements before and afterwards. In the c.10k I've had it, it's on a mix of supermarket and branded, according to wherever I happen to be when I fill up. I've never once in any car noticed any difference. > "Mrcheerful" <nbkm57@hotmail.com> gurgled happily, sounding much like > they were saying: [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > according to wherever I happen to be when I fill up. I've never once > in any car noticed any difference. I'll add their details to my list and try them sometime. > My mum's Polo (95, 1.4 AEX, 100ish k) takes a few turns of the starter > to kick up. Nothing excessive, but more than you'd expect, and once [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > immediately below the oil filler (you can't see the cams through the > oil filler on these, just another piece of the cam cover). > What sort of thing is likely to be the problem? A battery on the way > out, or proper engine wear? If it's otherwise ok could be a problem with the fuel line not being pressurised quickly enough. Signature*If a mute swears, does his mother wash his hands with soap? Dave Plowman dave@davenoise.co.uk London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. >> My mum's Polo (95, 1.4 AEX, 100ish k) takes a few turns of the >> starter to kick up. Nothing excessive, but more than you'd expect, [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > If it's otherwise ok could be a problem with the fuel line not being > pressurised quickly enough. in which case if the ops mum turns the ignition on, waits three seconds, off then on again she could see if it improves things. > >> What sort of thing is likely to be the problem? A battery on the way > >> out, or proper engine wear? > > > > If it's otherwise ok could be a problem with the fuel line not being > > pressurised quickly enough. > in which case if the ops mum turns the ignition on, waits three seconds, > off then on again she could see if it improves things. Maybe - but if a valve has failed in the pump etc the pressure can collapse immediately it stops The trick would be to jury rig the pump to run before attempting to start. Signature*Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Dave Plowman dave@davenoise.co.uk London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. >My mum's Polo (95, 1.4 AEX, 100ish k) takes a few turns of the starter to >kick up. Nothing excessive, but more than you'd expect, and once it's [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >What sort of thing is likely to be the problem? A battery on the way out, or >proper engine wear? Could it be ring/bore wear due to the old oil. Now with fresh oil they aren't sealing as they should and it's taking a few turns to build up compression. I think you would notice if it was turning over sluggishly due to a battery problem :-) SignatureRegards - Rodney Pont The from address exists but is mostly dumped, please send any emails to the address below e-mail ngpsm4 (at) infohitsystems (dot) ltd (dot) uk >>My mum's Polo (95, 1.4 AEX, 100ish k) takes a few turns of the starter to >>kick up. Nothing excessive, but more than you'd expect, and once it's [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > compression. I think you would notice if it was turning over sluggishly > due to a battery problem :-) Is it drinking more oil than usual ... I think this could be a sign of ring wear ? (I'm pretending to even know here :) ) |
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