Now that I have my freebie VW Polo on the road, I'm starting to find out why the previous owner gave up with it. It won't pull cleanly below around 3000 rpm - spits back through the carburettor, and loses power if you open the throttle wide at low revs. Every trip to the shops becomes a Grand Prix style thrashfest, which is a bit tedious after a while. I've dealt with all the usual causes - new plugs, points, coil and fuel filter, stripped and cleaned the carb, and the rubber carb mounting block looks to have been recently replaced.
One thing I have noticed is that all the cam lobes have worn through the case hardening, and are distinctly less 'pointy' than they should be. Could this be the cause? And if so, are heads interchangeable between the different Polo engines? Mine is a 1093cc Formel E, and all the cars in local breakers are 1043 or 1272cc.
Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com
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These engines dont have very "pointy" cam lobes and I have never seen a failed camshaft in one of these cars. They always seem to "appear" to have worn through the hardeneing also.
Take a long look at the carb. Does the fuel shutoff valve audibly click when then ignition is on and the wire is removed and reattatched? Are you sure it is thououghly clean? Are the adjustments correct?
Please let me know how you get on
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Strange. Mine was a 1.3, 88E reg... aunty had to change camshaft at 80000. Yes 80thou. This helped to resolve car dying on the motorway.
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Richard, this may, or may not be a pointer but, my Daughter had a Polo a few years ago and when she first had it, it ran in the same lumpy manner which you describe. I found that tappet adjustment was critical and, needed frequent checking to ensure that all the valves closed adequately. I assumed that the spitting back, through the carb, was due to some "overlap", leading to ingnition pressures getting back through unclosed inlet valves. Close attention, to the tappets, seemed to cure the problem.
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Richard,
I've had a Santana 1.6 with a worn out cam from a restricted oil feed in the head. Ran as you describe.
David W
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I remember a magazine recommending a VW over a Ford/Peugeot and then telling you to check that the clutch cable was not pulling thro' the bulkhead!
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I remember a magazine recommending a VW over a Ford/Peugeot and then telling you to check that the clutch cable was not pulling thro' the bulkhead!
This happened yonks ago to my '88 GOlf and to a W reg Jetta I had before that!
--
Parp, Parp!
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Thanks everyone who replied. Cutout valve is definitely OK (the engine idles beautifully) and I adjusted the valve clearances shortly after I bought the car, which is how I discovered the worn looking cam lobes.
The symptoms are almost identical to my old V8 Landie, which had a severely worn camshaft and was transformed by a replacement. As there is oil leaking from the corners of the head gasket and the camshaft oil seals (typical old Polo) I think a replacement head will be the way to go, especially since the valve guides are pretty worn. The bottom end is fine, and it doesn't blow oil into the air filter. Puzzling that the top end is dead and the crank and pistons OK - possibly one or the other has been replaced at some time.
Or else I could just ignore the problem, since the car was free. But I hate driving a car, even an old banger, that isn't mechanically 100%, and a replacement head from a scrapyard isn't going to break the bank. might fit electronic ignition at the same time - if so, I'll post details of how to do it on the website.
Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com
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If the cam lobes are really badly worn you have identified your problem. Heads for Polos are not easily interchangeable between model years and engine sizes I'm afraid so find one from an identical model if you can. Have you checked valve timing btw?
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Polo heads always seem to leak from the corner above the alternator. The oil eventually damages the alternator.
Plenty of hylomar seems to do the trick. For a while anyway!
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