Geographical specific problem (or tunnel breaks my car)

Kalahari · Post by **Kalahari** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 11:44 am

Ok I'm going to sound like a nutter now.

My Polo 1.0L has a very odd problem. It seems to be running fine, none of the cutting out when stopping or other issues that appear common on here however it does have one very strange issue.

I live in Liverpool and the last two weekends have visited relatives in the Wirral, this means I go through the mersey tunnel.

On the first instance of this issue I drove through the tunnel to the Wirral and got to my destination (about 15 miles) with no problem but on the return trip as I exited the tunnel it appeared to have no power, it revved up to around 1500 rpm OK (about 20 mph) but then flat out refused to go any faster.
Limped home then got up in the morning to a perfectly working car again.

This weekend I went the same way again, this time a trip of 30 miles straight down the motorway. Stopping at my destination it was fine, no problems. A few hours later on my return trip home I went into the tunnel again and the spluttermobile returned, same symptoms as before.

My personal theory is the petrol pump playing up, reason being...

Returning home my tank although a quarter full both times had significantly less petrol to help the pump through simple weight. Combine this with the fact the exit out of the tunnel is a steepish hill for about half a mile upwards. Only problem with this theory is that the car was still playing up until I reached home and you would expect the level ground to return the petrol flow back to normal.

(Apologies for the length here thanks for reading so far)

I don't think its an over heating issue as the 30 mile run outward had no trouble.

Any suggestions from you experienced Poloers would be much appreciated, cheers. Even a piccy showing the petrol pump would be a help so I can give that a good seeing to.

Oh I've had a garage guy take a look after the first time it occurred he went on a spin round the block and said it aint the clutch.
I've also done a DIY service on it...Oil, Dizzy cap, rotor, HT leads, sparks and scrubbed the throttle body till it glowed.

Post by **alexperkins** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 9:03 pm

Have you run throttle body cleaner into the body (it makes a big difference to run it thru the car)

Kalahari · Post by **Kalahari** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 9:01 am

I had the TB off the car completely and got rid of every bit of black on the internal surfaces. Do you mean to give it a squirt into the throttle whilst its on the car?

Post by **alexperkins** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 9:14 am

Indeed. Run half a can of Wynns fuel intake and carb cleaner (purple capped can from Halfords) whilst revving the engine, and take it for a good burn afterwards

Makes a great difference on most cars as it blasts all the crap out the engine too!

L'enfant terrible · Post by **L'enfant terrible** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 2:09 pm

alexperkins wrote:Indeed. Run half a can of Wynns fuel intake and carb cleaner (purple capped can from Halfords) whilst revving the engine, and take it for a good burn afterwards

Makes a great difference on most cars as it blasts all the crap out the engine too!

Alex, could you give a brief guide on how to do this? I've got the Wynn's fuel intake and carb cleaner but not really sure where to spray it! Air filters etc is something I've never looked at before.