Engine Cutout/Not Restarting

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Polo_LFC77
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Engine Cutout/Not Restarting

Post by Polo_LFC77 »

I recently purchased a 1.4 8v '97 Polo. I love it. There seems to be a lot of power in it for a relatively small car.

The only thing that I've had problems with is an engine cutout. I'm 18 and this is my second car. I drove it to work for the very first time as the DVLA played their part in my not driving it beforehand. I had heavy traffic and was continually stopping and starting with it. At one point I stalled it and the engine would not come back into life. It was out of gear, clutch was up and nothing. I could hear it turning over and there was nothing. I pushed it to over to the side of the road (pouring with rain too :x). After a few more attempts It kicked back in. I managed to get to work after that with no problems.

After work the car restarted first time. A mate offered to have a look at it after too and as it restarted he thought nothing of it. I then shut the engine off and that was that. It wouldn't come back. It was turning over and the battery light was on. All the dials worked as did the radio and headlights however. About 3 times we did find out that applying a bit of gas did help it a bit. It took a good 20 minutes and a bump start to have it going again though.

The next day it started up fine in the morning and I went and got the battery checked out. They checked that, the alternator and spark plugs and found absolutely nothing wrong with it. Battery charges at best 14v and this was 13.3v. He thought that it may be a loose connection somewhere and that a bump in the road could easily knock it of place and back again but I have no idea of telling when its going to happen.

I'm still unsure of it so I am wondering whether any of you have had similar/the same problem?

Cheers.
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alexperkins
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Re: Engine Cutout/Not Restarting

Post by alexperkins »

Could well be the coolant temp sensor. Common failure on these and can cause a variety of problems including this.
Polo_LFC77
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Re: Engine Cutout/Not Restarting

Post by Polo_LFC77 »

I had a large search on these forums and found issues sounding similar, which boiled down to the temperature sensor. Guess I was on the right lines.

Cheers fella!
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