Big problem with the car kangarooing/hesitating violently and losing power, car has 110k on the clock and has had a full service at a local VW indie in March.
Problem has meant the car is unsafe to drive for our 18 yr old son. Without wanting to start to rack up hundreds of £££ in diagnosis bills, the best bet was suggested to be a faulty/sticking EGR valve, as a compression test showed no issues there that would cause the huge jolting. The coil packs and spark plugs were deemed to be not at fault either. The VW indie cleaned out the old one, hit it with a hammer to 'loosen it up a bit' and professed the problem to be solved as a long test run revealed no further jumping like a demented Joey. But after standing still at the garage for a couple of days after the test run until we arranged to pick it up the problem was exactly the same. So we have replaced the EGR valve today with a guaranteed used replacement and problem has not gone away.
We can't spend any more on the car as has cost us more than it was to buy in the first place as has had 4 new Yokohama tyres, new pads and discs, flexi hoses, CV joints etc etc etc so very frustrating. Both garages have left the way open for an limitless repair bill as neither can suggest any other possible causes other than the generic 'electrical fault' catch all involving many hours doubtless of fruitless explorations.
Would really appreciate any advise or help - has anyone else had this from a 2004 1.2 engine?? Seems very odd unless we have sadly bought a dud of course...