Hello and a few questions from new owner

Chat about your facelift 9n3 Polo - Including the 9N3 Polo GTI!
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TommyPolo
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Drives: 2007 1.2
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Hello and a few questions from new owner

Post by TommyPolo »

Hello, I have just become the owner of a 5 door 1.2 2007 Polo. The car is a 1 owner 90000mile car that has been serviced every year of it's life and apart from a dent in the drivers door is in good condition. Believe it or not the car has been essentially free! My friend inherited it from his father but he doesn't need/want it so he offered it me if I agreed to help him put a shed up in the spring!!!

I couldn't turn it down! I am in no rush to put it on the road as I currently have a car so I have been checking the car out to fix any faults before I transition to this car.

My initial inspection has revealed the follow.

1. There is oil on the timing chain side that has run onto the alternator, it looks like maybe the PO missed whilst topping the oil up but maybe there is a leak in that area?
2. It sounds like there is a slight blow from the exhaust at the front of the car.
3. I have no idea what these engines should sound like but there is a faint whirring noise associated with engine speed possibly a tired aux belt tensioner?
4. Drivers side rear shock is missing its dust cover.

Hopefully these will be fairly simple fixes!

I was wondering where is a good source for parts? I'm a fan of fitting oem if possible.
I don't want to start an oil thread but if someone could recommend a good oil for these engines that would be great.

And finally how do I work out what engine power mine is as there seems to be 2, 40 and 47kw. Also are all the 3 cylinder engines 12v?

Thanks, Tom.
RUM4MO
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Re: Hello and a few questions from new owner

Post by RUM4MO »

Hi Tom, welcome to this forum!

I've never had a car with that range of engines so I can't comment on leaks or oil.

Exhaust slightly blowing near the front will possibly be a leak in the flexi section, it is a welded in section and the only fix if it is leaking here, is to get a proper exhaust repair place to remove and weld in a "flexi repair section" that is exactly the same dimensions as the original, getting/letting someone replace that torn/leaking section with anything other than exactly the same dimensioned section will just cause you lots of annoyance with unwanted resonances etc (been there done that!).

Rear damper lost its protective cover, is that exactly what has happened, or, has the (upper) bump stop which the protective cover is fixed on to not just biodegraded and split/sheared/broken and allowed part of the bump stop and protective cover to drop down onto the top of the damper lower body?

There is a Haynes repair manual covering these cars and it might help you work out which engine is fitted, ie either 6V or 12V and its code/version.

There are a few online VW Group parts listings which can be handy when buying parts or even just as an exploded view etc, also maybe even some cheap scan tools that would cover all smart controllers in that car, I'd think most would be second hand by now as things have moved on.

Good Luck!

Edit:- as well as this forum, maybe consider joining the Skoda one as the Skoda Fabia is what this car is based on and probably more Fabia owners are keeping and working their cars than Polo, the Skoda forum is Briskoda.net there is also a good SEAT forum, but I think that the Skoda one will be best for your engine issues at least. It is just the way things are - different VW Group marques attract different types of owners even second hand.
TommyPolo
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Joined: Mon Nov 02, 2020 10:44 pm
Drives: 2007 1.2
Location: Derby

Re: Hello and a few questions from new owner

Post by TommyPolo »

Cheers Rum,

You were right about the damper cover it had just slipped down, in fact the bump stop is largely intact so it seems the cover has somehow slipped over the stop, I will try to tweak it back over.

It seems the whole pipe inc flexi section can be bought fairly readily so no welding would be needed? Or Am I missing something?

I banged a few emails off to some oil companies Morris, Miller etc all recommended fully synthetic. 5w30 was reccomended by Millers for long life and 5w40 by Morris for shorter intervals. Not sure which one to plump for really but whichever one I do I'll change the oil at least once a year or at around 7000miles which is my annual mileage.

I've been reading a few things about these engines being prone to the camchain jumping a tooth, are there any symptoms eg. Rattling chain that point to camchain issues? For the record my engine seems very quiet from the camchain area.
RUM4MO
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Posts: 5859
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2006 9:12 pm
Drives: B8 S4 & 6R/6C1 1.2TSI 110
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Re: Hello and a few questions from new owner

Post by RUM4MO »

Maybe by the time that your engine was built, it was built from new with some of the later modifications included that prevent or minimise the chances of the chain jumping a tooth or two.

The VW spec for oils will be 502 or 504, maybe look up opieoils for what grade etc they suggest, there is normally a good enough VW oil being sold under their aftermarket branding which is Quantum and many ebay sellers sell that.

I think that a section of the bump stop will have sheared off and be inside the top of the protective tube of the damper, that material biodegraded very quickly and I don't understand why VW Group still use that material for that application, when you buy a new bump stop from VW it will be pure white, after some time out in the open it starts heading towards yellow then maybe even orange and loses some of its compliance - but what can we do, it is what they specify for that job!

Front exhaust section, my experience is only for the 1.4 16V petrol engines, and that first section included the second cat - so having that added much to the cost of buying a new section, plus when I first needed one the only source was VW!

Edit:- just to add these VW oil spec 502 and 504 are older/earlier oil specs and oils with newer spec tend to be backwards compatible with the exception of the latest 0W-20 etc oils which I would not use in an older engine.

Another Edit:- ECP, GSF etc are usually good for filters and suspension parts for VW Group cars, spark plugs fitted at factory tend to be NGK, air/pollen filters usually Mann oil filter tends to be Mann or Mahle, sump plug tend to have a retained washer/seal so replacing that every other oil change is a good enough plan, front wipers normally Bosch and rear wiper Bosch or Valeo depending on which version of rear wiper arm is fitted.
TommyPolo
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Location: Derby

Re: Hello and a few questions from new owner

Post by TommyPolo »

Well I made a start on the Polo today. I thought I'd start on finding the source of the oil down the side of the engine, I removed the plastic engine cover, not being used to modern cars ( I've been driving. MB 190e for many tears. Over 300k! ) I didn't reaise the air filter lived in it.. neat touch! Air filter looks new which is good.

I removed the alternator ( whose idea was it to put that cable clip connected to the alternator and exhaust heat shield! Bad design!!) and aux belt tensioner and got busy with the Gunk, I very carefully removed the the oil from the alternator . The belt and tensioner seemed fairly new which is good news. I also noticed the oil filler cap had a deep groove in it where the seal contacts the engine so I flipped it over, matbe it will seal better? Looked great once back together and I've given it a good drive and there's not a whiff of oil so hopefully it was hamfisted filling?

Whilst under the car I also found the source of the exhaust noise, the felxi is actually ok, it is in fact the silencer just after it. The whole mid section looks manky so I think I'll just replace the lot, the back box looks brand new.

So the next job will be oil and filter.

On my test drive I noticed a little steering wheel wobble so whilst I get the exhaust sorted I'll get the front wheels balanced.

I've been reading that the coil packs on these car can fail, I noticed mine all have 2007 date stamp so they must all be the the originals so I hope they still have some life in them!!!
RUM4MO
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Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2006 9:12 pm
Drives: B8 S4 & 6R/6C1 1.2TSI 110
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Re: Hello and a few questions from new owner

Post by RUM4MO »

You can buy a new sealing washer for the filler cap, I think that I did that for one of our VW Group cars because it had become a bit hard.

Coils, VW Group went through periods of fitting new cars with "not so good" coils, maybe your car is young enough to not have a typical coil issue, my wife's 2002 VW Polo 1.4 16V only needed 2 coils changing over its 13 years 135K miles we had it from new. I just bought NOS same manufacturer coils new via ebay, I think that I prefer Beru as a coil maker, most or all of our VW Group cars have had Buru coils from new - NGK spark plugs. Changing coils before they fail might be a smart move, but if you end up buying "lesser" brands, then maybe not a good idea, having a new or used Beru one in the boot "just in case" might be a good idea, leaving plugs in well beyond their expected service life is probably why a few people end up needing new coils, ie duff spark plugs will or can cause early life coil failures.
TommyPolo
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Joined: Mon Nov 02, 2020 10:44 pm
Drives: 2007 1.2
Location: Derby

Re: Hello and a few questions from new owner

Post by TommyPolo »

Cheers Rum, that's a great point about plugs causing coil failure, Only after I'd read it I realised I'd heard this before ( we have a Renoult Scenic and the same is true for them too ) but it had obviously exited my memory banks!

I will change the plugs too, cheaper too than normal as it's a triple!
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