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Car stalls when clutch is down
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 11:04 am
by JoeG07
Well my car occaisionly used to stall while i had the clutch held in, say as approaching a junction or whatever, which i thaught was a bit weird, but lately its been doing it all the time, and its got to the point where im stalled on roundabouts so is dangerous. I took it into my local mechanic who thinks it might be the air control valve which would need cleaning or possibly replacing, but wasnt sure and needs to ask the other guy whos in on Monday. Any ideas what is causing this, or what needs to be done?
Also on another note, because Im a delivery boy (woah!) for a living, my mate at work suggested sticking the car in neutral everytime your on a downhill to save petrol (as were allocated a set amount of petrol money.) Other than the lack of control, is there any risk to the car doing this?
Cheers x
Re: Car stalls when clutch is down
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 11:09 am
by dino
JoeG07 wrote:Also on another note, because Im a delivery boy (woah!) for a living, my mate at work suggested sticking the car in neutral everytime your on a downhill to save petrol (as were allocated a set amount of petrol money.) Other than the lack of control, is there any risk to the car doing this?
Cheers x
Wouldn't advise it as the engine has no control and is still running and using fuel.
I was always taught to use a low gear down hill rather than using the brakes as if your using your brakes continuously down hill and then need to stop quickly, how do the people behind you know you're stopping and not just reducing your speed to stick under the limit.
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 11:24 am
by LeMeph
what about the clutch cable? If that was lose and your not engaging the clutch fully then maybe that would cause the engine to stall?
In regards to saving petrol... try and stick below 2 and a half thou revs. Constantly. yeh its slow but it will save you money lol.
That or buy a 1.0L my friend.
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 4:02 pm
by dragon_green
sounds like you've got a vacumn pipe or similar slipped off somewhere
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 4:23 pm
by black magic 16v
I had the same problem on my old 1.4 8v polo every time i came to junctions or speed humps ect the revs bounces then either stalls. try cleanning yr throttle body because after i did that it was sorted
Re: Car stalls when clutch is down
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 7:53 pm
by monkeyalan
JoeG07 wrote:
Also on another note, because Im a delivery boy (woah!) for a living, my mate at work suggested sticking the car in neutral everytime your on a downhill to save petrol (as were allocated a set amount of petrol money.) Other than the lack of control, is there any risk to the car doing this?
Cheers x
your workmate is a fool. tell him i said so.
modern fuel injected cars don't use petrol when going downhill if you don't have your foot of the accelerator, so you'd use more by sticking it in neutral. it would also be quite dangerous and stupid.
Re: Car stalls when clutch is down
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:44 pm
by pip_polo
monkeyalan wrote:JoeG07 wrote:
Also on another note, because Im a delivery boy (woah!) for a living, my mate at work suggested sticking the car in neutral everytime your on a downhill to save petrol (as were allocated a set amount of petrol money.) Other than the lack of control, is there any risk to the car doing this?
Cheers x
your workmate is a fool. tell him i said so.
modern fuel injected cars don't use petrol when going downhill if you don't have your foot of the accelerator, so you'd use more by sticking it in neutral. it would also be quite dangerous and stupid.
my car stalls every now and again coming to junctions, i just whack it in 3rd and 'bump' it off again. not really that much of a problem i don't think?? lol
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 12:27 pm
by monkeyalan
my 16v does it now and again too but only til its up to temperature then its fine.
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 6:55 pm
by SteveB
I think its a general thing with the mk4 Polo, my 1.6 did this and each time I'd either rev it a little or bring the clutch up. It was an infrequent problem and a bit annoying. I never really looked into what was causing it too much just went away for a while each time.
Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2007 3:39 pm
by NOZ
I've had the same problem and still occasionaly occurs. View my old posts through the searchs and you'll see a few Polo's with the same problem. Your best bet would be to get the engine diagnosed then fix the problem as i've spent £140 with no changes.
Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:34 am
by SteveB
NOZ wrote:Your best bet would be to get the engine diagnosed then fix the problem...
I'm not sure that VW will help much if its as intermittent as mine was, mine had been linked up to the vag-com a few times but never showed any problems.
Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 12:23 am
by Rubber12
My 1.0L mk4 has started doing this 75% of the time i put the clutch in when slowing down, just bounces the revs abit as it trys to stall then it cuts out!!
mine also has started doing it on roundbaouts meaning the powersteering turns off and its very hard to turn and ive nearly crashed a few times because of it!
i dont have a clue what it could be grr its soo annoying

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 12:26 am
by SteveB
Before it cuts out always bring the clutch up in a gear that way the power steering will keep working even if the car is labouring a bit.