UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Hi all,

Firstly just wanted to say that i've found this site to be really helpful, am a complete newbie to cars (this is my first car) and have never done anything technical to a motor before.

Reading all the posts i'm massively inspired but need some advice on a few minor things before i start anything too technical.

1. I have four very small chips on the car in different places (two on bonnet, one on top of passenger drive door and one above the windscreen), they're nothing big about the same diameter as the end of a biro. What is the best way to fix these, two of them look like they're starting to rust.
2. Just found out the rear door speakers in my polo are completely knackered, bloke had put the stereo on front speakers only - crafty! Does anyone know what size they are to replace? Should I get VW standard or buy another brand? Will another brand fit without having to buy extra bits, i'm not sure i'm competent to sort otherwise.
3. My Polo steers slightly left, have booked it in to a garage but how much should this cost me to fix?
4. I only got one non-remote door key with the car, I was thinking of buying the Rclick kit as posted by alexperkins (dude your an inspiration, your knowledge from what i've read is vast), how much should this cost to fit by a dealer? Or does anyone in central/east London area want to help me for a few quid?
5. The central locking does work but compared to new cars does take a little while to get all the locks up and make quite a noise, is this normal?
6.My door sills where slightly mouldy, i've run a damp cloth inside them and a soft tooth brush over the top to clean them but is there anything else I should do? Also some are starting to fade and most annoyingly the driver door seal (exterior from where the window rises) is about 5 different shades of black, can this be sorted without buying a new seal?
7. Is the remapping worth the cost? How much does it cost and how much will it increase my bhp?
8. I have a few minor supermarket dents on both rear doors, what's the best way to get these out and how much will it cost?
9. My horn didn't work but randomly without doing anything it now does, the engine management light came on the other but on my last journey it went out. Is this all related to an electrical fault do you think? Should I be concerned?

I guess that's all for now, sorry its a lot of questions but thought I might as well put them down whilst they are in my head.

Harry

My polo is also my first car and iv learnt so much from this site, and have ended up saving so much on labour cost by finding all i need to know on here and a Haynes manual of course

cant answer all your questions but a few i can
car steering to left - this will almost certainly be because your tracking it out. expect to pay between 20-30 quid to get your front wheels tracked. can go Kwik fit, ATS Euromaster, or would be cheaper going somewhere private.

door speakers - you can find cheaper after market ones if the ones you need are the big ones (6.5 inch diameter)theres plenty about. anything that size will fit, i picked up some sonys for £25 brand new and sound great. just remove the doorcard, unscrew old speaker, unclip it and chop the clip off, then just attack the wires from the new speakers, screw it back and replace doorcard. easy stuff!

remote central locking - Rclick kits are great quality and cheap, apparently there really easy to fit and theres a guide on here IIRC created by the 'master' that is Alex.

remapping expect to pay between 2-300 quid i heard gains were quite small on the petrol engines compared to massive gains on the TDI engine. i think Fahad (a member on here) just had a remap and gained 8 bhp. you will get more gains if you upgrade Air filter (BMC CDA best one to go for), exhaust etc and then get a remap

If you have a EPC light, it is electrical problems. very commonly on our polos it would be because of a faulty brake light switch, but best to connect the car up to VAGCOM and scan for fault codes so you can pinpoint exactly what it is.

thats all i know really, but im sure you'll find all the answers you need here though mate

Ricky

Thanks Ricky - a couple more questions! What does EPC mean? Also what is VAGCOM, i've heard it mentioned on her before and guess its software, then you connect computer to car... but how? USB? Also does it work for a Mac?

Electronic power control, which light shows on your dash, isit 'EPC' or the engine with a 'lightning bolt' through it? (i have both )

VAGCOM is the software which connects to the cars computer for diagnostics, you can get a scanner tool or download the software and buy a cable on ebay, its USB. as far as im aware there isnt a MAC version

Hi duke750,

I'm also in the same boat as you. I recently bought a Polo MKV 1.4, 5 Door for my girlfriend on a W '2000 plate.

- Steering
The steering was slightly to the left when I bought the car, I would get the tracking done asap as a result of the tracking I needed new tyres at the front as the inner edge was almost completely bald! The bloke who tracked it said it was over 15-20mm out! - Basically off the tool they use.

- Door Locking
Exactly the same with mine, however most of the noise is coming from the rear in the boot. Never has a problem locking and unlocking tho. What is this kit? Any links to it?

- Management light on dash
Is this light the yellow coloured light with the lightning through it? if so, I've had the same thing after a month of buying the car. I took it to my local garage who said it was a heat sensor - they cleared the light and said if it comes back on they will replace it - nothing big. Its not come back on yet.

Hope that helps some of the problems which I have encountered.
Mark

So just got my Polo back from the garage this evening which passed a few comments, unfortunately all the mechanics had gone home and just the dumb receptionist left to pass on very little comments about the notes left. Hoping some of you guys may be able to help so I can check I'm not getting mugged off?!

1. Excess lift in rear tyres, recommend replacing. They are only half way through there wear, doesn't seem necessary to me? And can't feel rear tyres lift at any point whilst driving.
2. Pollen filter blocked, needs replacing. Doesn't surprise me, it must of been parked under a tree most of its natural life as i spent 2.5 hours last weekend cleaning gunk and mould off the seals. How much does one of these cost to replace? Can I do it myself easily?
3. Slight splitting in front wishbone rear bushes. This sounds serious, should I be concerned? How much would this cost to repair/replace?
4. Both front antiroll bar links are worn, suspect causing knocking noise. Reported that I keep hearing a knocking sound when I turning sharply or go over speed bumps. How much should this cost to repair?

All feedback appreciated!

I want to be careful not to break any forum rules regarding advertising etc guys, but yes my wife's Polo was remapped last week (6N2 AHW engine).

I own a franchise of Elite Remaps, and do most cars myself but really I'm only doing newer cars that are tunable via the OBD port - 2000 to current

Unforunately the Marrelli ECU that runs the AHW 75bhp Polo has to be removed, and the chip iteself split from the PCB and reprogrammed. I actually paid the tuner to do this for me.. but to me it's worth every penny as it's made a good car into an excellent car.

It's not all about numbers remember - I have this convo all the time with people who claim other tuners can get more power out of engines etc, it's about what is a safe achievable tune where the perfect blend of power and economy is being achieved. On more modern turbo engines you can get fantastic gains in power and economy.

As this Polo is normally aspirated (no turbo or supercharger) the gains are limited, BUT we can advance the timing, raise the rev limiter, improve throttle response and basically make it much more pokey low down and free revving across the rev range. I run the Polo on V Power anyway as I'm a big believer in good fuels and oils, and the higher octane fuels really do bring the remap out into its own element.

Elite have agencies across Europe and I was told by the tuner that his colleagues in Spain and Turkey are a doing a lot of these on SEAT's fitted with the same range of engines. They're just not so popular here.

If anyone is genuinely interested in a remap on their Polo and you're willing to send me the ECU and can do without the car for a few days (I'll need it for 24 hours based on a pre arranged time) then I can do it for £200 for club members. Our standard price for most remaps is £249+VAT.

You can reach me on [email protected] and I also advertise on ebay if anyone needs to verify me from feedback (perfect 100%).

Cheers

Fahad