GTI Stuttered for a second on way home, while driving

[mark-mk3gti]

hi all, after a cr@p day at work, i was driving home, in my 96 gti 8v, at a steady 75-80, when rev counter dropped nearly to 1 but then come back, and it did it 2-3 times then was fine.  its the second time its done in a fortnight

i thought the first time was cos i run low on fuel, i dont normally go into the red cos its old, and dont want the cr@p out the bottom of the tank,  but today i;m half full and it did it,

known faults at mo are slight leak where cat connects to the pipe to centre box, and also sometimes power steering belt squeeks,

also both times had my radio on bout 3/4 volume, 1st time was amp and 4spkrs and this time, front spkrs and sub, but not over the top volume, so when it did it i turned it down, but i cant remember if it did after that, all happened so fast,

stereo didnt cut out and no lights come on the dash etc, was thinking, could it be rubbish earths? but not done it before stereo,  as i have messed with bttery terminals etc,

also could it be fuel filters? if so where bouts are they?

just seems weird cos rev counter drops and doesnt slow down, just falls quickly,  had a flick thru formus but not seen anything similar,  gonna go check i tightened up battery terminals but im sure i did..

is this bad?   worried bout getting to work n back now cos i use this everyday   please can someone tell me they had this and its an easy fix..

btw not being serviced since i got it in sept, so not checked oil etc either, which i know is bad, will check oil in morn also...

[FlySpeck]

could be a bad negative ground connection from the battery to the body or the engine, or a dodgey ignition switch?

[Deano2711]

Common fault Mate....mine started this as well yesterday. You need to clean your throttle body. It's about a two hour job which will cost you nothing. Done mine today and all is well. Second time I have done mine and you can do this yourself.
If you look at your engine on the left hand side you will see the airbox, there is a large plastic pipe that runs from the airbox to the throttle body. Disconnect the large pipe from the throttle body end. There is also a small rubber pipe that goes to the throttle body. Disconnect this. You will also need to disconnect the speedo cable from the side of the throttle body. You then need to unscrew four allen key bolts that hold the throttle body in place. There is a connector on the throttle body which you will have to disconnect. When the throttle body is loose you will see two small rubber pipes joined to the bottom of the throttle body. Disconnect these but be careful as these should be full of water. The throttle body is then off the car and you can go inside. Then use either carb cleaner or WD40 and an old toothbrush to scrub the inside of the throttle body. Give it a damn good clean and get it looking spotless inside. You need to open the butterfly inside and make sure it's clean all the way through the throttle body. Once you have given it a good scrub use some clean rags to wipe it all clean. Once done it should all look nice and silver throughout. While it is off you can also disconnect the large pipe from the airbox and clean that if you like. Then it's just a case of reversing the sequence and reconnecting everything. Sounds hard but when you do it it's a piece of cake.

Your car should then run smoothly and you will notice it to be more responsive and better on the MPG.

Good luck      Deano

[mark-mk3gti]

Hi deano, thanks for that! An excellent description of what to do! I'm off work wed,thur,fri so will be doing it asap, sounds easy enuff but a a matter of interest what are the pipes with water in them for? And will they leak?

I'm not very mechanically minded but always keen to learn,the prob I have is finding space and getting all the equipment! Like oil changes, I don't have the facility to do it and if I spill on the drive I'm a dead man! Lol! But this should be ok? Are you goin to pod on 11th?

Have a good day, and I'll post results later in week!

[Deano2711]

The two water pipes go to the top of the expansion tank and one to the block. When you undo them from the throttle body you will probably spill about a thimble full but the pipes stay in position and the water will stay in them.
Probably won't be going to Pod but will be going to Ultimate Dubs this weekend....looking forward to meeting a few off here.   

Cheers      Deano