All you MK3 people with problems...

[EvilScotsman]

check the wiring on all the sensors in the engine bay. MAF, ecu temp sensor, hall sensor, intake air temp sensor, oil pressure sensor, clean the throttle body wi petrol or carb cleaner, change relays 30 & 167 in the fusebox (pos 3 & 12, ecu power and fuel pump respectively), also cracked coil possible,

Relays fail, and sensor wires get chafed or crack wi heat in the engine bay.

My 8v does this too but i recently had a timing belt fitted and it won't rev over 5k now so the timing belt is 1 tooth out according to Boneybradley (he is good for info) and may also be causing my lumpy idle, and cutting out probs.

 Boneybradley has put up pics of the engine bay wi arrows showing sensor locations. search for posts by him / "engine pics"

This fault is as common as cats piss and a lot of people struggle with it but be methodical and thorough and im sure you will find it. Do as much by yourself as you can cos a lot of peeps get ripped for dough by garages changing stuff willy-nilly. Then the fault returns...

get relays from a scrapper or buy new (£8 to £12) and change them, and check EVERY wire in the engine bay one by one. Unplug the MAF and see if it runs ok then, but my fav for starting then cutting out repeatedly is the fuel pump relay no.167 at pos 12 in the fusebox. Good luck!

[olliepack]

I've got a flat spot between 1000rpm and about 2000rpm in first gear which is great when i pull away!! anyone know what the problem is?

[EvilScotsman]

You dont say what engine you have but most likely an ignition timing error, get it scanned by vag com if you can to see if yiu get a "camshaft speed sensor error 000515 - signal outside range - intermittent" from the ecu. If so, the hall sender on the dizzy is knacked or the timing is out.

Could be fuelling too, a faulty FPS not reacting quicly enough tho that would take a garage to check that as the ecu doesnt monitor fuel pressure in most mk3's except maybe the late vr6's.

when you accelerate then air moves faster than fuel so an instant enrichment is given, along with a sudden timing advance, so either could be the problem.

Id say if it stutters when its in the flat spot, its spark timing. If its just flat, but smooth then maybe its underfuelling at this point.

[golfmk3]

my car will stall when it gets hot and wont start again until it cools right down again im going to change the head gasket but is there anything else i should try before i start taking the engine apart (car is a 1.4 ABD)

[GLC GTI]

My 96 GTI 16V ABF had a hissy fit today, rev needle was bouncing up and down, no power and wouldn't start for about 5 mins after???   
Drove ok after??? Any ideas?

[Overseer]

rev needle sticking high is normally vacuum leaks.. so if it was slow falling could be that..

[Milan]

Here's one which is really bugging me, if someone can tell me what I need to do to rectify it I'll be over the moon!  I've got a Mk3 Golf GTI with about 88k on the clock.  It's standard.

When starting from cold, the car behaves normally.

When starting from warm, the car behaves as it's running with the choke out, the rev's are too high and often don't want to settle below 2500rpm.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

Lee.

I seem to have the same problem on a 1.4 ABD, how did you manage to resolve this problem.

[Milan]

Here's one which is really bugging me, if someone can tell me what I need to do to rectify it I'll be over the moon!  I've got a Mk3 Golf GTI with about 88k on the clock.  It's standard.

When starting from cold, the car behaves normally.

When starting from warm, the car behaves as it's running with the choke out, the rev's are too high and often don't want to settle below 2500rpm.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

Lee.

Hi Lee,

Can you please let me know how you sorted this problem.

Thanks

Milan

[boneybradley]

i am guessing the temp sensor....it controls the fuelling and when faulty it makes the mixture richer (as the engine believes its still cold). this also works the other way..stalling when cold but ok when warm

[Milan]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply, Changes the temp sensor and the cleaned the throtle body and still have the same issues with the engine revving high when idealing.