LupoEnvy

Sorry if this is way off the mark - before you do anything else, you might just want to quickly check the clutch cable is tight. At the end of the cable (in the engine bay) are a couple of bolts. Mine came loose a while ago and I thought I needed a new clutch! Tightened them up and everything was fine. Might be totally off the mark, but worth checking before getting mucked up!

Not sure if this is 100% correct, but on early 1.0s power steering was apparently only optional: http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/volkswagen/lupo-1999/?section=bad

Yeah - I would try the thermostat too.

Its very, very likely to be a worn wheel bearing. My left front started gradually humming and got slowly worse over time (and louder at higher speeds). Its not a major emergency though - you can leave it until it gets pretty loud - just depends on how long you can stand it!!! I got mine done after a few weeks - I was told by the trustworthy mechanic that there are two parts to the wheel bearing (inner and outer). If its just the outer bearing, then it'll be pretty cheap, but if both inner and outer have gone, its quite dear and a bit of a faff. I ended up paying about £120 I think - parts and labour. Not cheap, and I'm sure I may have got it cheaper but I'm not an expert and didn't wanna do it myself. To be honest, I was just glad it was a wheel bearing and not the clutch going!

Interesting to compare the 1.4 Sport with a normal 1.4, which I have. I get about 300 miles or so from a full tank though this is largely motorway driving to work (70mph or so).

Been told by a VW specialist that filthy throttle body can often result in high rev situation. Lupos are renowned for dirty throttle bodies - mine was the same and kept cutting out at junctions. Had it cleaned out - no problem since. Throttle body cleaning should be on the official service schedule in my opinion!!!!

If its a 1.4 s (not sport) there are three parts to the exhaust - all possible to separate - (1) The cat (around £150), the middle part (about £50 or so), and the back box (about £50 or so). In which case they're charging you £120 for welding etc. Try somewhere else!!! I got mine done at a 'Mr Tyre' (West Midlands).

I had a faulty cat not too long ago in December when it failed the MOT cos of the emissions. Basically, it was a faulty cat (not the mainfold one - I doubt its that one). Like you, I got fobbed off by the people who sold me the cat cos it was only about 14 months old and I had a 2 year guarantee on it. In my experience, those guarantees aren't worth the paper they're written on. The cat part for the (1.4) Lupo is pretty rubbish too - the flexi-pipe bit wears out pretty quickly and starts rasping too. Just replace the cat and I'm pretty sure it'll do the trick - I got one for £150 from a 'Mr Tyre' - cheapest I've been able to get - the one before that (from the people who fobbed me off) cost £220. Given its the most expensive part of the exhaust, its annoying that some of them seem to fail.

Its not a job for the faint hearted. I had mine done at a VW specialists - all in, it was over £300 (including parts and water pump change). Please note, though, that you need the cambelt 'kit', which includes the tensioners too - there's no use just changing the actual cambelts (there are two of them). I had only the cambelts changed and then one of the plastic tensioners disintegrated. So make sure you have the whole kit replaced which includes the tensioners as these are usually the things that go.

I know that the AHW engine was definitely used in the 2000-02 Polo because I actually use the Haynes Manual for the Polo to refer to the engine as the AHW is used for that Polo series. Shame to hear the flush hasn't helped much. I think the best thing to do (someone suggested this to me anyway) is to minimise the pressure in the engine and on the breather by having as little oil in the engine as possible (but not below minimum obviously!). This helps to minimise condensation and thus gunky mayo as well as reducing pressure on the engine breather. In my experience the gunk is worse when the oil level is higher or full. Hope this helps.

Its nothing to worry about - the system is set to come on at certain intervals - the system doesn't actually recognise whether the car has been serviced or not. Its just set to come on every so-many thousand miles. If you do a search for 'service display' there is a 'how to' get rid of it - its quite easy to get rid of it from the dash display.

I've just noticed a funny thing on my shocks - there is a bit of plastic pipe at the bottom of the ribbed rubber bits (ooer) that fits on to the last rib - mine is very loose and you can hear it knocking if you go round a tight corner at speed - I'm just going to glue it back on to the last rubber rib thing. Seems a bit flimsy really.

In my experience its better not to fill Lupo's right up to the max. This usually results in the crankcase breather not coping and then it burns oil (your blue smoke). You might want to check for gunking (mayo / yellowy stuff) in your breather pipe / throttle body / air filter box. Try emptying some oil out or renewing the oil but just up to half way up the dipstick and see how you get on with that. Hope this helps.

Mine kept cutting out as I dipped the clutch before roundabouts etc (not a pleasant experience) - it was because my throttle body was totally gunked up - since that was emptied out, its been fine. The specialists who did it for me say that its a common issue and that a clogged up throttle body can also result in weird rev variations and sticking on high revs. Hope this helps a bit.

I have exactly the same engine and, to be honest, it sounds like a flippin diesel. I don't have any problems with it though (apart from gunking up). So it might not actually be a problem - they're just noisy engines. I think the tappets are self-adjusting anyway, so not sure how much things would improve??