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??

Regarding the adjusting of the throttle / revs - seen this from another thread - don't know if it helps: "This happened to me a few months ago on my 1.4. After a hour of tests it turned out to be the throttle position sensor which is built into the throttle body. Tried cleaning it out and it worked fine for a week but then started its nonsense again. Bought another one from VW and fitted it and has been spot on ever since. Hope this helps." Also - when the throttle body is gunked up, it can result in weird rev variations - I had to have mine cleaned out completely - the problem stopped after that (until it gets gunked up again!)

I have a lovely 1.4 16V AHW engine too(!!!) I think the manual says 3.2 or 3.5 litres of engine oil to fill it up to maximum - now, in my experience this overfills the engine and that really doesn't help it as you'll get mayo gunk in the throttle body, the air filter box etc (basically because the crankcase breather isn't very good on the AHW engine and it easily gets blocked up with gunk). I've now started to put no more than 3 litres of oil in it. That's plenty and it puts less pressure on the breather system, reducing the mayo. In terms of the overall problem, I've had the throttle body removed and completely cleared of gunk (there was tons of it) - I have constantly cleaned the air filter box of gunk - particuarly the breather pipe running across the top of the air filter box lid. I've probably got to replace the breather pipe as its warped and that probably doesn't help with getting rid of the build up of stuff (but they are £40 for a bit of pipe!!!). I also replace the oil every 5000 miles so that the mayo gunk can be gotten rid of regularly and I'm thinking of using an oil flush to help do this more. Despite all of this, I've had no problems (other than the cutting out issue due to the gunked up throttle body - which is no longer a problem since it was cleaned out). I use my car every day for motorway driving to work - putting it under a bit of pressure. So I think its a case of keeping on top of it if you can - I think its a built-in problem though with that particular engine. I'm sick of seeing yellowy oily gunk!!!

Well - looks like the source of the gunk is from the main block / crankcase of the engine and its oil. When was the last time you changed the oil? I'd suggest changing it quite frequently - I do mine every 5000 miles now. But I think the main problem (not uncommon to 1.4 Lupos or other older 1.4 Golfs and other VWs) is that the breather system bolted on to the crankcase isn't brilliant and doesn't cope very well with the pressures - it gets clogged up and the mayo starts being made. The trouble is, I've heard that replacing this is a real nightmare. Probably the best you can do is regularly change the oil (perhaps adding an oil flush to get rid of the mayo) and regularly keep the breather system as clean as you can. In the 1.4 Sport, do you have a rectangular air filter box? On the lid of that box there is a breather pipe that goes across it - I had to bang the lid on something and loads of gunk came out. But the source of it, I think, is the crankcase breather bolted onto the engine.

If you have the 1.4 16v engine (i.e. probably the 'AHW' engine), you can buy the VW Polo manual which at least covers the engine parts as well as other bits that the Lupo shares with the Polo: http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/Accessories/Workshop-Manuals/Vacuums/VW-Manuals/?964440431&0&cc5_232 Other than that - you'll need a CD-ROM - which are great if you can actually manage to load them up!

For non-major leaks around the radiator, most people use something called 'Rad Weld' which is an 'inhibitor' (i.e. prevents build up of rust etc) but its got this stuff in it that sticks to metal and seals up the leaks. Its worth just putting that in the colling system as its easy and a good temporary fix (it can last for a long time too, depending on how small the leak is - your's sounds small, so it could work - for the sake of £5 and no hassle, its worth a try): http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_166346_langId_-1_categoryId_165750 In terms of oil leak - is the sump bolt tightened up? Is there a washer between the sump bolt and the sump? If the leak isn't major, I wouldn't worry - older cars can leak a little at the bottom. It could be the sump gasket - a messy job if you want to take the sump off and put a new gasket it (I don't know much about this). Have a good look around the engine and see if its leaking between chunks of metal. With the radiator leak, also check the quality of your cooling system pipes as they can perish over time. Hope this helps.

For all noisy door strap issues - here is the "How To" link (its quite easy to replace - think door check straps are about £15 each - the only thing is that I think you have to cut the foam behind the lower trim card to get to the bolts): http://forums.clublupo.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=34802&st=0&p=429094&hl=strap&fromsearch=1entry429094

For those with gunk in the air filter box, I have just found this possible solution from another VW forum - the old 1.4 Golf engines also seem to have similar problems - apparently things can be rectified with a new breather pipe (see below for someone's solution) - however, they are about £40 from VW dealers!!! (new air filter boxes are £60 too!!!): "How much oil is in the air filter? Normally this is due to the breather hose from the crankcase vent to the air cleaner going very soft and this allows the pipe to collapse under acceleration so causing excess crankcase pressure which causes a small amount of oil to be sprayed up the breather hose as it resumes its normal shape. Feel the hose, if it is soft, replace it." Hope this helps.

I'm having mayo issues too and have had them pretty much constantly since I had my Loop. There's a number of things that might help: - Clean out your air box - not sure if the 1.0 litre is the same as my 1.4, but my air box has a breather pipe that goes across the top of the air box and that is constantly full of mayo - tons of it - I have to take the top lid of the air box off and bang it on the floor to get the gunk out - Clean out all the gunk from inside the air box and near the throttle body inlet - You might want to check / replace the breather pipe which goes from the bottom of the engine to the air box - mine is warped and probably got gunk in it, so I'm going to replace it soon - Make sure the throttle body is cleaned out throughly of gunk - I'm not technical, so I got a garage to do it and although it looks clean from a glance looking into it with the air box off, the internal workings were full of mayo gunk that I didn't know was there - Last but not least - NEVER OVERFILL THE ENGINE WITH OIL! My Loop is weird cos its supposed to take 3.2 litres of oil but 3 litres is enough to reach full on mine - so I actually put a bit less in because whenever I've done oil changes the mayo problem is temporarily worse. If your Loop does short trips the mayo will be worse so the best thing to do is reduce the likelihood of condensation (and thus mayo) by only having the oil halfway up the dipstick. Obviously don't underfill it, but just do it to halfway - that will help a bit. I think the Lupo has an inherent oil breather problem myself and it needs to be constantly kept an eye on - otherwise it starts to cut out at junctions or it results in the mysterious high revs problem (had both). The throttle body gunked up is the main reason for cutting out at junctions etc. Hope this helps.

The swirl marks will be due to normal manual washing with a sponge. As people wash a car with a sponge they go in circles - the problem is that thte bits of grit and dirt are held in the water and sponge and scrape away at the surface of the paint/lacquer. There is a particular way to wash your car to avoid this - I think you put the sponge into a bucket of normal clean water before you put in back in the soapy water. The clean water will help get rid of the worst of the grit before you reapply the soapy water with the sponge. Not sure how much the detailing place can help - one the swirls are on there, they're hard to make disappear. T-cut is pretty good though.

Hi all, The other day I was checking my air filter (1.4 Lupo petrol) and I noticed bits of grey flexible plastic/rubber in the air box. After a quick search I found that the air temperature inlet valve in the black plastic piping was a bit knackered - basically the valve's seal had perished and started to disintigrate. I got a new valve box thing (for a bit of plastic and a valve and a spring thing, it wasn't cheap!) and replaced it. The thing I actually want to know is this - does the air temperature help with MPG by increasing or decreasing the air temperature for the gas mix? Is that the main reason for the valve system? So I assume a new valve will help improve my MPG now that the temperature will be properly controlled by the new seal (rather than not controlled as the seal was gone)? Cheers LupoEnvy