Euangti Posted February 10, 2022 Report Share Posted February 10, 2022 (edited) Evening all, I'm currently working over in Spain, I've always wanted a Gti and coincidentally one came up for sale just 20km away. Anyway long story short it has a few problems some that I knew about when I bought it and some that are a surprise. It is a lovely car, pretty much original silver with anthracite Bathursts. Interior looks good despite it having around 130k miles and it drives really nicely when it works. What seems to be a very common problem is the misfire.. it really only happens 1/10 journeys but that's still too much. It doesn't make the car undriveable but it does wind me up. I ran some injector cleaner through it and had a look in the engine bay, the air intake that feeds to the airbox was split in two so I wrestled it together and applied some tape. The misfiring got less often so I thought I was on to a winner. However it still happened occasionally so I decided to change the plugs/leads and oil/filter change. I drove it about 25km today and it started behaving awfully so I bought some carb cleaner on the way home and also put the two undamaged original (red leads) back on. (I bought NGK leads/plugs, I know the plugs are good but does anyone have any experience with the leads?) I also have a new coil pack arriving hopefully tomorrow. Anyway I drove it after spraying some cleaner down the TB and it seemed to drive better.. but now the ESP light is on and stays on. Does anyone have any advice? I appreciate this is a lot of waffling to read so thanks in advance. Also I changed the oil from 5w30 to 5w40 as I thought this would be better in a warmer climate. When I changed the plugs, no. 1 was pretty fouled and the rest were okay and it looked to me like leads 2 and 3 (looking left to right as you look at the engine) were pretty hammered, looked very blackened and burnt on the contacts. Edited February 10, 2022 by Euangti Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2 Posted February 10, 2022 Report Share Posted February 10, 2022 It's nearly always the ignition coilpack and/or leads. Swap over the entire system and it should be fine. The old plugs will be ok. How much did you pay? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euangti Posted February 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2022 Hi thanks for that, it should arrive tomorrow so I'll swap it over and post how I get on. Would that be what's caused the ESP light to come on though? That's confusing me You reckon the NGK leads will be okay or should I get my hands on some official vw ones? Probably paid more than I should as I'm on an island and prices are a bit higher, just under 4k though. I'm hoping to keep it for a while and bring it back to its best Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2 Posted February 10, 2022 Report Share Posted February 10, 2022 (edited) You're getting wrong O2 readings probably. Caused by the misfire... NGK are good 👍🏻 Atlantic or Med? Edited February 10, 2022 by mk2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euangti Posted February 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2022 Cool, I'll see how I get on tomorrow cheers. Med, I'm in Menorca. By the time you factor in the cost of ferries to the mainland etc to get the car, the price probably ends up similar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euangti Posted February 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2022 Would wrong O2 readings not cause the EPC light to come on and not the ESP light? The light is the ! In a triangle with an arrow around it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2 Posted February 10, 2022 Report Share Posted February 10, 2022 Thought you meant check engine light. I need to read more carefully! Just googled it... The ESP indicator apparently is traction control failure? So my complete guess would be an ABS sensor. But then you'd also get an ABS light. Short answer is I have no idea. If you have any diagnostic gear, it'd help a lot. Even a cheap chinese thing using vcds software would give you some useful data (measuring live sensor values). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Loop Posted February 10, 2022 Report Share Posted February 10, 2022 5w40 will be fine. As said, once you change the coilpack and all the leads / plugs you should be fine. I went with OEM coilpack and leads, and NGK plugs, never misses a beat! Also, bienvenido Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euangti Posted February 11, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2022 (edited) Thanks very much both of you. Changed the coil pack today was still running a bit iffy then about 10-15 minutes in to the drive it completely lost power and the EPC light came on as well as the ESP light already on. It wouldn't go above 25-30kmh and revs were everywhere.. so I pulled over and switched it off. I waited about 2 minutes then switched it back on, all warning lights went off (good news as the ESP one had been on since I sprayed the TB) I drove it back home very carefully then thought I need to try again. So I took it out again for an hour or so on varied roads and speeds and it worked perfectly, fingers crossed all is well now. It's going to the mechanic on Monday for a few bits and pieces so while I'm there I'll ask if he has a code reader. Thanks again! Will update with anything else that happens Edited February 11, 2022 by Euangti 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.