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Common Faults with the Lupo


JB1.0e
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I recently had to replace the window wiper mechanism on my car , and searching through other posts it appears to be a common problem .

Base was about £45 and the 2 rods were about £5 each. Took about 30mins to fix , easy job.

With regards to the rear washer leak , on mine I noticed it was wet under the rear seats . Just took off the side trim panel and clicked the 2 parts of the pipe together , seems to have held for now (about 5 years).

Also there can be leaks from the drivers door and sometimes the passenger door , think it leaks in through the speakers ?

The seal round the gearbox selector rod also appears to be a common problem.

Raise up car , take off pass side mudflap , remove pass side front wheel , take off filler plug , take off drain plug , drain oil , refit drain plug , undo bolt on bottom of gear stick , remove bottom of gearstick from rod , take out seal , put new seal in , refit gear stick to rod , refill gearbox , refit filler plug , refit mudflap , refit wheel.

Edited by HDH
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Very good thread, though i thought id mention:

Cambelts again, these i feel are one of the most important thing to check when buying a Lupo, or any car really, but the Lupos require replacement way before most cars.

I read in here that cambelts are every 40K miles, however its also said they should be changed every 4 years which i didnt think i spotted in this thread. Many Lupos probably do few miles and so will reach the 4 year limit before the 40K mileage limit.

So just to say, cambelts should be replaced every 4 years or 40K miles, which ever arrives first :)

There is also a kit available to fix the rear washer wiper problem. When the rear wash no longer works its either because of the pipe has popped off behind the n/s rear trim or that the washer nozzel has broken. I had both of these problems on my Arosa. The first is an easy fix, i also wrapped the pipe junction in insulation tape to prevent it happening again.

However the other problem requires another fix, for this there is a kit available, about £25 when i bought it. The metal pipe inside the nozzel corrodes onto the wiper arm, which then makes the washer jet turn with the wiper arm. It seems to start doing it slowly then follows the wiper. The metal pipe inside the nozzel becomes torn and then it leaks water into the boot opening when using the rear washer.

I find they are very robust little cars though, but its always useful to know what your looking for when buying one :)

Chris.

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Can you remember what fuse it was ?

The pictures on the lid aren't helpful

It was the one that has a side view of a car and a ligthning bolt going through the front of it if that makes sense, thats the one i replaced and it worked, no idea what the symbol means, but hey, thought it was worth checking all the fuses one day and sorted. :D

Cheers, James.

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I recently had to replace the window wiper mechanism on my car , and searching through other posts it appears to be a common problem .

Base was about £45 and the 2 rods were about £5 each. Took about 30mins to fix , easy job.

With regards to the rear washer leak , on mine I noticed it was wet under the rear seats . Just took off the side trim panel and clicked the 2 parts of the pipe together , seems to have held for now (about 5 years).

Also there can be leaks from the drivers door and sometimes the passenger door , think it leaks in through the speakers ?

The seal round the gearbox selector rod also appears to be a common problem.

Raise up car , take off pass side mudflap , remove pass side front wheel , take off filler plug , take off drain plug , drain oil , refit drain plug , undo bolt on bottom of gear stick , remove bottom of gearstick from rod , take out seal , put new seal in , refit gear stick to rod , refill gearbox , refit filler plug , refit mudflap , refit wheel.

Thank you, what symptoms would the car display if the seal around the gearbox selector fails?

Very good thread, though i thought id mention:

Cambelts again, these i feel are one of the most important thing to check when buying a Lupo, or any car really, but the Lupos require replacement way before most cars.

I read in here that cambelts are every 40K miles, however its also said they should be changed every 4 years which i didnt think i spotted in this thread. Many Lupos probably do few miles and so will reach the 4 year limit before the 40K mileage limit.

So just to say, cambelts should be replaced every 4 years or 40K miles, which ever arrives first :)

There is also a kit available to fix the rear washer wiper problem. When the rear wash no longer works its either because of the pipe has popped off behind the n/s rear trim or that the washer nozzel has broken. I had both of these problems on my Arosa. The first is an easy fix, i also wrapped the pipe junction in insulation tape to prevent it happening again.

However the other problem requires another fix, for this there is a kit available, about £25 when i bought it. The metal pipe inside the nozzel corrodes onto the wiper arm, which then makes the washer jet turn with the wiper arm. It seems to start doing it slowly then follows the wiper. The metal pipe inside the nozzel becomes torn and then it leaks water into the boot opening when using the rear washer.

I find they are very robust little cars though, but its always useful to know what your looking for when buying one :)

Chris.

Thank you, both points have been incorporated.

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Both mine have done this but dry out if you leave them switched on for a short time. The dealer said this quite common but isn't a fault? Never had them fill with water though.

Would the recommendation be to replace the fogged up fog lamp?

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Hi all Im a noob, hoping to spend alot of time on here. Just purchased an 03 reg 1.4s Lupo and have three faults within a week none of which are listed above.

1. Drivers seat sticks on tilting forward looks like sticking on N/S catch.

2. Fuel low level buzzer does not sound full stop. (Do they have one fitted?)

3. Last but not least 4th gear crunches slightly on engagement. (Possible pedal box?)

Any help would be appreciated, Im just hoping somebody else has had these problems and there is an easy fix. :confused:

Thanx :)

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I'd like to add a check for the wiper switch/lever. These are popular to start sticking, when flicking the wipers on they sometimes get stuck across the screen. If yours does this then its the switch. Sometimes a lot of people notice a burning smell and/or smoke coming from the steering column, ist the switch arcing. Also a popular fault with the polos of the same age.

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Thank you, what symptoms would the car display if the seal around the gearbox selector fails?

Oil leak from around the back of the gearbox.

We had noticed small spots of oil on the ground sometimes when the car was parked up for a day or 2 .

Gearbox oil smells of cat-pee BTW.

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Hi all Im a noob, hoping to spend alot of time on here. Just purchased an 03 reg 1.4s Lupo and have three faults within a week none of which are listed above.

1. Drivers seat sticks on tilting forward looks like sticking on N/S catch.

2. Fuel low level buzzer does not sound full stop. (Do they have one fitted?)

3. Last but not least 4th gear crunches slightly on engagement. (Possible pedal box?)

Any help would be appreciated, Im just hoping somebody else has had these problems and there is an easy fix. :confused:

Thanx :)

Thank you, I have added the tilt mechanism for the front seats as mine also had an issue here. Lupo's only have a warning light no buzzer.

Oil leak from around the back of the gearbox.

We had noticed small spots of oil on the ground sometimes when the car was parked up for a day or 2 .

Gearbox oil smells of cat-pee BTW.

Thank you fault has been added

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dont know weather this is common or just mine

i get one slightly sticky caliper that when i've washed it you can here just rubbing on?

I find that if I wash mine and put it away for a few days when I get it out again the rear brakes have stuck on then make a fair ammount of noise until the brakes have been used a couple of times.

I'd like to add a check for the wiper switch/lever. These are popular to start sticking, when flicking the wipers on they sometimes get stuck across the screen. If yours does this then its the switch. Sometimes a lot of people notice a burning smell and/or smoke coming from the steering column, ist the switch arcing. Also a popular fault with the polos of the same age.

Thank you, I will add the windscreen wiper fault. I need some more information regarding the steering column problem, is there a repair method or is it just a quirk?

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When mine stopped working it was still under warranty so it just went abck to Volkswagen to repair. I have the warranty form it reports a spring had failed, I doubt it was a big job from memory it was only in for an hour or so. I've been to look at mine and I think you may need to take the chair out to improve access though.

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I may have another one. I had Volkswagen Assistance out to mine over the weekend. The technician identified an intermitant fault with one of the spark plugs which he said did not ring true as it had cleared itself entirely. He reckons that it is more likely a fault with the HT Leads. He commented that 1.0 Lupo's are the worst for developing misfires due to a metal sleeve somewhere that corrodes and causes a problem, I had this problem with my 1.0, has anyone else and is it worth adding?

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Yes me!!!!!!!

My 1.0e was one the duel carrige way doing 60-65mph and developed a big misfire (2 and 4) and it turned out to be the HT leads. Also went into recovery mode (limp home for the bofins)which wasn't fun on the duel carrige way. Definatly worth putting down i think.

Cheers, James.

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I agree, I came close to trading the Lupo in when I bought the Scirocco, the dealer was quite keen to take the Lupo as they apparently sell very easily and he said mine was in excellent order and well equiped. Then I kept reading that after you sell it you'll miss it. I started thinking that once the finaces had recovered I'd buy another but then I thought why not just keep mine and save more for the Scirocco? I am really glad I did, since late October the Scirocco has covered 2500miles and the Lupo has covered 6000miles not a reflection on the Scirocco just a testiment to the Lupo!

Back on subject I have been trawling the internet and I have read several tedious very poorly constructed critisms of Lupo's and have found some more faults. To be honest some of them do not ring true, one guy claimed to own a Lupo GTI from new in 2002 and hated its poor build quality then went on to praise the performance from the turbo charged 1.6(?!).

There are several mentions of the creaking and groaning suspension, mine has suffered this but it was sorted with a squirt of WD80. There are a couple of mentions of the engine mounts failing on TDI models. I have not read about this before, has anyone suffered this? There are a few complaints about the indicator stalks. I saw a thread on here showing how to repair them, is it worth mentioning? There are a great many people who have suffered with brake disks warping. Mine did this but I don't think its a particular problem? Finally I found one TDI owner whose car was rendered undrivable due to an electrical fault and a problem pressurising some part of the engine. This review was very vague and no real detail was given. I had a problem with my 1.0e that just refused to start once, the AA disconnected the battery reconnected it and it was fine but he did not explain the cause.

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i had my 1.0 2000 lupo just under two years and i had to replace pedal box,window wiper mechanism, my door strap scqeeks when you open both passenger and drivers doors. rear wiper washer isn't working not really sure what's wrong with it, the heater switch is broken managed to place it so the hot air will blow onto main window,doesn't blow anywhere else:((and now the gearbox synchromesh has gone. :wacko: but i still love it :wub:

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Thanks just what i was looking for.. im newish and looking for a Lupo.. Was thinking 1.4 but im going to bight the bullet and go 1.6 Gt1 2002 6 speed as iv heard they are much better than 1.4 and my M3 is costing a fortune to run.. so thanks for the thread as i now have a better idea of what to check.. Regards Bob

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