Adam Young Posted August 4, 2013 Report Share Posted August 4, 2013 I've long loved my lupo. A couple of weeks back i was thinking about how its never had any problems, i've only ever repaired a handful of stupid little problems! Its done just over 100,000 miles, its a 1.4 Lupo E. Suddenly bam! Upon driving to work the car started juddering madly, i immediately started to blame the clutch but then i noticed the speedo was fluctuating all over the place, randomly alongside the juddering. The revs stayed steady, which seemed very strange. Taking the car out of gear i rolled to a stop, it started to judder again as i pulled away, and does now, more noticeably with lower revs.The clutch is fairly new, we tested it and it stalled the engine with the handbrake test really effectively. The bite point is normal too. My car has always had a little oil around the leftmost spark plug. I always thought this was from where i spilt a little oil around when topping up. A week ago i changed the oil and filter and cleaned it up. When the car starting this juddering i had a look under the bonnet and found this was actually a leak. I thought this could explain the juddering, the engine cylinder misfiring.I changed the spark plugs over, they were well past their sell by date, black and the leftmost one was oily. I brought some new ones and upon firing the engine up, loads of black smoke which cleared very quickly. The car was absolutely fine for a week! It answered my questions about the juddering and felt more powerful and efficient than ever, the speedo ran totally as normal too. However yesterday when driving home the juddering returned. Some oil has leaked too around the first spark plug and must be misfiring again. It now normally starts after a few minutes of driving. I'm going to take it to work for a compression as soon as i can.Can anyone shed any light on the source of this leak? Piston rings? Rocker gasket? Valve washers? Its whats causing this leak i'm sure, changing the spark plugs just brought me some time! Thanks everyone, i appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danoid Posted August 5, 2013 Report Share Posted August 5, 2013 (edited) Most likely rocker cover. Ours leaked a little, but got it done at VW as they use green snot stuff and didn't want to attempt that.For the juddering, I see you changed the sparks, but didn't change the leads? - Change them with genuine VW onesOur lupo had both changed and it cured the problem. My passat does it sometimes, changed the plugs and it's been great since, but now and again I can feel the hestitation trying to come back, so willneed leads changed, problem is mine are stupidly INACCESSIBLE, so trying to put off Edited August 5, 2013 by danoid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Young Posted August 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2013 Thanks for your help. I had considered that but as the new spark plugs immediatly seemed to have solved the problem i didn't think the ht leads would need looking at. Still though, they must be the original leads and i'll try replacing.Still waiting on the compression test, hopefully soon. Will shine a little light on wherever its somthing internal inside the engine or part of the ignition system... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tintin360 Posted August 8, 2013 Report Share Posted August 8, 2013 When I changed my spark plugs I noticed that there was oil in some of the spark plug wells, this was a result of the rocker cover leaking. I cleaned the oil out, removed the old spark plugs, got some tigerseal and in each spark plug well if you put your finger in the well you will feel a slight lip not far down, run tigerseal around that lip with your finger, wait for it to dry and pop the new plugs in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danoid Posted August 8, 2013 Report Share Posted August 8, 2013 HT leads do fail, I very much doubt they'll be original, they only last a few years at most Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tintin360 Posted August 8, 2013 Report Share Posted August 8, 2013 How much are HT leads from Vw these days? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tintin360 Posted August 8, 2013 Report Share Posted August 8, 2013 Answered my own question:HT Leads – (set of four) £73.58 incl. VAT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Young Posted August 23, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2013 And i think thats done it. Few things i learnt from this. I originally overworried, the 'leak' of oil around the spark plug may have come from my oil filler cap. I found one of the metal wings (that clamp the cap down when you twist it) had bent up, it always felt a little loose but i never compared it with anyone elses. It now fits much better i bent it back down.New Ht leads were £33 from Europarts, my car now feels better than ever. Lets hope that fixes the juddering for good, and not come back after a week which is what happened when i just switched my plugs over.Thanks for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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