06 Polo 1.2 E (55) shaking when idling?

[rubiks]

Hi every one!New to this forum.
Just bought today a 1.2 e 55PS POLO and for some reason when idling car shakes and is about 700 rev,when about 900 or 1000 rev everything is ok no shaking evean when driving is no shaking.Can any one help please

[sr-performance]

Hiya mate, did you buy it private or from a dealer?
if dealer i would take it back for them to have a look at it..
a diagnostic check should tell you what your prob is.. :beerchug:

[VAGMAN54]

is that the three cylinder one ? if it is you maybe arent used to hearing it or could be coil pack....is the check engine light on ?

[rubiks]

it is the 3 cylinder head one,and the check engine light is not on.I will ring dealers to look at it on Monday, thank you for your help,really appreciated

[VAGMAN54]

if its a coil pack it brings the light on sometimes flashing to warn of a cat damaging missfire hopefully its just the 3 cylinder engine your not used to...keep us posted

[rubiks]

Why is it normal for a 3 cylinder head engine to vibrate?I mean driving is beautiful and no other problems apart from that vibrating ,just thought it can not be aright for nearly new car to vibrate but never drove a 3 cylinder head b4 though.

[VAGMAN54]

only way i can describe it is like a four cylinder with a missfire,you wont notice it if you are on a run because the revs are higher

[Ben_PoloGTI]

3 cylinder polos have a common known problem with the valves where is doesnt bring the engine light on, you have low compression because the valves dont sit correctly, can be misleading by a misfire and people thinking it been a coil pack, get it checked out by a main dealer, we have had many polos with this fault, head has to come off with new valves + seal fitted, expensive do if it isnt in warranty!

[VAGMAN54]

new one to me.....thought that would get worse as revs get higher .....old saying this but if its mechanical it doubles with speed....if its electrical it halfs with speed

[Gringo76]

My missus has the same car, 2006, 1.2 base model with the 3 cylinder engine.
At idle it does feel like a misfire, used to driving a diesel Audi but have had plenty of old cars so know what a misfire feels like!;)

Our warranty due to expire in Sept, should I take it to a dealer? What should I be asking them to check?

Car is fab otherwise, although I think the tappets are a bit noisy but that could be normal for a 3 pot.:confused:

Only got 16k on the clock!!

[rubiks]

well my polo is within warranty and will ring up 2morrow and get it booked in,so you reckon it should not vibrate ?cheers for all replays .i will let you know what happens .thanks again.

[VAGMAN54]

if you dont feel happy with it take it in and ask them to check the engine for you..

[ptolemy]

Is it not just a problem with the idle speed? My 1.2 Polo, like all 3cyl Polos, had an offbeat idle characteristic of this engine but it didn't cause any serious vibrations through the car. Any car with any engine will vibrate if the engine speed drops too low.....

[Gringo76]

Is it not just a problem with the idle speed? My 1.2 Polo, like all 3cyl Polos, had an offbeat idle characteristic of this engine but it didn't cause any serious vibrations through the car. Any car with any engine will vibrate if the engine speed drops too low.....

Totally agree, so worth checking idle speed!

If this was a 4 pot engine, I'd say the characteristics would point to fuel/idle or ignition problems.
However, our Polo is idling at the correct level, somewhere just below 1000rpm, so either it's natural for the engine to vibrate in this manner or there's another problem!

[Foxhound]

I've got a 55 plate model which does exactly the same. I've had it into the Dealers who plugged it in and just said it was normal, but it seems to rumble a fair bit at idle.

Out of interest what does everyone else's sit at on the Rev counter when idle? Mine tends to sit just below 10, seemed a little high? Especially when my brother drives the previous 4 Cylinder 1.2 and his idles lower and smoother.

[rubiks]

send it to dealers they did compression test and they said it were ok,did software update they said and it should stop the vibration but is still there, i mean is not to bad vibration but i would thought is not normal,dont know what to do??

[ptolemy]

See if the dealer will let you drive another Polo with the three cylinder engine. That way you'll know if it's normal or not. Most VW dealerships run 1.2 Polos as service loan cars and so it shouldn't be too much to ask.

[BrickMan]

got another one here, a 2005 1.2 twist, also shakes at idle.

But more worryingly, the revs drop back to idle extrememly quickly, making gearchanges hard without having to blip hte throttle every time, never come across a normal road car that you have to do this with :confused:

Also there is no performance (well all 65pd of it) below 3,000rpm, in 1st,2nd,3rd, it will barely pull the cars weight atall. then it gets to 3,000 and its like a turbo just kicked in (even though it obviously doesn't have one).
ONly two weeks from dealer and got a whole host of minor problems.

Fuel consumption is also painful, down in the low 30's :mad:

[Foxhound]

got another one here, a 2005 1.2 twist, also shakes at idle.

But more worryingly, the revs drop back to idle extrememly quickly, making gearchanges hard without having to blip hte throttle every time, never come across a normal road car that you have to do this with :confused:

Also there is no performance (well all 65pd of it) below 3,000rpm, in 1st,2nd,3rd, it will barely pull the cars weight atall. then it gets to 3,000 and its like a turbo just kicked in (even though it obviously doesn't have one).
ONly two weeks from dealer and got a whole host of minor problems.

Fuel consumption is also painful, down in the low 30's :mad:
Isn't the Twist a MK6 model? I didn't think there was a 3 cyl engine in the MK6 range.

[ptolemy]

got another one here, a 2005 1.2 twist, also shakes at idle.

But more worryingly, the revs drop back to idle extrememly quickly, making gearchanges hard without having to blip hte throttle every time, never come across a normal road car that you have to do this with :confused:

Also there is no performance (well all 65pd of it) below 3,000rpm, in 1st,2nd,3rd, it will barely pull the cars weight atall. then it gets to 3,000 and its like a turbo just kicked in (even though it obviously doesn't have one).
ONly two weeks from dealer and got a whole host of minor problems.

Fuel consumption is also painful, down in the low 30's :mad:

Mine was a 2005 1.2 Twist and this engine does drop it's revs very quickly but it also revs very willingly. I quite liked the engine because it always felt more eager than it's power output suggested. I averaged 42 mpg over two years with one of these but the mpg with this engine is very susceptible to revs, which, if you're not used to this engine, you will use al lot of. I found the engine to be reasonably torquey and kept the revs under 4000 most of the time. Maybe I had a good one but I have driven about thirty or so of these in the past and never had a problem with all of the others that I drove. They do feel and sound a lot different to the regular four cylinder units in the 1.4 and 1.6 Polos and if you're unfamiliar with them, give the impression of a regular engine with a missfire. Best thing is to compare one with another car with the same 3 cyl engine, either Polo, Ibiza, Fox or Fabia......

[ptolemy]

Isn't the Twist a MK6 model? I didn't think there was a 3 cyl engine in the MK6 range.

The Twist first appeared as a special edition in the Mk2 Polo in the 1980s (I have one of the original brochures) and has reappeared since in later cars.

[BrickMan]

Mine was a 2005 1.2 Twist and this engine does drop it's revs very quickly but it also revs very willingly. I quite liked the engine because it always felt more eager than it's power output suggested. I averaged 42 mpg over two years with one of these but the mpg with this engine is very susceptible to revs, which, if you're not used to this engine, you will use al lot of. I found the engine to be reasonably torquey and kept the revs under 4000 most of the time. Maybe I had a good one but I have driven about thirty or so of these in the past and never had a problem with all of the others that I drove. They do feel and sound a lot different to the regular four cylinder units in the 1.4 and 1.6 Polos and if you're unfamiliar with them, give the impression of a regular engine with a missfire. Best thing is to compare one with another car with the same 3 cyl engine, either Polo, Ibiza, Fox or Fabia......


Thanks, this is a helpful post, but it tells me that there is defo something wrong.
I have just come from an 11yr old 150,000mile mk1 fiat punto 1.2 8v, and the punto would wipe the floor with the polo in power, torque, drivability, handling & fuel economy

Had the punto 5yrs, and in the early days, I was getting more like 49-54mpg on my work run, over time, this reduced to about 42mpg, so decided to go for something similar size, but newer.

I've been shocked wih th polo's economy, over 4tanks its only *just* averaged 40mpg, with just me, no passengers, no luggage, no dog :confused:
And thats me driving it extra careful. Theres got to be something wrong.
My other car, a 2002 Saab 93 Hot aero (remapped) 2.0 16v turbo 265bhp etc etc. Big heavy car,
THAT will get 40mpg on the work run, so how can a 1.2 polo be doing the same, when its body is so much lighter, theres got to be something wrong.

I'm still on warrenty, but its not a vw warrenty, the garage (non vw) has run a diagnostic, but its not a full vagcom job, and so nothing turned up.
I'm going to book it into the vw garage, then charge back to the garage for it.
Also got an a/c issue that just occured today :aargh4:
this car is causing me hassle, and only had it two weeks :( From careful looking at it & other polos at time of purchase it was by far the best aswell :(

[Gringo76]

See if the dealer will let you drive another Polo with the three cylinder engine. That way you'll know if it's normal or not. Most VW dealerships run 1.2 Polos as service loan cars and so it shouldn't be too much to ask.

I have managed to get my hands on another 3 pot Polo............by crashing my Audi damnit!!
Being repaired at a bodyshop at a Hyundia dealer and they run 1.2 Polo's as their courtesy vehicles
It's a 2008 with only 5k on the clock

So, compared with our 2006 polo with 16k on the clock, it idles exactly the same!!

Still going to take ours back under warranty and get them to check it out for compression and software update!!

[one_united]

Yep they all shake mines shakes as well and i asked the mechanic why it shakes he just laghed and said "its a 3 cylinder what do you expect?"

[Imran]

How do you know if its a 3cyl, wifeys polo is an 06 1.4 petrol. Her's sort of shakes at idle as well, she never notices it but when I drive it it feels like the engine is vibrating and feeding back into the car. Idle is rock solid, never hunts or goes up or down.

My 1999 passat is rock solid.

[ptolemy]

The only current 3cyl Polo engines are the 1.2 and 1.4 TDI. You can tell if it's a 3 cyl engine because it will have three plug leads (on the petrol). The 1.4 is a much smoother engine that the 1.2 and so if you have a shaky 1.4 it is probably not running quite right (unless it's the diesel).

[uknp5478]

I've got a 2006 Polo 1.2E this does the same and idles at well under 1000 revs more like 700 revs - Is this too low? Also driving back after a short motorway drive I found it was juddering at slower speed in lower gears - sound like this compression problem! Really worried now - only had it 1.5 months and it's only done 19,000 I never drive it hard. It's a 3 cylinder I know but the juddering I have experienced isn't normal. Please help!

Many thanks

[kingsleysaywell]

I just thought it was normal but mine is an older model

[rluckjess]

Hi,

I have had this problem too and VW will not fix it for me as it is out of warranty and I have had 1 non VW service even though it used VW approved parts. I feel this is completely unfair as it wasn't the service that caused the problem - it is a manufacturing quality issue, they are just using excuses to get out of it. Apparently the loss of compression is caused by a leak in the exhaust valve - very expensive to fix, not sure what I'm going to do now as I just can't afford to fix this. Just to let everyone know VW will offer to fix this (parts only) if you have had it reg serviced with VW. I think it's horrendous as it is comparable to blackmail - all the independent garages will go out of business soon if we all did this and there are plenty of great independent garages out there who follow the service schedule to the letter and use approved parts like mine. Oh well, I'll chalk it down to experience.

[heliosuk]

This is would appear to be an inherrant design fault. VW cannot blame fuel quality as pattern of defects with different cylinders does not tie up. The problem here is manufacturing process controls or design issues.
I would urge people affected by this problem to write to VW Milton Keynes and complain and not accept any excuse. Frankly I find it quite pathetic that a manufacturer should take this stance. BMW tried the same thing untill they realised the extent of the problem. The cars that have this fault were inherrantly faulty from the day they left the factory and to blame poor fuel quality is a cop out. They are obliged to make cars that can run on a minimum standard of fuel with no long term damage.

It's perhaps one of the most pathetic excuses I've heard from a manufacturer for an inherrant design fault. All fuels have to meet a quality standard in the EU and it makes no difference about servicing as this fault is not related.

How the hell they can blame fuel quality when it only affects one cylinder is beyond me as the same fuel supplies all cylinders.

If VW think they will get away with this then think again. Funny how it only affects low mileage cars over a certain age. Smacks of the BMW issue to me!!!

If VW says no then you should say no!

[heliosuk]

Anyone got anything further to add to this as the issue is bigger than one thinks. I reckon we'll see more of it.

[vc-10]

What if the car only does it occasionally? Mine occasionally (it's done it maybe 3 times so far) shakes at idle. This does with the lightest of touches on the accelerator, bringing it up to about 1000rpm. It normally idles at about 800. It also makes some very interesting gurgling noises under hardish acceleration. It still pulls as well as it ever did, and it's due for a service in the next 1000 miles so I'll ask them to look at it, but is it likely to cost me a bomb?

[heliosuk]

I think the problem is that on idle the valves don't rotate as much which would explain the occasionality of it. At speed the valves rotate thus masking it to a certain extent. How many miles on the car? I think if you are over 40K miles you are probably safe so the evidence so far suggests. It seems to be the cars with little mileage at a certain age where the problem is becoming apparent. It would not do any harm to ask for a wet and dry compression test with a leakage test to be sure. About an hours work in all. Provided it's done correctly should give you piece of mind.

[VDub07]

ive got a 1.2 05 3 cyl polo and yea they do shake a little, you will know when something is wrong (head gasket goes because of the flimsy aluminium head) if the car is shaking like your in an earthquake and liquid/white smoke is coming out of the exhaust.. the last time it happened to mine i had the head skimmed and changed the coil pack and spark plugs and it was fine.. but i wish i knew about the 3 cyl problems before i bought it!