Good evening, I hope someone can give me some sound advice.

I'm in the process of buying a 2003 1.2 S Polo but I have some concerns.

Its appears to be in immaculate condition with only 52k miles.

When starting the car, which turned over first time, the car felt like it was juddering and didn't feel right.

When driving it was fine but the juddering is an issue.

The salesman states that the 3 cylinder engines do this and its nothing to be concerning about.

Well, I'm concerned. It's not what I expect when buying a car.

What do you think?

Any advice is gratefully received.

 

Welcome to the forum Kris.

So where do you feel this juddering when you operate the clutch?

Or while you drive the car it judders/vibrates?

Its nice to see your car spec in your signature.

 

But you still haven't really said if your operating the clutch when this happens?

You can check the condition of the engine and gearbox mountings.

 

Gents

Thank you for replying and apologies for not getting back sooner.

I also changed my signature as I originally called it an S but its actually an E.

The car gently judders/vibrates when stationary without any pressure on the accelerator but as soon as there's any acceleration its stops vibrating and drives very well. It sounds like a motorbike engine!

I understand that its a 3 cylinder so as it has a cylinder missing these engines behave like this but is nothing to be concerned about. Our local garage owners that I have used for 15 years were ex VW/Audi technicians before going solo and I trust them completly.

The cam chain was changed at 40k miles and it has a FSH. Its only 52k now and my wife is very happy with it.

You probably gathered that we purchased it.

The gentle shaking isn't my idea of fun but Mrs Kris enjoys it......

 

Thanks your signature looks great. I think the E is just the economy version.

Just do what I've suggested.

Just because its a 3 cylinder the engine balance is better than a 4 cylinder so that will make no difference. Does it idle smoothly without any misfire?

 

I think after applying the brakes, when car gains the motion again, for instance moving after light goes green or starting initially from home, office or any of the place, the car would be shivering, vibrating or juddering which obviously no driver likes. Its not a critical problem but it should not be left just like that. One thing can be done that if the car is taken to the authorized dealer, then he can arrange a proper mechanic for this purpose.

 

Well

An approved garage that I've used for the last 11 years looked at the car and within 10 seconds sat in it, it was diagnosed with a misfire.

He plugged his thingymebob in it and it was determined that I was losing 100 psi on valve 1.

Engine stripped, garage did their thing with the engine and valves and after 2 - 3 days I have a wonderful smooth responsive Polo.

The £700 bill was sorted amicably with the second hand dealer and myself.

We are now confident we have a sound car following a trusted garage repairing a damaged engine.

Not an ideal way of purchasing a car but in the end we're all happy.

Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated.

Cheers

Kris.

 

So don't you know when an engine is running on 3 cylinders Kris?

 

I understand that it is originally 3 cylinders, so maybe, was it running on only 2? I' m not sure.
All I know is that its now running beautifully.

 

Even a 3 cylinder engine is balanced so if its running on 2 cylinder it will be more out of balance.

As I've said before as you can appreciate it isn't easy diagnosing faults over the web.

I'm glad it running ok for you now.