VW Golf won't idle.

W.Shakes-Beer

My friend has a 1.4 Mk4 Golf.

He has this problem where he starts it from cold and it wont idle, it just cuts out.

When it warms up slightly by holding the pedal it'll idle but only down at 500RPM.

He cleaned the throttle body with carb cleaner today and it seemed to help slightly but once the car has been sitting cold it starts with a very low idle and almost cuts itself out.

I was thinking maybe idle control valve but im not sure if it has one (not really a VW nut).

Anyone come across this problem?

Muckie

Could be any number of faults really.

Cleaning the idle control valve could help.

If no improvement its possible the O2 sensor or engine temp sensor might
be at fault.

Do any fault code lights/check engine lights appear on the dash.

mickdw

Could be a cracked hose/air somewhere on the air intake

Nissan doctor

If there are no warning lights on then remove and clean out the crank case breather pipe, it runs from down the rear of the engine to the air filter housing and can get badly clogged on that engine causing bad idling.

couldntthink

One of two things.

1. Remove the air filter and cover, this eliminates the crankcase pipe from the equation. Turn on the ignition and get someone to press the acc pedal. Spray carb cleaner around the flap, especially around the edges. Start the engine and rev the fukc out of it. If it still doesn't idle....

2. Get a coolant temp sensor. Every motor factors will have one, it's easy to change and it's cheap. Very common problem on all VW'S.

pie-man

idle is controled by the throttle motor. after cleaning it
you should perform an adaption of the throttle motor with a computer. maybe thats all it needs. but as stated previously it could be a number of things.

W.Shakes-Beer

Thanks for the info guys, I'll pass it on to my friend!