Troubleshooting what's wrong with our 2013 VW Polo 1.2 Turbo

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turtleattacks

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#293758 11-Feb-2022 20:23

Hi all,

We have a 2013 VW Polo 1.2 Turbo, the car stutters only when it's the first drive of the day, for about 10-15 mins then it's fine.

Wife said that she literally needs to fully accelerate just to hit 50 kmh.

The car also displays. EPC and Traction control lights.

About the car

All the spark plugs were changed at around 58,000KMs.

At the mechanic

We took this car to the mechanic and they scanned the car and got a P030300 Cylinder

They checked the engine and thought it might be the spark plug leads so it was replaced.

Car runs fine after the change, no error codes afterwards so they thought it's been resolved.

The next day

Next day, first drive of the day the car is stuttering and spits out the EPC code again.

Is there any reason why this only happens in the first drive of the day and not when the car is warmer or later in the day/second/third drive?

https://imgur.com/a/U9Yj3RS

Things to troubleshoot

Accidentally putting in lower octane rather than the required high octane?
Sensor issue?
Coils

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timmmay

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#2866659 11-Feb-2022 20:34

Stuttering sounds like my 2003 Corolla when it first starts in winter, but it doesn't do the other two things. Wonder if you should find a specialist in that brand.

insane

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#2866663 11-Feb-2022 20:44

P0303 is a misfire error code, and the last 00 is a severity rating. I'd hazard a guess and say one or more coil packs need replacing. Also check battery voltage / condition.

The coilpacks energise the sparkplugs - I needed to replace two on my Audi A3 (similar VW family engine) at 75K or there abouts after having misfires too. You really really notice it when it's happening!

I have a vagcom scanner (akl north shore) if you need another scan at some point.

Bung

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#2866672 11-Feb-2022 21:14

Mention of spark lead is confusing. Is it a 3 cylinder with individual coils on top of the plugs or a 4 cylinder with leads and 1 coil pack? If it has individual coils, swapping say 2 and 3 and having the fault become p0302 would show that the moved coil pack is faulty.

insane

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#2866706 11-Feb-2022 22:41

Bung: Mention of spark lead is confusing. Is it a 3 cylinder with individual coils on top of the plugs or a 4 cylinder with leads and 1 coil pack? If it has individual coils, swapping say 2 and 3 and having the fault become p0302 would show that the moved coil pack is faulty.

Yeah the TFSI/TSI engines all use individual packs per cylinder.

And yeah you're right re swapping them, hopefully the failed ones are bad enough to show up fairly quickly. Could also be a blocked/restricted injector though but I guess that'll be figured out via elimination.

OP should perhaps go to a VW specialist, this should be table steaks for them.