Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

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aatlab
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Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

Post by aatlab »

Hi all,

I did a regular oil service on my car this weekend and after that the engine felt "spongy". i.e. just plain sluggish. This morning it was even jerking.

My thought are that it could be one of 3 things.

[*]Spark plugs? Perhaps a dud one? How do I check?
[*]Oil - I used to use 15W-40 in the past, but this time they gave me 20W-40 as part of the service kit. Can that make any difference?
[*]Fuel filter - I forgot to check the fuel flow direction before taking off the old one. After some searching, it seems the arrow should point towards the passenger side. Is this correct?

I have searched the forums before this post, but couldn't come up with the specific answers I was looking for.

The water mount block was also changed, but that shouldnt produce any effect on the engine (unless of course I didnt put liquid in :fear: )

Cheers,
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Re: Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

Post by chucker02 »

Did you maybe wash the engine after servicing?
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Re: Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

Post by PoloB »

chucker02 wrote: Mon Oct 15, 2018 10:56 pm Did you maybe wash the engine after servicing?
Same thoughts here, Might have gotten some water in where it shouldn't have give it a day or 2 drive the car for a long distance to heat up engine try next day problem should go away if its just water
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Re: Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

Post by aatlab »

Thanks guys,

There was a fair amount of water that came out during the water block change and "maybe" some water may have leaked into a cylinder past a plug. I have driven the car a few times and hot enough to evaporate any standing water.

Could it be anything else? The car really feels sluggish and even stutters at times. This is noticeable while driving and not really when idling.

Did I get the fuel filter flow right? i.e. pointing towards passenger side?
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Re: Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

Post by PoloB »

"There was a fair amount of water that came out during the water block change"

What do you mean with water block change?

What was done on the car just a basic oil change service or did you do any repairs with this?
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Re: Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

Post by ICE King »

The arrow on the fuel filter is the direction of flow , should be flowing towards the engine

Did you check the spark plug gap? It's usually preset as they say but found instances where there was no gap.
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aatlab
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Re: Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

Post by aatlab »

I did the oil service first (filters / plugs / oil), then removed the water block, flushed out some of the water using a hose pipe into the expansion tank. Placed new water block and filled up with anti freeze. The water did flow past one or two plugs while emptying.

I didnt specifically check the spark plug gap (as I didnt know the spec at the time, which I see now is 0.7), but all plugs had a gap. Plugs were Bosch if that makes any difference.

Regarding the fuel filter, I understand the flow is towards the engine, but it was difficult to check where the pipes are coming from due to the location of the filter behind the fuel tank. I also couldn't elevate the car much, so was tricky to check from underneath.
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Re: Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

Post by panic-mechanic »

Sorry what is a water mount block
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Re: Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

Post by aatlab »

Perhaps the actual name I am using is incorrect, but it is the part that connects the main water hose's to the engine block, e.g. the radiator hose. It has 3 connections and also holds, I believe, the water temp sensor.
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Re: Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

Post by panic-mechanic »

what you describes connects to the cylinder head - not the block i think. Water extension housing.
If it connect to the block then it might be the thermostat housing
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Re: Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

Post by aatlab »

You are correct, the cylinder head. Sorry it wasn't clear. Thank you.

In any event, I doubt this has any bearing on the problem I am having. If I think about it logically, the main culprit would be spark plugs right? then perhaps the oil, however if I understand right the oil I am now using should be fine?
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Re: Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

Post by panic-mechanic »

If with the extension housing you also changed the water temp sender it could have a bearing on your problem. But you don't say if you did or not.
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Re: Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

Post by aatlab »

I only changed the actual housing as it was leaking. The sender was the old one.

I took out the spark plugs to test them and they are all fine, however these do not look good after just 2 weeks. This was the worst of the four. One was good, the other two were varying degrees less "dirty" than this one (number 2 cylinder).

Does this indicate a too rich fuel mixture? My exhaust fumes (edit my car's exhaust fumes) are quite heavy.

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Re: Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

Post by panic-mechanic »

Yes. And once more could be caused by a faulty water temp sender....
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Re: Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

Post by Dub rox »

panic-mechanic wrote:Yes. And once more could be caused by a faulty water temp sender....
Could be these wires got wet or the wires on the plug to the sensor are not making propper contact. They can be brittle from heat. Check those aswell because you had to remove the plug to remove the sensor and replace the housing.

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Re: Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

Post by aatlab »

Thanks for your responses guys.

Please help me to understand how the water temp sensor will affect performance or show up on the spark plug like this? I dont get it. The spark plug is indicating either a rich mixture or perhaps an oil leak. Although I dont think its an oil leak.

The water temp gauge seems to act as usual. Also, am I correct in saying that the thermostat and the temp sensor are separate and do not affect each other?
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Re: Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

Post by Dub rox »

aatlab wrote:Thanks for your responses guys.

Please help me to understand how the water temp sensor will affect performance or show up on the spark plug like this? I dont get it. The spark plug is indicating either a rich mixture or perhaps an oil leak. Although I dont think its an oil leak.

The water temp gauge seems to act as usual. Also, am I correct in saying that the thermostat and the temp sensor are separate and do not affect each other?
Your temp switch tells the ecu when the engine is cold or hot and fuel it accordingly. More fuel for cold start and normal when the engine has reached optimum working temp.

The thermostat and sender are two different items all together but work in unicen with eachother. As soon as your engine reaches the optimum working temp the thermostat will open and the hot water will read on the temp switch to tell the ecu to fuel according.

Long story short, if it's busted the ecu will think the engine is still cold and overfuel.

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Re: Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

Post by aatlab »

Thank you Dub rox,

Great answer, now I understand and can joint the dots Just one more question before getting a new sender.

Does the sender have any bearing on the temp gauge? Because that has stayed exactly in the middle just as it always has.
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Re: Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

Post by panic-mechanic »

On 6n that should be. 4 pin sensor. Thus it is 2 senders in one. One of them displays the dash and the other talks to the management. Without plugging in vcds or such you have no idea whatbthe management is seeing as it is totally seperate from the one on the dash.
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Re: Polo Playa - 6N performance bad after oil service

Post by aatlab »

Gotcha, thank you.
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