1994 Volkswagen Polo Parade Coupe from UK and Ireland - Comments

No faults other than an intermittent cut-out, that has ruined the experience of the car. It's been at VW specialists, electricians, and VW franchise (the latter particularly uselesss) to no avail. Had 2 new distributors, & coil, meaning it has become a very costly.

Know others who have these and have few problems. Mine would be great if someone could cure its stalling. I've been lucky with where its lost power so far, but its certainly a dangerous fault.

Check the connections on the low voltage side of the ignition coil. I had a similar problem with another car - the dealer was expensive and useless, the trusty backstreet mechanic couldn't help either, but at least didn't charge. Turned out to be intermittent contact at the low-voltage side connector to the ignition coil. Solved it forever by greasing the pins with conductive grease - the stuff you can buy for battery terminals, with some ground pencil core added (graphite). Don't short the two pins accidentally though.

Symptoms: misfires (engine shaking when idling, followed by a blipin revs when EMU tried to compensate) ; cutout when on the move - total loss of power, mostly the engine would kick back in, occasionally not, sometimes would subsequently turn over, but not catch. Some embarrassing situations at roundabouts, some scary moments in the fast lane on motorway.. Good luck.

Blimey, you've just described the exact fault I have with a 1998 Polo.

Similar scenario with the parts being changed, new dizzy caps etc, fault still not cured.

Car cuts out with no regular pattern, can do it everyday twice a day or not at all for over a week. Cuts out, sometimes comes back, but sometimes doesn't. If it doesn't then it doesn't re-start easily.

Will get it looked into!

Iv just bought a 1990 polo parade coupe 1.3, runs exelent so far, very quick for all standard parts aswell, I feel I've made a good choice... Tommy.

I've got a Polo Coupe 1.0 L. I get an ignition problem too, coil & ignition has been replaced, fuel pump has been replaced, ignition has been replaced, but still no cure. Can someone can suggest something please?

I had a 1.3 1995 Coupe. Last week the clutch decided to burn out, which is OK seeing as the car has done nearly 180,000 miles. I'm scrapping the car. But the point of writing was to say that the only problem I've had with the car was with the electrics. It was an intermittent fault that would cause the vehicle to just give up while in motion. A couple of months ago I headed down to the local garage one evening for a newspaper. The car started first time on the way down, but I came out of the garage and there was nothing: no lights, no electrics whatsoever. And there it stayed for two hours until the AA arrived. The mechanic had no idea what was wrong, suggesting that a new distributor was needed. He towed it back to my place. I go out the next day... and the car starts first time >:o It's been an on-going problem with this Polo. It had an electric ignition, which has also caused problems, but other than that it's been a fine little car to drive. I was going to upgrade to the next model i.e. the current styling, but I've read bad things about them, so I'm not!