Hi Everyone,

The exhaust on my mk1 vrs estate is rattling when I start the car from cold. The car will stall unless I give it a few revs. Once the engine has run for a few minutes it calms down and starts with no rattling or stalling. I had the heat shield rattle and removed this so I know it's not that causing it. Car is 03 plate and only done 69,000 miles so don't think it's the cat. Any advice or ideas would be much appreciated!!!

Hi Everyone,

The exhaust on my mk1 vrs estate is rattling when I start the car from cold. The car will stall unless I give it a few revs. Once the engine has run for a few minutes it calms down and starts with no rattling or stalling. I had the heat shield rattle and removed this so I know it's not that causing it. Car is 03 plate and only done 69,000 miles so don't think it's the cat. Any advice or ideas would be much appreciated!!!

 

Are you sure it is exhaust rattle?

 

Might be the secondary air pump. This is activated at start up and then comes off after around 50 seconds when CAT is warmed up.

Then it will not be used after car is warm so might explain why you are ok on re start up.

The SAI pump  can rattle if the rivets come loose.

Check with bonnet up to see if sound is coming from front engine or more underneath car.

I think the problem is with SAI or a coilpack is close to death

Many thanks, I took the car out about half an hour ago and for the first 30 seconds I had very little power and couldn't get the car over about 10mph. It sorted itself out after that and was fine. Is this likely to be linked? This is the first time it has done that....

Mine did something similar before I ripped the SAI system out and hooked it into the nearest skip.

 

A scan with VCDS will tell you if you have a coilpack dying too.

Scanned the car with a VCDS today and no codes came up. I'm guessing it may be the SIA causing problems, although I don't think that explains the loss of power????