Any ideas on rough idling for the MK1 VRS?

 

Seems to go up and down, sometimes to the point where you feel like it is going to stall. But when the engine is fully warm it does improve. 

 

I have no idea if the coil packs have ever been changed as I got the car as a bit of a project, and the guy before me had treated it not so good.

 

I did do the spark plugs myself, but am wondering if I over-tightened them or not. I didn't use a torque wrench just hand.

 

Sometimes when accelerating as well, it can seem very laggy, slow to boot, almost as if the turbo sticks sometimes.

 

It has had a stage one remap, running at 220BHP. I did manage to track the guy down who done this some years ago, and he said just keep your eye on it as the car was in a bit of a state when it was brought in. I thought £80/£90 for a stage one was very cheap, thats why I rang him, but he seemed genuine and said any problems bring her back. As far as I know, it had a completely different car map on when the previous owner took her in, so he had to put the original MK1 VRS map on. I believe they put a popcorn limiter on as well.

 

I'd be very very worried about a Stage 1 remap for that price. A generic or custom rolling maps start from at least £250...

Firstly I'd look at all the pvc and piping to make sure you've got no leaks, having a boost leak will cause the car to be sluggish and nearly undriveable. A bad remap could cause all kinds of issues too. So if this was me, I'd remove that remap and go back to stock.
 

25 minutes ago, DeanVRS20VT said:

I'd be very very worried about a Stage 1 remap for that price. A generic or custom rolling maps start from at least £250...

Firstly I'd look at all the pvc and piping to make sure you've got no leaks, having a boost leak will cause the car to be sluggish and nearly undriveable. A bad remap could cause all kinds of issues too. So if this was me, I'd remove that remap and go back to stock.
 

Thats what I thought. But he assured me its a genuine map, and something along the lines that they are based on rally tuning. They are not round my area though, thats the trouble.

 

Any idea on the cost of removing the map and putting it back to stock?

Rally map on a public road? Really? What nonsense!

 

I wouldn’t know of the top of my head, but a vag specialist who deals with tuning is who you need. But I did find this topic for you.

Possibility is Will from VRS Performance (Northampton). You see Will a lot on Calvin's Car Diary (YouTube).

Edited 8 May, 20206 yr by DeanVRS20VT

may seem stupid, but what spark plugs did you get, and did you gap them?

I seem to recall there being an issue with remapped cars and the gaps not being correctly set (cant remember if it was brand specific or not)

 

and I agree with dean - "rally map" sounds like bull**** 🤨

 

also, disconnect the maf and run it, if its failing that causes rough idling and could cause power drop if the air isnt being measured properly (assuming no leaks)

 

Adding to what Mac is saying, I use BKR7E which are gapped to 0.28 for remaped cars (I'm stage 2 on my Black VRS). Stock it should be BKR6E and gapped to 0.32. I use these plugs as I change them every 10k or once a year depending on mileage, maybe twice a year if I do more.

Also, double check your coil packs and make sure they're seated correct as they can work themselves loose.

check the revision number on the coil packs too..

if they are original, you MIGHT get some joy from a dealer on the recall action if it wasnt done.

They were Bosch Super range, and indeed did match up to the item number on Euro Car Parts etc. They were left in the car by the owner as he didn't get round to fitting them, but no, I didn't check the gaps as I assumed they came pre-gapped nowadays?

 

I did ring a local tuner who does remaps and he just laughed when I told him about the remap. He said sounds like they have bought something off eBay cheap and installed it through their laptop. I think his stage one remaps are £180 for my car, and £80 to flash the ECU back to stock.

 

Was looking through my documents today and found the invoice for the remap, which was actually done on 07/02/2020. The price was actually for £120, stage one + launch control, kicks in at 4000 rpm 1st gear at max boost threshold. Once driven away no responsibility. There is a link below to the remapper on facebook, so will be interested to hear feedback from people on here. The name is Mike:s remaps.

 

https://www.facebook.com/pg/mikesremaps/about/?ref=page_internal

 

 

Bloody hell...

 

To save your self hassle and money, if you have any intention to add a remap later. Just get a stage 1 now instead of going to stock.

 

R-Tech (Who I’d recommend)

VRS Northampton

Badger5

 

Or anyone that has a unit with rollers, and has a great rep from people.

+1 for R-Tech.

Been monitoring the VRS closely.

 

Have not took it to a garage yet, but atm it is behaving strangely.

 

Sometimes it takes a 2nd or 3rd crank with the keys to get going very occasionally.

 

Main problem is that when I am driving, it is lurching quite badly at times now. Like when I accelerate, it jolts/jerks when accelerating. Hard to describe, as if you accelerate and quickly remove foot, then repeat and repeat. Goes away after a while, usually when warmed up to correct temp. 

 

I'm not sure if its the turbo as its doing it before the turbo kicks in. I think the turbo was set to kick in at 3500 or 4000 rpm, will have to check on that one. 

 

Any ideas on this?

As mac11irl asked earlier, what revision are your coilpacks?, are they originals from the factory, as they may be ready for their pension by now.

 

There was a factory recall program for coilpacks which I believe is still active if they are original.

 

Coils/ignition system are under most load under acceleration, especially when on boost,

 

Do you have a code reader available to you or that you can borrow?, early failling packs may not register a code yet, but one that is nearly about to completely go electrically dead probably will.

 

Worth a check, also, check the wiring loom to the coil packs across the cam cover for heat cracking/degrading of the insulation. Tape up any wiring that you can see the copper core visible.

 

Also while  you are there, make sure the coil loom earth tag onto the cam box is tight and clean.

 

Wont take long to check, and most of this is just time, rather than parts outlay.

 

One last thing, was there any oil in the plug tubes when you changed the plugs?, as build up of oil wil cause the plug to short and misfire.

Edited 12 June, 20205 yr by kentphil1

On 12/06/2020 at 22:47, kentphil1 said:

As mac11irl asked earlier, what revision are your coilpacks?, are they originals from the factory, as they may be ready for their pension by now.

 

There was a factory recall program for coilpacks which I believe is still active if they are original.

 

Coils/ignition system are under most load under acceleration, especially when on boost,

 

Do you have a code reader available to you or that you can borrow?, early failling packs may not register a code yet, but one that is nearly about to completely go electrically dead probably will.

 

Worth a check, also, check the wiring loom to the coil packs across the cam cover for heat cracking/degrading of the insulation. Tape up any wiring that you can see the copper core visible.

 

Also while  you are there, make sure the coil loom earth tag onto the cam box is tight and clean.

 

Wont take long to check, and most of this is just time, rather than parts outlay.

 

One last thing, was there any oil in the plug tubes when you changed the plugs?, as build up of oil wil cause the plug to short and misfire.

Will do a code reading soon on my laptop. 

 

Have had a look at the coil packs and taken pictures of the information on them. Hopefully somebody on here will be able to let me know if they are eligible for the recall. It appears there are two different matching pairs of coil packs. I've uploaded a photo showing each one. 

 

Must say that there are quite a few black cable ties holding on hoses. Surely this isn't normal, I would have thought jubilee clips.... 

Those are revision D coils, the part number on both is 06A 905 115 D, it is the letter on the end that denotes how recent the coil is.

 

I agree the coils look different, but they appear to be OEM, so it could be worth a call to your local main agent to see if your car has had the recall carried out yet.

 

This is the thread with the most info for you on the subject -

In answer to your other question, no cable ties are not the norm, but are we talking large bore hoses or small bore vacuum lines on your car?.

Have rang the dealership but need to ring again when open as they need the chassis number because the car is too old to search on their system by REG apparently. 

 

Tbh I've only had the car 3 months and have ran out of patience with it. Seriously considering putting it for sale 500 sold as seen. 

 

Getting to the point now where I'm holding the accelerator right to the floor on occasions and it's taking about 5-10 seconds to actually show any signs of power/boost. 

 

Starting the car is becoming a very increasing worry as well. Taking 3-4 long cranks before she ticks over. 

 

 

Edited 27 June, 20205 yr by dale89

2 hours ago, dale89 said:

Have rang the dealership but need to ring again when open as they need the chassis number because the car is too old to search on their system by REG apparently. 

 

Tbh I've only had the car 3 months and have ran out of patience with it. Seriously considering putting it for sale 500 sold as seen. 

 

Getting to the point now where I'm holding the accelerator right to the floor on occasions and it's taking about 5-10 seconds to actually show any signs of power/boost. 

 

Starting the car is becoming a very increasing worry as well. Taking 3-4 long cranks before she ticks over. 

 

 

 

Don’t loose faith, you may have a couple of split pipes which can cause all sorts of issues.

 

Do you have a copy of a scan? You can attach it here as a .txt document.