My girlfriend has a 2002 VW beetle with a 2.0 8v engine. for about the last 12 months she has complained about intermittent engine management light and poor performance.

 

Tonight I drove it home and as I came of the motorway, stopped at the bottom of the sliproad at the lights, as i pulled off the car went very hesitant, managment light was flashing intermitently and the car sounded as though it was on 3 cylinders. It would clear soon after but under hard acceleration the problem reoccured...

 

So far the car has had two new o2 sensors and a new cat.

 

Any ideas whats wrong with it guys?

 

Thanks, Dan

You had it plugged in to diagnostics mate? Would be the first thing to check see if the car can tell you what's wrong as the EML has been on.

sorry forgot to say only codes it has thrown up is o2 sensors

Has it ever had any coil packs? Not sure if the 2.0 8v is affected the same but my gf's 1.6 16v golf has had to have all its coils replaced, at least once if not more often.

 

It throws a management light and of course runs like a bag of shit as its on 3.

Quavey is right - that was gonna be my next question. They do have problems with coilpacks. But another cheaper thing to check first - although it might seem a little obvious is the condition of the plugs. Have they been changed recently? Seems to have been some confusion on the plug change intervals so if you don't know of them ever being changed I'd change them anyway and while you're there check the state of the plug leads as IIRC they are known for seeing some abuse as the plugs are well recessed similar to the zed.

Cheers guys, Ile get them checked asap :-D