Stalling

[Wispy68]

My car keeps stalling when I slow down and stop at a junction, and takes a while to start up again. The engine has also been making a kind of 'chugging' sound whilst in a low gear, and will sometimes sound more like a diesel engine than a petrol one! It's not down to age, as the car is only three years old. Before I take it to the garage, does anyone have any ideas as to what it could be?

[BenDToy]

Not sure but from what you describe it would be worth getting it looked at fairly quickly. Could be a fuel problem or maybe electronics. Could you just confirm the chugging sound is in low gear, at low speed, or low revs? Forgive me if I am being patronising but when you take your car to the garage, be sure to tell them not to do anything with out telling you what they are going to do, and how much it will cost. If not careful you can end up with a large bill for them to say they tested it and didn't find anything! Issue specific instructions not to do any work without your specific authorisation.

[Moog]

Have you run the car really low on petrol recently? Sounds like dirt in the jets to me, happens when you run low on petrol and the muck in the bottom of the tank blocks the jets which let fuel into the cylinder, should be easy to rectify if this is the case they can simply blow air through, should cost you next to nothing

[William]

Carburettor might need cleaning - happened a lot on my VW Polo (common in Polos). The AA did the best job fixing it, with an air jet (for free) after one stall. Otherwise could be electrical - which would probably (or should) also be cheap.

[Harley]

Sounds like fuel starvation.When you fill up is there a rush of air? Could be a blocked filter.You see when the car is running it sucks in a huge amount of air and petrol. When it idles there may not be enough suction to keep the engine going, check filter and carb for blockages.