Intermittent Fault with VW Polo - Help!

[nordberg]

My better half's trusty old VW Polo has developed an annoying and very odd fault. About 6 months ago, she went out to it and it was dead. Now power - not even enough to power the interior light. I had a look, put a meter on the battery and it showed a full charge. Wobbled the terminal connectors and it came to life. Cleaned and tightened the terminals, and considered it case closed.

Three months later, same thing happened. Again I wiggled the connectors, but this time no joy. Got to thinking it was most likely a bad earth. Removed and sanded and cleaned the two earths I could get to - one on the engine block and one on the chassis. Came to life again. Case closed once more.

This past Sunday, after travelling 75 miles in it, she parked it up for 2 mins, came back to it and it was dead. I tried the usual only this time no joy. Called the recovery guy who came out and tried his best but couldn't identify it. Told us he'd have to recover it back home or to a garage etc. I closed the bonnet and, voila, the hazards came on and normal service was resumed! At this point I thought lets try and kill it whilst it's running. Started wiggling pretty much anything even remotely electrical but nothing. Finally reached over to the earthing strap between the wing and the bonnet, touched it, lights and engine stopped and the car was dead again. So we got it recovered and it's been sat on the drive since. Then, tonight we get a knock on the door from the next door neighbour telling us the hazards are flashing on the bloody thing. Sure enough, they were and it starts right up.

Where do we go with this. It's a 1995 1.6 in pretty mint condition but not worth an awful lot so I'm loathed to spend the ridiculous fees a garage will charge to spend looking at - most likely without identifying/fixing the issue. I don't want her driving because if it cuts out when it's moving, it could be lethal.

Anyone got any ideas where to go with it? I thought I would replace the battery terminal connectors this weekend and see if that makes any odds. Problem is though, it's working at the moment so I really won't know if anything I do is helping. We just have to wait and see if it happens again and, as mentioned above, it could be lethal.

[jimmyp]

Ritey is pretty clued up on the Polo's i believe, might be worth having a chat to him, tho im sure others will be along soonest.

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[rhyds]

Did you check the other end of the battery positive cable attached to the starter? If your sure that the battery's fine (you could try replacing it, it could be faulty internally) then I'd suspect the alternator or maybe the wiring in to the fusebox or the fusebox itself.

[nordberg]

Didn't check the other end of the postitive on the starter. If it was that wouldn't I have power but no starter?

[rhyds]

It depends on the car, but some do take a feed from the starter terminal for some circuits, so worth checking.