Engine Warning light

[AndyMitton]

Another problem...my engine warning light came on the other day and stayed on. its not the EPC or whatever, its the one shaped like an engine, that the book describes as being an emissions warning light.
it had an MOT other week.  the Temeperature gauge reasy 90deg, but decides to go to zero degrees when it pleases...although this happened before the engine light came on. getting on VAGCOM in next week or so. anyone shed any light as to common things? also, i replced the DV the other week, but again, the engine light came on way after replacing this. no obvious leaks. Engine seems to run ok. ever so slghtly lumpy at idle, but nothing untoward as such...acceleration can seem a little inconcistent in that if you just tickle the throttle it seems to want to go...boot it and doesn't feel as good by far.  when you tickle it or boot it right after starting, seems to be great, then warms up and doesnt pull as much as i expect. pulls well in 5th from 70, so may just be illusion, however may be linked?

ANY help aprreciated. its a 2000 (X reg) 1.8 turbo by the way

[arnoldlog1]

i know this sounds crazy but you checked ur brake lights? its a common fault that the switch goes under the pedal and that brings on the engine fault light.

[AlanD]

Emission warning lamp is actually the engine management light. I know in the book that's what it called, no idea why.

Basically means something wrong, a sensor has gone, coil packs have gone etc - Its a very general light, could be anything.

Best idea is to take to someone with VAGCOM and get to plugged in and the error code read out and then the problem can be sorted.

FYI the light wont go off until its reset via VAGCOM.

[ub7rm]

I would be tempted to say its your temp sensor, it would give you exactly the symptoms your describe (as would a dodgy MAF or O2 sensor btw) and as your gauge is floating about it does suggest you need a new one anyway.  Prety easy and cheap to do yourself, there are a few how to's going about if you google it.  Very common fault with all VW's.....

The ECU will tolerate a certain amount of 'nonsense' from the various sensors, which can affect performance, without necessarily tripping the check engine light.  Its only when they really misbehave that the light comes on and the ECU then basically ignores the sensor and tries to make do without it.

HTH

[AndyMitton]

thanks for that guys. no stranger to stripping engines, so no probs with that; got a 1.8 VVC rover engine (from my BRM) in bits at the moment...rather complicated timing.lol

anyway...i thought there are 2 temp sensors; one for the ECU and one for the dial? or is mine a combined one? ill find out on the VAG, but anyone know whether this is right for my particular model? (that's the case for my VVC, not sure about the v dub bock?)
Thanks guys

[m00ni71]

my engine management light came on 2 days ago!!get a error read out on your car this will tell you what the fault is & how many!!!it  plugs into your dash'  anyway i did this with mine and it came back with the results that my fuel was to rich on cylinder 1 so it reset the error codes and turned off my light on the dash it has stayed off since it' costs about £20

[AlanD]

You just ignored the face that your car was telling you that your fuel was running too rich? lol

[Lennon]

Mine came on about 6 months ago so I took my PC down into the car (don't have a laptop!)

Came up as
1 Fault Found:
16556 - Fuel Trim: System Too Rich: Bank 1
P0172 - 35-00 - -

I reset it and it's not come back on since.  Not really sure if that is a similar error code to yours but I haven't had any trouble with it since, so hopefully my engine isn't dying from the inside or something

[Cheeky Monkey]

Had the same probs many times, the engine light would light up and read the same message. I toke the MAF sensor off and got a new one frow VW about £65 and hey presto....................................

Dan

[AlanD]

Mine came on about 6 months ago so I took my PC down into the car (don't have a laptop!)

Sorry but that cracked me up !

I can just picture it now