Emissions Warning

Neimad · Post by **Neimad** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 4:40 pm

Friday (13th) morning going to work I was greeted with the amber glow of the Exhaust Emissions warning light. I stopped asap and checked in the manual to find out what it was, but ended up continuing thinking it would just be a broken sensor or maybe coilpack.

Couldn't get in to any of the franchised dealers in the area so I took it to a VW/Audi specialist in the area, who connected it to the computer and told me that it's reporting a failure in the "Charge Airflow Flap". He wasn't entirely sure what it was, but I had a suspicion it was something to do with the stratified/homogenous transition that the FSI engines do.

Anyway, the car's going back to the VW/Audi specialist on Thursday to be examined properly (they're pretty sure that driving it until then won't cause any undue problems, unlike my normal dealership who said I shouldn't even drive it home (although they didn't connect it to a computer)).

I'll keep this thread updated when I know more...

M7 · Post by M7 » Mon Jan 16, 2006 1:42 am

mine came on when i needed a new cat. warrenty should sort yours

Neimad · Post by **Neimad** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 9:13 pm

M7 wrote:mine came on when i needed a new cat. warrenty should sort yours

It would if it hadn't ended last month, yeah...

M7 · Post by M7 » Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:06 pm

my ended in november, luckaly the light came on 4 weeks before that

tom-polo53 · Post by **tom-polo53** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:40 pm

i had my emission light come on too, a while back. they had it in for a day..checked it over and was fine. Sometimes they can just come on with no fault. the manual said dont drive it, from what i remember, but the garage said 'just be careful!'

woody · Post by **woody** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 9:07 pm

Mine came on at around 3000 miles! one of the ignition coils had gone, and so exhaust was making horrible noises and could only drive a short distance at very low speed. Was lucky it came on at home, cus i live 2 minutes from the dealers. They fixed it within 10 minutes, under warranty. Although sounds like yours is something different?

Neimad · Post by **Neimad** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 3:38 pm

Right, well the specialist took the car in yesterday and stripped the engine back to find out what was wrong. They eventually located the problem in the inlet manifold. There are apparently a number of fins in there which are used to control air-flow (whether this be something specific to FSI engines I don't know), and the control mechanism for these is damaged/broken so they're stuck where they are.

Since they'd never experienced anything like this before they contacted a VW dealership, who say that the fins are not a servicable part and that I'd need a whole new inlet manifold at the cost of Â£500+. The specialist said that there was a good chance that since the car has only just left warrenty, that VW would do it as a good-will gesture (although it will still cost me, it should be less than paying for it outright).

More as I know it...

Neimad · Post by **Neimad** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 8:13 pm

Well, after a setback or two I've finally got the car back and all appears to be well again.

In the end it came down to two seperate faults:

1) Faulty air intake control valve
2) Broken inlet manifold flap

The first was replaced last wednesday, and initially appeared to have cured the problem, only for the Emissions warning to come back a day later. It then went back on Friday where they found the second fault. In the end they replaced:

o Air intake control valve
o inlet manifold (including pipes and gaskets and a VAC unit?)

The car was taken to Lakeside Volkswagen in Stoke, who were very good, and although they couldn't provide me with a courtesy car (too short notice), and managed to end up with the wrong part, leaving me without a vehicle for 4 days, I'd still recommend them.

Hopefully this will be the last issue I have with the Polo, and as of May I should be the proud owner of a new Mk5 Golf GTI.

xx_loopy_xx · Post by **xx_loopy_xx** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 1:29 pm

I had the best excuse...first time it was that the battery was putting out too much power and it was causing a short which was making the light come on!
And then the next time the said some other feeble excuse and updated the software, which made it go away, but i keep thinking it will come back!
Especially now you've said about what it is.....hmm

The technicains are so clever as well that they completely forgot to put any kinda of code on the ECU....nice....