"Exhaust Workshop!" message

[stevearcher]

Just on my way back down the M6 from Stoke this evening, I heard a 'bong' from the dashboard, looked down and the display said "EXHAUST WORKSHOP!" and the 'Control system for Exhaust' lit up yellow. :eek:

Was supposed to be going in for the 'A' pillar seals on 1st December but will now have to visit this Monday as well

Had a look in the handbook and it says that "the engine management selects an emergency programme which enables you to drive to the nearest specialist garage by adopting a gentle style of driving".

It didn't seem any different to me. Still cruised back down the M6 at 70 and accelerated quickly enough when needed. Even got 61mpg! (Was only 52 on the way up).

Any one else had this message/warning light on their Fabia and if so what was the outcome?

[VRStu]

May as well phone Skoda Assist, the RAC should have VAS Diagnostics and be able to diagnose for you.

[Little Jo]

I had the emission warning light come on when an injector failed. The car immediately started running rough and was clearly only running on 3 cylinders. The message relates to the emission control system, so points to fuel system or sensor fault.

[Zebra]

When this happened to my car it was a failed EGR valve.

My car is a 1.9 tdi.

Exhaust Gas Recirculation valve needed replacing by the dealer under warranty.

[stevearcher]

Thanks for your replies.

I took it in first thing this morning and after 40 minutes, their assesment was that nothing was that they couldn't find a fault with any components and they've reset the light.

Called it a 'sporadic fault' - a sensor must have tripped for some unknown reason. I can only assume that either it didn't throw up any codes or they tested whatever it said was wrong and it was working ok.

See how it goes now. Light hasn't come back on yet in 3 journeys.

[Zebra]

Lets hope so!

[Guest]

Steve...what engine/model is yours?

[stevearcher]

1.9 TDi 105, level 3.

[stevearcher]

It's back again!

Yep, after 6 weeks and I'd guess about 800 miles, I have the same message and warning light. Happened to come on in similar circumstances too. Was on the M6 by Coventry cruising at about 70 and it was just above freezing outside as before (if that makes any difference to it).

Took it to the dealer on the way home and the earliest they can look at it is Thursday if I wait or on the 19th if I want a courtesy car. So that's my lunchtime on Thursday sorted out.

I know the problems I have with my car have only been minor but there has been a lot of them. Especially when one of the main reasons I chose Skoda was the reliability, build quality and dealer service. At the moment, I'm not at all impressed with any of them. So far, it's turning out to be the least reliable new car I've bought, except for a Fiesta I bought new in 1996 which had enough faults to take up 3 sides of A4 and did actually break down (when the alternator fell off due to it being held on with luck rather than the conventional bolts).

Unless it improves, it will be sold as soon it is financially viable and unfortunately, Skoda will be added to Ford and Renault in the 'never buy new again' category.

See how it gets on on Thursday. Bet it's the same answer as before.:thumbdwn:

[Little Jo]

If it's only happening in very cold conditions, could you have a faulty fuel heater or a loose connection, so your fuel isn't injecting properly and you're getting a fuelling problem, but something that only happens in particular climatic conditions. Driving at speed in cold weather will product a significant wind whill. It would also explain why when you take it into the garage where the conditions are less extreme, there's no detectable fault.

I had a Corsa diesel that leaked oil on cold frosty nights. It turned out that at the pre-delivery service (the car was bought s/h through Network Q), the wrong oil filter was fitted. The seal on the fitted filter was concave rather than convex so leaked in cold conditions.

Sometimes plugging a car into a computer simply cannot replace good old-fasioned lateral thinking by an experienced mechanic. The computer will be of limited use with an intermittent thing like this.

Try a local VW Group garage while the weather is still cold. They will have the diagnostic tools and I think you'll find they will be authorised in such a situation to carry out a repair on behalf of Skoda.

[stevearcher]

Went out yesterday evening and it seemed to 'fix' itself! Started up and the light stayed on and I got the 'ping' and warning message, reversed off the drive, pulled away and the light went out. Hasn't come back on yet in two start-ups.

Has got to be something dodgy going on. I'll still take it in Thursday but might do a quick run up and down a dual carriageway on the way there to see if it comes back on.

It might be coincidence that it's come on at speed - I don't do that many motorway miles so it could be extreme cold setting it off, like you said Jo.

First time, I think I had been on the m-way for about 10 miles. Yesterday, it was about 1/2 a mile.

I assume it's nothing too serious as it doesn't put the car into 'limp-home' mode - it performs exactly as normal - same performance and economy. Just annoying to have a yellow light, ping and message! :(

[Guest]

Steve, just seen your post. It could be a number of things but primary suspects are poor EGR sensor connections. Or...a sticking EGR. Has your fuel filter been drained of water? It does build up in the filter over time and must be regularly drained or replaced. It can mess with your emissions otherwise and damage injectors and pumps. You probably know all that but just a thought on where I would start, based upon my experience with these things in the workshop. Let us all know please when you have had a definitive diagnosis. It really shouldn't be hard to sort so don't worry.

[stevearcher]

3rd incidence of this message now.

This time is was cold outside as per before (0.5C) but not at motorway speeds (was doing just over 30mph at the time. Car had been running about 15 mins.

Last time when I phoned to cancel (after it fixed itself), the service manager told me that it could be any one of hundreds of reasons but a common one that fixes itself is that you've stalled it in a high gear. Couldn't remember if I had or not (didn't think I had) but decided to use the revs a bit more when driving it that I had been previously (in case it thought I was close to stalling, driving along at 1000rpm).

Obviously that wasn't it.

Will phone the dealer in the morning but try to get them to collect it and drop it back off this time instead of waiting for a courtesy car as it may still have the message when they get it.

:thumbdwn:

[snownrock]

I had it once, called Skoda Assist, they cleared the fault as there was no apparant reason for it. Not had it since.

[stevearcher]

Snownrock, did yours go into limp home mode when you called Skoda Assist? If not, were they ok about coming out when the car is completely driveable?

My light went off again on the way home (typically, I had booked it into the dealer for tomorrow!).

I'm wondering whether next time it comes on I should phone Skoda Assist to see if they can trace the fault while its still there.

[stevearcher]

It's back again!

Just been out to Tescos and it came on halfway there. Outside temperature was +6 C this time so don't think it's an issue with freezing temperatures. I do have another theory though...

On at least 2 of the previous occasions, I remember driving economically - shifting up fairly early (but not so early that the engine is laboured), using light throttle etc.

On the last tank, I drove with virtually no thought for economy. Over 300 miles and no warning.

After filling up on Friday, I've gone for economy again. 50 odd miles later, the message appears.

Might just be a coincidence but if my theory is correct, I've got a car that I bought for economy that wants to be driven like a chavved up Corsa :confused:

Looking at the dates of my previous posts, it seems to be fairly consistent in the time between messages.

The car is back in Thursday pm (although I'll phone them tomorrow to see if I can get it to get any codes read) so I'm going to try to continue driving 'economically' until then in the hope that the warning stays this time.

[Little Jo]

Steve

I can't help thinking that your workshop message might be a fuelling problem or something of that ilk that shows up when you're being light-footed or the weather is cold.

I got an exhaust warning light when an injector failed on mine, but that had failed completely.

[stevearcher]

OK, took the car to the dealer after lunch - light on all the way there. Parked up, dropped the keys off, the technician went straight out, truned the key and surprise surprise, no light!

Should have listened to my wife who said to leave the engine running when I got there and phone them from the car. I said it would be fine as it normally is a good 50 yards or more down the road when the light goes out!!!

Checked for codes and found one that was a 'sporadic fault' code that didn't really tell him anything or specify any tests except making sure that any hoses going to the EGR valve were fitted correctly.

Because nothing was certain, Skoda UK won't entertain a warranty claim for a new EGR valve at the moment but they have basically said one way or the other, they will make sure the next time it happens, they will find enough test data to convince SUK to replace the valve.

They think the EGR valve is opening on light throttle as it should but then getting stuck open which may also explain a slight judder I get when running on very light throttle (e.g. down a slight incline). The driving less economically I mentioned in my last post means that I'm on light throttle less often so the problem is less likely to occur.

So although not fixed, I think we've made some progress at least. Just waiting for it to happen again (knowning my luck it will happen over a weekend or when I'm away from home so I can't get to the dealer!)

[stevearcher]

Another update on this in case anyone is interested...

The message became more regular (light comes on on 1st journey, off on second, on on third etc.)

Went back to the dealer with it on, they ran some more tests and decided it was definitely the EGR valve at fault. It was due it's first service so they replaced the EGR valve at the same time.

And it has made absolutely no difference

Still on and off very regularly. Car still drives completely normally - no other symptoms other than a light, message and ping from the instrument cluster.

My wife and I have swapped cars so it's annoying her more than me at the moment (although I'm still the one who has to take it to the dealers!)

It's back to the dealer (again) tomorrow lunchtime for them to have another look and decide what to do next. I kind of hope it will be getting a technician from Skoda UK to look at it.

I've no idea what's up with it - don't think the dealer has a clue either.

[stevearcher]

Right, been back to the dealer again and it's exactly the same fault.

They have sent a 'DIS' report to Skoda to find out what to do next. Technician said it could be something like stripping the car down to check all the wiring or even a new ECU. Although Skoda may come up wih something completely different.

The dealer thinks we should hear back pretty quickly.

I think I might try Skoda customer service as I'm fed up of all these visits to the dealer (which are costing me money in lost (over)time at work and diesel driving to and from and sitting there for 40 mins with the engine running while they run the diagnostics).

Anyone else tried Skoda customer service? Am I better to e-mail or phone them?

[stevearcher]

Fingers crossed, it might be fixed.

Went in again lunchtime today as they had a reply from Skoda with what tests to run etc. The Master Tech looked at it this time, went through Skoda's tests and found nothing.

He was determined to find out what was wrong so they put me in a hire car (Hyundai i10 - IMO a really bloody good little car and if I could get away with the smaller boot would happily replace the Fabia with!) and i went back to work for the afternoon.

They phoned me a couple of hours later to say that after running through everything with Skoda Tech on the phone, they found the problem. One of the connectors to the EGR valve wasn't making a good connection and causing the fault.

They sorted this out and did 12 miles of test driving and I've done 2 journeys in it and no warning yet...

They were very apologetic as it looks like the original EGR was fine. Just this connector causng the fault!

[Guest]

Steve, that's great news. I hope it stays fixed. It usually is something very simple with this sort of fault. The trouble is garages often rely too much on the computers to tell them what is wrong. All that is needed for this type of intermittent fault is to have a set of open eyes and a finger to wiggle some wires with!!! Scotty at Starfleet taught me that during my tech training. Keep us informed mate if it comes back...although I don't suppose it will.

Remember...Skoda's are bullet proof and they are very easy to fix!!!