17 month old vRS - Exhaust gas warning !!

[Flanno]

Reversed car out of drive way this evening, and accidentally revved in neutral (about 3krpm) before engaging reverse. Immediately after, an orange warning light in bottom left corner of display comes up. Checked manual and it's an exhaust gas/emmissions warning caused by a malfunction in an exhaust component. Manual also said engine sets up a programme to allow you to drive gently to garage, and a warning to that effect should come up on screen. It didn't so just hoping it's a false reading. That will be my 2nd one. Last week warning came up about high engine oil temp when doing a 180 around a roundabout. Turned out I was a little low on oil. Going to garage tomorrow about this exhaust warning. Should I be worried. What's the worst it could be and what kind of repairs would I be looking at. It's only out of warranty 4 months and has only 17k miles on it so I'd hope for some goodwill. 99% urban driving. Only a few times have I red lines when overtaking. 07 Skoda vRS.

Thanks

[Burnsey]

Is it not just the dpf? At that low mileage and mainly town driving you need to get it on the motorway to burn off the deposits. I will suspect that's what they will say.

[CHRIS ELLIS]

Your still covered until 2010 or am i missing the plot:confused:.

[dstev2000]

I am guessing you are in Ireland so you only get 2 years warranty.

Is it a petrol or diesel?

[All torque]

My car is similar age & milage and it sounds like the problem I had -

http://briskoda.net/octavia-ii/new-car-help/146591/

After having the updated software, it comes on now and again if I do a lot of short journeys, but a quick blast on the moterway soon sorts it out.

[Flanno]

Thanks for the advice.

Yep, 2 year warranty though they always give goodwill on low mileage cars (from past experience).

Thought it might be an update was needed but they did that at the 2 year service in January.

Anyway, back from dealer. They ran a diagnostic which took 35 minutes. They found 4 faults. Looking at the report now.

1. 00406 P0196 004 Engine Oil Temperature Sensor. Unplauasable signal.

This came up before prior to a service in January after doing a 180 around a roundabout - low oil was the reason given by the mechanic. It came up a few weeks ago as well and I was down 0.5litres of oil. Mechanic said oil usage can cause this. That's only after 2000 miles, 4 months after the 2 year service. Normal oil usage apparently. It also turned up today in the diagnositc. Oil levels are fine. Mechanic said this is a spurious signal sometimes triggered by more major faults. Like below.

2. Sensor Reference Voltage 'A' Circuit Low.

Voltage was down to 11.049V. Was asked if I jump started someone or was jumpstarted recently. Wasn't. So they couldn't explain this. Volatage is now back up at 12.13v.

3. 12599 P3137 001 Intake manifold Runner Control (IMRC) Basic Setting Not Performed.

Was told this was the cause of the exhaust gas warning light. Flap was closed possibly due to excess carbon deposits. They went through an interactive routine to set the basic setting/reopen the flap so they reckon that's cured it and if there was excess dirt then they wouldn't have been able to activate the manifold flap manually in intervals.

4. 12600 P3138 008 Intake Manifold Runner Control (IMRC) Deviation

Was told this was the same as above.

End result was it cost me 40 euro to have this check done and have everything reset. If it happens again the car will need to be booked in. Was informed there are about 18 different sensor wires to check plus the flap.

[Flanno]

Sorry for digging up old post. But this warning light has come on again. Thing is, it's intermittent. It came on this morning when I started the ignition, but 8 miles later when I got to my destination I turned the engine back on and it dissapeared. It also happened 3 weeks ago, and was gone next time I drove car, up until this morning. Plus I don't get any additional text on the screen - the manual says it's supposed to say "workshop" on the display and the car goes into limp mode. This doesn't happen at all. The garage said it happened last time over build up of deposits (see point 3 in my previous post), and I do almost city driving exclusively.

My question is should I get this looked at now or you reckon it could wait until service ? Car only has 33 thousand km on it, and not due till 38 thousand or 1 year from last service which is Dec/Jan time (I only do 10 thousand km a year)

[Flanno]

Sorry for digging up old post. But this warning light has come on again. Thing is, it's intermittent. It came on this morning when I started the ignition, but 8 miles later when I got to my destination I turned the engine back on and it dissapeared. It also happened 3 weeks ago, and was gone next time I drove car, up until this morning. Plus I don't get any additional text on the screen - the manual says it's supposed to say "workshop" on the display and the car goes into limp mode. This doesn't happen at all. The garage said it happened last time over build up of deposits (see point 3 in my previous post), and I do almost city driving exclusively.

My question is should I get this looked at now or you reckon it could wait until service ? Car only has 33 thousand km on it, and not due till 38 thousand or 1 year from last service which is Dec/Jan time (I only do 10 thousand km a year)

Thread revival. 1 year later and still problem not solved. Car was serviced in February this year. New airfilter fillted but not needed really. In August the warning light came back on and garage told me the airfilter was fitted incorrectly so they refitted it and reset the system. This week the light came back on again. Paida nice bit to the garage on Tuesday, and the replaced the airfilter again and cleaned the maf, and a few other things. Spent a good few hours on it. Fix lasted less then 24 hours. The latest is they are going to replace the mass airflow meter as the diagnostics are telling them the car is running lean. . I think I've had it back now 6 times for same problem and each time they do something but the fix never lasts.

I'm desperate for help here. At least one good thing is the car has not gone into limp mode as the manual says it can.

Edited 7 October, 2010 by Flanno

[sworrall]

i had the same on my CR which i just traded in. they replaced an exhaust sensor (near dpf) under warranty which fixed the problem. has your car had the 26e update if its a PD engine?

[Flanno]

i had the same on my CR which i just traded in. they replaced an exhaust sensor (near dpf) under warranty which fixed the problem. has your car had the 26e update if its a PD engine?

It's a petrol engine. This has turned into an nightmare for me. The garage have had 3 more attempts and within 24 hours the light comes back on. So far the pipes have been cleaned out, new airfilter, new mass airflow sensor and a bunch of other stuff I don't remember. Skoda are going to look at it now, and it's been in the garage for over a week.

So far the only solid information I have is that the diagnostic says the car is running lean when idling and to replace the maf. This has been done but the problem and warning message still persists. I could have had my car serviced 3 times for what this has cost me to date.

[virusman26]

This all sounds far too similar for my liking. Check out this thread of mine:

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/177636-octy-2fl-vrs-engine-faultredditch-skoda-cant-sort-it/

The same warning light for an exhaust system fault came on after the garage changed a faulty clutch on my 59 VRS petrol. 3 weeks later and the car is still there. They's changed the air mass meter that you've been pointed towards and it did bugger all. Try unplugging it, and see if it drives ok and without a warning. Mine does. It's like a backwards wiring fault!! Skoda technical still can't fathom what's going on, so I thought best to warn you it might be the same as my motor.

The exhaust sensor on the diesel was something to do with a recall, a problem with the diesel particulate filter I think? NOT an issue with the petrol engine.

I'm still waiting to find out if they sort this fault on mine, as they keep finding other stuff wrong with the car (12 months old!!!!) :(

[mikel543]

The manual is somewhat misleading as to what this light means, it is actually the Check Engine Light (CEL), or sometimes also called the Malfunction Indicator light (MIL).. It comes on when the ECU logs a fault that it thinks is serious enough that the car needs to go into the garage for checking.

There are a multitude of things that can cause the light to come on, some easier than others to diagnose and fix. One thing for sure it has nothing to do with a DPF as your car is a petrol.

The first port of call is to have a recent diagnostic scan done on the car and the fault codes read, which you've had done, however this just gives a general indication where the fault lies and some more detective work is required to work out what's actually wrong.

If you need further scans there are a number of members on here with diagnostic gear who are willing to help out.

Check out this post to see if there are any near you (there are also people outside the UK on here)

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/74720-vag-com-diagnostic-system-vcds-owners-map/

As you've already had a diagnostic scan that threw up fault codes relating to the intake manifold runners, there is a good chance that you've got a sticking flap or failing motor / sensor here.

The first action to perform when intake manifold runner code is logged is to perform a basic adaptaion which resets the runner calibartion and see if the fault comes back. As the garage did this the first time you had it in for diagnostic it points to the actuator, sensor or associated wiring being the issue. Running lean at idle also fits in with the intake manifold runners being the fault as a stuck intake runner flap would affect the mixture getting to the cylinder.

See: http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/19594/P3138/012600

Finally there is a guy on the VW forum who has had this problem and finally got it sorted.

See this thread: http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?3143438

Hope you get it sorted out. These cars are a lot of fun to drive when they run right and that's most of the time.

[Flanno]

The manual is somewhat misleading as to what this light means, it is actually the Check Engine Light (CEL), or sometimes also called the Malfunction Indicator light (MIL).. It comes on when the ECU logs a fault that it thinks is serious enough that the car needs to go into the garage for checking.

There are a multitude of things that can cause the light to come on, some easier than others to diagnose and fix. One thing for sure it has nothing to do with a DPF as your car is a petrol.

The first port of call is to have a recent diagnostic scan done on the car and the fault codes read, which you've had done, however this just gives a general indication where the fault lies and some more detective work is required to work out what's actually wrong.

If you need further scans there are a number of members on here with diagnostic gear who are willing to help out.

Check out this post to see if there are any near you (there are also people outside the UK on here)

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/74720-vag-com-diagnostic-system-vcds-owners-map/

As you've already had a diagnostic scan that threw up fault codes relating to the intake manifold runners, there is a good chance that you've got a sticking flap or failing motor / sensor here.

The first action to perform when intake manifold runner code is logged is to perform a basic adaptaion which resets the runner calibartion and see if the fault comes back. As the garage did this the first time you had it in for diagnostic it points to the actuator, sensor or associated wiring being the issue. Running lean at idle also fits in with the intake manifold runners being the fault as a stuck intake runner flap would affect the mixture getting to the cylinder.

See: http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/19594/P3138/012600

Finally there is a guy on the VW forum who has had this problem and finally got it sorted.

See this thread: http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?3143438

Hope you get it sorted out. These cars are a lot of fun to drive when they run right and that's most of the time.

[Flanno]

Thanks very much for the informative post. I've passed on the info to the dealer. The problem is waiting for Skoda to do something as they have provided all the reports they have asked for and it's taking longer then expected to get answers. Will be 2 weeks tomorrow. Not that impressed really but there is not much I can do about it.

[LUNDY]

Today, i have had the same problem (the exhaust gas warning light staying on) car is a 1896 cc 105 bhp TDI on a 2008 Octavia Ambiente est,with just 16,500 miles on clock from brand new,the car has not gone in limp mood ,know loss of performance,it alway's gets a good run,know short hops !! will be going to dealer tomorrow,so hopefully watch this space !!!