Engine Management - freezing weather

[kris one]

Hi everyone, I hope some of you Briskoda experts can help…

... I started the car this evening and the engine RPM seemed to be fluctuating between 600 and the usual 900 RPM as if it couldn't settle at it's usual idle, now i must point out that we have had snow for two days and it's the coldest it's been for a long time so i was thinking maybe some fluids had frozen in the rad or something? As it just couldn’t run right. :wonder:

Anyway i drove the car for about 1/2 mile and it then started getting worse by cutting out when going into idle, so i limped back home to find the car idling as it should now it had warmed up but to my horror the engine management light had come on for the first time ever. I have a mint 2003 1.2 HTP with just 30k on the clock and a full service history so she's still pretty fresh for a German car.

I would appreciate any advice and guidance on what the fault could be (and I don’t mind getting my hands dirty with the spanners) I have worked on cars in the past, thanks for reading.

Kris

[MoggyTech]

Start by having the car scanned for fault codes. That takes out the guess work, and will narrow the fault down.

[kris one]

Start by having the car scanned for fault codes. That takes out the guess work, and will narrow the fault down.

How would i go about doing that? garage? or is there a DIY way of doing it?

Cheers, kris.

[A2KLAU]

You could take it to a stealer (dealer) to have them diagnose and tell you what code it is, but they charge quite a steep amount for it, the other alternative is to get a diagnostics kit to read it.. can't remember the name of the software off by heart but its Vag specific and it connects to your computer.. failing all that there might be a friendly owner local to you who has all that and you could pop by and let them read it for you?

[MoggyTech]

How would i go about doing that? garage? or is there a DIY way of doing it?

Cheers, kris.

There is a list of members on here with VAGCOM (VCDS Software) that will test a car for beer tokens. You can buy a small hand held scanner from Gendan for £39 but it only does limited stuff and wont catch all codes. Look in Diagnostics Forum for VCDS users near your location