My Vrs seems to hate hot humid climate. It sometimes gets tempramental and the EPC light comes on followed by the check engine.

The VAG COm codes show 19534, 16486, 17953, 18012, 17972. It all points to weak signal and resultant throttle body adapation error.

I normally remove the connector plug, blow into it, pop it back on and hey presto, it runs sweet as a nut. Am wondering whether to change the throttle body or look at something else. If the former, would you recommend a used one? The ones on ebay cost around 80 quid but I have no way of checking how good they are. A new one from GSF is around 180. How can one test the TB and see whether it is ok? I have a VAG COM

 The bloody electronic throttle on these things has given me nothing but grief, I tell you. In your case 16486 relates to the MAF and 18012 I think is ECU specific, so I reckon you're looking more at the ECU end than the throttle body, and possibly an issue with power or a weak/dirty connection. If you tell VAG-COM to do a few throttle body adaptations and it accepts them then the throttle body is probably fine and it's more likely an issue with an intermittent connection. When you unplug the throttle body you'll get the low base voltage error, and it'll automatically adapt by itself after that, but you can help it by turning to ignition stage one and leaving it for 30 seconds. It usually seems to take 2-3 drive cycles to sort itself out.

Edited 17 August, 201015 yr by Interphase