Yesterday as I started my 1.6 petrol Fabia 2 , it almost 'caught' and then stalled. Then it spun over for about 10 seconds but I knew it was not even trying to fire. Never had it ever given any trouble starting, I turned it off and left for a minute for the ECU to re-set itself.

It then fired up straight away but with a really strong petrol smell for a couple of minutes.

I went on about 100 mile round trip with no lack of power or any trouble at all.

On a local 5 minute run in the evening, the EPC light came on and stayed on.

Today, I checked it with my Gendan fault code reader which came up 'no codes detected'. Still the light is on! Still runs fine.

Any ideas you guys?

If it stays on get to dealer and find out because this can happen on vrs with cold starts in the morning or if booted on some occassions, and most of the time a simple turn off and then back on solves it.

I get epc light if i leave my vrs warming to clear ice of windscreen before work on some occassions.

I think thr epc light is a warning triggered by exhaust system, if you look in hand book it will tell you for sure

EPC stands for Electronic Power Control. The engine management system has detected a problem with the electronic throttle, there should be a code stored but as it does not affect the emissions an OBD2 code reader won't pick it up.

D'oh! Should have read 'pinned' note about EPC light! It was only stop light bulbs both having failed in quick succession. Useful to be told by car that they had failed but strange to tell me that it was Electronic Power Control fault.

Thanks for your replies. AW

If it stays on get to dealer and find out because this can happen on vrs with cold starts in the morning or if booted on some occassions, and most of the time a simple turn off and then back on solves it.

I get epc light if i leave my vrs warming to clear ice of windscreen before work on some occassions.

I think thr epc light is a warning triggered by exhaust system, if you look in hand book it will tell you for sure

I would not leave a car idling for any period of time as you are risking boree glaze resulting in compression loss, higher fuel usage and lower performance

I would not leave a car idling for any period of time as you are risking boree glaze resulting in compression loss, higher fuel usage and lower performance

Really? I didn't know that. From cold I have to give mine about 10-20 seconds sometimes for the tick over to settle down to around 900rpm, otherwise it can be a bit hesitant pulling off. Loads of people leave their engines running for a few minutes in the winter to get them warmed up a bit. Didn't realise it could do such damage.

10-20 sec won't. 10-20mins certainly will. The best way of warming the car up is to drive it Heated seats are the best options I've ever picked in any of my cars.