advice needed - engine management light

[iggypop37]

Hi guys as i previously mentioned I recently  bought a 2004 fabia 1,2 htp. generally pleased with the thing with only 45K on the clock BUT ..... on the trip home the oil pressure function light starting beeping and flashing and does so intermittently now AND now the engine management is on permanently and coloured amber. Took it back to the dealer who cleared it once, when it re-occurred he started muttering about a new relay and said it was a VW 'VOR' part that was needed.  Sounds like bull**** to me 

 

Anyway Im going to have to see if I can have him under the terms of the (limited) 3 month / 3k mile warranty , but would the EML light being on be an automatic MOT fail. I could probably clear it just before the test. 

 

When I had the AA patrolman out we had a kook with hte engine cover off and found the following . looks like someones been messing around with the wiring there !

Edited 17 May, 2018 by iggypop37

[iggypop37]

all this engine management light and diagnostic stuff is new to me give me a well-sorted 136 rapid engine any day !

 

[rum4mo]

Some of that "rewiring" will have been done to fit a new Lambda probe B1 S1, but normally if you buy the correct Lambda probe it comes with its own heat shielding, so I'm guessing that someone has just fitted a "sort of suitable much cheaper works with any car maybe, for a short time if you are lucky" Lambda sensor?

 

I'm not sure how you could plan to make sure the EML was always off just before/during an MOT test though.

 

VW VOR just means that the parts they need are not stocked at the dealership so need ordering, so they declare VOR (Vehicle Of Road) and get a quicker delivery from the supply warehouse.

[KenONeill]

@iggypop37 - Is the oil light yellow or red? If it's yellow, then you probably just need an oil top up, but if it's red you may have low oil pressure from a blocked pick-up. This is a potential engine killer!

[Breezy_Pete]

How clean/dirty does the oil look on the dipstick? 

As Ken says 'real' low oil pressure (as opposed to false warnings because of electrical/sensor issues) is a very serious situation, so not to be ignored.  Try to eliminate false warnings by inspecting the wire closely, and maybe splashing out a few quid on a replacement sensor - the green one in your photos - (and connector by the looks of it). No UK Mk1 Fabias have oil level sensors as far as I know, so it won't be that.

For the engine warning light, scan it with a handheld scanner, or hook it up to VCDS for better info.  Adding an approximate location to your profile may help match you up with a VCDS owner.

Edited 18 May, 2018 by Wino

[iggypop37]

Fantastic responses thanks. I bought the car due to the low mileage and FSH which included annual oil changes. Engine oil was as clean as a whistle and my strong feeling having read the handbook is that it it is a wiring fault maybe caused by the butchery with this lamdba sensor replacement. 

 

 

[Breezy_Pete]

See if you can see any part number info on that lambda sensor,  it may not even be the correct type.

[iggypop37]

I've taken the car back to dealer once and he scanned the system and cleared the EML fault only for it to come back 200 miles later. 

 

I'm a bit new to this digital world of Lambda sensors and all that. 

 

[Breezy_Pete]

Need the fault code that comes from the scan. Just clearing it without changing anything is unlikely to fix the fault.

[iggypop37]

Dealer reckoned amber EML light was not an automatic MOT fail anyway, as my car's not got things like antilock brakes. 

[Breezy_Pete]

He would say that, and it only is amber, either constant or flashing (worse). I think he's wrong too.

[67Mark]

Engine management lights can come up for many a reason. Had a similar issue with my mk1 1.2 HTP, turned out to be the sensor for the temperature gauge. Only tracked it down as it started getting harder and harder to start when the engine was hot. Of course I didn't have the benefit of VCDS. Just resetting the lamp will have no effect on what caused it to light up in the 1st place. 

 

As others have mentioned though, the flickering oil light is of greater concern. Low oil pressure will kill an engine, no matter how low the miles are.

[iggypop37]

[iggypop37]

sorry for taking up so much bandwidth everyone ! Heres some more photos I took this morning if it helps at all . what i understood from the code read was that it was an intermittent fault. Im new to these cars but it seems that some one has buggered around with the EGR valve and the wiring pretty inexpertly. whether the lambda sensor is original or not I dont know . Im going from Haynes which is not the most reliable of sources I have found in  past. 

[iggypop37]

3 hours ago, Wino said:

He would say that, and it only is amber, either constant or flashing (worse). I think he's wrong too.

 

agreed its what they would say - its constant not flashing 

3 hours ago, 67Mark said:

Engine management lights can come up for many a reason. Had a similar issue with my mk1 1.2 HTP, turned out to be the sensor for the temperature gauge. Only tracked it down as it started getting harder and harder to start when the engine was hot. Of course I didn't have the benefit of VCDS. Just resetting the lamp will have no effect on what caused it to light up in the 1st place. 

 

As others have mentioned though, the flickering oil light is of greater concern. Low oil pressure will kill an engine, no matter how low the miles are.

 

I will re-read the handbook but  fairly certain the 'oil light' alert i am getting is only to confirm that the circuit is/is not working rather than oil pressure etc. in any case its done 2K  miles without grenading, 

 

If anyone with a VCDS is local to Cheshire Liverpool North Wales, theres a drink in it for you !

 

 

[TMB]

18 hours ago, iggypop37 said:

......give me a well-sorted 136 rapid engine any day !

 

 

I had one of those. It was mucho fun!

[rum4mo]

An exceedingly rude picture of a connector there, showing too much of parts that are normally hidden!