Exhaust system warning light

[Chilli1]

Hi all,

 

I did a fairly long motorway drive last weekend in my 2012 Fabia 1.2 HTP and, when I got into my car the next morning, the exhaust system warning light was on (please see photo). The car was driving fine. I took it to a garage later that day but they couldn't fit me in for 10 days - which didn't seem to matter as, when I got back in my car, the light had gone out.

 

It's been fine all week but the light has come back on this morning on my way to work. The car still drives fine - no different to normal.

 

I've got a three-hour motorway journey this evening - do you reckon it'll be alright?

 

Cheers!

[Ootohere]

Hopefully nothing, but maybe your spark plugs will need checked again.

Maybe it was the last fill up op of fuel, maybe your ignition coil. You will be best to check the plugs.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/464627-spark-plug-gap

 

[Chilli1]

Thanks Roottootemoot.

 

I eventually found the right plug gap and the car has been fine for the last 10,000 miles since the plugs were changed.

 

I did fill up with cheap Asda petrol right before my long motorway journey - but at that point the tank was 25% V-Power + 75% Asda (although if the Asda fuel was really terrible perhaps that wouldn't make a difference).

 

Having read about it, I'm a bit concerned that I'll end up damaging my catalytic converter, but I doubt any garage would be able to look at it before I set off tonight!

 

 

[Ootohere]

Best check those plugs, they should be good for a long time more than 10,000 miles, but you done know till you look.

 

ASDA sell Unleaded 95 ron or Diesel, the price might be cheap the fuel comes from fuel depots and refineries, so costing less does not substandard make it be.

 

Just because you pay more and so ESSO, Shell, BP, Gulf are expensive it does not make the 95 ron superior or premium.

 

So you run Shell V-Power Nitro + 99 ron minimum usually?

Asda fuel is Unleaded, if you are using Super Unleaded then that is a higher octane and if your car likes it good and well. 

I would be just be paying 5 pence a litre more than 95 ron and putting in Tesco Momentum 99 or Sainsburys Super Unleaded 97 ron.

Edited 27 September, 2019 by Roottootemoot

[Chilli1]

It would make sense to check the plugs but unfortunately I don't have the tools at the moment. They were the standard NGK plugs (I'm pretty sure they're what Skoda supply the car with actually), so they should last longer than 10K miles.

 

Yeah, I highly doubt it was the fuel. I don't usually use 99 RON because my HTP can't take advantage of the higher octane rating, but I do put a full tank of V-Power in every so often when Shell give me a discount through their app. Not sure if the cleaning thing really works but if it's cost-neutral for that tank it probably doesn't do any harm. Tesco used to publish details of Momentum describing the cleaning properties etc. but they don't anymore, which makes me suspicious!

 

My office isn't far from the stealership. Maybe it'd be worth giving them a call - even if it'd be quite pricey. I really don't want to end up having to replace the catalytic converter!

[KenONeill]

31 minutes ago, Chilli1 said:

did fill up with cheap Asda petrol

I've seen/heard issues with brand X fuel (and not always supermarket either; there was one supposedly premium Shell back in the 1980s...) I'd suggest filling up with something brand name.

[Ootohere]

Likely it will be something like 20% of petrol cars in the UK run Asda Petrol.

Of the petrol cars in the UK likely more than 50% get filled up at a Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsburys, Costco etc.

It will be the same with diesels and getting the Derv from Supermarket filling stations rather than at a Shell, Esso, Nisa, Texaco, BP, Gulf etc.

 

Greenergy that is a partner with Royal Dutch Shell for importing and storing fuel supply ESSO and Tesco, Nisa and other independents.

Just additive pacakages might vary.  'Might!'.

Edited 27 September, 2019 by Roottootemoot

[KenONeill]

3 hours ago, Roottootemoot said:

something like 20% of petrol cars in the UK run Asda Petrol

And, even if 99.9% of those run fine, that doesn't mean that the other 0.1% do.

Edited 27 September, 2019 by KenONeill

[Ootohere]

Thank goodness for choices, you just fill up someplace else and if you have a fussy 1.2htp you know soon enough. Amazing though they can run on rubbish in other countries. 

[Breezy_Pete]

2 hours ago, Chilli1 said:

The car still drives fine - no different to normal

 

Probably then something like a 'catalyst efficiency below threshold' fault, at a guess.

Find someone local with VCDS to scan it for you.

 

Edited 27 September, 2019 by Wino

[Chilli1]

48 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

And, even if 99.9% of those run fine, tat doesn't mean that the other 0.1% do.

 

If you've made a fuel that runs perfectly well in 99.9% of cars, you've done a good job and should keep selling that fuel!

 

18 minutes ago, Roottootemoot said:

Thank goodness for choices, you just fill up someplace else and if you have a fussy 1.2htp you know soon enough. Amazing though they can run on rubbish in other countries. 

 

As far as I know, the HTP is a fairly unfussy creature. It's probably mechanical as you suggested!

 

11 minutes ago, Wino said:

 

Probably then something like a 'catalyst efficiency below threshold' fault, at a guess.

Find someone local with VCDS to scan it for you.

 

 

Thanks Wino. Yeah, I'll need to get it checked - garages are so busy though that nobody seems to have any availability for at least a week. 🙁 Maybe (hopefully) if I drive it very gently it'll be alright tonight.

Edited 27 September, 2019 by Chilli1

[Breezy_Pete]

I was thinking of a Briskoda member with VCDS, not a garage.  

If you put your approximate location in your profile, people reading will be able to see if they happen to be nearby.

There's also a VCDS owners map somewhere on here.

[Chilli1]

So I took my car to a local garage. They gave me the attached diagnostic report.

 

My reasoning for taking the car to a garage, instead of buying my own diagnostic equipment, was that the garage would be able to provide expert advice on the nature of the fault and how it might be resolved - and how much it might cost! Unfortunately, the guys at the garage were really unhelpful. They seemed to have a 'cards close to your chest' philosophy, for some bizarre reason. All they did was clear the faults and told me if the warning light came back on, go back to them. My questions about what the faults mean and how they might be fixed went unanswered.

 

Does anyone know about the faults detailed in the report? It seems the second lambda sensor is on the blink, but I don't know whether this is normal for a car of that age, whether it's serious, how much it'd be to fix etc., so any advice would be much appreciated.

 

Cheers!

 

[UrbanPanzer]

O2 sensor faulty is what it looks like to me.