Flashing Engine Management Light! Argh!

[snagsy]

Octavia VRS 01 plate, purchased 5 days ago.

Ok, I've got the car booked in tomorrow at the garage for a service and to check out the steady EML, up till now thats all that was wrong.

But went out for a quick spin today, about 2 mins later the engine started severly lacking in power and the EML started flashing. It also became very "jumpy".

Any ideas what this is? Is the lack of power an automated feature to limit the power on the engine due to the EML flashing, or could the loss of power be causing the EML to flash?

I'm starting to panic a bit. :confused::(:confused:

[Johnny50]

Lack of power is just the car going into Limp Mode, basically just reduced boost.

Is it still like that ?

Or is it fine if you switch off/on again ?

Cause of EML could be shown if you know anyone with Vag-Com, could be anything really.

[ADOKS SRV]

That sounds like the symptoms i had when i had a coil fail and a misfire as a result

[Beretta]

Coil pack.

[snagsy]

Is coil pack bad? Any idea on how much its gonna cost?

Cheers for the replies fellas btw.

EDIT - and it doesnt have anything to do with the startermotor squealing after startup? I doubt it but just asking anyways.

[mannyo]

Ditto on the coilpack, and nothing to do with the starter.

[fordfan]

Coil pack is arond £30 and quite easy to fit, a code read will say which cylinder is mis-firing and don't drive it any more than is absolutely necessary until it is fixed.

Starter motor is a build up of dust on the pinion and is quite a common occurence.

[snagsy]

thanks chaps. Ill see how much the garage wants to charge me, if its unreasonable ill do it myself

[r1stewart]

I have, or hopefully had the same problems.

I did a service on mine about a month ago and the car has been spluttering ever since. It has always had the usual lumpieness when running from cold, but it developed a massive hesitancy with no power in 3rd and forth gear mainly in a 3/4 throttle position, ie under firm acceleration. The engine management light would flash then the car would accelerate as it should. The engine management light would remain on after a few episodes of this. It would clear after a while if driven really gently.

I pulled the spark plugs out and air filter and replaced them with the originals and voila, on a test drive today it ran sweet as a nut. The engine management light is still on but hopefully it will clear itself if it is running ok.

For your info I put Bosch Super 4 plugs in at the service and a high flow filter and have reverted back to the OE NGK plugs and OE filter.

I dont know whether the one of the replacement plugs are faulty or just crap.

Anyway, I know its simple but might be worth a look at the plugs before you go splashing out on a coil pack.

[KenONeill]

Hiya.

R1s - It sounds to me like you got a bad plug yes. That said, I also think that multi-electrode plugs are pretty much a waste of time for anything other than stretching service intervals. They certainly do not offer more power than copper cores in a standard engine, or platinum in a hot running tuned engine!

[r1stewart]

You're probably right about the these plugs being a waste of time, however they were the same price as copper ones so I thought I would give them a go. For your info the guy I bought them from is sending a replacement set, without question He sells on ebay and his user name is mickstaps. He's very cheap for plugs and seems very obliging, if anyones looking for plugs. Maybe steer clear of the Bosch ones though and stick to NGK !

[KenONeill]

As I say, they'll keep a gap longer, but that's the only benefit. Personally, I don't see much to choose between Bosch and NGK except in a few engines that seem to like one or the other more. No idea if the 1.8T is one of them, and if so which way it swings.

[snagsy]

Right, it was a coil gone. Got the car serviced and the coil replaced.

But now, more problems. The boost is "intermittant" so to say. At first I thought it was just slight lag, but in some gear changes I cant feel the boost at all.

This wasnt happening before the EML was flashing, could something else be wrong? Maybe clogged up somewhere? During the service they changed the air filter, if that helps.

Sad panda here :(

[fordfan]

Is the air mass meter disconnected?

[snagsy]

I'm not sure. Where would i find that? Is that the same as the MAF?

Sorry for the noobie responces, I'm not au fait with all the terminology, nor very experienced with engines, especially turbos.

[fordfan]

Yes it is, to be found in the pipe downstream of the air filer box.