Emissions Workshop....

Soldato
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VW MK4 1.6 S (Petrol)

My car is saying Emissions Workshop and it's got the engine light flashing orange.

Anyone know what this usually is and how much it cost?

I've dropped it off at VW just to be on the safe side but they probably won't be looking at it until Monday and I'm wondering what I'm likely to be looking at.

Cheers,

G
 
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Not seen flashing one on a mk4 before a solid one can be any number of things from the cat, loads of sensors, MAF, split pipes.

Basicly either the cat or something causing it to run rich.

Hope you get lucky and find it first time.
 
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Soldato
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Intermittent misfire detected usually causes a flashing emissions light until it happens with enough occurrences for the ecm to log it as a active fault.

if you get a code reader on it or a garage to do a engine diagnostics you will probably get a error code like- 'engine misfire detected cyl 2'.

It probably isnt harsh enough yet for you to feel the engine being lumpy.

Probably a coil, we change dozens every week on VAG petrol engines.
 
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( |-| |2 ][ $;15910363 said:
The 1.8Ts did, I would imagine these did too and it will almost certainly be the sensor causing the alarm.

Whether the sensors is broken or there's something else causing the high emissions is another thing.

OP needs to give it a good thrashing, might simply be the cat is sooty.
 
Soldato
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What does that mean? I'm not very car literate.

The only thing that's concerning me at the moment is that the car has never had a new cam belt. hoping that's not on the way out as I just can't afford to get it done.
 
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What does that mean? I'm not very car literate.

The only thing that's concerning me at the moment is that the car has never had a new cam belt. hoping that's not on the way out as I just can't afford to get it done.

If it's running fine then the cam belt won't be an issue. When you have a cam belt break the car will just stop without warning and won't go again until it's mended.

That said if it's due a cam belt change, get it done, because when they break they tend to lunch most of the engine.
 
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Soldato
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What does that mean? I'm not very car literate.

The only thing that's concerning me at the moment is that the car has never had a new cam belt. hoping that's not on the way out as I just can't afford to get it done.

Your car's exhaust is fitted with a catalytic converter, it deals with nasty gasses in the exhaust. There is a sensor before and after it, if it appears to be making no difference to the exhaust you get a warning light.

I suspect this is the source of your warning light, it may be that it's simply clogged with soot, and you need to get your car fully warm then thrash it a bit. Or it may be that the exhaust is leaking and a small amount of air is getting in altering the O2 levels and confusing it. Or it could be something else entirely.


WRT your cam belt service, get it done before you end up with a huge bill for possibly a new engine.
 
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Your car's exhaust is fitted with a catalytic converter, it deals with nasty gasses in the exhaust. There is a sensor before and after it, if it appears to be making no difference to the exhaust you get a warning light.

I suspect this is the source of your warning light, it may be that it's simply clogged with soot, and you need to get your car fully warm then thrash it a bit. Or it may be that the exhaust is leaking and a small amount of air is getting in altering the O2 levels and confusing it. Or it could be something else entirely.


WRT your cam belt service, get it done before you end up with a huge bill for possibly a new engine.


While a lambda or cat issue is perfectly plausable its easy to get set on this issue while a emissions warning light on most modern cars comes on if there is any issue which is deemed to effect the cars emissions, misfire, enine temp sensor and a dozen other things you wouldnt normally associate with exhuast content.
 
Soldato
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VW phoned and said that the car is misfiring and that they believe that it needs 4 new coils and 4 new spark plugs.

I don't know if they are right, and they said that there is a good chance that it won't fix it but they want to do it any way to check.

They said it will be £380.05

That's about £300 more than I've got so I've told them to hold fire for now and I'll just pay the £30 for the inspection.

They also said that completely seperately:

My Sump gasket is leaking and that will be £434
I need a 4 wheel allignment which will be £99
I need Front Pads and Discs which will be £275
Rear pads for which they want £131
They said that the handbreak pivot needs adjusting £98.29

They have also previously quoted for a slight misting of oil on the shocks which they wanted about £300 for.

I'll have to leave it on the drive for the time being I think. Got more important things to buy at the moment with twins on the way to be honest.
 
Soldato
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coils and plugs are very easy to change, price up on eurocarparts will be far far less.


You are NOT wrong!

Volkswagen Golf 1.6 2002
ARC Ignition Coil
Part #:413440421
£19.68
x4
£78.72

Volkswagen Golf 1.6 2002
BERU Spark Plug
Part #:408770595
£1.98
x4
£7.92

Sub-total
£86.64

There are loads of different prices/makes etc, these are the cheapest.

VW said just the parts is £150+vat
 
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Soldato
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They also said that completely seperately:

My Sump gasket is leaking and that will be £434
I need a 4 wheel allignment which will be £99
I need Front Pads and Discs which will be £275
Rear pads for which they want £131
They said that the handbreak pivot needs adjusting £98.29

Those prices are obscene. Find a local independent if you can't DIY.
 
Soldato
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Coils are usually around £25 each tops now and we use genuine bosch.

I would have expected that price 4 years ago when they used to be £60 each. I would certainly recommend a set though, one coil may fix the issue for now but the rest are never far behind.
 
Soldato
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Picking up 4x Bosch Coils from Eurocar parts after work. I'm going to assume it's not the plugs atm. Are the coils easy to fit? or should I pay someone to do it?

Would a Haynes manual show me how to change these? If so I'll buy one cause there are lots of things I don't know that I think I should that would be in there.
 
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Soldato
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While a lambda or cat issue is perfectly plausable its easy to get set on this issue while a emissions warning light on most modern cars comes on if there is any issue which is deemed to effect the cars emissions, misfire, enine temp sensor and a dozen other things you wouldnt normally associate with exhuast content.

Agreed.

Picking up 4x Bosch Coils from Eurocar parts after work. I'm going to assume it's not the plugs atm. Are the coils easy to fit? or should I pay someone to do it?

Would a Haynes manual show me how to change these? If so I'll buy one cause there are lots of things I don't know that I think I should that would be in there.

Not doing the plugs too is a false economy, they're a few £ each from the same place selling the coils.

If you really want to be a tight arse and replace only one of the 2 components named, start with the cheaper part, the plugs.
 
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