Emissions warning light on 03 Passat

jrar

Driving last Sun. and suddenly noticed yellow warning light for "emissions" come on.....not blinking, just lit and has remained same since.

Manual says to go to dealers for futher diagnostics - I cannot do so for at least another week due to work etc. so just wondering if anyone has any idea what might have triggered this warning sensor to be activated, and whether continuous driving will have any further negative impact ?

Car is running exactly the same as it had been before the light came on i.e. very well for a 6-y-o with 117K miles on the clock

R.O.R

jrar wrote: »

Driving last Sun. and suddenly noticed yellow warning light for "emissions" come on.....not blinking, just lit and has remained same since.

Manual says to go to dealers for futher diagnostics - I cannot do so for at least another week due to work etc. so just wondering if anyone has any idea what might have triggered this warning sensor to be activated, and whether continuous driving will have any further negative impact ?

Car is running exactly the same as it had been before the light came on i.e. very well for a 6-y-o with 117K miles on the clock

Which engine do you have in the Passat?

Had a similar thing happen with my Octavia 1.8T. Car was running fine for a good while with the yellow light on, then the coils started to give up. Pretty sure this only affects the petrol models.

You can reset the light by disconnecting the battery for about a minute. If you do this make sure you have the radio code if you need one. It may have been a minor glitch that triggered the light, but if it comes back on you are best to take it to a dealer to have the fault codes read.

Carstuck

Same light came on my suzuki grand vitara last week. Got it tested and appears to be a fuel injector. Its in the garage now. I got the light switched off first but it came back on. Charged me €50 just to knock it off and it came back on again!! I was told its an expensive job, but mine is under warranty.

nogoodnamesleft

Same thing happened my 03 Tdi passat a week or two ago. The symptoms of my problem were engine management light on in the dash as well as "Emissions Workshop" appearing on the driver computer display. I have a VAG COM lead and ran diagnostics (lead cost me 15euro delivered best money I ever spent ) it reported back a faulty coolant temperature sender - Intermittent.

Anyways i cleared the code but the light came on within a few days. I got a quote off the main dealer for the part including the O ring and a new clip to hold it in place - 33 euro. Was in cork and called into otto car parts got the same part including O ring for 20 quid. They dont do the plastic clip but you can always reuse the old one. I replaced mine over a week ago, topped up the coolant with G12++ (vag specific coolant) cleared the code and its fine since.

If you can get some one local with a vagcom lead and get them to scan it to see what is causing the fault the most common faults are ERG valve or coolant temperature sender.

SouperComputer

Start with the simple stuff.......Did you put petrol in it on Sunday? If the petrol cap isnt snug it can cause an emissions code.

jrar

It's the 1.9TDI basic engine - this morning the warning light had gone off and I did my 25 mile commute with no problems.

Came out of work this evening and initially no light to be seen, then about 5 miles into my journey, it made a re-appearance and remained on the whole way home.

Car still feels fine i.e. I cannot detect anything diff. about the way it is running now versus last Sat/Sun before the light came on.

Anyone know anyone in the Naas / Sallins area who has VAG COM and who could possibly run a quick diagnostic to see what code(s) are causing this ?

AzureAuto

Hi
Celbridge based mobile mechanic here, have a VAG spec scanner and can travel to you to plug in your car and run a complete diagnostic scan. Very common for engine management ight to intermittently appear on these TDi passats, dont worry it's unlikely to be too serious a problem if you're having no driveability issues, yet best to get vehicle looked at sooner rather than later.

jrar

Thanks AzureAuto for the offer.

I actually work over Clonee way so could swing by yours sometime next week if it suited - pm me with a contact number and I'll give you a bell to set up a day/time that suits us both