MK4 Golf 1.4 Emissions Light

Carson10

Hi Boards,
Emissions light (engine symbol) came on in the dash last week. its a 1.4 2003 Golf 73,000 miles Brought it to a garage and they stuck the computer on it. Said the emissons were fine but the sensor had broken down or mite be worn out. They cancelled out the light on the dash but it came back on again a day later.

What should i do? i know its not important but hate driven with the error light on the dash.

Any ideas or how much this should cost?

Cheers!

EPM

Common fault. It's a Lambda sensor. If you are in any way handy it's actually a very easy job to do. Sensor isn't cheap though. I had mine done in UK and it was about £270 but I didn't shop around or anything though.

Carson10

cheers for that. not goina get it done @ the main dealer. Have a guy who operates from the house so il get him to do it, he's a VW mechanic. cant be assed forkin out €200 for labour @ the main dealer.

EPM

Really is a very quick job to do. Labour should be quite small on it. Only problem is if it's the one at the top of the manifold the car will need to be cold as it's quite tight and you could get a nasty burn. I had to leave my car in for the day to be sorted.

BlackWizard

Had the same issue on my mothers car before. It was Lambda and it cost a few hundred.

The problem hasn't come back since. Makes me wonder if it's a factory fault on these 1.4's

shamwari

There's two sensors on that, a Pre cat and a post cat one. Do you know what the fault code was (P0420 or similar?). If the car is driving ok, it's usually the post-cat sensor that can cause this, or on some cars, a software update, or even the cat itself. An emissions test will usually prove the cat is ok. If it were my car, I would insist on a genuine part being fitted here. It may be expensive, but those sensors should be a wide-band, and fitting an incorrect or generic sensor can create further problems.

Carson10

thanks for the replys. The car is running as usual and the emissions are fine as the garage i brought it to get the diagnostics said they were all normal readings. They cancelled the error light and said leave it for a while to see if it comes back on. It did the next day.

billbond4

yeah had the same problem on the wives golf, its the lamda sensor is gone, you need to get it replaced.
Your better off to get it done sooner, as you can end up using more fuel ( I dont know how much extra, it might not be too much) as the cars computer doesnt know the level of oxygen in the exhaust gas and has to guestimate it and will set the fuel/air mix accordingly, which could be too much fuel or too little fuel (so you loose some power)

Carson10

did you get yours done at a dealer? any idea how much it cost?

billbond4

It didnt cost anything as mechanic who was putting on new timing belt in the golf caused the problem.
He tried cleaning it first, but your better off just to replace it, which he eventually had to do.