Engine warning light came on after NCT

Fuh Q

Hi guys, 2001 Skoda octavia 1.6 passed NCT this morning and on the way home the engine warning light came on. The car is driving well with no sign of problems.
Is it just a coincidence or could the NCT procedures cause this ?

Mech1

Check if they put the dipstick back correctly, and that the fuel cap was refitted right.

Fuh Q

Mech1 wrote: »

Check if they put the dipstick back correctly, and that the fuel cap was refitted right.

Thanks, I checked the dip stick, oil filler cap and fuel filler cap and they are fine, anything else they could have done ?

bazz26

You will need to get the fault codes read to indicate where the problem might be otherwise you are flying blind.

Fuh Q

bazz26 wrote: »

You will need to get the fault codes read to indicate where the problem might be otherwise you are flying blind.

I will get that done tomorrow, I was just wondering if its anything to do with the NCT. Does a ecu reset turn off the light ?

bazz26

Any garage with the proper software can clear the fault codes but if the underlying problem remains then they will pop up again.

Fuh Q

I popped into a Skoda dealer today and they ran a diagnostics, its the 02 sensor thats gone. They charged me €60 and they want €210 for the new part and another €60 to fit it..

bazz26

Fuh Q wrote: »

I popped into a Skoda dealer today and they ran a diagnostics, its the 02 sensor thats gone. They charged me €60 and they want €210 for the new part and another €60 to fit it..

Get a price from an indy garage, I wouldn't waste my money bringing a 12 year old car to a main dealer.

Where you based, there are a few good indies on this forum who might be close to you.

Fuh Q

bazz26 wrote: »

Get a price from an indy garage, I wouldn't waste my money bringing a 12 year old car to a main dealer.

Where you based, there are a few good indies on this forum who might be close to you.

Im going back to the garage tomorrow to get the part number and I might buy it on line.
The only reason I want to them today was because I was close to them and I wanted to make sure it was nothing serious.
Im in Navan if anyone can recommend somewhere to get the job done at a fair price ?

Mech1

In all honesty you have already spent the goodness out of a indys job, he's gonna have to charge you for diag, part, fitting, rechecking etc. if you had gone to the indy in the first place you would be prob €100 or so up on the job. Now you will be lucky to be €40 ahead. If your pricing and maybe supplying your own part then your gonna piss off the indy garage you dont bring your own food to a restaurant do you?

johnnydeep

60 euro to fit. doubt if it would take more than ten minutes. price the part in motor factors google where it is on the car and change it yourself

Mr.Fred

It looks to be a pricey part but not €210

http://www.autobits.co.uk/store/store.php?cat_id=6351

Fuh Q

Mech1 wrote: »

In all honesty you have already spent the goodness out of a indys job, he's gonna have to charge you for diag, part, fitting, rechecking etc. if you had gone to the indy in the first place you would be prob €100 or so up on the job. Now you will be lucky to be €40 ahead. If your pricing and maybe supplying your own part then your gonna piss off the indy garage you dont bring your own food to a restaurant do you?

I wouldnt buy the part to bring it to a garage, if I buy it Ill fix it. If I can find a garage local that will do it at a decent price Ill let them.

johnnydeep

Mech1 wrote: »

In all honesty you have already spent the goodness out of a indys job, he's gonna have to charge you for diag, part, fitting, rechecking etc. if you had gone to the indy in the first place you would be prob €100 or so up on the job. Now you will be lucky to be €40 ahead. If your pricing and maybe supplying your own part then your gonna piss off the indy garage you dont bring your own food to a restaurant do you?

because they will stick 50 on the price and say the labour was 30 and tell you you got a bargain

Mech1

Trade discounts in motor factors are there for a good reason. lots of times I have had people paying retail plus 23% vat for a self supplied part, if i supplied and fitted I would charge retail plus 13.5%vat. both I and the customer are better off.

johnnydeep

Mech1 wrote: »

Trade discounts in motor factors are there for a good reason. lots of times I have had people paying retail plus 23% vat for a self supplied part, if i supplied and fitted I would charge retail plus 13.5%vat. both I and the customer are better off.

I have never seen anybody buy a part in motor factors and not get discount. plus I have bought parts online for a fraction of the motor factors

Mech1

You posted in the wrong thread johnny:D

Mech1

bargain alerts with no warranty are >>>>

johnnydeep

Mech1 wrote: »

You posted in the wrong thread johnny:D

hows that

harg90

johnnydeep wrote: »

60 euro to fit. doubt if it would take more than ten minutes. price the part in motor factors google where it is on the car and change it yourself

haha are you serious? in theory it would take 10min, but in reality, unless you have a GOOD lambda socket, stay well away from it, or it will cost you in the long run.

lambda sensors, more often than not get welded in over time due to the heat there exposed to.

if you go at it with anything other than a good lambda socket youl end up sliping on it, rounding the edges, thus making it a nighmare to get out.There fore increasing the time and labour costs of when you end up bringing it to a garage.

most spurous sensors dont come with a plug either, so you'le have to cut the old plug and solder or crimp the new one on.

im not sure where they are exactly on the octavia, but im nearly sure there underneath just upstream of the cat, slightly hard to get to on the ground.


Anyway, apart from all that, to be honest if you were after going through the nct your emissions must be ok, therefore your lambda is working alright, ther dont usualy just stop working.

its more than likly a 02 sensor heater circuit fault that was flagged up, this is in your lambda sensor, but doesnt directly or significantly effect your emmissions..

your 02 sensor only starts working at roughly 300 degrees C untill then your car is running at a fixed A/F mix called closed loop.

so to speed up the process of getting your 02 sensor up and running sooner on a cold start, they encorperated a heater within in it, these are known for breaking down,

all it means is your car will be running in closed loop for longer, untill it gets up to running temp..

of course im only guessing its a heater circuite fault, but im only talking from experiance. by any chance did they tell you what the actual fault code was? tell you a P code or give you a 5 didget vag code?

plus 210e is dear,

My advice?

go to a good indy.

but if im right the fault will do no harm, so dont rush into a decission, esp now a days, save up and price around.

harg90

johnnydeep wrote: »

I have never seen anybody buy a part in motor factors and not get discount. plus I have bought parts online for a fraction of the motor factors

course everyone gets discount, most autofactors have 100-200% markup.

they give 12% to the normal joe soap and 30% to others, there still making 70% profit.

and id be weary of buying online, theres alot of knock off crap floating around.

but sure you kno best...

harg90

johnnydeep wrote: »

because they will stick 50 on the price and say the labour was 30 and tell you you got a bargain

would you prefure them to do it for free?

whats your profession johhny?

johnnydeep

harg90 wrote: »

course everyone gets discount, most autofactors have 100-200% markup.

they give 12% to the normal joe soap and 30% to others, there still making 70% profit.

and id be weary of buying online, theres alot of knock off crap floating around.

but sure you kno best...

thanks. as for crap floating about. motor factors aren't immune to that either

Fuh Q

harg90 wrote: »

its more than likly a 02 sensor heater circuit fault that was flagged up, this is in your lambda sensor, but doesnt directly or significantly effect your emmissions..

Thats exactly what he said it was,he said it cause the car to run less economical when cold, he turned off the warning light but it came back on straight away.
I could probably drive it as is but if the light is always on I wont know if I get any other problems.

George Dalton

Be careful when getting a replacement sensor for these (or any petrol VAG). Lots of the spurious sensors will cause a heater circuit fault code to be logged as the resistance of the heater element is different to the genuine sensor.

harg90

johnnydeep wrote: »

thanks. as for crap floating about. motor factors aren't immune to that either

true but but its not knock off crap.

they will have crap, put atleast you know what your buying.

not pure utter SH1T£ made in a storage unit in china with a reputable brand name slapped onit and passed onto a DIY meccano-ic whos best friend is ebay..

ZENER

Fuh Q wrote: »

I popped into a Skoda dealer today and they ran a diagnostics, its the 02 sensor thats gone. They charged me €60 and they want €210 for the new part and another €60 to fit it..

Is it possible that the O2 sensor is detecting a problem elsewhere ? I'm not a mechanic but I have replaced a couple of O2 sensors (including 4 wire units) on my cars to find they were not at fault but were indicating a fault elsewhere which caused the sensor to go out of range.

Did Skoda provide a printout of the fault ? Was there an error code mentioned ?

Ken

johnnydeep

Fuh Q wrote: »

Thats exactly what he said it was,he said it cause the car to run less economical when cold, he turned off the warning light but it came back on straight away.
I could probably drive it as is but if the light is always on I wont know if I get any other problems.

but you will if cars performing alright no problem. if its not right problem

Fuh Q

ZENER wrote: »

Is it possible that the O2 sensor is detecting a problem elsewhere ? I'm not a mechanic but I have replaced a couple of O2 sensors (including 4 wire units) on my cars to find they were not at fault but were indicating a fault elsewhere which caused the sensor to go out of range.

Did Skoda provide a printout of the fault ? Was there an error code mentioned ?

Ken

No, they gave me nothing. He said something about it not sending back a signal or not reading or something like that, but was quite definite with the diagnosis.

harg90

Fuh Q wrote: »

Thats exactly what he said it was,he said it cause the car to run less economical when cold, he turned off the warning light but it came back on straight away.
I could probably drive it as is but if the light is always on I wont know if I get any other problems.

meh, he wasnt lying but hes making it sound worse than it iss at the same time, it wont be all that much less economical, just untill it gets up to running temp, about 10min?

yea thats the other side of things,
im not directing this at you, but there are some people, (most people) who wouldnt be keen enough to realise if the car started running bad.

all i can recomend is find a good indy, but dont rush into it, the liklyhood of something else going wrong with the care within a week or 2 is unlikly, ask around and get opinions on local indys.

im all for suporting local, and suporting the small guys.

but try to avoid the cowboys

harg90

ZENER wrote: »

Is it possible that the O2 sensor is detecting a problem elsewhere ? I'm not a mechanic but I have replaced a couple of O2 sensors (including 4 wire units) on my cars to find they were not at fault but were indicating a fault elsewhere which caused the sensor to go out of range.

Did Skoda provide a printout of the fault ? Was there an error code mentioned ?

Ken

the 4wire types are heated 02 sensors.

harg90

johnnydeep wrote: »

but you will if cars performing alright no problem. if its not right problem

what do you mean?

whats your profession johnny?

harg90

George Dalton wrote: »

Be careful when getting a replacement sensor for these (or any petrol VAG). Lots of the spurious sensors will cause a heater circuit fault code to be logged as the resistance of the heater element is different to the genuine sensor.

off hand can you name any spurious sensors that are compatible?

johnnydeep

harg90 wrote: »

what do you mean?

whats your profession johnny?

I mean an engine management light means f all. the light could be on and car could be driving 100%. if he spent 300 euro fixing it . well then he wouldn't see a return on his money. regardless of the light being on or off the best way to judge is by the way the car drives.

Mech1

johnnydeep wrote: »

I mean an engine management light means f all. the light could be on and car could be driving 100%. if he spent 300 euro fixing it . well then he wouldn't see a return on his money. regardless of the light being on or off the best way to judge is by the way the car drives.

The light, by law, has to illuminate when a emissions related fault is recognised.
The car will not be driving 100%. Whether or not the driver realises this is immaterial.

harg90

johnnydeep wrote: »

I mean an engine management light means f all. the light could be on and car could be driving 100%. if he spent 300 euro fixing it . well then he wouldn't see a return on his money. regardless of the light being on or off the best way to judge is by the way the car drives.

a little knowledge is a dengerous thing.

have you any training or where do you get your information? google? pub?

johnnydeep

Mech1 wrote: »

The light, by law, has to illuminate when a emissions related fault is recognised.
The car will not be driving 100%. Whether or not the driver realises this is immaterial.

but would it not stay on if the problem was rectified. could it not come on for something that would have no bearing on the cars performance. i certainly wouldn't give a flying **** about emission otherwise i wouldn't have taken cat and dpf off the car

johnnydeep

harg90 wrote: »

a little knowledge is a dengerous thing.

have you any training or where do you get your information? google? pub?

no training in mechanics if that's what your asking. have you never googled information on a car

George Dalton

harg90 wrote: »

off hand can you name any spurious sensors that are compatible?

Bosch direct fit sensors seem to work quite well. They aren't much cheaper than the genuine part from the dealer though.

harg90

johnnydeep wrote: »

no training in mechanics if that's what your asking. have you never googled information on a car

yup but im trained enough to know the good from the bad, the true from the sh1t£.

but from your posts i get the fealing you think you know more than you do.

harg90

George Dalton wrote: »

Bosch direct fit sensors seem to work quite well. They aren't much cheaper than the genuine part from the dealer though.

you get what you pay for i supose, 210E for a octavia 02 sensor is pricy tho,

Fuh Q

My point is that if I get it fixed and then another problem occurs I will know about it by the light coming on, Its an old car and as much as I dont want to spend money on it I dont need it to break down either. There is a 14 month NCT on it so I could drive it for the next year but with the light on Im driving blind..

Fuh Q

harg90 wrote: »

you get what you pay for i supose, 210E for a octavia 02 sensor is pricy tho,

And thats without fitting it...

Technoprisoner

harg90 wrote: »

course everyone gets discount, most autofactors have 100-200% markup.

they give 12% to the normal joe soap and 30% to others, there still making 70% profit.

and id be weary of buying online, theres alot of knock off crap floating around.

but sure you kno best...

i would love to know where you got those figures from lol

harg90

Fuh Q wrote: »

And thats without fitting it...

yea, but trust me in my previos post, bring it to a indy garage to get it done, they can be a nightmare.

ask him to give you a rough price,
but you know yourself, things dont always go to plan,
he may have to add a small bt on if the job goes south, but not by much.

02sensors have lost me more time and money than nearly any other job.

pick a good indy garage and stay with them, layalty pays off with the small guys, be fair with them and they will be fair with you.

harg90

Technoprisoner wrote: »

i would love to know where you got those figures from lol

please, expand.

you disagree?

Technoprisoner

harg90 wrote: »

please, expand.

you disagree?

yes i disagree... please explain where you came up with figures of a 200% mark up...or even a 70 % markup

harg90

Technoprisoner wrote: »

yes i disagree... please explain where you came up with figures of a 200% mark up...or even a 70 % markup

a little birdie told me :L

Technoprisoner

harg90 wrote: »

a little birdie told me :L

well you are not even close to being correct

harg90

Technoprisoner wrote: »

well you are not even close to being correct

ha dya reccon? and your sources are?

Technoprisoner

harg90 wrote: »

ha dya reccon? and your sources are?

my sources are im the manager of a motor factors....what are your sources?