Engine management light on = NCT fail?

dukedalton

My 2003 Mondeo is going in for an NCT in a couple of weeks. The car is running fine but over the last few months the orange engine management light has come on sporadically, for a few days, before going off again. I know I should really get it checked out but while money as tight and the car seems to be running fine, I don't want to spend money looking for problems if I can avoid it at all. My question is, if the light happens to be on when it goes for the NCT, is that an automatic fail?

Sobanek

Yes. All lights are supposed to be off (except for the obvious ones like handbrake and seatbelt one)

slimjimmc

+1 Cloty
From the NCT manual the only the following warning lights will cause a fail if they don't work correctly i.e. don't come on/go out when they're supposed to.

Malfunction Indicators for Airbags, Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS/Electronic Braking System (EBS) and Parking Brake.

Sobanek

Cloty wrote: »

Incorrect. Engine management light being on will not fail you for NCT if emissions are within tolerances. Educate yourself before giving shoddy and possibly costly advice

Our 1.6 Golf failed about four years ago, because it had the engine check light on. Are you sure?

Wheres My ForkandKnife

Sobanek wrote: »

Our 1.6 Golf failed about four years ago, because it had the engine check light on. Are you sure?

Your car failed because of the problem that caused the engine light to come on,emissions probably.

Engine management light is not an automatic fail by itself.

Syllabus

Regardless of nct fail or pass with the light on - if the light is on it indicates a problem. It doesnt come on for no reason esp. on fords. You say you've no money but what if its indicating a misfire or O2 sensor issue thats cheap to fix now but if you leave it will result i cat failure????

I will never understand peoples ingnorance when it comes to MIL issues.

I guarantee if your phone or your tv had a strange light on you'd investigate it.....


Peoples excuse 'oh, i just want it to pass an NCT'

So the possiblity of the engine seizing 3 weeks later is of no worry to you as long as there is an up to date NCT in the window when its on the back of a tow truck.....







Imo

slimjimmc

Sobanek wrote: »

Our 1.6 Golf failed about four years ago, because it had the engine check light on. Are you sure?

The light itself is not a fail but if they can't do the emissions test that would result in the same.

On a diesel they can refuse to do the smoke test if the "engine warning lamp" or "oil pressure lamp" is on. On a petrol they can refuse the emissions test if the "oil warning lamp" is on. So, it is possible a lit engine management lamp would mean they didn't do the smoke test.

A few extra lights were added last year but I don't think they're in force yet.
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2012/en/si/0103.html

Malfunction indicator for airbags, electronic stability control (ESC), antilock brake system (ABS), electronic braking system (EBS), parking brake, tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS), electronic power steering (EPS) or brake fluid warning lamp is not working, or is indicating a defect in the system.

dukedalton

Syllabus wrote: »

Regardless of nct fail or pass with the light on - if the light is on it indicates a problem. It doesnt come on for no reason esp. on fords. You say you've no money but what if its indicating a misfire or O2 sensor issue thats cheap to fix now but if you leave it will result i cat failure????

I will never understand peoples ingnorance when it comes to MIL issues.

I guarantee if your phone or your tv had a strange light on you'd investigate it.....


Peoples excuse 'oh, i just want it to pass an NCT'

So the possiblity of the engine seizing 3 weeks later is of no worry to you as long as there is an up to date NCT in the window when its on the back of a tow truck.....







Imo

You are making an awful lot of presumptions there. (For a start, I didn't say I have "no money"). I was not asking "what do I do if the engine light comes on". I asked a specific question about the NCT. I thank those posters who answered my query.

Syllabus

dukedalton wrote: »

You are making an awful lot of presumptions there. (For a start, I didn't say I have "no money"). I was not asking "what do I do if the engine light comes on". I asked a specific question about the NCT. I thank those posters who answered my query.

You clearly need to be told what to do in regards the light in fairness. Its been coming on now and again and you're only worried because the nct is due!!!
My old mans mil was on now and again on his mondeo until one night the engine seized on the m50 - just saying




In regards to the money thing - my mistake. I misread it however i still stand by what i said

DMcL1971

The engine management light in my Audi A4 has been on for three years. It used to come on intermittently (a few days on a few days off) but has been on solid for the last year. I originally brought it to one main Audi delaer who over the course of a year replaced five different sensors and three pipes. The error was in relation to the fuel air mix ratio. They finally admited defeat and said the only thing left to do was to completely replace the CPU. Which I did not go for.

So I brought it to another Audi dealer who kept the car for three days and got Audi in Germany to run remote diagnostics from the factory and they could not figure out why the light kept coming on either. At all times the car ran perfectly and even passed the NCT twice during periods when the light was not on.

It passed the emission tests both times despite the error code saying the fuel/air mix was too rich. The car is due to be NCT'ed again on Wednesday night and this time the light will be on. So we'll have to see if it still passes. I'll let you know.

Personally, I feel confident it will pass, as the engine management light is a very general light which could indicate many different things in relation to whether the engine is running at peak performance or not. The NCT is mainly concerned about the safety of your vehicle not its performance, as long as it is within the emission limits.

DMcL1971

Just back from the test centre and the car passed with the engine management light on. I asked the tester and he said that the engine management light didn't matter for the test.

Niallpud

My car passed the nct less than an hour ago with the engine management light on!! They didn't even mention it to me at the test centre!

cjt156

My EML has been on for almost 3 yrs and its passed the NCT twice in that time. I've checked the diagnostics - fault is a camshaft sensor which can only be replaced with a cam-belt change. It takes an extra turn to fire on startup but otherwise no problem. It'll be done when the cambelt is due.

EML and NCT? No problem. (as said earlier though, the root cause itself may be a fail)

emo72

i changed the stereo on my passat and i had to disconnect and reconnect the airbag light to move the stereo. because of this my airbag warning light is now on. i will just have to get the notification reset by a mechanic. no big deal. but if i dont get it reset will i have an automatic fail with my nct?

DMcL1971

emo72 wrote: »

i changed the stereo on my passat and i had to disconnect and reconnect the airbag light to move the stereo. because of this my airbag warning light is now on. i will just have to get the notification reset by a mechanic. no big deal. but if i dont get it reset will i have an automatic fail with my nct?

I would be pretty sure that that would be a fail as it is a safety issue. It indicates to the tester that your air bags may not be working.

dodzy

emo72 wrote: »

i changed the stereo on my passat and i had to disconnect and reconnect the airbag light to move the stereo. because of this my airbag warning light is now on. i will just have to get the notification reset by a mechanic. no big deal. but if i dont get it reset will i have an automatic fail with my nct?

Yep, fail.

emo72

anyone know what the going rate is to get it turned off? the airbag is fine. is it someone with a vagcom machine i need?

wotswattage

emo72 wrote: »

i changed the stereo on my passat and i had to disconnect and reconnect the airbag light to move the stereo. because of this my airbag warning light is now on. i will just have to get the notification reset by a mechanic. no big deal. but if i dont get it reset will i have an automatic fail with my nct?

Did you disconnect the battery when doing this? Fiddling with airbag or abs wires with the battery connected can often throw up fault lights. A long shot may be to disconnect the battery now and leave it for a period of time (few hours) and reconnect it. The ECU will re-run the health checks and maybe the light may go off.

Not saying it will certainly work, but from reading about other peoples experience with mk3 golfs I used own this sometimes worked.

emo72

wotswattage wrote: »

Did you disconnect the battery when doing this? Fiddling with airbag or abs wires with the battery connected can often throw up fault lights. A long shot may be to disconnect the battery now and leave it for a period of time (few hours) and reconnect it. The ECU will re-run the health checks and maybe the light may go off.

Not saying it will certainly work, but from reading about other peoples experience with mk3 golfs I used own this sometimes worked.

thats exactly what i done. forgot to take off battery. will try your idea.thanks

Careful_now!

Sobanek wrote: »

Our 1.6 Golf failed about four years ago, because it had the engine check light on. Are you sure?

Did they do a full retest when you went back or did they just check of you got the light turned off?

Sobanek

Careful_now! wrote: »

Did they do a full retest when you went back or did they just check of you got the light turned off?

As far as I remember it was a full retest.

It's been over 6 years now, so don't take my word for it