VW Exhaust emissions warning light

tom_murphy112

Hi All,

This evening I fuelled my Petrol VW Fox (1.2) and the minute I left the garage the engine was loosing power and the Exhaust Emission light was blinking. Now I am 100% certain I filled it with petrol (even the receipt shows it ) and also didn't fill the fuel to the brim.. Car was services about 900km ago, but the the spark plugs wasn't changed. the car has about 50,000 km on the clock and is a 9 year old car

Any theories ? Could it be bad fuel, fault spark plug or even worst the catalytic converter needs replacement

I know no one can be 100% certain, and I plan to bring it to the garage first thing in the morning.. but asking if any one has come across a similar issue with VW and the cost to fix it

Thanks,

Ded_Zebra

If the light is flashing it's more than likely detecting a misfire. That will also make the car slow and rough running. Most likely a spark issue but further diagnostics will be needed to confirm. Get it seen to asap as prolonged driving might damage the cat.

tom_murphy112

Ded_Zebra wrote: »

If the light is flashing it's more than likely detecting a misfire. That will also make the car slow and rough running. Most likely a spark issue but further diagnostics will be needed to confirm. Get it seen to asap as prolonged driving might damage the cat.

Thanks for the reply. Yep, I just drove straight from the garage to my house, about 2 km tops. Since my car only has three cylinder, is it possible to remove each spark plug one at a time to try and narrow down the faulty one ? - I remember reading or watching it somewhere (most likely from a top gear challenge )

Ded_Zebra

tom_murphy112 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. Yep, I just drove straight from the garage to my house, about 2 km tops. Since my car only has three cylinder, is it possible to remove each spark plug one at a time to try and narrow down the faulty one ? - I remember reading or watching it somewhere (most likely from a top gear challenge )

Should be possible alright . Disconnect the coils for each one at a time. That'll narrow it down to which cylinder it is. Then it's just a case of finding out what exactly is causing the problem. In my experience it is most likely a coil pack or possible a plug. If it is the plug you would be best to change all 3.

tom_murphy112

Ded_Zebra wrote: »

Should be possible alright . Disconnect the coils for each one at a time. That'll narrow it down to which cylinder it is. Then it's just a case of finding out what exactly is causing the problem. In my experience it is most likely a coil pack or possible a plug. If it is the plug you would be best to change all 3.

Thanks for your reply.. I found that cylinder 2 is the culprit.. so ending up ordering 1 coil pack and three spark plugs of MicksGarage. Enquired couple of garages and all are quoting over 160 quid for the job.. :eek::eek:

So my DIY grand total is just €57.65 :P:P

Bosch Spark Plug (single) 0242236565 x 3 = €16.62 (€5.54 each)
Bosch Ignition Coil 0986221047 x1 = €41.03

I am sure if I pay a garage 160 bucks, it most likely wont be parts of that quality or brand.

That being said, never done this before.. so fingers crossed.. I mean how hard can it be :D:D

Atlantic Dawn

tom_murphy112 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply.. I found that cylinder 2 is the culprit.. so ending up ordering 1 coil pack and three spark plugs of MicksGarage. Enquired couple of garages and all are quoting over 160 quid for the job.. :eek::eek:

So my DIY grand total is just €57.65 :P:P

Bosch Spark Plug (single) 0242236565 x 3 = €16.62 (€5.54 each)
Bosch Ignition Coil 0986221047 x1 = €41.03

I am sure if I pay a garage 160 bucks, it most likely wont be parts of that quality or brand.

That being said, never done this before.. so fingers crossed.. I mean how hard can it be :D:D

The coil pack has a connector on it that you might need a screwdriver to gently pry off.

The plugs themselves are not a hard job to do, just be careful not to crossthread them when installing the new ones, easily done. You can buy a specific spark plug tool for the removal and reinstall of new plugs, these are fine when the old plugs come out easy, in other cases it's better to have a socket set extension tool and socket to get leverage to remove them.

Spark plug tool

tom_murphy112

Have been doing a lot of research and youtube videos on this today..
But yeah just picked up this from Halfords earlier today - http://www.halfords.ie/workshop-tools/tools/spanners-wrenches/laser-12-spark-plug-spanner-10-and-14mm as well plus I already have a box spanner set with the extension arm as a backup tool.

I am only now worried about having this tool as my model requires it to remove the ignition coil.. Average price is about 40 bucks, don't want to spend that much money as I plan to sell the car before I need to replace them again in the future.. any alternative option to remove it ?

Ded_Zebra

Any update on this at all? any joy fixing it?:)

tossy

Use a stubby flat head screwdriver to prise the coil pack out, the can get pretty wedged in with the heat.

Also always change spark plugs when the engine is warm.