Check engine light NOT lighting up!!

[king.lion]

Hi there, Im hoping someone might be able to help me with this one. My Passat 99 b5 petrol 1.8 20v NON turbo has NEVER shown the cel at turning the key or ever since Ive owned it. I have researched quite a bit now and I know that sometimes previous owners could have either taped over the light or scraped off the LED. Today I decided its time to find out so I have been inside the Instrument cluster and my findings were :- No tape covering the light and the LED is still there!! Next, I put some voltage across that LED and behold it lit up!! So LED does work but still doesnt show when I turn the key:confused:! My question is ....where else could it have possibly been disabled?? Maybe the cluster is faulty but its a bit suspicious as every other light seems fine. Thanks for reading.

[Crasher]

The Passat 3B with the ADR engine does not have an engine Malfunction Indicator Light (MIL) as it is not OBDII so you are searching for something that is not wired up...

[king.lion]

Thanks mate, that would certainly explain why it never shows up! My engine is APT so maybe its same kinda set up as ADR. Does make me wonder though that if there is a horrendous misfire or anything else going crazy with the engine, will it warn me with the EPC light instead. Im going to have to open up the cluster again now and tweek the needles back to zero as I did yesterday but when plugged back in, they moved down slightly.

[Crasher]

There is an EPC (Electronic Power Control) light (called K132) on the DBW APT engine (the ADR is not DBW) so any malfunction that affects the power delivery tends to bring on the EPC light.

[king.lion]

So just out of interest, what happens on the ADR if there is an engine fault, is there anything at all that displays it to the driver? I have had a few times in the past where the engine was shaking badly and no power, but nothing lit up to say anything was wrong. I have also had pinging issues on and off with my engine for a long time but thats a whole other story.

[Crasher]

So just out of interest, what happens on the ADR if there is an engine fault, is there anything at all that displays it to the driver?

Bugger all, the driver is the detection and reporting system

[king.lion]

Thanks for your help on this one. Just thought I'd share with everyone that I also asked VW about this and they confirmed that my models MIL or CEL light will only light up if there is a recorded fault and apart from that its just EPC when the key is turned.