Golf Mk4 1.6se 52 Reg - Emissions workshop

[londonguy]

Hi guys,

Yesterday whilst i was driving my car had the following flash up on the electronic screen on the drivers side dash 'Emissions workshop' and a yellow symbol was flashing.

The car was juddering alot and wasn't picking up speed and was driving really sluggish.

I'm worried as i bought this car second hand 3 weeks ago, have i bought a dud?


What could be wrong?

[londonguy]

Come on guys, someone must have a clue.

[Crasher]

Your car has extremely sophisticated fault code abilities that will identify almost exactly what is wrong so how about doing the obvious and getting a fault code read done? It is cheaper than guess work. It will probably show an individual cylinder misfire and a random multiple cylinder misfire. Whichever cylinder shows the misfire, get the garage to swap the coil pack from that cylinder to another and then read the codes again. If the fault moves to another cylinder, replace the coil pack (in fact, replace all four) but if it doesn’t move then more than likely you have a compression loss on that cylinder in question which is very common on the 100 and 105PS 1.6 16v engines due to burnt out exhaust valves. The reason for this is people using 95RON fuel when they should use 98RON fuel as is shown inside the fuel filler flap. Give me you engine code and I can tell you if your car is one of these that are susceptible to this. An example is the AUS engine.

[londonguy]

Hey Crasher,

I left the car with the garage this morning, they read the fault code and told me that they coil no.2 is faulty so they are going to replace it tommorrow.

Hopefully that will solve it.

[londonguy]

Hey crasher,

i got the car back today, they replaced coil 2 and replaced all the sparks. It seems to be running smoothly again, so i just wanted to say thank you.

Also, where do i find the engine code?

[Crasher]

The engine code is on the cam belt cover and on the data sticker in the service book and on the boot floor or PM me your reg and I will tell you.

[jay007.1]

I have the same problem, few weeks after buying the car the same has happened but at a time of year when no one is open to help! Mine is the same spec as above but has the LPG conversion. Any known problems here?

[Crasher]

Hello and welcome, yes this is an awkward time of year to break down; it is the most common time to break down as well according to a motoring organisation. The main reason is people have put off maintenance on their cars due to festive spending and this spending comes not long after holiday bills hit the matt so not a good time. Your first step is to get the cars engine computer scanned for fault codes and see what comes up. Unfortunately you are going to have to wait until Wednesday at least. If the car is misfiring it is not doing the catalyst or the two lambda sensors any favours at all and these are expensive parts to replace. I get a lot of LPG converted cars with poor running problems and I have nearly got to the point of turning LPG converted cars away, they are two much trouble and (desperately trying not to be rude here) the owners tend to be a little, shall we say, reluctant to open their wallets. Maybe something to do with a thrifty nature!

[jay007.1]

Thanks Crasher for the advice, and yes I understand what your saying about LPG drivers, but for me I just don't like the government taking the p1$$ out of every corner a driver makes in terms of taxes. I've had the car in the garage and the code reader blamed the coils. Had them all changed and the plugs changed but nothing is different. However, by overriding the LPG and just running on unledded the car is fantastic. As soon as it's switched back to LPG then 'here we go again' anyone any ideas?