Car issues...

[VJ]

Hello,

Just yesterday, upon driving home from work, two lights on my dashboard suddenly lit up: the first was the warning light for engine electronics, the second the warninglight regarding exhaust gasses (usually indicates a problem with the lambda probe). After stopping and staring the engine, the first light doesn't come on anymore, but the second one still does. So this morning I went to a dealer to have the onboard computer read out, and it hinted at an issue with the camshaft (cylinder-row 2, camshaftsetting exhaust - incorrect operation).
They resetted the computer, and the errors no longer appear. Consequently, they sent me back on my way, but if the issue returns, I'd need to have it looked at (possible just a malfunctioning sensor, possibly true camshaft issue).

I'm just hoping it won't resurface as the repair sounds expensive...
(car is a 4 year old VW Polo, 1.4l, 55 kW (fuel), automatic gearbox, 53000 km)

Jörg

[Nowhere]

Hmm...interesting; the thing that seems to fail most often on modern cars is...monitoring sensor/computer (ok, I believe that's not true...but also turned out to be the case with this 8,5 year old Renault Megane (whole dashboard replaced when it was one year old), which apart from that was totally flawless...)

[VJ]

Yes... Often it is said that the more electronics, the higher the chance of failure...

I believe a common failure also is a leak in the air conditioning circuit. My dad had it, I had it (but on the worst place immaginable: right behind the dashboard; they had to remove the dashboard to reach it...)


Jörg

[Gurm]

Or you could have MY car, where this morning I saw steam/smoke coming out from the wheel well and freaked out until I realized I ... ALSO ... saw something dangling underneath the car and it was the heat shield for the catalytic, and I had clearly gone through a big puddle and... *ahem*

[VJ]

Hehe....

FWIW, the warning lights on mine lit up again, so I went back to the garage to have it fixed. They will do it today, which is quite a succes: I just came there this morning with no appointment, with a car that wasn't bought there.


Jörg

[Evildead666]

Its not likely, but possible the cam belt jumped a tooth or two on the exhaust side.
Is it a diesel or a petrol engine ?

Electronics can get bad from humidity.
On my Clio, the electronics are at the base of the windscreen. The roof antenna leaks sometimes, and the water runs down the windscreen, straight onto the electronics.
Had it changed once, and then had the leak fixed.
Its apparently quite a common problem.

The lambda thing can also fail. That is quite easy to change.

I also had a problem on my mondeo V6. The computer diagnostic was that the 2nd row of butterfly valves were stuck closed. Thats the "high rpm" inlet valves, which meant I had low power.

Your car may have a variable exhaust timing setup, and it could be that that has a problem also...bad exhaust timing.

[VJ]

The Skoda dealer looked up the errorcode, made some calls, and could only tell me that it is a VW specific error and that I'd have to go to an official VW dealer.

So I went there on Saturday, and they claimed it is solved through a simple software update...
(I personally find it strange that software which has been in the car for over 55000 km should suddenly behave like this, but we'll see after they update it...)


Jörg

[Nowhere]

Don't forget to backup everything first!

[Evildead666]

Hmm, sounds like one of those problems that they know about, and mention to all VW garages, but don't make it public.

This way, there is no big public recall, which costs sodloads of money, just a quiet "if car X comes to the garage, update the firmware to prevent problem Y."

Hope the upgrade sorts the problem out

[VJ]

Hmm, sounds like one of those problems that they know about, and mention to all VW garages, but don't make it public.

The car was serviced just 2000 km before; I wouldn't be suprised if they upgraded the software then, only to introduce the bug that has now surfaced.

This way, there is no big public recall, which costs sodloads of money, just a quiet "if car X comes to the garage, update the firmware to prevent problem Y."

Yeah, that is common (most likely, the error doesn't show in the majority of vehicles)...
Either way, as long as this is the issue, it is an easy (and cheap) fix.
(will know after next Saturday)

Jörg

[Nowhere]

Weird...wouldn't they want to make correction in all possibly affected vehicles? As soon as possible? From what I've seen that's usually the way it works, especially in EU with things than can influence safety (by distracting you for example with weird messages).

BTW, that's how it worked with this Megane - yes, it is totally flawless (apart from the replaced dashboard), but also at some point there came a letter from Renault about free modification of braking system (there was a remote possibility that, when hitting something in a specific way with bottom chassis, one of hydraulic cables would be damaged; apparently really remote though, the car occasionally got quite a beating (I believe some of you would consider only 4x4 for stuff like this ))

[VJ]

Weird...wouldn't they want to make correction in all possibly affected vehicles? As soon as possible? From what I've seen that's usually the way it works, especially in EU with things than can influence safety (by distracting you for example with weird messages).

It depends on the issue I guess. Of course, if it is something dangerous, they'll recall all affected vehicles. But if it is an issue that only affects a small percentage of the cars, and doesn't pose any danger, why bother?

My parents' Volvo suddenly refused to start, so they called the garage (just a few blocks away). It turns out the garages had been notified of an issue with the spark plugs in that particular range, that in rare cases could cause the car not to start at all.. Normally, they would replace them on the next service. So I think waiting to fix stuff is common practise.


Jörg