VW Polo - EPC warning light

Alicat

Will ring a garage in the morning but just wondering if anyone had any ideas/experience with this? Manual just said it's something to do with the engine. Not very helpful!

Thanks

8vjohn

Are the brake lights working? Sometimes this comes on when the brake light switch is gone

Alicat

8vjohn wrote: »

Are the brake lights working? Sometimes this comes on when the brake light switch is gone

Just checked there, they're gone! Can a normal garage fix that or would I have to go to a VW dealer thingy?

This is my first car, had it for a year exactly and never had a problem before so I don't wanna get taken for a ride by a greedy mechanic....

8vjohn

Get yourself to a scrap yard and take the switch from a similar polo.
It will be located behind the brake pedal and will just be clipped on and then disconnect the plug.
If you don't feel confident doing it by all means bring it to a decent garage. Try to avoid the dealers if you can as they will charge a fortune
Good luck

Alicat

Disaster struck today!

I couldn't get the time off work to bring it anywhere so my dad brought it to a mechanic friend of his. He changed some part, cost €50 and said it should be fine but might need some tweaking in the next day or two.

My dad dropped it back up to my work, and I thought all was going to be fine. Drove it home from work but about half a mile from work it started to dramatically slow down and seemed to lose loads of power. I had to crawl along at 25/30 with my hazards on and just about chugged into an estate near mine! So I had to leave it there and walk home from there

I dunno what's wrong with it Anyone got anymore ideas?

Halp

8vjohn

What part did he change exactly? That's the first thing I'd be finding out. I've never heard of a part changed that needed "tweaking" in a day or two after fitting?

Alicat

My dad says it was the switch? Said the guy was at the wires underneath the dashboard and then asked my dad were the brake lights on now, which they were and your man said that was it Said I might want to pop back tomorrow to have it "tweaked"? I didn't get to talk to the guy myself so I'm going on my dad's word on this.

Anyways, I'm working a ten hour shift tomorrow so I don't have the time to be driving the car all the way over to Santry to get "tweaked". I tried ringing the guy myself but no answer on his phone (not surprising seeing as it was dinner time)

brillianthenry

is this a 00-02 1 litre polo? I had a similar problem but the engine did its half power thing a few months after the epc light came on, thought it was the air flow metre( which is built into the throttlebody on the 1litre model ) but the problem was still there when i replaced it so count that out.
I never got it fixed i was so fed up with the car that i traded it in at a local garage. good luck with it though!

Alicat

brillianthenry wrote: »

is this a 00-02 1 litre polo? I had a similar problem but the engine did its half power thing a few months after the epc light came on, thought it was the air flow metre( which is built into the throttlebody on the 1litre model ) but the problem was still there when i replaced it so count that out.
I never got it fixed i was so fed up with the car that i traded it in at a local garage. good luck with it though!

It's an '02 1.2 litre. I've been googling the problem and am coming up with all sorts of horror stories so I'm trying not to panic

I don't want to spend hundreds or thousands of euro on it, so if it's going to cost that much changing parts or getting those diagnostic check things I'd rather trade it on and get something that works

8vjohn

Is the EPC light still on?
It really needs Vag-com to properly diagnose the problem

Alicat

8vjohn wrote: »

Is the EPC light still on?
It really needs Vag-com to properly diagnose the problem

My dad went up the estate with me to see if we could get it home. Turned on no problem and drove home very smoothly. No EPC light on, but I don't trust it, I mean what if it does it again?

I've been reading about people changing the switches, coils, throttles etc but no one has come across an answer to the problem.

What's Vag-com??

8vjohn

Vag-com is a vw/audi specific diagnostic software

Tipsy Mac

The switch fix is normally located underneath the brake peddle, this resolves the EPC problem, having no brake lights usually indicates the switch is gone and that's the problem. If the brake lights were working fine the light is usually an indication that the oxygen sensor is on the way out. Could be other reasons 2 but those are the most common on a car that age. Vag-com is a diagnostics tool that you hook up to the car and it reads faults from the onboard computer to guide you to what the problem is.

Alicat

Well it's the juddering and loss of power that's worrying me more than anything else now.

I don't know much about cars and I'm just really apprehensive about dealers/mechanics ripping me off

Tipsy Mac

Alicat wrote: »

Well it's the juddering and loss of power that's worrying me more than anything else now.

I don't know much about cars and I'm just really apprehensive about dealers/mechanics ripping me off

It looks like your mechanic friend caused some problem to occur as it was fine in power beforehand, the brake switch fix should have nothing whatsover to do with a loss of power which is occuring now. You need to establish what they done in order to undo it and get it fixed.

chrism2007

vag-com is an essential piece of kit. 20 quid on ebay for an aftermarket one.

http://cgi.ebay.ie/USB-VAG-COM-409-1-OBD-2-II-CABLE-LEAD-AUDI-VW-VAG-COM_W0QQitemZ230335003811QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Diagnostic_Tools_Equipment?hash=item230335003811&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1301|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1308|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50

people always assume the worst with car problems. with vw/audis they never are in my experience

Alicat

Tipsy Mac wrote: »

It looks like your mechanic friend caused some problem to occur as it was fine in power beforehand, the brake switch fix should have nothing whatsover to do with a loss of power which is occuring now. You need to establish what they done in order to undo it and get it fixed.

I wonder is it an electric problem in general though? The brake lights could have been just the first things to go?

chrism2007 wrote: »

vag-com is an essential piece of kit. 20 quid on ebay for an aftermarket one.

http://cgi.ebay.ie/USB-VAG-COM-409-1-OBD-2-II-CABLE-LEAD-AUDI-VW-VAG-COM_W0QQitemZ230335003811QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Diagnostic_Tools_Equipment?hash=item230335003811&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1301|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1308|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50

people always assume the worst with car problems. with vw/audis they never are in my experience

I hope you're right!

I don't know enough about cars to use one of those but thanks for the link!

Alicat

A friend of my boyfriend suggested there could have been dirty petrol? Would this be a valid explanation for the car slowing down so much?

MacGyver

when i had my 01 polo saloon, it did the same thing once but from what i remember it was a protection for the engine cos i never reset the service interval. stopped the car once it started to go slow, reset the interval and drove home as normal, never happened since or since the new owner has it, (still know them ). it might have been unrelated but i dont think it's too much to worry about.

if your dash says "service" or "oil" on the trip counter, it might be worth resetting it::

When your car is serviced at a non-vw garage or at home by yourslef, the ecu doesnt know its had a service, so the service indicator stays on. To reset it:
-(with the ignition off and keys out) press and hold the mile reset button
-turn ignition on
-wait until the display goes like '--'
-turn ignition off and keys out and release button

Alicat

Update:

Ok so my dad brought the car up to a friend of his who's a VW dealer, they had a look at it, said it was the switch and replaced it, apparently. Car was now working fine, engine on full power, brake lights working fine and no EPC light.

But, now my alarm keeps going off If I turn it on, it'll start going off a few minutes later of it's own accord. So I've just been locking the car but that's not a great long-term solution.

Sounds like the electrics are fooked up, it's infuriating!

Gary ITR

What kind of alarm have you got? Does it have it's own seperate key fob?

8vjohn

Is the light for the boot open on?
I had this problem in my golf.
The water hose for the back window had worked itself loose and was soaking the switch for the "boot open light" making the car think that it was open and would then set off the alarm. Very annoying at night! Once ran out in my boxers with a hurley in hand expecting to see someone trying to take my car!
Maybe worth checking it out.

Alicat

Onkle wrote: »

What kind of alarm have you got? Does it have it's own seperate key fob?

What kind of alarm? It's one that beeps and goes "whee-oo whee-oo whee-oo!" :pac:

Yeah the fob is seperate

8vjohn wrote: »

Is the light for the boot open on?
I had this problem in my golf.
The water hose for the back window had worked itself loose and was soaking the switch for the "boot open light" making the car think that it was open and would then set off the alarm. Very annoying at night! Once ran out in my boxers with a hurley in hand expecting to see someone trying to take my car!
Maybe worth checking it out.

No, no sign of a boot light. In fact there are NO warning lights on at all, which is very confusing.

So all I can do is lock it for the meantime

Gary ITR

This isn't the nocturnal forum you can't take the piss here Ms.Cat! Motors is srs bizniz :pac:

I would suggest you reset the alarm, it should have a little key and then see how you get on.

Alicat

Onkle wrote: »

This isn't the nocturnal forum you can't take the piss here Ms.Cat! Motors is srs bizniz :pac:

I would suggest you reset the alarm, it should have a little key and then see how you get on.

reset it?

Hmm, the fob only has two buttons....one for setting the alarm and one that actually sets the alarm off (never knew what the purpose of this one was for, maybe if I was being attacked and wanted to draw attention to myself! )

Gary ITR

Alicat wrote: »

reset it?

Hmm, the fob only has two buttons....one for setting the alarm and one that actually sets the alarm off (never knew what the purpose of this one was for, maybe if I was being attacked and wanted to draw attention to myself! )

That's exactly what it's for. If you're being car jacked or something. Or maybe to annoy the neighbours.

Have you no little key with your car keys? Your alarm will have a little keyhole (on the alarm itself, under the bonnet, you know the part of the car that sticks out at the front?) Just switch it off and back on again. If the problem persists then you'll have to check all of the alarm sensors.

Alicat

Onkle wrote: »

That's exactly what it's for. If you're being car jacked or something. Or maybe to annoy the neighbours.

Have you no little key with your car keys? Your alarm will have a little keyhole (on the alarm itself, under the bonnet, you know the part of the car that sticks out at the front?) Just switch it off and back on again. If the problem persists then you'll have to check all of the alarm sensors.

Hmm, no little key. Never got one. My dad knows the local VW dealer, maybe they might have one I could borrow for like a minute to reset it

Gary ITR

I'm not even sure what kind of alarm you have. But I'm pretty sure any key wouldn't do

Have you tried it again? Did you make sure everything was closed properly?

Alicat

Onkle wrote: »

I'm not even sure what kind of alarm you have. But I'm pretty sure any key wouldn't do

Have you tried it again? Did you make sure everything was closed properly?

Just my luck there's no generic Polo alarm key

Yeah, I mean initially when it went off the first time, in work, a guy from nextdoor came in to tell me. Suggested it might even be a bit of a window open, so I went out and checked everything, all the doors and the boot and all the windows. But 15 minutes later it was going off again!

I went out to look under the bonnet for the alarm. Stared at the whole underneath for 3 minutes and realised I have no idea what the alarm even looks like. Pfft.

Gary ITR

Maybe the neighbours kids set it off?

8vjohn

Is it a factory alarm? What's written on your alarm fob with the buttons?

Alicat

Onkle wrote: »

Maybe the neighbours kids set it off?

Nope, it happened at work and at home, and when it went off at home I was in a room of the house where I could see the car straight out the window.

Poo. I dunno anymore. Thanks for the suggestions anyway!

Alicat

8vjohn wrote: »

Is it a factory alarm? What's written on your alarm fob with the buttons?

Yeah it must be, it's a blank fob. Just the two buttons

8vjohn

It could be one of many faults including faulty/wet bonnet switch, faulty/wet boot switch, a cut wire from body to door in flexi boot etc.
If ya want your alarm it'll have to be looked at by a mechanic/auto electrician

Louloug

Does anyone have any advice on EPC warning light? I have had the break light switch replaced but the problem still persists!
The light is not on all the time, but it is becoming more frequent. I am reading all sorts of horror stories online, and don't want to have to pay a fortune either to have it repaired!Want to sound a little 'car educated' when I go to the garage Will prob get the computer scan done at the weekend. But any advice greatly appreciated.....