Quick question.

A warning light appeared on the dash of my better halfs 6n2 today. I am assuming it is the engine management warning light but thought I would get a second opinion as we do not have an owners manual.

Its an orange light of the engine but with a lightning bolt through the middle and the word "check" underneath. There is no difference to how the car drives with the light on so i'm unsure of what to check. I don't want to pay for diagnostics, atleast not whilst it shows no symptoms of a fault. If things start to go wrong, I will consider it.

So what is the light? It came on just after heavy braking and then stayed on for the rest of the journey. What does the car want me to "check"?

Cheers!

Edited 26 March, 201016 yr by bushboy

Like this.. ?

CEL light = Check Engine Light as you guessed lol

It basically means that something to do with your engine emissions system has a fault, and so your engine is currently producing emissions above the allowed limit or will start to if the problem isn't solved.

It's telling you that you have to get someone with a fault code reader to read the DTC 'Trouble Codes' produced by the ECU to determine the actual problem. Fixing this problem is the only way the light will go away.

Unless the fault which triggered the light doesn't reappear after like 45 start-up cycles.. but that's a big gamble to take lol

It could be anything engine related.. your CAT might have stopped working, one of the sensors has stopped working or is giving a duff reading.. the list is almost endless

I'm afraid the only option is diagnostics, either at a garage (about £40 a pop) or by getting someone with their own fault code reader to have a go..

If you have a laptop, you can purchase a cheap shareware version of VAG-COM, a dedicated interface for all VAG Group cars

Or you can purchase generic 'OBD II' fault code readers for rather cheap to find the fault code.

Going to have to take it from there really..

Edited 26 March, 201016 yr by CWA

Like this.. ?

CEL light = Check Engine Light as you guessed lol

It basically means that something to do with your engine emissions system has a fault, and so your engine is currently producing emissions above the allowed limit or will start to if the problem isn't solved.

It's telling you that you have to get someone with a fault code reader to read the DTC 'Trouble Codes' produced by the ECU to determine the actual problem. Fixing this problem is the only way the light will go away.

Unless the fault which triggered the light doesn't reappear after like 45 start-up cycles.. but that's a big gamble to take lol

It could be anything engine related.. your CAT might have stopped working, one of the sensors has stopped working or is giving a duff reading.. the list is almost endless

I'm afraid the only option is diagnostics, either at a garage (about £40 a pop) or by getting someone with their own fault code reader to have a go..

If you have a laptop, you can purchase a cheap shareware version of VAG-COM, a dedicated interface for all VAG Group cars

Or you can purchase generic 'OBD II' fault code readers for rather cheap to find the fault code.

Going to have to take it from there really..

Cheers for that

The light is similar but has a lightning bolt through the middle. Would that make any difference?

Is there any way to reset the fault codes without taking it to a dealers? Just to see if the fault reoccurs?

Na those symbols will all mean the same thing..

The only way to read and reset fault codes is using the test equipment mentioned above. If you can't get hold of any of them yourself, or get a mate to lend you one then you will have to take it to a garage / dealers to be read.

You can purchase VAG-COM cables for about £15, with the software required available for free download. You just need a laptop to run it in the car. If not, fault code readers with their own screens can be bought for a bit more. Using these is the only way that I know of for retrieving and clearing the codes from a VW.

Other cars (vauxhalls and subarus are the only ones I know of, I'm sure there are more) will flash the engine check light in a 'morse code' style way when you set it up in a 'diagnpstic' mode or something, to tell you what the fault codes are without having to plug it in to anything. Unfortunately I don't think this is possible with any VAG cars.

Also, I doubt clearing the code is likely to do anything.. the fact that your CEL has appeared is usually because the fault code has re-occurred a number of times. Sometimes you can have a fault code appear on your car's ECU, but you will not know about it because it will only be a random occurance and so won't light up the CEL and inform the driver.

In your case, I would be more concerned with what the actual code is. Make a note of it and post it up on here, I'm sure someone can help you figure it out if you don't manage to yourself. It's likely to be a simple fix once you can read what the ECU is telling you.. such is the beauty of OBD2

Hope this helps dude!

Na those symbols will all mean the same thing..

The only way to read and reset fault codes is using the test equipment mentioned above. If you can't get hold of any of them yourself, or get a mate to lend you one then you will have to take it to a garage / dealers to be read.

You can purchase VAG-COM cables for about £15, with the software required available for free download. You just need a laptop to run it in the car. If not, fault code readers with their own screens can be bought for a bit more. Using these is the only way that I know of for retrieving and clearing the codes from a VW.

Other cars (vauxhalls and subarus are the only ones I know of, I'm sure there are more) will flash the engine check light in a 'morse code' style way when you set it up in a 'diagnpstic' mode or something, to tell you what the fault codes are without having to plug it in to anything. Unfortunately I don't think this is possible with any VAG cars.

Also, I doubt clearing the code is likely to do anything.. the fact that your CEL has appeared is usually because the fault code has re-occurred a number of times. Sometimes you can have a fault code appear on your car's ECU, but you will not know about it because it will only be a random occurance and so won't light up the CEL and inform the driver.

In your case, I would be more concerned with what the actual code is. Make a note of it and post it up on here, I'm sure someone can help you figure it out if you don't manage to yourself. It's likely to be a simple fix once you can read what the ECU is telling you.. such is the beauty of OBD2

Hope this helps dude!

Cheers, very helpful!

I've been having a quick read up about the Vagcom thing. Can I just get one of the cables from ebay (for around £10) and use the downloaded software? Its shareware but does it have enough access to let me read and clear codes?

Cheers

Yeah mate that's all you will need to read and clear codes. There are various other functions it won't let you use which are more complex and require the full registered version, but for what you need one of those will do the trick!

Very worth doing! Good luck, let us know how u get on