Hi, I'm Mike,

I'm a newby to all this but hoping someone can help please?

I'm struggling with an ongoing problem with my Mk3 Polo Estate 1.9 Tdi.

The pre-heat Coil warning light flashes on followed/joined by the "handbrake" fault light followed by a decrease in engine power and eventually cutting out completely within a matter of minutes.

Eventually (60 minutes or more) the engine will restart and perform as if nothing had happened, both warning lights go out and it will perform faultlessly for a few days then will repeat.

I've checked all the connections in the engine bay which appear to be firm and fully home. I purchased an OBD2 scanner to see if I could find out if that would shed any light on the issue but the scanner doesn't appear to work with/read the Polo fault codes or interact in any way.

Any Ideas please on how to diagnose the repeating fault (lights and power issue) and is my Polo OBD2 compatible?

Any and all assistance would be gratefully received.

 

First Welcome to the forum.

 

Your car being an oil burner isn't OBDll compliant as they only need to be after 2005 (petrol after 2001) so you will need a VAG specific code reader preferably VCDS 

 

What year is the car ? as I suspect the MK3 in your status is wrong, we have a different numbering system to the official VW lists,  have a look at this to confirm what model you have https://www.clubpolo.co.uk/forum/207-polos/ 

 

Not sure what you are meaning by a handbrake fault light ? there is a handbrake ON light that also doubles up as a low brake fluid warning ?

Thanks Nige for responding.

Firstly, I think that it is a VW Polo Estate 1.9 S Tdi first registered on 12 Oct 2001 from the V5C. There is a Test feature entitled "Little Black Box" published in the March 2001 edition of Volkswagen Driver magazine on page 37 and also another feature entitled "Little Load Lugger" on page 47 of the November 2006 edition of the same magazine if that helps? Maybe it's a Mk4 but I can't really tell from the small images on the link you sent.

I believe also that Seat produced the same vehicle under "Cordoba Vario". I think that there are subtle differences but nothing too drastic.

 

Yes, it is the handbrake light but I've checked the reservoir level and all is in order but it's still flashing and I don't think that that would cause a loss of power. I also checked the rear brake shoes and there is plenty of ware left in them.

 

Could the preheater coil cause a loss of power if it came on whilst driving? Could that indicate an issue with either the coils themselves or a relay or sensor? Just trying to rule things out really and narrow down the actual issue before paying out on possibly expensive parts.

 

I hope all this helps to narrow down the vehicle ID and helps in identifying the issue manifesting itself as being parked at the side of the road stationary for long periods?

 

The Polo estate is as you say a re-badged Seat Cordoba by the year 2001 it would be a MK5 on this forum but the MK5 is generally known as a 6N2 chassis code yours will probably be a 6V2 

 

Looking at the wiring diagrams that warning light is for low brake fluid or Handbrake ON (switch on handbrake mounting bracket) and that's all.

 

Without getting the codes read it's just a guessing game as to what is causing the engine to cut out, the flashing glow plug light is used as the EML warning light that the ECU has stored fault codes, the actual glowplug heaters are only powered up for a few seconds on a cold engine start after that they are not used again

 

 

The typ number for this car is 6kv2. "6" loosely refers to Polo/Ibiza, "K" being the ibiza platform (caddy van, ibiza hatch, polo saloon, polo estate, cordoba), "V" is "Variant", which is VW-speak for Estate car and "2" is the facelift. 

 

Give this page a look - https://forums.tdiclub.com/index.php?threads/causes-of-a-flashing-glow-plug-light.67848/

 

It can be a lot of random things causing it, ideally give it a scan with a dedicated VAG code reader that does OBD 1, or VCDS. 

 

If I'm stabbing in the dark at faults - check your ECU hasn't got wet or the pins corroded while the car's been standing around. Check your brake light bulbs and holders, and maybe change your brake light switch (make sure you get the right number of pins, there's a few versions). Also give your EGR a clean and look for vacuum leaks. 

 

Does the car have ABS?

Edited 14 December, 20214 yr by Yeti