Scirocco Advice EML Light Manifold issue updated

[Sean]

Simplying Issue,

Had the car a few months and the EML light would pop on and off here and there since then the car has been back to the garage as the light was solid had a slight miss fire on one of the cyclinders put some fuel cleaner through as was told could be a build up as nothing really appeared on the reader.

Car seemed ok for few weeks the light came back on back to the garage I go replaced 1&4 coil packs

EML light again weeks later the other coil packs went as the stress I assume on the older parts then got the remaining coil packs changed

following week the EML light was back on still stating issue with coil packs so the coil pack plugs have been replaced.

now iv been informed its the manifolds although not sure which manifold as the fault does not state therefore replacing both manifolds

[xjay1337]

Well that's a quick jump from an exhaust light to engine rebuild lol.

Scan the car to see what the car was thinking is the problem and relax lol.

[Sean]

I know lol but iv read a few forums now and everyone has said around 40k they have had problems with catalytic light and has ranged from coil pack problems, piston problems, and full engine rebuilds which doesn't sound to nice.

Il get it hooked up and see what faults it shows and go from there I guess thanks anyway

[john_w]

I had coil pack issues after I went revo and I definitely had misfires. It would misfire massively under WOT and later on became barely driveable! After replacing all 4 coil packs and spark plugs it was back to normal! I would say if you had a bad coil pack or spark plug you would definitely get a misfire. If when you get it checked and do need new coil packs I would highly recommend the set of 4 red r8 ones from awesome gti. Hope you get it sorted. John

[Sean]

many thanks for the help and advice I will look into getting those John will get them replaced and the sparks just incase wont do any harm and fairly cheap job to do so worth doing

[Sean]

So after a trip 3 weeks back to the garage after a misfire and turbo cutting out the car put into safe mode got it hooked up to diagnostics and the errors had cleared themselves and was told to keep a eye on the car put a bottle of fuel cleaner incase some dirty fuel which caused the misfire. The car has since developed problems driving back last night slight misfires lumpy driving catalytic convertor light flashes up along with the EPC light now have the dreaded task of driving it 10 or so miles to get it to the garage in hope its an easy fix.

[Sean]

After having coilpacks replaced problem still persisted of car being put into safe mode very lumpy to drive etc. fault was still showing as coilpacks so the garage have replace the plug on the coil packs unfortunately this has not fixed the issue either. Looks like a manifold problem with the switch as apparently its still running like a dog, so hoping its something simple and does not require a new manifold anyone else experienced anything similar?

[froudeg]

Man the information on this thread is all over the shop....

The light is an engine management light (EML for short) - not a catalytic converter light.

Sounds like the garage who is looking at this doesn't really know what they are doing and are not familiar with this engine.
Your engine is a CAVD, there are no 'switches' (whatever that might be referring to) on a CAVD intake manifold. There are no control flaps either on this revision - there is only an all in one temperature and pressure sensor attached to the intake manifold.
Unless your talking about the exhaust manifold - no switches there either.

The diagnostics will almost certainly not be directly saying coilpack - it will probably be saying misfire on cylinder X.
Now this could be spark plug, coil packs, loss of compression or injector problems.

The route i would take:

-Check compression on all 4 cylinders, in particular the cylinder(s) that the diagnostics came back with
-Whilst there also check spark plugs for excessive carbon build up around the tips, and check gap - make sure gap is 0.7 to 0.8mm. if mechanic is checking, tell him to be cautious with iridium spark plug tips. If genuine plugs are fitted, make sure they are the newer revision 03C905601B
-If compression and sparks ok, then i would be looking at coil packs - swap them round to see if the misfire errors move to another cylinder.
-Finally if all the above checks out then i would look at the injectors....to do a basic leak test, start engine, shut off, and monitor fuel rail pressure with 'diagnostics' - to see if its dropping rapidly.

Of course any mechanic who isn't a complete grease monkey should also be looking at fuel trims, giving an indicator if there are vacuum leaks etc.

[CleanDiesel]

Also check your spark remove spark plugs one at a time test it to see if/how well it sparks. Make sure to remove your fuel pump fuse before doing this so you don't pump a load of fuel into your engine and flood it.

If that and all the above doesn't check out check your fuel line. These symptoms you describe can come from a number of silly little things such as the fuel filter being clogged or an unhappy fuel pump.

But first get a cheap code reader off ebay for a 5er and plug it in whenever the EML comes on read the codes and post them up as that will give a better idea of what's going on.

[Sean]

updated my original post for a simplified issue log of what had happened so far..

Thanks for the advice above froudeg & CleanDiesel I am going to pass the information on, I have 2 faults now and they lie with the manifolds but the reader will not say what manifold so the plan is to get them both replaced for peace of mind at the minute

[froudeg]

Thanks for the advice above froudeg & CleanDiesel I am going to pass the information on, I have 2 faults now and they lie with the manifolds but the reader will not say what manifold so the plan is to get them both replaced for peace of mind at the minute

No problem....what are the exact fault codes/messages?

If you're anywhere near south wales, Newport - I can try help you out, what you really need is a scan with VCDS to see what's going on.

[Sean]

Thanks for the advice above froudeg & CleanDiesel I am going to pass the information on, I have 2 faults now and they lie with the manifolds but the reader will not say what manifold so the plan is to get them both replaced for peace of mind at the minute

No problem....what are the exact fault codes/messages?

If you're anywhere near south wales, Newport - I can try help you out, what you really need is a scan with VCDS to see what's going on.

really appreciate that most kind, but I live in Essex so bit of a trip im not sure on the fault codes/messages left them to it today going to give them a call shortly and find out if theres any updates

[Sean]

Turns out it's a cracked piston £2,100 to change 1 or 2,400 for all of them so getting them all changed next week fun times

[froudeg]

Damn, that is exactly what i was fearing - sorry to hear that. I didn't want to say a piston is probably shot, putting fear into you, until you had a compression test done.
A compression test would have picked up a piston problem straight away - it's one of the first things the garage should have tried. I don't know why garages go arse backwards about things in their diagnostics.

You're right to get them all changed, if going OEM make sure they get the latest revision.

Can you tell me what year and month the car is? - i know early 2009 models had piston issues.
Also was the car a private purchase? - if not you should have some warranty or at least ability to argue that this was faulty at time of purchase.

[xjay1337]

Turns out it's a cracked piston £2,100 to change 1 or 2,400 for all of them so getting them all changed next week fun times

Have they proved that?

For £2400 I'd be buying a spare head on Ebay and forging it thanks.

[Sean]

Damn, that is exactly what i was fearing - sorry to hear that. I didn't want to say a piston is probably shot, putting fear into you, until you had a compression test done.
A compression test would have picked up a piston problem straight away - it's one of the first things the garage should have tried. I don't know why garages go arse backwards about things in their diagnostics.

You're right to get them all changed, if going OEM make sure they get the latest revision.

Can you tell me what year and month the car is? - i know early 2009 models had piston issues.
Also was the car a private purchase? - if not you should have some warranty or at least ability to argue that this was faulty at time of purchase.

Ahh I see um 2010 not sure what month not home till tomorrow and Ye unfortunately it was a private purchase so no come back on that

[Sean]

Turns out it's a cracked piston £2,100 to change 1 or 2,400 for all of them so getting them all changed next week fun times

Have they proved that?

For £2400 I'd be buying a spare head on Ebay and forging it thanks.

I haven't had a chance to go down there yet just received a call earlier. Just flicked through your build thread

[Sean]

Picking the car up tonight, I took it to another garage to do the work so fingers crossed after everything iv had changed I should have a good few years without any motoring problems

[Sean]

The car went to another garage after being told about the pistons, the garage re-checked the pistons via camera etc they all look fine (despite the VW/audi specialist garage saying one was fully cracked).
They replaced the manifold I believe as this was the code that was flashing up and I picked the car up and drove it around for a few hours, sensible driving and putting my foot down a little and it seemed fine still felt a little lumpy in first.
As I pulled up at home and let the car idle for 10-20 seconds the EML light popped up and flashed a few times and then went off and flashed back up and off again.

So im really not sure what to do im starting to lose the will to live with it and have now lost all confidence in the car as different garages saying different things im not sure what to do tempted to trade it in and get something else.