catalytic converter light and EPC light (solid) - advice please

[Tigga1]

last night cat converter light started flashing (intermittently), today it was intermittent and then solid...a bit later, EPC came on as well, and now both solid.
manual says to drive to nearest dealer. In my case a 30km drive in the morning on the way to work, mostly down hill and flat.
Car has been misfiring a little in last two days, especially on start up.

Question: will it be ok to drive to dealership in morning, in the hope they can look at it without it having been booked in...?
obviously i will be taking it very easy...but still...

thanks in advance

[Zakarados]

Call VW roadside assist. They will get NRMA to come look at it, if it isn't in good shape drive, they will tow it for you to the nearest vw.

[prcurrie]

What colour is it, orange?

I had that with mine - it says Catalytic Converter in the manual but it's just a general warning light. I had this after 3 weeks in my car, the Brake Vacuum Pump had failed. I had a burning smell coming from the car so it was towed to the nearest dealer.

Would definitely get VW assist to look at it before driving it anywhere......you don't want to drive it and then something else happens and you get the blame

[klboy]

Had the same light come on and it turned out to be the Brake Vacuum sensor.

Had it replaced by the dealer but the light came up after 100km.

So back it went to the dealers. Apparently they needed to do a "software upgrade as per instructions by VW" which seemed to do the trick.

[Nuggos]

Brake vacuum sensor, mate had this problem as well, get it towed is your safest option

[Tigga1]

thanks all, RACQ came to see me at home, said it was safe to drive to dealer...
car has never run so lean...feels like only running on 3 cilinders...
will find out later today what the damage is.
cheers

[Tigga1]

car's been at dealers since Tuesday morning, and they still have not given me an indication of what is going to happen, other than to say the car will be with them for quite a bit longer...

What's a reasonable time by which I should be able to expect this advice?
I thought 4 days is pretty reasonable..

they've asked me for proof that I'm using 98Ron fuel, and that's about it

your thoughts?

[Zakarados]

Sounds like a similar thing that happened to my car. They had the car for 2 weeks, although I had a long list of issues. Turns out they only replaced the sparkies to fix the issue. I was sceptical, but it has been running for 1500km now, and no dramas.

[Guy_H]

I know for a fact the VW are testing the fuel quality when there are mechanical engine issues, I know of several twinchargers (dead) in Melbourne (unmodified) that have been refused warranty when 91 ron was discovered in the tank.

That will be the request for fuel proof.

[Tigga1]

got a call from dealer and VW Assist today...
one of the pistons is burned, but they are still trying to determine the cause...
meanwhile, will likely get a Europcar loan car today, will be a nice change after Nissan Micra for the last week...
I'm thinking this will likely take a while to get sorted.
cheers

[prcurrie]

got a call from dealer and VW Assist today...
one of the pistons is burned, but they are still trying to determine the cause...
meanwhile, will likely get a Europcar loan car today, will be a nice change after Nissan Micra for the last week...
I'm thinking this will likely take a while to get sorted.
cheers

Bugger mate - another quality issue to add to the ever growing list with the Polos

[Tigga1]

another call early this morning...

it's going to be a replacement engine, so I guess that's me out of the Polo for a further couple of weeks...

[Yaks1974]

Hopefully the replacement engine is a CTH

[alexaescht]

catalytic converter light and EPC light (solid) - advice please

Hopefully the replacement engine is a CTH

Unlikely. They'll probably just rebuild the current engine and replace any parts that need to be replaced.

[Tigga1]

Unlikely. They'll probably just rebuild the current engine and replace any parts that need to be replaced.

Well, they actually said a complete new engine...
Also, when I spoke to mechanic last week, he indicated that the first car (Golf TSI) they replaced pistons, on the second Golf they replaced whole engine, took a week from order....so maybe VW is taking the safer option...i for one would rather have a new engine than replacement parts.