Golf - error light on dash - anyone know what it means?

[RMCF]

2001 Golf, 1400cc petrol.

Warning light is yellow, and graphic is of an engline with a lightning flash through it, with "CHECK" written underneath.

Any ideas what it wrong?

 

[ChrisDT]

Sounds like the engine managment light to me, usually caused by a sensor of some sort possibly ICV?

 

[Ayub]

"vag com" the car and it will come up with a fal;ut code. This will tell you were to start. Any garage will run it on the computer/diagnostic for a: free b: around a tenner.

 

[Teesside]

Fault codes that the ECU has picked up, any problems noticed with the engine?

If your in the Teesside area, I have a full reg'd HEX-Can VAG-COM cableor you can buy usb ones off eBay for £10

 

[RMCF]

Folks, thanks for the replies.

The car had an oil leak last week that has been repaired. Maybe something to do with that?

Also, this same error came up on another VW I had a few years back, and I got it hooked up. I was told it was an 'oil quality' problem (not quantity) and I would need to put top quality oil in it. Would this make sense?

Last week when I got a replacement 5l of oil after the oil leak my local motor parts store told me the 5W40 fully synthetic would suffice, but that the parts bible said that I should be using oil that costs close to £40 !! So perhaps it knows its not using the good stuff?

 

[Stoofa]

I doubt very much that it can tell the "quality" of your oil.
However you should always be using VW Specification oil in your vehicle.
Yes it does cost a lot but it contains loads of extra things to help keep your car running etc.

 

[un1eash]

Any decent 5W40 oil will do (Castrol, Mobil, even Halfords oil is pretty good)

Saying you need VW oil is there way of making money and getting you to go to them.

 

[FZR400RRSP]

Just a guess, but does the VW 'variable servicing' work by analyzing the oil in anyway?
An oil sensor that measures how dirty the oil is etc?
If he's chucked in oil that doesn't comply with the appropriate VAG rating, it's maybe confusing the variable servicing sensor?

 

[RMCF]

Any decent 5W40 oil will do (Castrol, Mobil, even Halfords oil is pretty good)

Saying you need VW oil is there way of making money and getting you to go to them.

My motor parts store normally sells COMMA 5W40 to me for the Golf.

I was thinking of perhaps buying a better branded one such as Castrol Edge or Magnatec or Mobil etc to see if it made a difference.

Chatting to the guy in the motor part store the other day he basically said something along the lines of "this Comma will do the job for you, its £18. The stuff the parts catallogue recommended is £35-£40, but for a car thats 9yrs old, the Comma will be good enough". Now he didn't tell me exactly what the 'good stuff' was, but there was no hard sell from him.

As for the 'quality' comment, that came from a guy I know who owns a car repair business and he has the VW Diagnostic Computer etc, and thats what he told me the readout was saying. So there was obviously a oil quality parameter, as opposed to an oil quantity one.

I know little about cars, so I only go on what folk tell me. Its just been filled with fresh oil so I'm not sure if it would be worth doing an oil change right away.

 

[Ayub]

Any decent 5W40 oil will do (Castrol, Mobil, even Halfords oil is pretty good)

Saying you need VW oil is there way of making money and getting you to go to them.

Needs to be to their spec ( vw 505 00 vw 505 01 i think) not their oil. It has to be to their spec believe me it does make a diferance and will save you £1000 engine rebuild

 

[RMCF]

Needs to be to their spec ( vw 505 00 vw 505 01 i think) not their oil. It has to be to their spec believe me it does make a diferance and will save you £1000 engine rebuild

Do you know of any of the well known brands that match their spec then?

Cos I will go out and buy some if I think there's any danger of me doing damage.

 

[FZR400RRSP]

Do you know of any of the well known brands that match their spec then?

Cos I will go out and buy some if I think there's any danger of me doing damage.

Look in your manual.
Under oil spec, it will say something like VW 504.00 or VW 505.00 etc.etc.
Then go to the garage/Halfords and look at the back of the bottle.
Provided you see those numbers on the back of the bottle, you're fine.

 

[Snatch]

Sorry but lets not scare him here.
Any decent engine oil will do. This is Golf 1.4, not a high performance car. Try and get the recommended oil (i.e. same grade) but if you can't/won't, get the closest you can find. It will not cause £1000 worth of damage as long as you keep with your servicing and the correct amount is put in.
As others have already said, the light in your dash is the engine management light. Probably is a dodgy sensor somewhere. You'll need to take it to a garage so they can plug into VAGCOM. That should hopefully give you an idea of where the fault is.
Many garages (at least here in London) will charge anything from £25-£50 to plug in a diagnose the problem.

 

[Ayub]

Look in your manual.
Under oil spec, it will say something like VW 504.00 or VW 505.00 etc.etc.
Then go to the garage/Halfords and look at the back of the bottle.
Provided you see those numbers on the back of the bottle, you're fine.

i think they start at £23 a go. RING your local dealer he may have some on offer. They normally have an offer of 1lt x5 + filter for £30

 

[RMCF]

Look in your manual.
Under oil spec, it will say something like VW 504.00 or VW 505.00 etc.etc.
Then go to the garage/Halfords and look at the back of the bottle.
Provided you see those numbers on the back of the bottle, you're fine.

I just checked the Comma branded 5W40 oil that I always use and it does indeed have 505.00 listed on the back, so thats not the problem.