SEAT IBIZA - Dead as a doornail

pvt

Thought I would update with the outcome, and hope this is of use to someone else.

Got a grown-up to come round with a proper analyser. It showed up 7 fault codes from the ECU - the last 4 of those related to the coil packs being open circuit. He cleared all the faults and it runs perfectly now.

So it appears that (and this is his theory) that once there are more than a certain number of fault codes the ECU just shuts itself down. Even though I had disconnected the battery for 30 minutes, that isn't enough to reset the ECU.

In hindsight, what I had done is removed all 4 coil packs and spark plugs to clean them. Whilst they were out (and with the 4 coil packs disconnected) I turned the engine over to vent some throttle body cleaner that I had used. That 5 second spin of the engine with the coil packs disconnected was enough to see the coil packs missing and subsequently cause the ECU to shut itself down.

The earlier fault codes related to misfiring on one cylinder - that was the cause of the original rough running problem and resolved with a new coil pack for that pot.

My observation is that the OBDII reader I paid £27 for was useless, because it was unable to read the ECU I assumed I had a dead ECU - in practice I just had a cr4p OBDII reader.

All that remains is for me to now find the code for the radio....

cypher007

if you go on ebay or ali baba.


you can get vcds cables that will work.


latest version is 17.1.3 i think. make sure you use a good seller incase you get a bad cable.