What do you do when the engine management light comes on?

sevenhills

I drive a 64 plate diesel VW Crafter for a large company. Engine management light came on, intermittently, took it to our workshop and they sorted it out.


And it happened again, I took it to our workshop again, they told me that they cleared the faults. The manager told me if the EML is not on when they look at it, they dont know what the fault is.
I understood the fault would be stored, is that correct?


Its now back on again. I am starting to think that our own workshop is earning ££ everytime my Crafter is in the workshop, and they are not solving the issue.


Its only an orange light, not red, can I just ignore it untill it due in the workshop in a couple of weeks?

wgl2014

You could but.......
If it ends up causing damage to the van I guess your employer would not be happy!
If the workshop or a boss tells you to carry on driving with the light on then fair do's but I wouldn't do it from your own volition.

MovingForwards

You could always buy a reader and see what the faults are.

Or, as you are not paying for the workshop to check/do any repairs/delete the code to reset it don't make it your concern.

forgotmyname

sevenhills wrote: »

Its only an orange light, not red, can I just ignore it untill it due in the workshop in a couple of weeks?

Yes ignore it. You don't stop at amber traffic lights do you?

In a similar way an amber low oil pressure light is not an issue and wont cause any damage will it?

You understood the faults are stored, you misunderstood then, not all faults are stored.

MikeWhite

forgotmyname wrote: »

Yes ignore it. You don't stop at amber traffic lights do you?

In a similar way an amber low oil pressure light is not an issue and wont cause any damage will it?

You understood the faults are stored, you misunderstood then, not all faults are stored.

My oil pressure lights have always been red. If I had an amber oil pressure light show I guess I'd RTFM. (By the way, I'm not saying they don't exist in amber...)

stator

Stop using that garage, they are obviously useless if they can't even tell you what the error messages are.

Some garages are run by old fashioned mechanics who have no idea about modern cars, sensors and diagnostics. All they do is clear error messages and see if they come back. If they do come back, they charge you hundreds of pounds to replace a sensor that might not be faulty.

You might look locally for a VW diagnostic specialist.

cajef

stator wrote: »

Stop using that garage, they are obviously useless if they can't even tell you what the error messages are.

May be a bit difficult as the OP states it is a company vehicle and from their post it appears that they have their own workshops.

motorguy

sevenhills wrote: »

I drive a 64 plate diesel VW Crafter for a large company. Engine management light came on, intermittently, took it to our workshop and they sorted it out.


And it happened again, I took it to our workshop again, they told me that they cleared the faults. The manager told me if the EML is not on when they look at it, they dont know what the fault is.
I understood the fault would be stored, is that correct?


Its now back on again. I am starting to think that our own workshop is earning ££ everytime my Crafter is in the workshop, and they are not solving the issue.


Its only an orange light, not red, can I just ignore it untill it due in the workshop in a couple of weeks?

By their own admission, they're clearing the fault codes and then telling you the fault codes arent stored? :eek:

Joe_Horner

stator wrote: »

Stop using that garage, they are obviously useless if they can't even tell you what the error messages are.

Some garages are run by old fashioned mechanics who have no idea about modern cars, sensors and diagnostics. All they do is clear error messages and see if they come back. If they do come back, they charge you hundreds of pounds to replace a sensor that might not be faulty.

You might look locally for a VW diagnostic specialist.

Except that, as mentioned above, some faults don't get stored. In fact some faults don't even register when the corresponding light's on.

My partner's Mondeo has a (very) intermittent ABS warning light but shows no fault - and no problems in live data - even when it lights up driving with the correct Ford software monitoring it. The ABS also operates normally while it's illuminated. Good luck diagnosing that one!

motorguy

Generally speaking if the EML is on, its because the car has experienced a fault repeatedly and it has stored the fault codes.

Not absolutely always the case, but 95% of the time.

If your code reader isnt reading it, it doesnt mean the codes arent there

missile

I would guess the fault is emission control?