2001 Gti Turbo warning light problems

[joannemcfarland]

Hey there!

Wondering can someone help me!?

I bought a 2001 GTI TURBO start of this year.

The 'exhaust emmission warning lamp' has appeared on my dash on 3 occassions.

I took it to a VW authorised dealership who told me I needed £150 work to my exhaust to fix some 'landaprobe' thingy!?

Then I took it to another VW authorised dealership in a different town who told me there was nowt wrong with the exhaust but basically I dont drive it enough therefore this causes faults to occur!?? The sales guy said it needs to be doing 17,000 mile or more per year. I only do about 10/12,000 per year.

I do a lot of town driving and am stuck in traffic queues quite a bit
with my work and my average speed on the onboard computer was just 20MPH!!!! (I AM NOT A SUNDAY DRIVER OK!)

I just cant understand how a car of such good quality will only perform correctly if it is driven a certain distance per year??

Surely this cannot be correct?

Any advise would be appreciated!!???

Cheers & Beers

Jo
xo

[boschmann]

Lamda probe is what we call the oxygen sensor. The conditions you describe will not cause the light to come on, there is a problem & evidentally they cannot find it. What were the exact codes thay found?

[edspecR]

lol you have to drive it a minimum of 17,000 miles??? haha thats the best one ive heard of from the dealer so far.

check your o2 sensors as boschmann said.

also, since you did buy it used, you may have bought someone else's problems. someone may have tampered with the exhaust (ie. aftermarket exhaust/dump tube) then refitted the stock exhaust back on to trade it into the dealer or wherver you bought it. if thats the case, then there might not be anything you can do about it.

[joannemcfarland]

Thanks for your replies.....

It just makes me angry that you take it to an authorised VW dealership and they dont know what they are doing and fob you off with some feeble excuse!

I dont know what codes they found they just said that the exhaust do not need any work done (even know a different VW dealership told me that) and that the problem is I dont drive it enough. I laughed at the sales man when he told me that cus I thought he was having a laugh telling me that...who is going to manufacture a car that has to be driven a certain no of miles per year in order for it to function correctly! ITS CRAP!

I am now worried that my VW will fail its MOT in January if there is something wrong with exhaust ......

I have had numerous problems with my GTI and am not very impressed with it lately!

[joannemcfarland]

PS - how do I check my o2 sensors????

[boschmann]

Someone with a scan tool can watch their operation in datastream mode.

[joannemcfarland]

Oh I really dont believe this.

I told you about paying a VW approved dealership £130 middle of Nov this year only to be told I dont drive the car enough and there is nothing wrong with it.

Well I did take it a long journey of 70 mile each way a few weeks ago.

Today the light has came on again and I am totally not impressed. What am I gonna do?...Why should I have paid them £130 when they didnt even fix the problem they just fobbed me off and told me I dont drive it enough...its a load of nonsense.

Who else can I go to if an approved VW dealership cannot even help me???

[boschmann]

Find a better VW dealer & complain to VW headquarters (where that is in the UK, I'm unsure).

[cmjkeegan]

That doesn't sound like the Lamda Probe.

I am having a new one fitted and the problems I had before I took it in for VW to look at was a lack of power as the engine moved up through the revs - from 2,000 - 5,600 rpm.

It would seem that the engine just didnt know how much air there was to burn and so underperformed.

As I say, no warning light though.

Have you checked your air mass meter?

Chris