Seat Ibiza - Engline light appeared mechanic doesnt know exactly what the problem is

[JudeRyan]

Hi all,

My car is an ibiza 2004 1.4 petrol
over 100k miles on it.

its due its mot now on sat
The car was in for a service 2 months ago and when i got it back from them the engine light was on - i took it back to them and they looked at it told me they had it fixed - i had to return again the same day as it appeared again.

Obviously they put that diagnostic machine in - read what errors/problems it told them there was and then pressed the button which put the light out. problem is it didnt fix my problem

i took it to another mechanic not the seat dealer - he did the same - doesnt know what the problem is said he was going to post it on the forum on the internet to see if they could tell him what was wrong with it - as he says he has not had many dealings with a petrol ibiza

Anyway all i know is that they were both fiddling with some connection at the front of the bonnet - cannot recall the acronym they used (EC something or other - honestly can't recall)

The second mechanic said the connection was loose and he retightened it and he assumed that was the only problem - but again 20 minutes after i left the light appeared again.

I am afraid the car wont pass the MOT because of this light and i dont want to have to go back twice - as the car needs taxed as well! and i have been waiting for a month for this mot date.
Can anybody help?
Has anybody come across this problem before?
There is nothing wrong with the car as far as i am aware - the light being on has not affected the driving of it -

any help on this would be great! Urgent need of assistance and valuable advice

Thanks

[chriswood_7]

It could be a number of things tbh. I used to own a Seat Ibiza but mine was the 1.8T. Get yourself over to SeatCurpa.net and ask the lads over there, they are a knowledgable bunch

In quick response it could be anything from your mass air flow sensor to your exhaust gas recirculating valve. Its more than likely something cheap, plasticy and electronic made by Bosch. Does the car drive ok? The car will only fail its MOT if its pumping out CO2 above its recommended figure.

Hope this helps,

[mycarsavw]

VWAudi Forum too.

Lambda sensor is a common fault. You can clear the light, it stays off for a while then returns to haunt you over and over again.

Where are you located - there may be a few members (myself included) with VAG-COM who can scan the car for faults.

[eshrules]

yep... same here

i've got diagnostic toys galore, so if you're local, feel free to pop round and we can knock heads together, so to speak

[JudeRyan]

hi all

thanks for the help/information.

location: northern ireland - so i doubt you guys are anywhere near!

when i got the car serviced and the fault appeared the mechanic there did mention something about the car taking in to much air to petrol. I think he said something about it running at 9:1 when it should be 5:1 - and as a result i would find that the car would be heavier on the petrol. (obviously i dont really understand what this means) For some reason i am thinking that he said as a result it would blow out more fumes.

But to tell you the truth i haven't noticed any difference - the car is running fine as far as i am aware. I dont think it is any heavier on pertrol than before

I remember asking him would it have any type of negative impact or damage on the car! and he said no! So i decided not to go back to them - as every time i take it in - something isnt fixed properly
and took it to another mechanic (not a seat dealer)

is there anyway i can check the level of CO2 its pumpin out - and what is the level that it cannot go above! So i can tell the mechanic to check it for me!

MOT is sat!

Thanks again

[mycarsavw]

Without diagnostic equipment you're fairly limited.

Pop over to either of the forums mentioned above. Both have VAG-COM sections and both have members in NI.

Good luck.

[Mblaster]

I have had similar issues to you, and my recommendation is take it to a Seat dealer right away.

I have a 2000 Seat Ibiza 1.4 petrol, when the engine light came on I took it to a garage (not a Seat dealer) to get looked at and they 'fixed' it. But then the light came on again, so I took it back and this happened a few times, with work being done on the car each time, at my expense. From memory the work they did was both O2 sensors, and the exhaust manifold (last one may have been unrelated), every time the light came back on within a 100 miles.

Eventually I got fed up and took it to a Seat garage and they diagnosed it as the catalytic converter that needed replacing, got the work done a couple weeks later and it has been fine for the past 15k miles.

Either the first garage were incompetent, using bad equipment, or it was just a fluke, but I'd put my money on a combination of the first two.

Although, bear in mind the engine light can come on for loads of different reasons, so it's probably not going to be the same problems as above.

[JudeRyan]

the seat dealers have been incompetent!!! I have returned to them numerous times for different faults from the throttle pedal to the rear window wiper and the fault has returned every time! or new faults have appeared and each time i have paid, as well as paying for its 10k service every time! in most cases i have returned to the dealer at least twice on the same day! i drive past the dealer and the car is sitting out the front as if it is finished and it isnt for another 3/4 hours before they give me a call to tell me the car is finished and then i get charged on top of that for all the hours they worked on it!
a simple service with them could take a full day and i get charged!

enough of the rant!

right i went back to the mechanic who is not the seat dealer - he has written down the faults for me (there are two now - one appeared yesterday that wasnt there before)

He said i need to tell you the engine type which is BBY
The problem is with the EGR valve position (when i brought the car to him he reconnected this. he has said they were badly connected and he cleaned it up and the fault cleared.

the faults that are appearing are the following:

16786 P0402 excessive flow detected
(the new fault) 16555 fuel trim bank 1 too lean

he has said that he would remove and clean out the EGR valvee and reset the adaptions but if this doesnt work what????

can anyone help?? mot is tomorrow and i feel like doing this to the bloody mechanics

[mycarsavw]

...

16786 P0402 excessive flow detected

16786/P0402/001026 - Ross-Tech Wiki

(the new fault) 16555 fuel trim bank 1 too lean

16555/P0171/000369 - Ross-Tech Wiki

Stick with this mechanic, he seems to know what he's doing.

[JudeRyan]

thanks for the information - just emailed it to him!
must send text to let him know information is sent!