EPC Light Check Engine Light, crummy idle and no acceleration

[eddyble]

Hey Guys!

I have a 2011 1.2lt Mk6 golf and it recently stopped working.

Whilst i was driving normally the EPC light came on, so did the check engine light, the steering wheel light? (maybe power steering) as well as the traction control light. I completely lost acceleration and I pulled over as soon as i could and the engines idle was quite rough revving to 2k back to 1 at random intervals. I disconnected the negative lead on the battery and waited 20 mins whilst google'ing the problem and figured it may be an engine sensor fault but i couldn't be certain. In any case, i reconnected the battery lead and managed to drive home normally.

I took the car to an NRMA service centre to get it scanned to see if i was right. The following codes were;

P030100: Cyl 1- Missfire Detected
P030400: Cyl 4 - Missfire Detection
P030060: Random/Multiple Cylinder Missfire detected
P130A00: Hide Cylinder
P135500: Ignition Activation Cyl 1 Open Circuit

The NRMA bloke thought it was a timing chain issue but wasn't 100% sure. It would cost me almost 50% of the purchase price of the car for them to dissasemble the engine to find out and even then if they replaced it he said that it may not fix the issue anyway. I decided that was completely unreasonable and seeing i have the tools, i'd give it a crack myself and learn about cars along the way (my forte is bikes).

In any case, i drove the car home from the NRMA and it drove completely fine so it seems to be some random intermittent issue. It either can't start because it can't reach engine idle or works completely normally. When the engine does run 'normally' i do notice an intermittent ticking noise sort of like the sound of a really quick blinker but coming from the engine bay.

From reading on this forum it maybe coil packs? but really i have no idea and would love some ideas so i can start poking around. In my mind the car is a write off anyway so if there is a chance to save it then there's no real downside.

Let me know if you guys need any further info

Cheers

Ed

[Umai Naa!!]

I would be testing the ignition leads first. If those are ok, move on to a compression test.

If it's a chain issue, and they are known for it, you'd hear a fair bit of noise out of the timing case. I would however, confirm that it is not a chain issue before continuing to drive it. If the chain does fail, you WILL be up for close to the value of the car in repairing/replacing the head. Otherwise, replacing the chains, tensioners, and guides isn't all that epensive. I did a GTI not that long ago, that came in under $2K for the whole job.

[The One]

I would defiantly be checking the leads first as you'll find this is your most likely issue, they would have just googled this and seem timing chain issues and told you it's that..

[DS60R]

@eddyble did you end up figuring out what the problem was? I have the exact same issue with the exact same codes on my Polo...

[The One]

@eddyble did you end up figuring out what the problem was? I have the exact same issue with the exact same codes on my Polo...

It will be leads matey...

[eddyble]

@eddyble did you end up figuring out what the problem was? I have the exact same issue with the exact same codes on my Polo...

Apologies, i've been o/s for a while

I looked at the Golf today and i think i found the culprit. I thought it may have been the MAF initially and wanted to rule that out but ended up finding out that the cylinder head breather hose has snapped off at the engines end.



My one is the one with the train seat pattern and the non-broken one is the other one.

I've spent the better part of an hour trying to google the part to no avail. It's connected to hose - 03F 103 558 but i can't find just the connector part. Is anyone able to help me out with that?

Also, because this broke off, would that explain any of the errors or symptoms my car has displayed?

Cheers

Ed

[The One]

Apologies, i've been o/s for a while

I looked at the Golf today and i think i found the culprit. I thought it may have been the MAF initially and wanted to rule that out but ended up finding out that the cylinder head breather hose has snapped off at the engines end.



My one is the one with the train seat pattern and the non-broken one is the other one.

I've spent the better part of an hour trying to google the part to no avail. It's connected to hose - 03F 103 558 but i can't find just the connector part. Is anyone able to help me out with that?

Also, because this broke off, would that explain any of the errors or symptoms my car has displayed?

Cheers

Ed

This is common and yes can cause these issues, replace and recheck. The valve is only available with the whole pipe unfortunately!

[eddyble]

So it turns out that tiny valve solves everything! I went to the VW dealership armed with the physical thing and they ordered me a new one. Took 13 seconds to plug her in and we were all good to go!

It cost $63.80 which feels steep but cheap relative to the $4k - 10k quoted from NRMA guy.

Part number is VW-030103175B if anyone else has troubles with this -

Cheers

Ed

[mythik]

Hey Guys!

- snip of NRMA service centre being idiots -

Ed

I am not at all surprised. I keep hearing stories of inexperience and a huge lack of diagnostic abilities from these workshops. Shame shame shame.

[Andiw]

Just wanted to say a quick thank you to the OP, my Mk6 1.2 also had this issue, I also had to replace the rubber grommet but overall $70 is a small price to pay compared to having the vehicle diagnosed by people who have no clue.