engine management light and exhaust smell in car

D

Doug S

Member
Hello All,

I just bought an 1.4 diesel A2 sport and its been great for about 4 days until the EMS light came on on the dashboard. I have not driven it since as the general advice is not to drive in case of further damage. Nothing seems wrong and it drives perfectly, but there is faint whiff of exhaust fumes in the car, I initially thought it was from a smokey truck I was stuck behind. When I put the car in the garage to check under the bonnet for anything obvious it did smell a bit more exhausty than normal (normal being that I haven't noticed anything for the last 4 days of owning it).
I have been through a lot of the brilliant threads on the forum (already re-aligned the gear cables for smooth shifting and repaired loose door straps from excellent advice) but cant find a thread with this sort of issue with the emissions.
Does anyone have an idea if this is linked to a common problem or a likely culprit before I take it to the garage for a diagnostic.
Cheers, Douglas.
 
Hi it's almost impossible to diagnose so best get it scanned and post up the code and we can go from there. Any members with scanning close by ? Cheers Mike
 
I wouldn't think that the extra fumes you noticed after putting it in the garage are anything to worry about as such.
When driving the car into the garage, the fumes from the exhaust are trapped in the garage.

If the engine light is on you need to get the car scanned.
Are there any other warning lights coming on at the same time?

it would be unusual for the fumes to be linked to the warning light (not impossible, but unusual)

i am sure that there are some local members with a VCDS cable that could scsn you car to pinpoint the cause of the warning.

Is your "KY" postcode in Yorkshire perhaps (just a guess)? Or have i slipped up? ;)

steve B
 
Thanks for the quick replies. I best get it booked in then. No other warning lights came on. My brother has a unit so I will have him test it tonight to see what codes pop up. Looking at the Audi user manual it describes the light as 'Emission' warning light, but I suppose its all engine related if it gets to that level.
Really hoping I haven't bought a problem car, ... have been after a good A2 example for a while now when this one came up.

KY postcode is for Kirkcaldy in Fife, Scotland. I will update later when I get a 'diagnosis'.

Cheers.
 
Just a little update, the EMS light has now switched itself off on the journey home from work last night. However, this morning about 5 minutes into my commute to work I got a loud blast of the warning system and the ABS and Traction control (ASR or ESP) lights came on. No drop in handling or braking performance was noticed. The warning lights eventually cleared themselves whilst going over the Forth road bridge. Its a bit worrying.
Its booked into the Garage for the weekend to run the diagnostic. But so far it seems quite random things popping up.
 
Hi Doug S

Did your brother's scan tool show up any fault codes. I had a similar fault a few months back and it was a plug that had come loose from the back of the Inter cooler fairly low down , my fault was not intermittent but was on all the time from when it first displayed in the car , I did not drive the car as I could only travel 10 yards or so and the sounder would ring and a triangle displayed on the dash, just by luck I spotted the lead out and pushed it back in, hey presto. If you were a wee bit nearer I could have scanned with my basic set up and cleared any stored faults once they were noted for reference. I am in the Kingdom on occasions golfing but not this weather, but if your stuck pm me and I will see if I can be of assistance.

Cheers for Now
 
Its been 3 years since I posted for help as a new A2 owner and sadly I didn't follow up. But the issues I had was sorted, as was mentioned above it was a loose plug that was simply reconnected and I paid silly money for a diagnostic code read at a Bosch service centre for some useful and some not so useful info. Now got a simple code reader that is useful for my needs. I've had the A2 for 3 years now and going to keep it. Ive got the issue with corrosion in the pressed steel control arms and its in garage getting these replaced... no choice as it failed MOT on that. But otherwise its been serving me very well since I got it and will treat it to a suspension overhaul as per some of the other suspension threads on the site.
 
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