Driving test - exhaust emission warning light

R

Red77

Guest
Hi all,

I own an 02 Polo, and have my driving test Monday. A few weeks back, the Exhaust Emission Warning Light appeared on the dash for an afternoon, but disappeared again the next day. I thought nothing more of it, until it appeared again last weekend, staying on for a couple of days.

I brought it in to a mechanic, who checked the diagnostics, and cleared a couple of minor stored faults. According to him, it was an intermittent thing, and nothing to be worried about.

It's appeared again today. I'm going to bring the car back to mechanic, to see if he can clear the fault. This light is apparently a common but harmless problem with VW/Audis, that leaves mechanics stumped. I wouldn't be so worried, were it not for the fact that if a warning light is on in your car, the tester will refuse to take you out for the driving test. It's a random thing, so I've no way of knowing whether it's going to come on or not when I go for test.

Anybody have any ideas what I can do? Are testers open to persuasion on this sort of thing at all?
 
ask the mechanic if its possible to disengage the warning light till test is done, especially if its only an intermittant fault.

Secman
 
If you can't get it sorted before the test I'd just hope that the light doesn't come on. If it does you could maybe just play it down: 'Oh yeah - had it at the garage, everything's fine he mentioned that the light might come back on for a bit' something like that.

If you mention it to the tester beforehand it will probably be an automatic fail - happened to me with a brake light that went 20 mins before my test (seriously!) - didn't even get to do the test.

I certainly wouldn't try arguing or persuading with the tester -I'd say they would take a very dim view of that.

If Mondeoman is around he might be able to tell you how to clear the light.
 
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Bring it to a main dealer and see what the actuall fault is.

It could poss be thet fact you let the car go under a 1/4 full and then you could have filled it again. Try and keep it at least 1/2 full for the next day or so and see what happens.
 
Thanks for all the advice, folks.
To sum up, I brought it to my mechanic, who used the diagnostics and said it was a faulty circuit that was misreading coolant temperature (dunno how that gets an exhaust emission light, but there you go.) Dropped it in to him Saturday for an hour, and he sorted it. Light hasn't come on since, though from the research I've done on this problem, I wouldn't be surprised to see it reappear again somehow. Actually, it was interesting to hear somebody mention the tank being less than 1/4 full, cos on all occasions the light has come on, that's been the common denominator. I'll keep an eye on that.
In the end, then, I didn't need any excuses for tester, and passed test, so all was well. Again, thanks to everybody who posted an answer.
 
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