Engine management light

Jase53 · Feb 10, 2021

Hi I have a 2012 T5.1 California and the engine management light has come on. I have taken it to my local garage and they plugged it in and it says it needs a new mass air flow sensor which they replaced last week. Drove it today and the light came on again. I have called my local VW garage to see if there are any updates or recalls but there isn't apparently. VW did say that the computer they have will bring up more options as it will be a lot better than plugging it into a local garage. I was just wondering if anyone else has any experience of this before. I don't mind taking it to VW as long as they can sort it out. Do you think that the computer would be better and could bring up more options than my local garage? VW will charge me £132 for the diagnostics and will incorporate this if any work needs doing. Many thanks in advance.

Perfectos · Feb 10, 2021

Which engine management light is on ? Can you post a picture

edit: what colour is the light amber or red ?

when was your last long ish journey?

Jase53 · Feb 10, 2021

Hi Perfectos I have attached a pic. The last long journey was a couple of weeks ago 3.5 hour trip to hospital. But it did come on whilst driving on this journey. It was fixed afterwards but has since come back on today.

Perfectos said:
Which engine management light is on ? Can you post a picture

edit: what colour is the light amber or red ?

when was your last long ish journey?

Hi Perfectos I have attached a pic. The last long journey was a couple of weeks ago 3.5 hour trip up to Cambridge for a hospital appointment. It did come on half way up to Cambridge.

WelshGas · Feb 10, 2021

Jase53 said:
Hi Perfectos I have attached a pic. The last long journey was a couple of weeks ago 3.5 hour trip to hospital. But it did come on whilst driving on this journey. It was fixed afterwards but has since come back on today.

Hi Perfectos I have attached a pic. The last long journey was a couple of weeks ago 3.5 hour trip up to Cambridge for a hospital appointment. It did come on half way up to Cambridge.

View attachment 73397

Do you have Roadside Assistance, AA or RAC?

If you do then give them a call.

Jase53 · Feb 10, 2021

Hi WelshGas yes I do have roadside assistance. Good idea I will give them a try.

Perfectos · Feb 10, 2021

The good news is the light it orange (not red)

your profile says looking to buy, what model (engine) do you have.

do you have manual gear box or DSG ?

assuming it manual and you don’t drive it hard ?

I have had the EML light come on in my previous T5.1 after several short journeys,
the DPF needed a good burn off,
I resolved it by driving hard (above 2500 rpm) constantly for about twenty miles, and getting the engine working hard, at a high temperature, near the end of the journey i used engine breaking to push the revs up to approx 4000rpm under engine breaking, where I saw a discernible puff of black smoke from the rear (soot clearing from the DPF) EML light went out immediately after the puff of soot !

the T5.1 doesn’t use Add blue to assist the DPF clearance hence it needs heat and exhaust compression to blow it out.

there are many other reasons why your EML could come on, so unless you drive lots of short journeys of drive sedately, get it checked out.

I agree with WG, call roadside assist and see what fault codes they throw up. If it’s DPF revert to above

Engine management light: top 5 causes of amber engine warning light | Carbuyer

Has your amber engine warning light blinked into life on your dashboard? Don’t worry, there’s no need to panic!

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Jase53 · Feb 10, 2021

Perfectos said:
The good news is the light it orange (not red)

your profile says looking to buy, what model (engine) do you have.

do you have manual gear box or DSG ?

assuming it manual and you don’t drive it hard ?

I have had the EML light come on in my previous T5.1 after several short journeys,
the DPF needed a good burn off,
I resolved it by driving hard (above 2500 rpm) constantly for about twenty miles, and getting the engine working hard, at a high temperature, near the end of the journey i used engine breaking to push the revs up to approx 4000rpm under engine breaking, where I saw a discernible puff of black smoke from the rear (soot clearing from the DPF) EML light went out immediately after the puff of soot !

the T5.1 doesn’t use Add blue to assist the DPF clearance hence it needs heat and exhaust compression to blow it out.

there are many other reasons why your EML could come on, so unless you drive lots of short journeys of drive sedately, get it checked out.

I agree with WG, call roadside assist and see what fault codes they throw up. If it’s DPF revert to above

I will have to change my profile as I purchased a 180 DSG California last August.
The DPF light did come on and last week the garage got the temperature up and it was sorted.
But its the engine management light which came on and has stayed on. Not sure if it is due to short journeys as apart from the long journey to Cambridge it is only getting very little use at the moment.