So after two glorious days of owning a 2007 Leon Cupra (with AmD remap), I was left stranded at Northampton services. Neither myself nor the garage have been able to diagnose the issue in over a week. Story is as follows:
Driving home from the midlands to London on the M1. Lots of rain but car seems fine.
I was sat on cruise control for about 10 miles at 50 mph through the average speed cameras.
MIL (there are so many warning lights on dashboards these days, so to be clear - Engine warning light/amber engine symbol) starts flashing on the dash. Not on steady, but a definite pulsing.
I pull in to the service station, cancelling the Cruise control. Car seems to be driving fine at this point. MIL still flashing.
As I come up to the mini roundabout, a truck has misjudged things and I have to come to a complete stop. Truck moves, I pull away - still all good aside from the flashing MIL.
I stop in a parking space and get out my OBDii/Bluetooth reader (I happen to be an Automotive engineer so carry one as part of my kit). Plug in and connect but it shows no errors codes on the ECU (despite the fact the MIL is still merrily flashing away). Weird!
I though maybe a power cycle will sort things out, so kill the engine, wait a few minutes and fire up. MIL still flashing, but the engine started and idled absolutely fine. I decide to carry on and get home, and will investigate further in the comfort of my garage and with my tools (still pouring with rain at this point).
Now the weirdness really starts.
As I try to pull out of the space, the throttle pedal does nothing. No reaction from the engine at all from the pedal. All the way to the floor and the revs don't budge from idle.
Power off again, and disconnect the battery to try and coax it back to life. No dice - still MIL flashing and still no throttle.
Only option is to call the AA . They happen to be in the service station already so they are with me within 10 minutes.
He plugs in with his Bosch kit and sees no error codes either. He looks at the live data and told me that the pedal sensors move as expected, but the throttle angle says constant 87%. I never actually got to see the live data so can't confirm - there is a slim possibility that one of the pedal tracts was stuck at 87% and he read it wrong, but I am inclined to believe him. I do however think that the butterfly being at 87% would have an effect on the idle...
So AA man digs around, cleans up some engine earths, cleans up the connectors to the pedal sensors and throttle body, taps the throttle body in case it is mechanically stuck. Nothing changes.
We also leave the battery disconnected for around 15 minutes as a last resort. Once reconnected, throttle works again! Hurrah! (Few warning lights on the dash but they disappear once above 15 mph or so).
So I drive out of the services to the roundabout and then get a huge misfire and MIL back on.
Swing around and back to the AA man. Power cycle and throttle stops working again so he tows me back to the garage I bought it from in London.
Garage in London have had the car for a week. They (say) they have replaced the throttle body and pedal sensors and got it working again.
I still haven't got the car back as they now say that because the steering was taken apart (steering wheel off?) it needs to go back to a VAG specialist to be recalibrated. I do not know enough about these cars to know if this is BS or genuine so any help on this part would be welcome.
The garage are still unable to tell me what it is that fixed the issue.
I am concerned that they have flashed or replaced the ECU and therefore it will have lost the AmD remap.
Anyone experienced or know of a similar failure and what caused it? When I collect the car it would be great to go in armed with a bit more knowledge as to what the issue was and the action they should have taken to remedy.
Thanks in advance!
Driving home from the midlands to London on the M1. Lots of rain but car seems fine.
I was sat on cruise control for about 10 miles at 50 mph through the average speed cameras.
MIL (there are so many warning lights on dashboards these days, so to be clear - Engine warning light/amber engine symbol) starts flashing on the dash. Not on steady, but a definite pulsing.
I pull in to the service station, cancelling the Cruise control. Car seems to be driving fine at this point. MIL still flashing.
As I come up to the mini roundabout, a truck has misjudged things and I have to come to a complete stop. Truck moves, I pull away - still all good aside from the flashing MIL.
I stop in a parking space and get out my OBDii/Bluetooth reader (I happen to be an Automotive engineer so carry one as part of my kit). Plug in and connect but it shows no errors codes on the ECU (despite the fact the MIL is still merrily flashing away). Weird!
I though maybe a power cycle will sort things out, so kill the engine, wait a few minutes and fire up. MIL still flashing, but the engine started and idled absolutely fine. I decide to carry on and get home, and will investigate further in the comfort of my garage and with my tools (still pouring with rain at this point).
Now the weirdness really starts.
As I try to pull out of the space, the throttle pedal does nothing. No reaction from the engine at all from the pedal. All the way to the floor and the revs don't budge from idle.
Power off again, and disconnect the battery to try and coax it back to life. No dice - still MIL flashing and still no throttle.
Only option is to call the AA . They happen to be in the service station already so they are with me within 10 minutes.
He plugs in with his Bosch kit and sees no error codes either. He looks at the live data and told me that the pedal sensors move as expected, but the throttle angle says constant 87%. I never actually got to see the live data so can't confirm - there is a slim possibility that one of the pedal tracts was stuck at 87% and he read it wrong, but I am inclined to believe him. I do however think that the butterfly being at 87% would have an effect on the idle...
So AA man digs around, cleans up some engine earths, cleans up the connectors to the pedal sensors and throttle body, taps the throttle body in case it is mechanically stuck. Nothing changes.
We also leave the battery disconnected for around 15 minutes as a last resort. Once reconnected, throttle works again! Hurrah! (Few warning lights on the dash but they disappear once above 15 mph or so).
So I drive out of the services to the roundabout and then get a huge misfire and MIL back on.
Swing around and back to the AA man. Power cycle and throttle stops working again so he tows me back to the garage I bought it from in London.
Garage in London have had the car for a week. They (say) they have replaced the throttle body and pedal sensors and got it working again.
I still haven't got the car back as they now say that because the steering was taken apart (steering wheel off?) it needs to go back to a VAG specialist to be recalibrated. I do not know enough about these cars to know if this is BS or genuine so any help on this part would be welcome.
The garage are still unable to tell me what it is that fixed the issue.
I am concerned that they have flashed or replaced the ECU and therefore it will have lost the AmD remap.
Anyone experienced or know of a similar failure and what caused it? When I collect the car it would be great to go in armed with a bit more knowledge as to what the issue was and the action they should have taken to remedy.
Thanks in advance!
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