Emissions Light and EPC Diagnostics

[JUV]

Actually if you give your local dealer a ring, they should be able to tell you from your car's registration whether it's had the latest update, without charge. Our independent VW mechanic suggested we get our ECU updated at one stage when he had doubts about the engine idling (which later turned out to be the EGR I think) - we called our local dealership, they looked our car up on their VW system and were able to tell us that the previous owner had the latest update installed on such-and-such a date, so not to bother bringing it in. I suppose depending on the history of the car there's still a possibility that the ECU might have been replaced by one running an older software version, but I'm guessing its unlikely that you (or VW) wouldn't know about that.

Our mechanic reckoned that VW would normally do a ECU update under goodwill anyway if there was newer software available and your car hadn't had it for whatever reason... which is only fair really, since newer software is basically an admission that the older software was buggy and not fit for purpose in the first place.

[Jollus]

Apparently the ECU update recall thing about Polos isnt true as Vw have never had a recal on the VW polo. the recalls were on the other models but apprently never for the Polo. I have had the pleasure of another visit from the control limit fault as described below:

17550/P1142/004418 - Load Calculation Cross Check: Lower Limit Exceeded

Possible Causes
Mass Air Flow Sensors (G70) faulty
Intake Air System faulty/leaking (false Air)
Throttle Pedal faulty
Throttle Body dirty/faulty

Possible Solutions
Check Mass Air Flow Sensors (G70)
Check Intake Air System
Check Throttle Pedal
Check Throttle Pedal Position Sensor (G79)
Check Throttle Pedal Position Sensor 2 (G185)
Check Throttle Body
Check Angle Sensor 1 for Throttle Actuator (G187)
Check Angle Sensor 2 for Throttle Actuator (G188)
Check Engine Control Unit

After all my problems changing the cat and having the ABS pump wire sorted out I dont think i can handle anymore lol. Can anyone shed some light on this recent fault code. Im not too sure whether the EGR valve would be the case but should I have the above recommendations checked out. Also could this fault appear because the spark plugs are old? their 60,000 miles longlife ones and the cars on 66,000 miles now. oops. Time for a service.

[RUM4MO]

I only left the factory plugs in for roughly 36,000 miles then changed them for identical NGK ones (factory use NGK). Saving money on plugs will always compromise "what " goes into the exhaust.

I'm not too sure about the ECU flash update not been relevant to the Polo - its the engine that is the important bit and they were used by Skoda and Seat - and they needed ECU flash updates it seems - of course unless VAG deliberately only ever used later sorted out S/W on the Polos - now that would seem to be very strange! The generic statement or country myth was not where ever lambda probe issues were encountered by dealers, the ECU S/W issue had to be checked and updated as necessary before proceeding with any replacement of parts - remember that could just have been mis-information given out by ???.

Once again, I think that VAG-COM can read the ECU S/W issue level - actually is the original S/W issue not part of the P/N - so if your P/N proves that your ECU was a later version of S/W then you do not need to bother about that.