UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

hi there
im new here my names Ben
i picked up a w reg polo 1.4 mpi a few weeks ago after my other daily drive blew up.
long story short brought it off ebay without viewing it as i found it as it was about end. turned out to be great little car with full mot and in good condition few marks but nothing a quick polish didnt sort out
i have a strange problem starting the thing though.
when i put the key in the dash lights up with the normal lights and then the epc light comes on am i right in thinking it should do this as you turn the ignition on anyway then the fuel pump relay clicks then it starts great
sometimes when i turn the ignition on the EPC light doesnt illuminate and the car wont start it will crank forever but it wont start. so i have to remove the key and kep turning the inition on and off until the EPC light comes on then i hear the fuel pump relay click and the car starts great. it drives fine but the ignition problem causes me some problems like when im at the petrol station.
i got a cheap code reader off ebay and i get the code 16989 which according to the internet is a rom error of the internal control module .
so does this mean a new ecu or is there somethign else at work here and this is just a generic code for something wrong in a long line of electrical devices
any help is much appreciated
thanks Ben

Welcome ben

The official diagnosis of that code is http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.ph ... 605/001541

Check your earths to make sure they are all good. A bad earth can cause odd issues like this

thanks for the welcome and the reply
when you say check earths. shoudl i be checking engine earths or i assume there are some inside the cabin somewhere
do you know where these might be

Engine earths. Theres on on the gearbox to the battery tray area, another on the ECU from what I recall

ok ill look into it
thanks for your help

had a look the weekedn took all the earths off down by the battery tray cleaned them all and put them all back on. also cleaned the one on the ecu. it has made a small bit of difference in that it doesnt take so many turns of the key for the epc light to illuminate but its still not right and im still getting the same eroor code as above. if i got an ecu off ebay do i need anything else such as the immobilser am i right in thinking that these are matched to the ecu
any help appreciated