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Lupo 1.0 petrol, loss of power, Check Engine/exhaust lights ON


The Unbearded Viking
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I bought a 03 reg Polo 1.0 in Essex the other day. The Engine Management light (of course) came on shortly after leaving the dealers forecourt, however the car did not immediately show any unusual signs, so I decided to keep going on the 60 miles to my house, but of course playing close attention to any change in the behavior of the car.

Roughly 20-30 mins into the drive down M25 at 60mph, the engine did start to feel a bit soggy. It lost some of its bite, but temp was ok so I slowed down a bit and decided to stop somewhere safe to have a look/listen with the car in idle. Looking for a suitable place to stop, I did notice that the car was loosing more and more power. I could not keep it going in 5th etc. and up-hill I could barely do make it run in 3rd. I found a place to stop, and the engine ran with a 'stutter' meaning ever other second or so, it was like setting out for a fraction of a second, enough for the engine block to give a shake. The engine didn't sound troubled at all, but just arrhythmic (for a better word). (It's here important to notice that I at no point turned off the ignition !!!!)

Rather than leave the car on hard shoulder in Kent, I decided to see if I could make it to Jct8 which was another 8 miles or so, but up-hill for the most parts. The car basically lost more and more power, and I had serious doubts if I would be able to make the ramp off M25 at Reigate as it's a hell of a long upwards climb, but I managed to get it all way up in partly 1 partly 2nd gear. When first up the hill, the drive down Reigate hill was easy, however had to stop for red lights in Reigate town, and I could hardly rev the car up even in neutral, and the engine then simply died when I was trying to pull off for green...

Dammit I thought as I had a line of cars behind me, now I block A25 in the middle of the lights, where there is nowhere to push the car into. For whatever reason, I turned the key to ignition off position and probably out of panic turned the ignition back on, and the engine sprang to life as the previous 45minutes of driving horror had never happened. The car drove absolutely beautifully the next couple of miles to my house.

Question, does this 2003 car have some sort of 'idiot protection' which will slowly cripple the car in case an idiot as me decides to ignore the Engine Management lamp ? Whatever made the car drive sluggish, completely disappeared after turning off/on ignition.

I just took the car for 10 min drive round town, and it drives beautifully, however Engine Management light of course still on....

Any advise is most welcome...

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and in answer to your question, YES, it does. Almost all modern cars have what's called a limp home mode, kind of like a 'get me home' sort of setting. That said, they don't usually come on when a simple engine management light appears. They usually come on when a catastrophic failure in the engine is detected and they limit your speed to anything under 40mph. To be fair though, my 106 once went through a phase of starting up in limp home mode when it was raining, a few 100 yards down the road after it had warmed up, switching off the ignition and back on would fix it and a full service sorted the problem. Never knew what it was.

Edited by Skezza
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and in answer to your question, YES, it does. Almost all modern cars have what's called a limp home mode, kind of like a 'get me home' sort of setting. That said, they don't usually come on when a simple engine management light appears. They usually come on when a catastrophic failure in the engine is detected and they limit your speed to anything under 40mph. To be fair though, my 106 once went through a phase of starting up in limp home mode when it was raining, a few 100 yards down the road after it had warmed up, switching off the ignition and back on would fix it and a full service sorted the problem. Never knew what it was.

Advice as nearly as good as his driving stories, full of epic fails.

Simple answer is ring the dealer you got it from, it has a warranty by law so use it. Why spend cash on a car you have just bought ?

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Advice as nearly as good as his driving stories, full of epic fails.

Simple answer is ring the dealer you got it from, it has a warranty by law so use it. Why spend cash on a car you have just bought ?

Christ, how did I know this was going to be some petty comment against me...? How predictable.

I'm starting to think you're a bit, you know, special. My post simply answered the question (about limp home mode) and a mention of a past experience with my 106. I didn't advise him on how to sort his issue, I simply mentioned a time when I had an issue with my 106 in limp home mode. I'd already assumed he'd taken the previous posters advice about contacting the dealer.

Edited by Skezza
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Yep and you said limp mode only comes on when your engine has a serious problem, yet again in the same post you then say how you of ignored the problem by switching the ignition on and off, clever example !!!!!

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Yep and you said limp mode only comes on when your engine has a serious problem, yet again in the same post you then say how you of ignored the problem by switching the ignition on and off, clever example !!!!!

Well, look, it was my understanding that it only came on when the engine had a serious problem. However my 106, as in, my own personal case, it came on in mornings when it was wet and switching it off and on would fix it once the car had warmed up. It was a purely anecdotal comment, mainly because the actual issue was clearly not as serious as I thought when it first happened. The car was most likely misfiring or something, I don't know as I said. A service fixed it. I'm not suggesting the OP does that. it was just passing a comment about my own experience. Edited by Skezza
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So limp mode doesn't just come on only when it's possibly terminal but for missfires too !!!!

Your going to have the kid wondering if it's a cheap 30 quid ht lead fix or a full on new engine ha ha

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Crikey you've really got it in for this chap today :lol:

First thing you want to do is take it back and get them to sort out.

Fo' shizzle.

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So limp mode doesn't just come on only when it's possibly terminal but for missfires too !!!!

Your going to have the kid wondering if it's a cheap 30 quid ht lead fix or a full on new engine ha ha

For a guy who makes sense maybe, 60 to 70 percent of the time, you aren't bad at playing with semantics are you ;)

As I said... I don't know. I don't know why it happened to my 106 and as such I have no idea as to what went wrong... speculation.

To the OP, just ring the dealer, I've already assumed you have because that's what most people would do, this guy seems to think that you wouldn't have thought of that even though its the most obvious and would take my 'advice' (even though it wasn't) about switching off the ignition and switching it back on every time you lost power.

On a side note, as in, NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS THREAD, Why would your engine misfiring require a brand new engine Scotty? Engine misfires are fixable.

Edited by Skezza
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A misfire can cause something called pinking, or early detonation, melting pistons.

Misfires can be caused a few different ways from the ignition system to the valves themselves sticking

Most cars have a knock sensor which changes the ignition slightly or puts it into limp mode

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A misfire can cause something called pinking, or early detonation, melting pistons.

Misfires can be caused a few different ways from the ignition system to the valves themselves sticking

Most cars have a knock sensor which changes the ignition slightly or puts it into limp mode

Fair enough. :shades:
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Had a similar episode on the Sharan (oiler) on Snake Pass! Went slower and slower until I thought we weren't gonna make it. Got to the destination, just, (the other side's all downhil!), unloaded the son's uni gear, started up again thinking "this should be interesting" and LO, everything normal. Got back (empty, obv) in no time. My Dub specialist identified it as the mass air flow meter - the wire sensor bends over time, callking for less fuel. Switching off and on resets the calibration.

Those HT leads don't last long, though - the Lupo's EM light came on in Liverpool and we misfired all the way back to Southport (20 miles) with no other issue cos of one of them.

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