Loss of Power, restricted revs, EPC light and Emissions light

[Deleted member 55317]

Ive mentioned this in a few threads here and there but cause its such a common problem I just though'd Id post it in a thread of its own so it may help some people.

i got my cupra last Nov (59 plate) and after about 2-3k miles i got the whole stuttering lack of power restricted revs epc and emissions light flashing at me on my way home from work, does this sound familiar to anyone??? I called seat assist and the AA man who arrived plugged in his fault reader and got an error code that said "missfire in a cylinder" and he suspected it was the cylinder coils. He recovered it to the dealer SEAT Morrison in Stirling.

The car was with them for less than 24h and then they called me to say it was fixed so I went to collect it.

The dealers said that it was due to a build up of carbon on the spark plugs which had caused my miss fire and EPC and emissions light etc to get activated. He asked me if:-

1 i did a lot of short journeys? and

2 what my driving style was like?

cause of my job at the time i did do a lot of short journeys (60 miles a day broken into lots of 2-5 mile trips) and i explain to him id been taking it easy as id only done just over 2-3k miles at the time and was still breaking the engine in.

He told me that because the cars are producing a lot of power for 1.4s the cupra engines need a good "clear out" every so often to stop carbon build up on the spark plugs, the method he told me to clear out my engine was let it do what its supposed to take it for a decent 10min blast once a week if possible and let it sit idle for 1min at the end and as for worries about running the engine in i was told by the dealer that all seat engines are already run in (supposidly).

my cars now done 16000+miles and been to croatia and back. i run it on a mixture of fuel from 95ron to 99ron depending on the season and bank balance. i drive with a reasonably heavy foot i get 33/34mpg but i take it for a 10min run every week (weather permitting) and rev the guts out it (to about 6200 before i change gear) and so far i have had no other problems apart from a slight judder at start up when its very cold and im running on 95ron and havent been able to take my car out for its weekly spin cause of over a foot of snow.

but for the last few weeks i have ran it on pure 97ron and its seems to be a lot smoother upon ignition, specially on a cold morning.

The other thing Ive noticed (but i may be wrong) is that a lot of the problems ive been reading are from the CUPRA/Boc engines not the FR (dont quote me on that tho) so ive put a poll on this thread and I was just wondering if people could vote if they've had a Cupra/Boc with similar probs or an FR. It'll be interesting to see the results.

So have a read people and I hope this may help some of you maybe fix a problem before the dealers rip apart your pride and joy.

 

[Bods]

Only had one Problem when i first got the car loss of power etc, they chnaged coil packs loads of other stuff then spotted when they turned the ignition it leaked small amount of fuel which made an air lock.
New fuel pump and no problems since done 4k miles since then get poor milage and use 99ron

 

[bizscotty]

Had the EPC/emissions light. Got a new engine and alls good now.

I'm not really sure its a fair poll though as for instance I drive a FR with a Revo stage 1 map. The engines exactly the same as the cupra/boc, and in fact with the Revo its more powerful than the standard cupra/boc @ 220bhp vs 180bhp.

 

[sly200sx]

Perhaps this poll should have included a 3rd option of 'No fault, yet'

 

[jc_boc]

Agree, should have a no fault yet one too. Just over 7.5k and not one issue at all. Also have REVO stage 1 and I drive the nuts off my car. these are high performance engines as far as i am concerned and they like to be driven hard on a regular basis.

 

[sly200sx]

Agree, should have a no fault yet one too. Just over 7.5k and not one issue at all. Also have REVO stage 1 and I drive the nuts off my car. these are high performance engines as far as i am concerned and they like to be driven hard on a regular basis.

Agreed, mines gets warmed up a lot too...

I like the way you can drive spiritedly with both hands on the wheel...

 

[Deleted member 55317]

Perhaps this poll should have included a 3rd option of 'No fault, yet'

hmmm never thought of that, sorry guys bit of a lapse in brain activity haha

I didnt put revo maps in cause i was just interested to see if just the tuning of the engine was causing a lot of the probs or if it is the actual parts of the engine instead as i know they are mechanically identical engines for the fr and cupra.

i cant figure out how to add a no fault vote so i do apologise to all you luck folk who have had no problems

 

[jc_boc]

Lol

 

[WRC555]

I had a problem with EPC light. Took the car to the service, they found out that there is no compression on one cylinder. I'll be getting a new engine+turbo...done only 15000 km.

 

[damianmkv]

I've had it all too - and drive a mk6 Golf GT.

Have had a new fuel pump, injectors, coil packs, plugs, fuel tank drained then
another set of plugs and coil packs. Had a compression test ( fine ). I've had the car back for 4 days and done 250 miles so far and it seems to be ok.

Was running Revo prior to my 24S4 update which seemed ( IMO ) to cause the problem.

Everything done under warranty.

VAG are fully aware of the fact that there are problems with the engine - my dealer kindly left a load of printouts in my car which show it...

 

[fincham1992]

heyyy i was just reading the posts in here the same has happened on my seat ibiza 1.2 the engine light has come on i have changed the spark plugs but it is still on and kees shuddering any ideas please lads?

 

[damianmkv]

Coil packs...?

 

[fincham1992]

yu reckon i should change the coil packs mate? dont fancy taking it to a garage as they rip you off?

 

[sly200sx]

yu reckon i should change the coil packs mate? dont fancy taking it to a garage as they rip you off?

Mate yours must still be under warranty? Why pay for things yourself?

 

[Timmyw]

I had the epc light come on and the AA said it was misfiring on 2 cylinders on my Boc and ended up with a new car as a valve had snapped in half.

 

[dannychapman10]

The TSI is a very rich running engine,
For the FR owners, a lot have reported black soot around the tail pipes, plenty have been on the emissions test at my local garage and no fault found, even when i put my foot down in Sport from standstill, if it's at night with a cars headlights, there is normally a cloud of soot?? behind me, looks like I'm driving a diesel haha

Danny.

 

[Deleted member 55317]

I had the epc light come on and the AA said it was misfiring on 2 cylinders on my Boc and ended up with a new car as a valve had snapped in half.

they replaced the whole car :O I would thought that they'd just have done the engine.

wish seat did that everytime they'd have a lot more happy customers

 

[fincham1992]

my engine light was on and took it to the garage and they said it was the coil thanks everyone for your help

 

[Galagher]

I understand its an old topic but it was really usefull when the OP's problem happened to me aswell.

I'am an owner of an Ibiza Cupra 1,4 DSG since December 2009, the car has 19k miles on right now and had no problems with my car until yesterday. I'm running it with 95 to 100 octanes gas depending mostly on bank balance.

Suddenly when i was driving and started accelerating, the engine started to stutter and Emissions light came on flashing. It went on/off a few times and stutters where coming and going until i started pushing the engine more. Then the EPC light came on with the Emissions one too and the vehicle seemed to have reduced power. Parked it, turned the engine off and on and all warning lights were off and engine seemed to be working well again. But, today i took it for a test drive and stutter was there again so i decided to take it immediately to the SEAT dealer.
A few hours later they informed me that there was a replacement of the Spark Plugs. Old ones where build up with carbon. Tested the car, runs great til now. I also asked the representative why where they worn so fast since SEAT have them at the maintenance schedule of the vehicle to be replaced at about 35k miles, and he answered that it varies from country to country (prolly weather conditions), fuel quality and car usage.

I hope i can help someone else who might get tha same problem with his Cupra/FR.

 

[Hellhound]

Well it not only the petrol engined cars having problems, mine is a diesel (broken down again!), I am driving a courtesy car at the moment. Engine management light came on, and coil light so phoned Hidsons in Rainham. Told me not to drive it but cannot fit it in until 5th April (I called 27th March). Considering my previous bad experience with Hidsons, this came as no surprise, they said it was the dpf filter. Clever as mine is a 60 plate, 32k on the clock and the dpf light has never come on. Anyhow really annoyed with the lack of service from Hidsons after all I bought it from them (no courtesy car, told me not to drive it and have to wait days before I can drop it in, what I do in the meantime is anyones guess!) I contacted Seat Assist who were alot more helpful, the AA came and confirmed that an air flow meter was not working correctly (good one Hidsons!).

Took it to JCB in Ashford, very helpful so hoping to get the car back today. Last time it broke down it took a month to repair (Hidsons), if anyone buys a Seat from Hidsons - good luck because even the AA mentioned to take it to another dealer. Very disappointed and truly awful service which reflects badly on the Seat brand. It has convinced me to switch dealers and sadly make of car in the future. I am not prepared to take a risk again.

Note to Hidsons - you have lost a long standing customer, seen as you never return a call - you might get to read this and start making changes to your service department, particularly your catchphrase "People Trust Hidsons!".