MK 2 Cupra ECS warning fault, don't know what to do next.

[realneal00_0]

Hi guys. Bought my 57 plate Cupra in August 2008 from SEAT Arnold Clark on Scotswood road in Newcastle. I have a problem that sounds similar to a few others' on here, except nobody seems to have had it on a cupra before.
Ever since I bought the car the ECS warning light has been coming on. Sometimes under hard acceleration but most of the time it occurs when doing 70mph with cruise control on the motorway.
It starts as an intermittent light on for a second then goes off. A few weeks after this then it flashes on repeatedly on/off about 6 times (I'll attach a vid). Within a few weeks more it will then flash on and stay on and won't go off whatever I do. The first time this came on restarting the engine turned the light off but this has only worked once.

I had my car back into the garage within the first month (it takes time coz most of us have to take time off work coz apparently they don't fix problems like this at the weekend). They told me it was a faulty wiring - so I believed them. Guess what it came on within a few hours driving again.

Second time apparently it was a loose coil - guess what? it came on again in exactly the same characteristic way. Third time i took it for its 10k service. They turned this light off again, again supposedly this time a loose coil (some shoulder shrugging by the mechanics).
4th time i got no feedback coz i demanded they pick it up from my work (which they commonly do) and I asked for a report.
It came on again. From what i've heard this warning light can mean many things some of which can be serious if unattended to. I'#m getting pretty cheesed off with Arnold Clark now and nobody seems to care that they sold me a car with an intermittent fault... and what is more worrying is that nobody has offered any explanations. I know it's a SEAT not a Merc but come on I'd expect some kind of customer care.

Anybody got any ideas what my problem is? Anybody else experienced this? Anybody else had no end of trouble with Scotswood road (mechanics NOT the sales team).
Any ideas what I can do next?? please help me.

Cheers.

 

[Poverty]

tell them you want to swap it for a cupra of similiar spec and value.

Are you on finance with VW?

 

[realneal00_0]

Do you think it's unlikely to get sorted? Finance with the garage yeah. Black horse i think.

Here's the video link:wwwyoutubecom/watch?v=rKf0gX5mWvs

 

[DanGB]

If thats the engine light flashing, it usually does that under a misifre condition.

This can be caused by several aspects of the ignition system:
Ignition coil,
spark plug,
fuel injector.

A scan with the VAG dealer diagnostic tool, or VAG-COM (VCDS) - consumer diagnostic tool, should show the exatc fault thats going on.

If its a misfire, it would say which cylinder the fault is occuring in. But surely they would of fix this, as its pretty easy to diagnose the causes of a misfire.

Have you felt any effets when driving?

Occasional Misfires can occur normally without problem, but if the engine light flashes, this means there is a serious misfire condition which has passed a certain threshold which switches the engine light on.

 

[Poverty]

If thats the engine light flashing, it usually does that under a misifre condition.

This can be caused by several aspects of the ignition system:
Ignition coil,
spark plug,
fuel injector.

A scan with the VAG dealer diagnostic tool, or VAG-COM (VCDS) - consumer diagnostic tool, should show the exatc fault thats going on.

If its a misfire, it would say which cylinder the fault is occuring in. But surely they would of fix this, as its pretty easy to diagnose the causes of a misfire.

Have you felt any effets when driving?

Occasional Misfires can occur normally without problem, but if the engine light flashes, this means there is a serious misfire condition which has passed a certain threshold which switches the engine light on.

is yours running better now mate?

 

[DanGB]

nope, no change

 

[Poverty]

not good, any ideas on what the issue is?

 

[robdf2]

Do you think it's unlikely to get sorted? Finance with the garage yeah. Black horse i think.

Here's the video link:wwwyoutubecom/watch?v=rKf0gX5mWvs

linky not worky

real link

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKf0gX5mWvs

 

[realneal00_0]

At the time i couldn't post links but now it seems i can coz i've made 15 posts. the vid is of the ECS light flashing on/off. it will do it 6 times then stop. it's a very characteristic pattern. after a few weeks of intermittently doing this it will stay on until i take it to the garage.

So it's misfiring. hmmm, would the garage not start to replace things. they did VAGCOM it and told me it said 'intermittent error'.

do VW or skoda do work on SEATs?

 

[realneal00_0]

I'm not sure whther it's in my imagination but it seems more sluggish when the light is permanently on, would that be possible? just doesn't seem to have the same 'rush of power'. i guy i spoke to who tunes them thought it would be a sticking turbo. is this likely?

 

[robdf2]

i doubt whether it would be a sticking turbo , but yes the car will feel sluggish if it is indeed missfiring , the best thing you can do is get SEAT customer care involved , they are rubbish but its the first step you have to take to get things fixed unfortunatley.

 

[DanGB]

I'm not sure whther it's in my imagination but it seems more sluggish when the light is permanently on, would that be possible? just doesn't seem to have the same 'rush of power'. i guy i spoke to who tunes them thought it would be a sticking turbo. is this likely?

when the engine light stays on, the car is in 'limp mode' a low power safety mode.

sticking turbo? never heard of that!

You could find out what the exact error is, we may be able to help.

 

[realneal00_0]

Thanks for your help guys. I'll try the garage one more time. If they still can't find the problem I think it'll have to be a letter to SEAT customer care to see what they say.