Altea strange happenings

[gbroberti]

This has happened twice to my wife now but never to me even though I drive it more: She will be driving happily along the motorway, after making a lane change the esp and epc lights come on and the car refuses to maintain speed. The only fix is to stop on the hard shoulder switch off and and restart.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

Tim

Altea 2.0 FSI sport

 

[TBCupraT]

Could she be pressing both Brake and Accel at the same time?

 

[gbroberti]

Could she be pressing both Brake and Accel at the same time?

Unlikely - she's only got size 3 feet! I'll ask her later

Tim

 

[aceman]

In a similar vein could it be that you have a faulty brake light switch that is causing you brake lights to come on hence the car thinks you are trying to brake and accellerate at the same time hence doing what you say.

Anyway an urgent trip to the dealer is called for as this could be dangerous in the wrong conditions don't you think.

 

[gbroberti]

An update:
Did it to me last night on the M3, travelling at motorway speeds - suddenly no throttle and an EPC and traction control light.

Called AA this morning - no fault codes reported so it's off to Kings in North Baddersley to see if they can fix it.

Tim

 

[gbroberti]

Another update: car was showing no fault codes but the dealer replaced the air mass meter.
He reckoned these are known to be dodgy....

So far there has been no repeat of the problem in the last week.

Tim

 

[Tell]

Sounds good... hope mine starts tonight.

 

[loadswine]

Tell, have you had yours checked at the dealer for non starting yet?

 

[Tell]

No, it's happended twice when it appears totally dead, but kicks in after abut five turns. Then I've had uneaven running about twice on startup when I've had to give it extra fuel to keep it ticking over.... hmmm. Today fine.

I will tell you this... and I'm sure all of you are red hot on it, but I've been lazy, I found that my tyre pressure was about 3 bar [or whatever they in the 30s measurement over]. The back were above the pressure for five adults and 2.5 bits of luggage. Whilsts the front were at the heavy load. I let that all down to the 2 people and a bit of luggage bit as dictated on the fuel cover. Seems to be a lot better now on the 17" it bounces on the bumps in the road rather than getting the full shock.

Was a bit slow at getting round to checking that. Use one of those digital guages which thje Daily Telegraph motoring pages swear by..... Anyhow nice run back down the M1 and M25 tonight.

On recalls and stuff the guy at the Seat garage today said that not all Altea have been recalled and they are sent out by the DVLC. I'm now getting my radio changed for those missing dots and also the rear seal at the back [tailgate] by the joint on the left bottom is looking a wee bit perished. The guy said that's normal... you can look at mine if you want and I thought ah well I'll put some of that windscreen seal on it since I got loads for sealing the cap back onto the LNB on the dish after the birds have pecked it off. Both mother's and mine. Deviation.... loose 5 points.

 

[Steam machine]

Hi, i was wondering if anyone can tell me if the following is normal or if there is a fault. While i was driving along i'd not noticed some fool turning into there drive on a main road (no indicators!!!) I jammed on the brakes and slid along a bit. I recovered but noticed the ESP light was on. This stayed on for the rest of my short journey. When i stopped the engine and restarted it again i noticed the light had gone off again. Is this normal or is there a problem? Thanks guys.

 

[Tell]

I've had the ABS working once but that didn't leave the light on... think that could be a fault. I know that Loadswine driving style puts the ESP light on ... wait for his reply. His Altea is chipped.

 

[klawit]

I'd say the ESP light has to go out, definitely.

Had an emergency break with mine as well ... there was NO ESP light at all, probably because my Sporty was going straight and had full contact to the road with all 4 wheels ...

IMHO the ESP should only flash, when for example a wheel doesn't have traction and has to be controlled by TCS etc.

I had this blinking ESP-light several times when slithering on snowy ground this winter.

Greets ... Klaus

 

[loadswine]

Thanks for Tell 's endorsement of my driving style , yes I do experience the ESP on a fairly regular basis. I don't think the light has ever come on when I've stood on the brakes and activated ABS, not that I've noticed anyway. ESP light comes on , only the odd flash here and there , as the wheels break traction under hard acceleration ,or extreme cornering.
I've not had the light come on and stay on ,ever.
I have heard of error lights coming on under extreme circumstances and resetting after turning the whole system off and on again. My son had a similar thing in his 05 Ibiza TDi after stalling once and the dealer had to reset that one.
If the ESP light stays on , there is either a problem , requiring a trip to the dealer, or the ESP switch on the console may have been pressed by accident.
Pressing that button will give the symptoms described, and restarting the car later will have returned the system to its default setting probably, which I am guessing is ,ESP on.
Hope this helps.

 

[klawit]

If the ESP light stays on , there is either a problem , requiring a trip to the dealer, or the ESP switch on the console may have been pressed by accident.
Pressing that button will give the symptoms described, and restarting the car later will have returned the system to its default setting probably, which I am guessing is ,ESP on.

I agrre with that.
Mentioning the (accidental?) pressing of the ESP button could just be the right hint.
Either it happend unwittingly in the strain moment of reaction ... or the ESP-ECU found that under given circumstances the car would be better off without ESP ... and simply switched it off.
What about that?

Greets ... Klaus

 

[Tell]

I had this blinking ESP-light several times when slithering on snowy ground this winter.

When mine did that at the red traffic lights in a snow storm as one arived at the Ibis Hotel at Lux airport, I can't say that I looked at the light to see whether it was flashing, but kind off hoped that it was going to stop at the junction ... it did.

Always happy to endorse your driving style Loadswine .... I joke. This is my first car where I can get wheel spin when pulling away, if I want.

 

[loadswine]

Cheers Tell
Are we getting closer to the solution to the mystery?
I think maybe we are making progress.

 

[aceman]

OK it is possible for the light to come on and stay on if the ECU detects any significat difference in the rollong of the wheels back to front so it maybe just that you locked the front wheels up but not the back or visaversa.

You get this when you put your car on a rolling road and then drive away. The amount of people that come back to the operator of the RR and say there is a light on my dashboard, have you broken it is quite alot.

 

[pargyrak]

Same thing happened to my 2.0 FSI. The EPC and the ESP light went on and the car was revving up to 2000rpm maximum.

Got it checked to a SEAT service andthe result was:

2 Faults Found:
17953 - Throttle Valve Controller: Malfunction
P1545 - 008 - Implausible Signal - Intermittent
17887 - Brake Boost Vacuum System: Mechanical Failure
P1479 - 002 - Lower Limit Exceeded - Intermittent

The problem is under investigation...

 

[pargyrak]

I got the car yesterday from the dealer. They said the problem was with a vacum pipe connecting a break boost valve and the maf.

I hope so...

 

[gbroberti]

An update on our situation, the car has now been seen by Kings Seat 5 times and they still have not been able to fix it. The car has now died 15 times on the motorway and is becoming a liability.

Did the vacuum pipe fix make the problem go away. This would make sense as the problem always happens under braking. Which dealer fixed it for you? it might be useful for Kings to contact them.

Cheers,

Tim