Temperamental Golf
Discussion
I am hoping someone could share some advice or experience with this particular problem.
The vehicle is a 2001 VW Golf SE Estate Petrol 1.6.
The problem has happened twice a few months apart. Both times the car suddenly lost power with all lights coming on, on the dashboard. Both times after a few minutes the car started again and ran fine. The second time it happened the engine light stayed on. I took it to our mechanic and he plugged in a diagnostic device which came up with this.
P1545 Throttle valve controller. 17953
He suggested to get some advice from you guys before going down the road of replacing parts in the hope of fixing it. His logic is that often it can be some other underlying issue causing the problem.
He turned off the warning light and the car has been driven a few times since and been fine. The engine light has come on once more and then gone off again.
Obviously I don't enjoy driving it knowing it could just cut out again. I would really appreciate any suggestions or advice. Thank you.
The vehicle is a 2001 VW Golf SE Estate Petrol 1.6.
The problem has happened twice a few months apart. Both times the car suddenly lost power with all lights coming on, on the dashboard. Both times after a few minutes the car started again and ran fine. The second time it happened the engine light stayed on. I took it to our mechanic and he plugged in a diagnostic device which came up with this.
P1545 Throttle valve controller. 17953
He suggested to get some advice from you guys before going down the road of replacing parts in the hope of fixing it. His logic is that often it can be some other underlying issue causing the problem.
He turned off the warning light and the car has been driven a few times since and been fine. The engine light has come on once more and then gone off again.
Obviously I don't enjoy driving it knowing it could just cut out again. I would really appreciate any suggestions or advice. Thank you.
Thank you Thebraketester. That is the kind of confirmation I was looking for. Regarding the other 2 comments my mechanic happens to be a brilliant old school mechanic whose experience has shown that the computer diagnostic isn't always showing that there may be something else underlying the presenting problem. Especially in older models. Unlike the majority of mechanics who just follow the diagnostics, get the new part only to have the problem reoccur again ad infinitum. Costing the owner far more than is probably necessary. His suggestion was to enquire in a forum in case anyone had any insight from their own experience with this issue/model before making any assumptions. Surely you don't expect a mechanic to know every possible idiosyncrasy of every make and model that ever existed ? Most mechanics nowadays only 'know' what the computer tells them.
imagine engaging with any skilled tradesperson for a job, service, etc and their advice is to ask a random on the internet how to do it? I find that bizarre.
violetdoll said:
Surely you don't expect a mechanic to know every possible idiosyncrasy of every make and model that ever existed ?.
hence my advice to find a VW group indieWorth checking the condition of all main body and engine earth cables, as well as the integrity of the battery terminal clamps. To me, the throttle controller shouldn’t stop it from running (completely) but as another poster affirmed it then worth a look. You can often test these with a multimeter.
Other than potential wiring damage, check for water ingress in ECU, throttle body and accelerator pedal. I would think it's likely to be the throttle valve as per the fault code but there are often associated sensors/cables that could be playing up. Have you reset the fault and/or tried testing the valve via VCDS or similar?
My Son's Golf 1.4 played up in a similar fashion, error codes showed accelerator position sensor fault and that was indeed the problem, a new pedal assembly sorted it but I did my best to check all the wiring before spending £120 on a new pedal.
My Son's Golf 1.4 played up in a similar fashion, error codes showed accelerator position sensor fault and that was indeed the problem, a new pedal assembly sorted it but I did my best to check all the wiring before spending £120 on a new pedal.
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