Damn my neck is bad, so I had my car MOT'd last week, and my first quick journey after was fine, but today I decided to travel a bit further a field, a 2 hour round trip. I was almost home, about 5 miles away, when suddenly my car started to jolt and shudder and kangaroo in all gears, the only time it wouldn't is if I took my foot off the accelerator. Thankfully there were only slight slopes on that part of the journey as it felt like it had no power going up anything, even in first gear. I was shook all over the place. I didn't dare stop, and thankfully no one behind me for that stretch, as I live in a village so wasn't busy. Odd how I drive 1hr 50mins fine, but last 10 mins went like this. I was tempted to pull over and let the AA sort it out, but I had a car full of frozen food and didn't want to risk ruining it all if I had to wait 4+ hours or so for pick-up, although in hindsight I wish I did now as he might have been able to fix it there and then. Although my heater doesn't work so it would have been a cold wait.

Anyway, I have no idea if this was due to something with the MOT, or just coincidence. I asked them to fill up the engine oil, but I presume nothing there could cause it, would it ? My yellow ABS light seems to come on and off sometimes (has done for months, even before MOT), it wasn't on during the MOT so it passed, and it wasn't on the day after, but today it came back on. Also as mentioned my heater comes on and off on its own too. I have a brand new battery that was fitted during the MOT. Can ABS cause this ? It didn't feel like brakes.

I have a 2 year old clutch, so I don't think it can be that. 

Any ideas ? Thanks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Having read your tale of woe, I think that I may be right in saying you are not "mechanically / electrically minded" ?

You need to use FORScan and read any DTC's that may be stored. Problems with an ABS sensor will cause the vehicle to go in to limp mode. On the one hand you say that you 'Just had the car MOT'd' but then go on to mention you got them to "fill up the oil" and then the little matter of a "brand new battery" was there anything else ?

I think you need to get to your car booked in at a garage for some diagnostics, who knows they might even find out whats wrong with heater at the same time.

Out of pure curiosity I would love to know what "king leads" are.

15 minutes ago, Jon Read said:

turned out to be "king leads"

 

Thanks. I edited out the term kings leads as I suddenly thought this may not be what they were called, I guess you must have seen my post pre-edit. Perhaps it was HT leads or something.

So, I will try and explain better, for over a month I have had a yellow ABS light that comes on, very occasionally it isn't lit, when I took it for an MOT at first it was lit so the MOT failed, but when they changed my battery and changed a headlight bulb suddenly it was off, and then re-did the MOT, so it passed, they assumed the new battery fixed it. When I picked it up it from the garage it wasn't on. On my first journey on Saturday it wasn't either. It only came back on today, my 2nd journey since MOT, Wednesday. I also had a battery problem for months, and they fitted a new battery. My heater (entire climate unit) also only comes on occasionally, in a 2 hour journey it might be on for 30 minutes of it. It will just come on and off at random. For the MOT I asked them to fill up my oil if it needed any, looking at the bill they added some. The reason I don't think it was due to the ABS is it worked for over a month with it lit without any jolting. 

Amazingly, given the old age of my car, it passed with only a headlamp change, normally I have loads of work done on it. 

You are right, I am not technical at all with cars, this forum is a great help to me. I would have changed my car this year had it not been for the new clutch I got 2 years ago that I spent a lot of money on.

The ABS sensor is not just for the brakes. They are used to calculate the actual road speed of each wheel. Intermittent problems with an ABS sensor can lead to limp mode being activated, also traction control disabled, and a few other items.

As I said you need to read the DTC's to find out what the stored codes are which will give a much clearer picture of the problems.

You mention problems with the climate control not working. Does the control unit look a bit like a car radio with digital temperature displays ?

Thanks. I presume I need to get a ODBII device to read the DTC's ? 

My point about the ABS is I drove a whole month without issues with the light on, could it suddenly act differently after a month ? If so, then I guess that could be a reason.

The climate control unit is exactly like the photo I have attached to this message, 

 

P.S : Anyone know if I should use my AA membership to check out the jolting issue ? I have been paying them for years and not needed to use it. Would it be something they would check or even with home-start would it be pointless if new leads are needed, etc ? 

Best way to read the DTC's is using a laptop with the software FORScan (it's free)

Download: https://forscan.org/download.html

You will need an ELM327 lead to connect with, for example: https://tunnelrat-electronics.fwscart.com/USB_Modified_with_switch_ELM327/p4541936_17045457.aspx

The AA will not be able to help you with the problem you have, it's there job to get you up and running and to a place of safety or a garage.

As Unofix says,  but DON'T buy any old cheap elm327 reader, get the tunnel rat one, as it definitely will read the codes on your mk3. (and it's not expensive either) btw, they also sell one you can connect to an Android device, (with bluetooth/WiFi) the Forscan for that version costs £4 approx. 

Thanks, I have ordered one (or just about to), I have a laptop. Where is the socket for it, under the steering wheel ?

It's hidden, you pull it down. It's either to the left or right of the steering wheel (can't quite visualise it at the mo) 

Okay guys, here are my results using FORScan, see attached text files. Any idea how I check the engine ? Interesting to note all the other OBD2 apps didn't pick up on the ABS but FORScan did. I paid for the WiFi android app version. 

 

DTC_2021-12-29_01.14.27.txt Info_2021-12-29_01.13.53.txt

P.S : Interesting to note the code that shows up on the scanner, when I search Google for it, says "Engine misfires sometimes or all the time (the issue often gets worse upon acceleration)", no idea if just coincidence or if that is the reason for the jolting. 

Hi, you need to clear errors as you don't know how old are the ones you're reading. Then go for a drive and read them again. That way you'll be confident the codes are relevant to your current problem