Engine Fault Warning

[heli195]

Driving home from work today and the engine fault light popped up on the dash and the message engine fault service now came up on display. This stayed on for a couple of seconds and then disappeared. Not come on again and the car has been started a number of times. All sounds fine and drives fine. Car is a 59 1.6 diesel. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Mike77]

When is the last time the fuel filter was changed.... I ask this as this part has an electrical connection to it and may be linked to the cars ECU, so may possibly be the only serviceable part to throw up a light ? These parts usually get missed or avoided at service time because it can be difficult to start a car again after replacement. If it's not been serviced for a while, I'd try this first.

[heli195]

I've only had the car for a couple of months and it was serviced as I brought it along with a mot. But I don't have a list of what was done on service.

[Mike77]

As a rule, I always service my cars when I buy them, as a garage can always "say" it's had a full service (have experienced this personally) when in fact it hasn't been touched. You could always get the car plugged into a diagnostic machine as it should have recorded the fault and this may give you further information, but my first port of call would be a good service.

[heli195]

Cheers for the replies. It's not reappeared so I will see if it comes back and then investigate more.

[SandyCat]

If you brought it trade get it straight back to them as it's still got 1 month warranty left. Get them to read the fault codes and rectify it free of charge.