1998 VW Golf MIL issue

Sep 26, 2006 7 Replies
S

I just bought a VW golf 1998 and during inspection, the inspector told me that the engine light or malfunction indicator light doesn't come on on ignition. I never bothered to verify what lights came on during ignition, but was more interested in lights that stayed on. After looking at the VW Golf manual, where there is an "*" after the MIL light which usually means it is optional. I took the car to my mechanic and he checked the fuses and everything was good. He tells me that the light is burned out and that will cost me a couple of grants to fix and most of the cost is for labor. Please let me know if anybody else has come across a similar issue.



Thanks



-SP



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P

I'm just guessing here, but isn't it a LED? I've seen cases where the MIL light was on and so the (seller) cuts the wire to turn it off. Like you, many buyers don't realize the builb should light when the key is first turned on as a self-test.

My money is that it is not a bad bulb... But I could be wrong!

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M

But in the US (if that's where you are) it's part of OBDII compliance on cars from 1996 onwards and not optional.

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S

Thanks Peter, I will check for a wire disconnect.

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L

Yep, and owners do remove it if they are too cheap to fix the issue. It's usually the next owner who gets screwed since the MIL should have been on... but the bulb was removed. IN our USA state the MIL must lioght up during the emission inspection.

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M

Depends though on the state I guess..like in CA it's the seller's responsibility to smog-test the vehicle prior to sale and something like that would show up and the seller would have to fix it.

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L

great idea, but here in PA we do the test once per year and not when it's sold.

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