EPC warning light

[northernchappy]

EPC light came on and simultaneously lost power, crawling in 1st gear, i managed to pull over.
Switched off and left it 2 minutes, then restarted ok and the light was off. However, whrn accelerating in lower gears, the car was spluttering slightly but now running normal.
My neighbour is a mechanic and he said if it does it again he'll bring diagnostic equipment home.

Not too keen on his reply as it may do it again somewhere possibly dangerous.

Could it be a glitch or best to skip my neighbour and go to a garage and get diagnostic done?

 

[northernchappy]

Forgot to mention its an 08 plate polo. I was cruising in 4th gear in a 30 zone when the epc light came on

 

[Burnerman]

I think there’s a very good chance of the fault coming back.....the EPC lamp is pretty generic and can point to maybe 5 possibilities, including the footbrake switch
Id give your neighbour a try though, especially if he can get a loan of proper diagnostic gear from his garage.....a simple code reader isn’t enough here, Im afraid!
John

 

[northernchappy]

I think there’s a very good chance of the fault coming back.....the EPC lamp is pretty generic and can point to maybe 5 possibilities, including the footbrake switch
Id give your neighbour a try though, especially if he can get a loan of proper diagnostic gear from his garage.....a simple code reader isn’t enough here, Im afraid!
John

 

[northernchappy]

Will do John

 

[northernchappy]

Update : got diagnostic equipment on it and traced it to the throttle assembly. The air intake butterfly valve thingy isn't opening properly due to a sticking motor that should be making a humming noise with ignition on. Getting a replacement

Hes gone to the pub now so can i ask if is it a bad idea for me to wedge the butterfly valve open or could that damage the engine?

 

[Burnerman]

I must say, Ive never tried that one but I wouldn’t recommend it.....the throttle would be at a fixed speed and it wouldn’t be a good move to be copped!
After that though I dont think you would damage anything but there would be other fault codes flagged up as the throttle pedal would be redundant.
John

 

[northernchappy]

Oh right lol. Lack of knowledge about what the valve does. Thanks. He did say if there was no noise when ignition is on to tap the body to get ot working before starting

 

[Burnerman]

Throttle body failure is quite common on the 1.4 Polo.....it usually manifests itself by poor idling / stalling and jerky pick up on accelleration.
We'd be interested to hear the outcome!
John