I always get a feeling of dread when a warning symbol flashes up in an instrument panel, and it was no different when an amber light appeared recently on the Amarok informing me there was an issue with the catalytic converter.
Previous skirmishes with similar warnings in other vehicles suggested the VW must have been doing lots of short-distance journeys and not enough of the long-haul motorway slogs that would help to clear the diesel particulate filter, but that wasn’t the case here – in fact, the vehicle had been covering plenty of M25 miles.
After reassuring me that the pick-up was okay to drive while the warning light remained static and amber – I was to stop if it started flashing or turned red – my nearest dealer, Citygate in Wooburn Green, Bucks, said I should come in to get it checked out.
They had the vehicle for a day, and looked over various sensors but couldn’t find the cause of the problem. So to cover all the bases they also carried out a ‘regen’, where all the collected particles in the filter are burned away to reset it – something the vehicle should do automatically anyway. Satisfied the Amorok was behaving as it should, they cleared the fault memory, saying the only possible explanation for the appearance of the warning light was that it was just a glitch, before adding they had not previously encountered a fault such as this one.
The plan now is to keep running the Amarok to see if the issue arises again, but, fingers crossed, it won’t.
Finally, it has to be said that the staff at the dealership were excellent throughout, being polite, efficient and knowledgeable. Top marks.
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