Seat Altea rough idle and fuel consumption

My 2004 Seat Altea with a gasoline engine is causing me problems. The check engine light is on, it idles roughly, and it's burning a lot of fuel. I suspect the knock sensor. Could it be a faulty wire or plug?

4 comment(s)

The check engine light along with rough idling and high fuel consumption points to a possible knock sensor issue. A bad knock sensor can make the ECU pull back the ignition timing, which hurts performance and wastes fuel. I had the same thing happen with my Opel Astra, and it was a corroded connector going to the knock sensor. Have you checked the wiring and connector for damage or corrosion?

When you say corroded connector, was it easy to spot, or did you need a multimeter to check it?

I could see the corrosion right away. But a multimeter is great for checking if the wiring is still connected. Because you think it's a bad connection, you should look closely at the wiring and connector. If that doesn't fix it, get a mechanic to take a look.

Cheers for the advice! It was a bad connection, just like you said. The local garage fixed it for 95€.

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