check engine light Seat Altea Freetrack 2009 User Guide

Checking and refilling levels
224•
When the engine is warm or hot, the cooling system is pressurised! Do
not unscrew the cap on the expansion tank when the engine is hot. This is
a burn injury risk.Caution
•
When mixed with other additives the colour of G12 will change to brown.
If this occurs you should have the coolant changed immediately. Failure to do
so will result in engine damage!
•
If a lot of coolant has been lost, wait for the engine to cool down before
putting in cold coolant. This avoids damaging the engine. Large coolant
losses are an indication of leaks in the cooling system. See a specialised
workshop immediately and have the cooling system checked. Otherwise,
there is a risk of engine damage.
Washer fluid and windscreen wiper bladesTo p p i n g u p w a s h e r f l u i d

The water for cleaning the windscreen should always be
mixed with washer fluid.The windscreen washer and the headlight washing system are supplied with
fluid from the windscreen washer fluid container in the engine compartment.
The reservoir is located on the right-hand side of the engine compartment.
Plain water is not enough to clean the windscreen and headlights. We recom-
mend that you always add a product to the windscreen washer fluid.
Approved windscreen cleaning products exist on the market with high deter-
gent and anti-freeze properties, these may be added all-year-round. Please
follow the dilution instructions on the packaging.
WARNING (continued)
Fig. 161 In the engine
compartment: Cap of
windscreen washer fluid
reservoir.
altea_freetrack_ingles.book Seite 224 Montag, 16. Februar 2009 10:48 10

Checking and refilling levels
228Brake fluidChecking the brake fluid level
The brake fluid is checked at the intervals given in the service
schedule.– Read off the fluid level at the transparent brake fluid reservoir. It
should always be between the “MIN” and “MAX” marks.The position of the brake fluid reservoir is shown in the corresponding engine
compartment diagram ⇒page 275. The brake fluid reservoir has a black and
yellow cap.
The brake fluid level drops slightly when the vehicle is being used as the
brake pads are automatically adjusted as they wear. However, if the level goes down noticeably in a short time, or drops below the
“MIN” mark, there may be a leak in the brake system. A display on the instru-
ment panel will warn you if the brake fluid level is too low
⇒page 75.
WARNING
Before opening the bonnet to check the brake fluid level, read and observe
the warnings ⇒page 215.Changing the brake fluid
The Maintenance Program indicates the brake fluid change
intervals.We recommend that you have the brake fluid changed by an Authorised
Service Centre.
Before opening the bonnet, please read and follow the warnings ⇒ in
“Safety instructions on working in the engine compartment” on page 215 in
“Working in the engine compartment”.
Brake fluid absorbs moisture. In the course of time, it will absorb water from
the ambient air. If the water content in the brake fluid is too high, the brake
system could corrode. This also considerably reduces the boiling point of the
brake fluid. Heavy use of the brakes may then cause a vapour lock which
could impair the braking effect.
It is important that you use only brake fluid compliant with the US standard
FMVSS 116 DOT 4. We recommend the use of Genuine SEAT brake fluid.
WARNING
Brake fluid is poisonous. Old brak e fluid impairs the braking effect.
Fig. 166 In the engine
compartment: Brake fluid
reservoir cover
altea_freetrack_ingles.book Seite 228 Montag, 16. Februar 2009 10:48 10

Checking and refilling levels
230charge. Never short the battery terminals. High-energy sparks can cause
injury.•
A highly explosive mixture of gases is released when the battery is
under charge. The batteries should be charged in a well-ventilated room
only.
•
Keep children away from acid and batteries.
•
Before working on the electrical system, you must switch off the
engine, the ignition and all consumers. The negative cable on the battery
must be disconnected. When a light bulb is changed, you need only switch
off the light.
•
Deactivate the anti-theft alarm by unlocking the vehicle before you
disconnect the battery! The alarm will otherwise be triggered.
•
When disconnecting the battery from the vehicle electrical system,
disconnect first the negative cable and then the positive cable.
•
Switch off all electrical consumers before reconnecting the battery.
Reconnect first the positive cable and then the negative cable. Never
reverse the polarity of the connections. This could cause an electrical fire.
•
Never charge a frozen battery, or one which has thawed. This could
result in explosions and chemical burns. Always replace a battery which
has frozen. A flat battery can freeze at temperatures around 0°
•
Ensure that the vent hose is always connected to the battery.
•
Never use a defective battery. This may be fatally explosive. Replace a
damaged battery immediately.Caution
•
Never disconnect the battery if the ignition is switched on or if the engine
is running. This could damage the electrical system or electronic compo-
nents.
•
Do not expose the battery to direct sunlight over a long period of time, as
the intense ultraviolet radiation can damage the battery housing.
•
If the vehicle is left standing in cold conditions for a long period, protect
the battery from frost. If it “freezes” it will be damaged.
Checking the electrolyte level
The electrolyte level should be checked regularly in high-
mileage vehicles, in hot countries and in older batteries.– Open the bonnet and open the battery cover at the front ⇒ in
“Safety instructions on working in the engine compartment” on
page 215 ⇒ in “Warnings on handling the battery” on
page 229.
– Check the colour display in the "magic eye" on the top of the battery.
– If there are air bubbles in the window, tap the window gently until they disperse.The position of the battery is shown in the corresponding engine compart-
ment diagram ⇒page 275.
The round window (“magic eye”) on the top of the battery changes colour,
depending on the charge level and electrolyte level of the battery.
If the colour in the window is colourless or bright yellow, the electrolyte level
of the battery is too low. Have the battery checked by a qualified workshop.
The colours green and black are used by the workshops for diagnostic
purposes.
WARNING (continued)
altea_freetrack_ingles.book Seite 230 Montag, 16. Februar 2009 10:48 10

Index
282Buzzer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118, 167CCatalytic converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
CD changer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Central locking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Automatic locking system for involuntary unlocking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Automatic speed dependent locking and un- locking system* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Emergency unlocking system . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Selective unlocking system* . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Unlocking system* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Central locking button Central locking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
unlocking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Centre arm rest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Cetane number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Changing gear See Manual gearbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Changing the lamps Main headlight lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
rear lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Changing the main headlight lamps dipped beam lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
main beam lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Side lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
turn signal lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Changing the rear light lamps Position light, fog light and rear light on the tailgate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Changing the rear lights
Indicator, side and brake lights on the bodywork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
luggage compartment lights . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Changing windscreen wiper blades . . . . . . . . . 225
Chassis number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Checking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Checking battery electrolyte level . . . . . . . . . . 230
Checking engine oil level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Child safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Child seat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Categorisation in groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Group 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Group 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Group 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Groups 0 and 0+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
ISOFIX system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Safety notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Securing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Child seats on the front passenger seat . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Cigarette lighter* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Cleaning alloy wheel rims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Cleaning chrome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Cleaning engine compartment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Cleaning steel wheel rims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Cleaning windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Climatic* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Climatronic General notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Cloth seat covers cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Clothes hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Cockpit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Control lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Control lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Controls
Electric windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Light switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Convenience closing Sliding/tilting roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Convenience opening Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Coolant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222, 223 Coolant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Coolant Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Coolant level warning light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Coolant Loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Coolant temperature Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Safety instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Cruise control system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Cruise control* Turning off the cruise control system . . . . 182
Curtain airbags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Safety notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
altea_freetrack_ingles.book Seite 282 Montag, 16. Februar 2009 10:48 10

Index283
DDanger of fitting a child seat on the front passenger
seat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Dash panel cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Daytime lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 activating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
deactivating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Diesel engine Winter driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Diesel engine particulate filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Differential lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Differential lock fault (EDL) warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Digital clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Dipped headlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Disabling front passenger airbag Safety notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Disabling the airbag Disabling front passenger airbag . . . . . . . . . 44
Display (without warning or information texts) . 60
Displays in the Multi-function display Memory displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Disposal Airbags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Door lock cylinders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Door release lever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Doors Childproof locks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Drawer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Drinks holders at the front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Drive wheels traction control system . . . . . . . . 186
Driveshaft differential
XDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Driving Driving abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Economical/ Environtmental . . . . . . . . . . . 194
With a trailer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Driving abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Headlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Driving programmes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Driving safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Driving with an automatic gearbox / DSG automatic gearbox* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Duplicate keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Dust filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Dynamic curve lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Dynamic headlight range control . . . . . . . . . . . 115
EEcological driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Economical driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
EDL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
EDS Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Electric steering system warning light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Electrical sockets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Electronic differential lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Electronic immobiliser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84, 168
Electronic stabilisation program . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Electronic stabilisation programme . . . . . . . . . . 83 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Warning light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Electronic stabilisation programme (ESP) warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Emergency braking function . . . . . . . . . . 117, 185
emergency manual locking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Emergency opening Doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Emission control system warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Engine Running in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Engine compartment Working in the engine compartment . . . . . 215
Engine coolant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Engine fault Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Engine management Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Engine oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 Changing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Checking level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Oil properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Topping up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Engine oil dipstick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
altea_freetrack_ingles.book Seite 283 Montag, 16. Februar 2009 10:48 10