Limp Mode....

I would not advise getting them both replaced. You can just remove the EGR and get it mapped out for a quarter of the price.

A lot of people try cleaning the EGR to remove the muck that has built up.

I had a similar "Additional water Pump" code appear back in the Spring after the car had been parked up and unused for a couple of weeks (may have been a coincidence). I didn't get an EGR code and the car did not go into limp mode. I deleted the code, stuck in a bottle of Forte diesel/turbo system cleaner and a tank full of premium diesel as I had a 200 mile trip planned within 48 hours. The car ran beautifully touching 69 MPG on one stretch of motorway and the fault has not reoccurred.

£1100 sounds very expensive - that must be one of those "gold plated, diamond encrusted titanium" ones from an Audi main dealer . The OE "additional pump" is around £100 and there are firms who can EGR delete/remap for a lot less than £1,100.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161965383393?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

I recently replaced the additional coolant pump on my niece's 2010 1.6 tdi Cabrio after a few months of intermittent limp mode hassle.
For most of this time it would go into limp mode but give no fault code when scanned with VCDS, so I advised my niece to leave well alone until such time as a code was thrown up.
A diesel specialist wanted to renew all 4 injectors whilst another just wanted to replace the whole EGR valve assembly!
After an 8 week period during which the car behaved impeccably the car went into limp mode again and this time VCDS brought up 2 codes, both concerned with the additional coolant pump,P9870 (implausible signal) and P9867 (open circuit - intermittent).
It's my understanding that this pump provides coolant to the EGR valve assembly and if it fails or becomes intermittent the EGR overheats and the car goes into limp mode.
Based on the fault codes I advised that we replace this additional pump and I sourced one from EuroCarparts for just over £100 using their 30% discount code (full price is meant to be £149).
The best price quote from my local VW main dealer was £125.
The Euro pump was a Pierburg item and was identical in every way to the Genuine item removed from the car.
On the 1.6 the pump (03L 965 561) is located forward of the sump pan at the front of the engine, once the under-tray is removed it should be easily visible from ground level (with car jacked up on stands that is), it's really small!
It was quite easy to change the pump and using hose clamps the coolant loss was no more than a slight dribble, there are only 2 hoses on the pump, an inlet and an outlet.
Touch wood the problem has totally gone.
If you are DIY competent and can do the job I'd certainly consider replacing the pump initially and leaving the EGR valve until it is known to be faulty, £100 or so is a lot cheaper than a new EGR valve assembly!

thomasdepow said:

Thanks all for your reply!

So here's an update on where I'm at in case anyone else gets the same issues as I did...

I wasn't fully convinced that the EGR valve needed replacing as I was getting boost (off limp mode) whilst the EGR valve wasn't hot. As soon as I went up to 80mph ish and the EGR valve got hot it went into Limp mode, so to me it had to be the coolant pump which was at fault. And as the EGR was overheating intermittently, it threw up both fault codes when scanned with VCDS.

So based on that I thought it was worth changing the pump first as mentioned by Nessy above. VW/Audi wanted £148 for the part but Eurocar parts had an OEM part in for £150 but also had a cheeky 30% off code meaning it came down to £105 .

Fitted it on the weekend just gone, pretty easy job - pumps located just in front of the sump held on to a bracket with 3 tork screws (size 10). The 3rd of which at the top, was a b*tch to get off so had to bend the bracket to gain access (this was the hardest bit of the whole job) after that, drain the coolant, change the part and then top up the coolant again - job done.

Took it for a half hour drive, no issues. Next time I went to turn on the ignition the EML went off. Went for an hours motorway drive last night doing 80 all the way, no issues either so I'm hoping all sorted!

Will keep an eye on it and post back if any issues, thanks again all!

Click to expand...

Having the same issue, is this the common rail engine? got a pic of where the 3 torx screws are? and did you get the actual egr valve replaced and that is all right?

As thomasdepow has already mentioned, the additional coolant pump is found on the common rail tdi's, the PD engines (like my own A3) don't have them.
To add to the above, shortly after replacing the pump on my niece's car she did a return trip from South Wales to Sunderland during which it didn't skip a beat; in fact she reckons it's never run so well.

Just to add to this thread for any future viewers, I was getting an "emission system" warning light appear more and more often recently - but NO limp mode. Using my new Carista dongle, I was getting the same code as the OP i.e. Coolant pump 2 Open Circuit – P261A. Old and new pump pictures below. Both made by Pierburg with the carparts4less £101 one having the VAG brand logos scratched out

As said by Nessy above, the warning light has now gone, the car seems a bit smoother and the fuel economy has got even better - getting up to the mid 50s before the temp gauge is quite at 12 o clock. In my book an engine running to its peak economy is a happy engine and so changing this tiny little electric pump (the size of something in a washing machine) must be worthwhile