Emission Control System Light

[Brady1981]

Hi,

I was looking for a bit of help here. I bought a 55 plate A3 2.0 Tdi S-Line DSG in may, and yesterday the emission control system light came on.

The car doesn't do many miles (has done under 500 since i bought it) as it is only used for running about town and going to work, which is only a couple of miles away.

I haven't noticed anything different about how the car drives, however it rarely gets driven over 30-40 as i don't have any motorway driving on my commute, so i'm unsure if this is fast enough for limp mode to kick in. At what speed should i experience limp mode?

Any suggestions/ideas would be appreciated?

Thanks

 

[fangio]

It might just be the EGR getting clogged (you don't have a dpf). Holding it in a lower gear to get the revs up for 10 mins or so might help.

 

[Brady1981]

What speed should I try to take it up to to un-clog it?

Thanks

 

[fangio]

Whatever you're comfortable with.
Or you could try a bit of diy:-

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-sportback-8p-chassis/223508-all-you-egr-lovers.html

 

[Brady1981]

Thanks for the link.

Also what speed would limp mode kick in, if it does?

...and would the emission control light just go off if it manage to un-clog the EGR by driving at high revs, or would i need to get someone to turn that off?

 

[fangio]

Don't know the speed, but I think the light should go off of it's own accord after a run. I'll stand to be corrected on that.......

 

[RapidAssistant]

Snap! - the exact same thing has just happened to me (1.9TDIe, 62k, 2009) - mine is the last of the PD engines before they moved over to the CR. I'm not getting any performance issues - it's all still perfectly normal so it's definately not in limp mode. According to the owners manual the glowplug light would stay on if it was an engine management issue and you were in limp mode.

If it's the "engine" symbol that's coming on, then this is forewarning of an emissions fault somewhere. Going to get it hooked up to VAGCOM today hopefully at my mate's garage to find out what the fault code is. Will keep you posted on how I get on. I'm hoping it is just an anomaly and it will not come on again once reset, but from what I've been able to make out - it's more than likely to be a dirty EGR.....not the end of the world hopefully.

 

[Brady1981]

One of my workmate's has brought me in a VAGCOM cable today, so I'm going to put the software on my laptop this afternoon and see what it comes up with.

Had it up to 70 this morning and it's behaving normally with no limp mode and fuel consumption so I'm hoping it's just the EGR needing cleaned out.

Also going to grab a bottle of that diesel cleaner and take it a proper spin.

...forgot to add that it sailed through an MOT exactly 2 weeks ago without even an advisory so I'm hopeful that it is nothing major.

 

[Brady1981]

Just ran the VCDS software with the following faults showing up:-

Address 01: Engine

2 Faults Found:
17056 - Cylinder 2 Glow Plug Circuit (Q11)
P0672 - 000 - Electrical Fault
Freeze Frame:
RPM: 0 /min
Torque: 138.0 Nm
Speed: 0.0 km/h
Load: 0.0 %
Voltage: 11.78 V
Bin. Bits: 00000100
Temperature: 9.0°C
Bin. Bits: 00110000

16618 - Boost Pressure Regulation
P0234 - 000 - Limit Exceeded (Overboost Condition) - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
RPM: 2709 /min
Torque: 148.0 Nm
Speed: 86.0 km/h
Load: 40.0 %
Voltage: 14.29 V
Bin. Bits: 11000000
Absolute Pres.: 1540.2 mbar
Absolute Pres.: 2152.2 mbar

Readiness: 1 1 0 0 0


Address 03: ABS Brakes

2 Faults Found:
00287 - ABS Wheel Speed Sensor; Rear Right (G44)
008 - Implausible Signal - Intermittent
00287 - ABS Wheel Speed Sensor; Rear Right (G44)
012 - Electrical Fault in Circuit - Intermittent

Is any of this stuff fixable myself or am i looking at a garage job? I have a horrible feeling this is going to cost a lot.

 

[RapidAssistant]

Snap! - the exact same thing has just happened to me (1.9TDIe, 62k, 2009) - mine is the last of the PD engines before they moved over to the CR. I'm not getting any performance issues - it's all still perfectly normal so it's definately not in limp mode. According to the owners manual the glowplug light would stay on if it was an engine management issue and you were in limp mode.

If it's the "engine" symbol that's coming on, then this is forewarning of an emissions fault somewhere. Going to get it hooked up to VAGCOM today hopefully at my mate's garage to find out what the fault code is. Will keep you posted on how I get on. I'm hoping it is just an anomaly and it will not come on again once reset, but from what I've been able to make out - it's more than likely to be a dirty EGR.....not the end of the world hopefully.

I've probably broken the record for how long it takes to update your own post....but here goes.....

Well it wasn't the EGR - the engine cutting out on me once the engine was pushed hard (highly dangerous, it has to be said). The engine wouldn't die - it just pulled the throttle right back to idle - happened to me on the outside lane at 70mph!!, once you laid off the throttle for a while, it would suddenly come back again, and all would be well - start pushing on again and it would just violently snap back to idle speed.

Anyway - off to my friendly non-franchise specialist with VAG-COM - It turned out it was a duff DPF pressure sensor (lives right at the top of the engine, little square rectangular thing with two little rubber tubes running out of it - you can't miss it) failure - my mechanic says he's lost count of how many he's replaced on pretty much every VAG model with the same fault. Since 2009 Audi have superseded the part number five times apparently, so these things aren't doing their job.....but anyway, £51+VAT later for a new sensor at the stealers and half an hours' labour to fit. But what with the sudden power loss??? Was it trying to protect the cat/DPF from damage??. It may have written off the driver had this happened in the middle of an overtaking maneuver on a country road!!