Flashing glow plug, no vag code

[MrBCODC87]

Hey guys

I was driving earlier and my glow plug light started flashing as I was goin up a hill and had a serious lack of power. Luckily I was dropping of the other half which was 50m away from where this started happening I parked up turned the engine off and restarted and the flashing stopped and had normal power.

I was next to a garage so I popped in spoke to a mechanic he said it needs a vag computer onit to see what the error was but could be something to do with emissions. He wanted to charge me to plug computer in but I know a friend who has one so that was my next stop.

I drive to his and he plugged in his vag and he checked it and it had no codes on whatsoever, he seemed to think the fact I have stopped an start the engine a few times could be the reason the computer was not picking any thing.

The car is a 2012 A3 with 39000 miles onit had no issues with it since buying in may.

So my questions to you guys are first what could the flashing glow plug mean and what could it mean and also why would a vag computer not pick up the error code or why was the car not giving an error code?

Side note just recalled before all this happened I was parked up and the engine was off via the stop/start and when I pressed the clutch the engine restarted but a red symbol popped up regarding brakes I didn’t have time to read what it said before it went back off

Thanks in advance for any help or info!

 

[Matt268uk]

I had very similar on my ‘09 2.0 tdi no codes were displayed on vcds and turned out to be the egr valve. Once replaced all problems were resolved with no more problems what so ever. Egr valve from tps along with gaskets was about £250 and not a huge problem to swap out.

 

[MrBCODC87]

Ahh ok how did you diagnose the problem to narrow it down to the egr valve?


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[Daveyonthemove]

Before you replace it, try cleaning it. They get gunked up easily and with a bit of elbow grease they can be brought back to life.
In reality, it's good practice to clean them every other oil change to keep on top of them.

 

[MrBCODC87]

Is the egr hard to get to? Not going to lie not dug in to an engine before but something I would like to have a go at


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[Daveyonthemove]

It's not normally too tricky to get at, but I haven't done one on your engine so I can't be 100%.
If you google for egr on your engine code you should find plenty of info and probably a guide.

 

[MrBCODC87]

Nice one, will do thanks for the advice


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[Lizard821000]

My glow plug flashed too, it can mean lots of things but mine was brake switch

 

[MrBCODC87]

How did you find out it was the brake switch. Mine did flash up with a brake warning before the glow plug light started flashing


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[Daveyonthemove]

Get someone to check that your brake lights work when you press the pedal.
if the switch is gone then you won't have any brake lights.

 

[Lizard821000]

How did you find out it was the brake switch. Mine did flash up with a brake warning before the glow plug light started flashing


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I googled the flash plug and found could be switch and to check lights were working but it’s also known that lights can work and switch still be at fault! My code reader did also find an open circuit on switch , it’s cheap part to replace so worth shot

 

[Matt268uk]

going back to egr, you can clean the alloy body of the valve itself which i did on mine but that wasn't the problem, on mine it was the motor and that in itself is not a parts thats supplied alone so it was the whole valve i had to buy. maybe yours might be something else which works out to be a cheaper fix. good luck.

 

[Rideen]

Happened to me also a few years ago, was the brake switch.