UncleSpence
Well-known member
So I've done a bunch of back digging and found quite a few older threads that rarely get resolved, or at least never report back the solution, and haven't stumbled on the right thread yet, so anyone is welcome to point me in that direction as well.
First problem is the limp mode. Car has been prone to limp mode for the past 3 years or so. It was pretty rare for a long while. Would only happen on long trips and if I really was pushing it hard (car is automatic with 130k). Restarting the car always resolved it. Limp mode started to get more prominent, so I decided to make a stab at resolving it while doing some preventative maintenance. I did a timing belt as well as fuel filter change at around 128k and cleaned out the intake, replaced all my vacuum hoses, and put on a new MAF sesnor. Car started rough after timing belt, but with VAGCOM and changing the injection pump timing it ran as smooth as is ever had.
Limp mode was more prominent after this and would pretty much always go into it when driving at any intensity. I went ahead and replaced the EGR valve based on the new engine fault codes it was telling me with VAGCOM. Didn't help... At all. So the last thing I could consider as based on previous experience was the N75 valve. Replaced that, and chemically cleaned the turbo actuator and did the whole vacuum pump testing. It would move before, but moved much better and more freely after the cleaning. Now its back to its old self. Still going into limp mode, but less frequently. Randomly when I am going up a subtle hill or leaving a stop light. Engine light is intermittent and tells me that there's overboosting of the turbo.
All this has taken place over the past 2-3 months with much research throughout.
Second problem fastforward to now. Saturday, car is parked at a friends for a few hours. I go to leave and it doesn't just fire right up. Starter cranks for 3-5 seconds and then starts. Runs normal. Two days later I'm going through a small village in Texas after driving for a few hours, stop at a light, it goes into limp mode, I go into neutral turn off the car (to reset computer) and car won't start. I pull over wait ten minutes while searching the forum, car won't start. Luckily I had stopped near a semi yard with some mechanics that had come in early to drink coffee and shoot the breeze. They gave me a little gasoline and a rag to put in the intake to get it started again and to drive home. I get home 40 minutes later, turn the car off, engage ignition, and it fires up like no problem at all. Seems like an intermittent fuel/electrical-fuel problem. Open to theories that doesn't require me blindly throwing parts at it like the limp mode suggestions.
Really wished my car was manual as I was rolling to a stop.
Thanks in advance.
First problem is the limp mode. Car has been prone to limp mode for the past 3 years or so. It was pretty rare for a long while. Would only happen on long trips and if I really was pushing it hard (car is automatic with 130k). Restarting the car always resolved it. Limp mode started to get more prominent, so I decided to make a stab at resolving it while doing some preventative maintenance. I did a timing belt as well as fuel filter change at around 128k and cleaned out the intake, replaced all my vacuum hoses, and put on a new MAF sesnor. Car started rough after timing belt, but with VAGCOM and changing the injection pump timing it ran as smooth as is ever had.
Limp mode was more prominent after this and would pretty much always go into it when driving at any intensity. I went ahead and replaced the EGR valve based on the new engine fault codes it was telling me with VAGCOM. Didn't help... At all. So the last thing I could consider as based on previous experience was the N75 valve. Replaced that, and chemically cleaned the turbo actuator and did the whole vacuum pump testing. It would move before, but moved much better and more freely after the cleaning. Now its back to its old self. Still going into limp mode, but less frequently. Randomly when I am going up a subtle hill or leaving a stop light. Engine light is intermittent and tells me that there's overboosting of the turbo.
All this has taken place over the past 2-3 months with much research throughout.
Second problem fastforward to now. Saturday, car is parked at a friends for a few hours. I go to leave and it doesn't just fire right up. Starter cranks for 3-5 seconds and then starts. Runs normal. Two days later I'm going through a small village in Texas after driving for a few hours, stop at a light, it goes into limp mode, I go into neutral turn off the car (to reset computer) and car won't start. I pull over wait ten minutes while searching the forum, car won't start. Luckily I had stopped near a semi yard with some mechanics that had come in early to drink coffee and shoot the breeze. They gave me a little gasoline and a rag to put in the intake to get it started again and to drive home. I get home 40 minutes later, turn the car off, engage ignition, and it fires up like no problem at all. Seems like an intermittent fuel/electrical-fuel problem. Open to theories that doesn't require me blindly throwing parts at it like the limp mode suggestions.
Really wished my car was manual as I was rolling to a stop.
Thanks in advance.