P0401 with cracked dpf and tune. 30000 miles

2011 Gold TDI 6spd man. Bout 30k miles. I have had Malone stage 2 for awhile. Honestly have no way of being sure when I did the tune. (At least for the moment ) but I think since around 15k maybe? But anyways before my 30k sometime I got my first p0401 code. I just cleared to see if it was a fluke as I had some odd codes pop up just once and never again before. But it comes back repeatedly. Sometimes going off on its own. So I get up to 30k and do my own LOF. And shortly after get into the dealer in Henrietta NY for the P0401 after Vw sent letters of the extended warranty for it. I made the assumption that it was just the flap in exhaust. I wait there forever and finally they tell me that the dpf is bad (sooted up. Did notnsay cracked or anything about tailpipe evidence) and egr needs replacing, its not the exhaust flap. I, being in a bad state emotionally kind of lost my mind for a few minutes and just got out of there asap with cussing involved. But before that I asked to see any info or data as if to say please show me . Explain why. I've been in auto repair for several years but never mess with Vw much. So I did not believe what they were saying A, because I do not trust them and they have pissed me off before. B, because they wouldn't show me anything. You do not just tell a person something huge without proof and a sound explanation from the tech. Not some idiot service guy who just says "that's what the tech tells me buy it or dont" like really? But anyways, they never said anything about checking for tailpipe soot and I just yesterday checked to find yea, its nasty in my tailpipe. But back when I was there, they tried to do the emissions update but I decline and he already knew I have stage 2 Malone. I'm pretty sure they did not do it anyway as another thread stated they did to him. They said they tried to claim dpf and everything under Vw warranty and they rejected it because of tuned ecu. I never mentioned nor even thought about (eyes were tunnel vision with rage and I was trying not to completely freak) my extended warranty I bought with car from same dealership originally. My ORIGINAL plan with car was to emission delete, straight pipe and tune. NYS inspection changed so diesel cars must pass OBD readiness. So my questions are. 1 why did my dpf crack. Because of tune? Because of driving style? I had been always driving like a hypermiler. Low rpm a lot. Uphill I would down shift. But here's my gripe on that, the fuel info display on the dash is CONSTANTLY TELLING YOU TO UPSHIFT. if I'm driving with a COLD engine and pass 40mph and stay in 4th gear, car will say shift up to SIXTH!!!! If shifting up a gear will still keep ROMs above 1000 it tells you to do so. I think this is VERY POORLY DESIGNED. puts the idea in your head that oh the ecu knows best it must be OK to drive those Rpms. Not even cool. In drive it like a 4 speed now as I'm often in 45mph zones. 5th when warm and 6th above 55 and warm. I try to keep it turning just under 2000... Or did it crack just because they are all S**T. I'm just waiting for the HPFP to explode next.... And then week later this diesel gate scandal happens. So do I try and get extended warranty to cover dpf replacement at another dealer? Will extended cover it with tune? I feel like dealer will just tell then and they'll say not covered. Not many to choose from. Do I just claim responsibility for my baby and say I'm handling everything from here on out and hope I can get the straight pipe eventually and Malone tune the emissions away? Any way to easily get through nysi this way? I guess we are all waiting to hear the "fix" for diesel gate. Will I get a new dpf and everything out of that? Buyback? Cash settlement reimbursement because we were sold on green car marketing? Will the car after the fixes be lame and weak and get bad mileage and no longer be enjoyable? And I get to constantly think how I wasted $600 plus dollars on a tune with a plan to remove emissions. Then months later they change NY inspection policy on me. Then dpf crack, huge scandal, now my fixed car isn't what I ever wanted? So many questions. This is mind blowing to me as I bought the car at 19 hoping to be able to pay it off before having lots of bills and now that I'm almost paid off and 24YO the whole thing is falling apart on me and making me regret every decision I've made related to this car. All advice appreciated. Currently I'm driving it infrequently with check engine light on only P0401. It seems normal and fine behavior wise and regens about 200 miles apart I never miss as in the 45 zones you can pop into 6th and let speed drop and it will tell you to downshift sooner than it normally would. Indicating regen. Something I'm always looking for. I kind of don't want to have them recall the car if I can feasibly get the straight pipe setup I want to work with our Inspection program. Because I don't want to waste my tune. I know with the delete it would need retune but I won't have money for those parts for awhile. I don't often use forums so if I've done anything wrong I'm sorry.


I guess the main concern is since I already got marked off as having a tune and told me no dpf warranty for you, does that just go away now since VW screwed up. And technically owed everyone a fix long before any of us even drove our cars off the lot? So regardless of what I've done THEY MESSED UP FIRST. Thank you

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That's a risk you take when flashing the ECU. It's hard to argue for a free fix with a tuned car. Maybe try another dealer.

Also, the tune probably didn't cause the dpf to crack as that seems to happen randomly in these cars.

Either find a used DPF at a discount or save for a full delete, your tuner might give you a discount for a reflash.

I think I follow. (a few line breaks could help readability)

your story should be understood by folks who want to have a non-VW modification of the engine control software.

no way to know why your DPF cracked. could be related to the tune, could not.

but with the tune, you gave them an excuse to avoid whatever their responsibility is.

even with a fix that adds DEF, not clear they would have to change the DOC/DPF (for your car). NOX cat and later would likely change.

When is your next emissions inspection?



so options:

1. wait.

2. fix the car. pay the fee for new DPF and EGR tube. dealer or independant, or figure out how to do it in your driveway.

3. change the EGR just before passing emissions, either stock or put Dr Bob modified EGR filter in place. with a cracked DPF it is likely to fill up sooner or later in either case. could be a difference in time.

4. illegal delete, tune, and look for an incompetent or complicit inspector. (or leave the state to live someplace with few people, and no vehicle emissions inspection. still illegal but you might not get caught.)


I would suggest the second option, and chalk up the tune as a youthful experiment. it is only a car, and is destined to go down in value and up in cost as they all do.

post was hard to read but I just went through this with mine at 74k miles and I have stage 2. I was able to talk with the service manager and he helped me get it covered under warranty.

Again sorry. Thoughts just flow and get typed. Also using phone makes it hard to edit and space out.
I appreciate the replies.
I guess first wait for Recall information. Then decide if delete is an option. I've been doing inspections for years I just don't know if with the tune and delete it would display all monitors as ready or not if MIL is off and monitors set it passes. But with tune if they're not ready and never set then it won't.
I might even move out of state. But that another discussion.
I guess this winter will be saving up for parts one way or another.
Inspection up in may. I'll probably clear the light today see if I can get monitors to set enough to pass and refresh mysticker before its too late.
TDI will likely sit all winter as I'll drive my Tahoe so at least it won't get winter abuse.

1. Visit your tuner, pay them a fee to reload factory settings.
2. Have a different dealer fix the car under warranty.
3. Return to your tuner, pay them a fee to reload your tune. Done.

it is possible his car was tagged as modified in a corporate database, so any VW dealer will see the notice.

Yeah maybe. Getting angry and raising his voice probably didn't help.

My current view is this. As long as I have access to a tuner my tools and parts I will and always have done my own. I love the car enough to deal with it.

Its what you build not what you buy right?

And yea I tend to be a snap case at times.

Even if it is free I DONT LIKE OTHER PEOPLE TOUCHING MY STUFF. Especially with the things I've seen in "professional" environments.

But if it can save me thousands then eh maybe I'll let someone else touch it. I guess..

Dealer was dumb as rocks to turn you away. Think about it, now should be the perfect time to let "borderline" warranty repairs sneak through. Most dealers probably wouldn't mind sticking it to the mothership right now, because they sure as hell aren't making money selling cars.

The part that drives me to insanity and getting loud is the FACT that I worked at a Toyota dealer for 3 years on flat rate pay. And constantly did warranty waters pumps for less time. Then FINALLY a car comes is out of warranty and needs it. Service writer comes back to me and says do it we are covering it. Less time on the flat rate ticket for same job. We were always letting people slide that were out. To keep customers happy.
Now that I invest so much in a car I am unable to get what I feel I should. I understand the whole tune voids warranty stuff but I think most agree that these tunes are OK. And also the cars seem to have the same problems over and over regardless. Sooooo to just immediately shun the kid who tunes his car seems unfair.
Now if I was tuning it myself by messing with sensors or something crude like you'd see on a Honda civic and really screwing with things then yea. That's no good. But a professional tune in my opinion should be OK for them to still warranty things.
I did get the updated intercooler already while it has been tuned. I posted a thread about how they didn't attach boost pipe properly and it blew off on me pulling out into a busy street leaving the dealer. First time turbo spooled it blew. Wish I boosted in the parking lot.
And even while running a shop with my grampa for awhile I was always doing that extra thing to help customers. Even calling dealerships to ask if they would warranty things before giving them my own estimates instead of just selling a job that they could have gotten for free. And this is what it has gotten me.

Did you say you had an extended warranty? Isn't a cracked DPF covered by the extended warranty? Why not (as others have suggested) reverse the tune and go to another dealer for the warranty work (or extended warranty work)?

There's news that VW will be updating hardware on ea189 engines that were used in the 2009-2014 jettas, sport wagons & golfs...
http://www.autonews.com/article/20151008/OEM02/151009826?template=mobile&X-IgnoreUserAgent=1

My vote is to wait and see what VW's plans are once the smoke clears.

If you need to get inspections done before a fix comes out then head back to the tuner flash the OEM tune back then go to another dealer and hope your car wasn't marked as having a tune in VW's database.

Hopefully they replace the whole exhaust. It just really sucks to think of performance loss afterwards. Even worse than stock. Tune wasn't an astronomical increase but it did something. I'll just let them do whatever they want. Then aim for delete at a feasible time in the future.