Flashy glow plug light

Oh boy.....

So to it coming home from the nascar truck race, my glow plug light started flashing. No immediate sudden loss of power, at first. After about 500 feet, engine sputtered to a stop, battery light came on, check engine light came on. I'm thinking, crap. I know Passat HPFP failures aren't too common, am I going to be one of the treasured few? But I've got over 300 miles since the last fill up. If it were going to fail, it would have done so before now.

So I get it to the shoulder and I try to restart it. Starts right up with no lights or warnings. That's odd. If it were HPFP, I know it wouldn't be running right now. So I blip the throttle, and there they are... The lights are back. The engine shuts off.

Is that diesel fuel I smell? Is that steam (or smoke) coming from under the hood? Sure enough the answer to both is yes. But because I am on the side of the freeway where Las Vegas drivers are inconsiderate a**holes, no one is giving me room and buzzing past my door. So I am staying inside the car.

AAA shows up, and suddenly with flashing yellows, drivers are giving room. So I get out, and sure enough there is a wet spot on the ground the size of a basketball. So he tows me to my dealership and he leaves. I pop the hood and take off the engine cover and see the sound insulation is damp about the size of a grapefruit. Looking over the fuel lines, it looks it is leaking from the hardline where it attaches to the fuel rail.

This is going to be interesting.

Hope you get it sorted out soon. LV is certainly not the only place with a plethora of a**holes I can assure you. At least they moved over when an emergency vehicle had it's lights on. Don't try this around the Boston area, even with flashing lights.

Fixmy59bug said:

This is going to be interesting.

Click to expand...

With any luck this will be covered by the warranty that came along with the "fix".

Have Fun!

Don

Skimax said:

Hope you get it sorted out soon. LV is certainly not the only place with a plethora of a**holes I can assure you. At least they moved over when an emergency vehicle had it's lights on. Don't try this around the Boston area, even with flashing lights.

Click to expand...

Where I live, tow trucks etc with their flashing lights are to be given the same as police or other emergency vehicles, by law! Slow down or move over!

keep us updated, yours is the first of this type of breakdown that iv seen- I wonder if the fix software also bumped up the rail pressure?

So... As it turns out, it was just the fuel line that goes from the high pressure pump to the fuel rail. Exactly what I thought it was. Just a fluke. Pretty sure its not something that anyone else need be worried about.

Glad to hear it was a simple solution.

And thanks for the update.

+1 on the update, man that's like 30,000 PSI- the fuel spray didn't cut threw anything around it did it? Glad the diesel mist didn't hit your DPF

Update #2...

It has done it again. I think it is a different fuel line though. This time I am 300 miles away from home, my brother and two nephews are with me, and we all have to be home tomorrow for work or school.

I am REALLY starting to lose confidence in this car.

I'd be suspicious of the fuel pressure regulator (#9 in your diagram) or fuel pressure sensor (#11) since this is recurring. Did you replace the previous line yourself, or did the dealer? If dealer, I'd ask them if they checked the system pressure.

No, dealer replaced it under warranty.

We’ll see what happens.