birkie
Veteran Member
Hi, all
The HPFP in my '09 Sportwagen failed about two weeks ago. From what I gather, my situation is slightly unusual in that (a) my vehicle does not have an '08 build date, (b) the fuel was never blamed and (c) the failure mode may have been different - there were no metal shavings anywhere. In the interest of sharing data, here is my story:
Car details
------------
Build date: 02/09
Body: Wagon
Transmission: Manual
Miles: 23633
Fuel additives: none
Symptoms:
-------------
Initially, it seemed like the "cold start scare" problem. Temp in the '30s, rainy, car started up normally but stalled abruptly after two seconds. Immediately afterwards, the engine would not even turn over. Half-hour later it would turn over, but not fire. Had it towed to dealer here in Syracuse, and they were unable to start it as well.
Diagnosis
-----------
While initially describing the problem over the phone (before the tow truck came), I was asked some usual triage questions - including if I thought it could be bad fuel. I said no, as the tank had 430 miles, and it had been running perfectly.
After a few days, I spoke with the tech who was working on the car. They had been working with a VW engineer to daignose the problem. Apparently, one glow plug (on the end, driver's side. #1?) was wet with fuel. VW's theory was that the high pressure pump failed and was unable to produce sufficient pressure, causing fuel to dribble out of that injector. They had him measure the fuel pressure at the opposite end of the rail while cranking, and it was way low. They also had him look for shavings - by eye and by magnet. No metal found. He showed me the new pump (which had just arrived) - it's tiny compared to the VE pump in my '98.
Results:
---------
Replacing the HPFP seems to have worked. Looking at the summary of parts/labor performed under warranty, it seems they also did the ECU flash mentioned in the TSB, and replaced 03L-130-235-K ("pipe" - no idea) in addition to the high pressure pump (03L-130-755-A).
This could be a random manufacturer defect or part of a bad batch, but I am rather concerned about the number of pump failures seen so far.
I don't think there's any spectacular diesel around Syracuse (B2 or a neighborhood BP/Amoco would be so nice), so I may start using an additive, just to be safe. I picked up a bottle of Stanadyne at the dealer on my way out...
The HPFP in my '09 Sportwagen failed about two weeks ago. From what I gather, my situation is slightly unusual in that (a) my vehicle does not have an '08 build date, (b) the fuel was never blamed and (c) the failure mode may have been different - there were no metal shavings anywhere. In the interest of sharing data, here is my story:
Car details
------------
Build date: 02/09
Body: Wagon
Transmission: Manual
Miles: 23633
Fuel additives: none
Symptoms:
-------------
Initially, it seemed like the "cold start scare" problem. Temp in the '30s, rainy, car started up normally but stalled abruptly after two seconds. Immediately afterwards, the engine would not even turn over. Half-hour later it would turn over, but not fire. Had it towed to dealer here in Syracuse, and they were unable to start it as well.
Diagnosis
-----------
While initially describing the problem over the phone (before the tow truck came), I was asked some usual triage questions - including if I thought it could be bad fuel. I said no, as the tank had 430 miles, and it had been running perfectly.
After a few days, I spoke with the tech who was working on the car. They had been working with a VW engineer to daignose the problem. Apparently, one glow plug (on the end, driver's side. #1?) was wet with fuel. VW's theory was that the high pressure pump failed and was unable to produce sufficient pressure, causing fuel to dribble out of that injector. They had him measure the fuel pressure at the opposite end of the rail while cranking, and it was way low. They also had him look for shavings - by eye and by magnet. No metal found. He showed me the new pump (which had just arrived) - it's tiny compared to the VE pump in my '98.
Results:
---------
Replacing the HPFP seems to have worked. Looking at the summary of parts/labor performed under warranty, it seems they also did the ECU flash mentioned in the TSB, and replaced 03L-130-235-K ("pipe" - no idea) in addition to the high pressure pump (03L-130-755-A).
This could be a random manufacturer defect or part of a bad batch, but I am rather concerned about the number of pump failures seen so far.
I don't think there's any spectacular diesel around Syracuse (B2 or a neighborhood BP/Amoco would be so nice), so I may start using an additive, just to be safe. I picked up a bottle of Stanadyne at the dealer on my way out...