engine control malfunction

2012 manual Passat TDI ~220,000km Flashing glow plug light (engine control malfunction) came during middle of a ninety minute highway ride, under load. There was a sudden "chirp" with a jerk in the drive train then loss of power (smooth running but no power or revs). Fairly sure the chirp wasn't tires, sounded more like from under hood and pretty sure not violent enough jerk of drivetrain to have come from the tires. Pulling over several km later, shut off for five minutes, restarted all seemed well for I think couple km, definitely got through the gears with power but then recurred. Shut off briefly, restarted, recurred immediately or almost immediately. Never got revs after that. Motor still runs smoothly in "limp mode".

I put the car on 4 jackstands (was actually en route to do that anyway, was driving to store it for the winter when this occurred!). Then bought a level 2 scanner which showed P0299 turbo/supercharger underboost.
After clearing the code, was not able to reproduce it while running (in neutral) on the jackstands. Engine runs smoothly but max rev is 2500 rpm.

Could this be hpfp or is it definitively turbo? Note the symptom when failed was an audible chirp but not any real squeal.

I should also say I've been running for a long time with a NOX sensor heating circuit code error which I assume is unrelated and that if my "ash bucket" is full that could not be related.

Thanks in advance for knowledgable comment only please.

CKRA engine turbo failure is common. So common, they extended the warranty on them.

Take your inlet tube off and reach in and see if the turbo compressor wheel is loose and wobbly. Or broken off. Takes 10 minutes.

id be really curious at stored codes other than the known NOx issue.

740GLE said:

id be really curious at stored codes other than the known NOx issue.

Click to expand...

He said a P0299 underboost, which is consistent with a failed turbocharger.

P0299 turbo/supercharger underboost was stored from the day of mishap. Trying to rev without any load (neutral on blocks) does not reproduce the code. If that very flimsy tube I recall under the battery/airbox area is the inlet tube oilhammer is referring to I can check that, but I probably can't do too much else, car is on jackstands in a barn, limited tools and work light. I noticed that flimsy tube was dislodged and re-secured it, gues that's th efresh air intake. Oilhammer can you tell if I am talking about the right tube? I can get in there later today to have a feel

The air INLET to the turbocharger: the one that goes from the air cleaner assembly to the engine, down near the firewall.

Take that loose, then you can peek into the inlet of the turbocharger itself. It is very tiny, but you can stick a pinky finger in there and see if it wobbles.

Do NOT drive the car with a failed or suspect turbocharger, you can ruin the DPF as well as the engine. Have it towed to a shop if you cannot check this.

thanks oilhammer I can tell this is good info including do not drive warning. I'll eventually update here but could be a while. Pretty darn cold out there right now but am around here for 3-4 more days and will see if I can get in there. At my late mom's barn way in the stix without metric tools around but will give it a try

hat's off to oilhammer helping me out by personal message, got my fingers onto the compressor wheel shaft...not loose or broken, nor can I budge it in either direction with pretty good finger pressure on the little fins there. General google says it should spin so I guess it has packed it in.

It should spin easily, yes.

While the inlet tube is loose (and making certain no loose rags or anything is nearby), have someone start the engine while watching the shaft.... it should start spinning right away (it'll be a blur).

It may have just seized suddenly, but not broken the shaft, so no damage was done.

Correction to what I said! I just realized the shaft does turn freely; I was pressing on the outer edges of the "fins" in there which I guess are not really fins? The shaft is threaded and while fiddling in there, the little nut backed all the way off, and I picked it out of there. Any other ideas about this?! So the skinny shaft turns, with a bearing like feel, but the outer "finned" or "ribbed" piece is stationary. There is no play to the shaft, laterally or axially.

You need a turbocharger.

There is a newer revised version that is less likely to fall apart.

Wrong answer oilhammer, but I certainly appreciate your help! So it has to be towed from here based on your earlier comment.
Thank you.

One more thing, I drove the car 40 miles in limp mode before parking it Only once during that I noticed some white smoke, not a lot. Motor runs smoothly in limp mode. Can you comment on whether damage from driving without turbo was certainly or likely done? There weren't any other symptoms.
Thanks in advance

You got 40 lucky miles. The turbocharger shaft rides on a film of oil, fed under pressure from a pipe on the engine... it is the same oil the engine uses. So if there is ever a compromised turbo shaft, the oil (since it is under pressure) can push out inside the turbo, which can push it into the exhaust (so, into the various catalysts and DPF) and/or into the intake (which subsequently can be sucked into the engine, causing either a diesel runaway or a hydrolock, both of which can literally cause the engine to explode internally).

If you are fortunate, and it sounds like you were, the shaft simply SEIZED and stuck in place, so it has blocked off any oil from being pushed past it, but the sudden seize event (likely the "chirp" you heard, as the turbine suddenly stopped spinning from 20k RPM) caused that nut to spin loose.

Assuming the oil is full, and there is no billowing smoke from the exhaust, you could probably start the engine and move it on to a trailer or something, but I wouldn't press my luck if I were in your shoes.

keep in mind, the shaft may have cooled down enough that it might spin again, or the turbine may literally be broken in half. Short of removing the turbo and taking it apart it would be tough to say.

As I said earlier, the CKRA engine has a well known history of sudden, without warning, turbo failure.

Oilhammer you mentioned newer revised version of turbo, this will be a VW part right?
Correct to assume I don't have aftermarket options here?Meanwhile I've got beaters that should be OK to use for quite a while, so have time to figure out best approach for repair, but won't be able to do it myself. It's in a very rural area, may even consider a recently retired Toyota mechanic in the area, but could have it moved to a non-dealer VW shop with a good reputation. I have very little idea of cost of this repair, just that it will be A LOT. I'm in Canada, but even a guestimate of US price on the turbo and approx hours labour would be helpful?

Borg-Warner made the turbocharger. So any of them, regardless of where you get it, should be the updated version. The retaining nut I think looks different. Been a while since I did one, since they started with the warranty extensions on them so many of them went back to a dealer for that. But I have done a few before that started.

Lots of aftermarket suppliers have these, here is one:

https://www.idparts.com/borg-warner-turbocharger-ckra-p-4562.html

thank you,very helpful. Does anyone know what the "book hours labour" is on this turbo replacement, just for perspective?

8.8 hrs is book time for CKRA turbocharger R&R.

Brand new to the forum, just did the intercooler cleaning that flyboybob has posted on here, cleared my p0111 code and everything was driving fine for about 25 miles. Then today the check engine light came back on, a couple minutes before engine control malfunction light started flashing. I didn’t have any kind of chirp or noise, but definitely a noticeable lack of power and acceleration, but managed to get to where I was going. Is this possibly related to cleaning out the intercooler yesterday? Is a visit to VW service in my future?