2006 Jetta TDI Codes P0272, P0266, P0263

[doug1976]

Hello, I have a frustrating situation that I would request help on. My engine goes into what you call limp home mode. If you turn the key off/on all clears and it runs normal for the rest of the trip. I've changed the fuel filter, no improvement. It only has 57,000 miles so I can't believe the EGR/etc is plugged. Vacuum hoses are good. Occasionally when this happens it will set a code, but it isn't EGR/Turbo boost,MAF like the posts suggest. It sets:

P0272 cylinder 4 contribution balance
P0266 cylinder 2 contribution balalnce
P0263 cylinder 1 contribution balance

Engine starts normal, doesn't smoke, still gets good mileage and has good power until this limp home deal sets. It does seem to happen upon accelleration. Could a bad N75 solenoid somehow cause these codes to set? I have put my VCDS lite on it and recorded boost, EGR etc. if anyone wants to look at that.

 

[2004STARWARSTDI]

Bio

You do know your manual states not to use anything greater than B5. Could have 3 bad injectors.

 

[Mach1]

I would be looking at the cam as well...

 

[doug1976]

Ok - so if things don't clear up soon I'll take it to the pros. If my cam is bad, that would suck since I've used nothing but the imported VW approved Total synthetic oil and changed at 7500 miles.

 

[MyAvocation]

You do know your manual states not to use anything greater than B5. Could have 3 bad injectors.

You may be right about the injectors. A generic Google search of the codes & diesel suggests injection quantity issues.

 

[doug1976]

Final Verdict

I took it to the pros. They found the injector pump leaking diesel fuel. I guess the B20 must have damaged the gaskets. Nothing wrong with the injectors. Now if they can only locate gaskets for the pump. A new pump is $377.

 

[Bob S.]

I took it to the pros. They found the injector pump leaking diesel fuel. I guess the B20 must have damaged the gaskets. Nothing wrong with the injectors. Now if they can only locate gaskets for the pump. A new pump is $377.

They found the injector pump leaking diesel fuel. On a PD??? PD's have unit injectors and no injection pump per se. You might want to find different pros or get a second opinion prior to paying them to rebuild your car's injection pump.

 

[AD5GB]

Maybe he/they meant "tandem pump"

 

[doug1976]

Yes Tandem Pump - Fuel spraying out when RPM increases.

 

[MyAvocation]

Were you not able to smell the presence of fuel?

 

[doug1976]

Smell Fuel

I didn't smell fuel. I live in Houston and always have the AC on recirculation. May be one or twice after a high speed run I smelled a little diesel. But not normally. My fuel mileage wasn't noticeably bad.

 

[doug1976]

The Problem is Back

I'm open for suggestions. Same codes. So far, new fuel filter, new tandem pump (it was leaking the mechanic said externally) and new lift pump in the fuel tank. The resistance was checked by the mechanic on the injectors and found acceptable. The mechanic says it can't be a bad cam because we would see other codes appear. The valve cover has never been removed.

So here are the symptoms again: Car starts fine. Runs fine until the temperature gauge starts to climb. At this point my guess is the computer takes over and starts looking for problems and to optimize. First time you exceed 2000 rpm, you feel a little shudder, the code light comes on and the car go into limp home. Turn the key off and on and the car runs great for about 20 seconds (at normal temperature) and then repeats limp home. Another weird thing. On the freeway if you can keep your revs above 3000 running in 3rd gear it runs fine and never goes into limp home until you have to hit the brakes and the revs drop below 3000. Then you have to turn the key back off and on again so that you can get the revs over 3000 again and hold them there. So when you drive the car you have three choices: Keep the revs over 3000, drive like Grandma in limp home or keep turning the key off and on every 20 seconds.

If no one has a better idea, I'm thinking of pulling the injectors over the holidays and putting in a set from a junkyard head I've located. If this doesn't fix it then it has to be the computer or wiring right?

 

[Antsrcool]

could stil be the cam since noone has inspected it.

 

[jsrmonster]

What does your injector balance show in field 013 (hot and cold)?
Jeff

 

[DanG144]

I would NOT pull the injectors until you have proven everything else is ok. Wiring seems to be the most common culprit.

http://pics.tdiclub.com/data/517/PD_fuel_delivery_check.pdf

Bob S, I think it was, also had a similar problem and had a thread going a year or two back. It turned out to be bad wiring - chafed down near the starter. Intermittently the injectors would lose their signals.

 

[oilhammer]

You could have leaking injector pump o-rings causing an issue with delivery pressure in the head.

As Jeff suggested, I'd look at the injector balance values. On a perfect ideal engine, all the values will be 0, but no engine is that perfect. But on a healthy TDI you should see no more than +/- .50, although some still run perfectly fine at +/- 1.00 .

 

[doug1976]

Injector Readings Field 13

Start up at idle. Everything fine. mg/str whatever that means
-0.050.02-0.020.07

Driving down road after warm up - starts to shudder goes into limp home:

0.280.4-1.360.64

Worst readings I see during the trip:

0.350.49-1.740.87

Turn key off and on quickly at speed back on :

-0.050-0.240.31

20 seconds later:
-0.120.42-1.010.68

Does this help and why does turning the key off and back on fix the imbalance temporarily?

 

[doug1976]

Imbalance

Numbers don't read well on posting try this:

Worst readings were from injector 1 to 4

0.35
0.49
-1.74
0.87

The readings at idle were when the engine first start are:

-0.05
0.02
-0.02
0.07

 

[oilhammer]

-1.74 is pretty high. That tells me the ECU is pulling quite a bit of fuel from that injector to keep the idle smooth.

Do this:

while that data block group is up, arrange your PC screen so it can be seen under the hood. Then, while the engine is idling and the parking brake set, wiggle the wiring harness on the engine, starting from the round injector harness connector at the rear (flywheel end) of the cylinder head and working down towards the starter area. See if any values suddenly jump or change while you are wiggling this connector and harness.

 

[Bob S.]

I would NOT pull the injectors until you have proven everything else is ok. Wiring seems to be the most common culprit.
http://pics.tdiclub.com/data/517/PD_fuel_delivery_check.pdf
Bob S, I think it was, also had a similar problem and had a thread going a year or two back. It turned out to be bad wiring - chafed down near the starter. Intermittently the injectors would lose their signals.

Mine was a harness chafe issue that adversely affected the signal sires for, crank & cam sensors and other light gage signal wires. Mine & the others I am aware of that had the same or similar issues threw different codes. However, I think yours & Oilhammer's comments about running a harness jiggle test are spot on. Also, it is probably time to pull the VC & look at the cam.

 

[doug1976]

Wiring Harness

I haven't had time to do the jiggle test. But I'd like to understand a little better where this is heading.

Can you help me with the wiring? Looking at the engine from the front. Are the only wires that go to the injectors running through the plug that unscrews from the head next to the tandem pump. I can send you a pic if you like.

I'm guessing the wires on the front of the engine (closest to the oil filter) that break into 4 are for glow plugs and have nothing to do with the injectors, right. So theoretically if I could unplug the engine harness at the computer and at the plug into the head (by the tandem pump) and ohm out each one wire by color, then I could verify which wire(s) is bad, right and then splice a new wire to replace the bad?

Is this feasable, how hard is it to unplug the harness at the computer?

Lastly is it unreasonable to just buy a complete harness and throw away the bad one. I did a quick search and none were listed for the BRM engine, but a BEW engine harness was $60 online. That is less than one hour of shop time. Shouldn't I just get a new harness and be done with it if I can find one? Or is it next to impossible to change out the engine harness?

Thanks for everyones help.

 

[oilhammer]

Can you help me with the wiring? Looking at the engine from the front. Are the only wires that go to the injectors running through the plug that unscrews from the head next to the tandem pump.

Yes, that is correct.

I'm guessing the wires on the front of the engine (closest to the oil filter) that break into 4 are for glow plugs and have nothing to do with the injectors, right. So theoretically if I could unplug the engine harness at the computer and at the plug into the head (by the tandem pump) and ohm out each one wire by color, then I could verify which wire(s) is bad, right and then splice a new wire to replace the bad?

Is this feasable, how hard is it to unplug the harness at the computer?

Ohm tests are not a good way of testing a circuit. I can explain why later if you like.

Lastly is it unreasonable to just buy a complete harness and throw away the bad one. I did a quick search and none were listed for the BRM engine, but a BEW engine harness was $60 online. That is less than one hour of shop time. Shouldn't I just get a new harness and be done with it if I can find one? Or is it next to impossible to change out the engine harness?

That is most likely a glow plug harness alone. The engine harness is probably closer to $800+.

Thanks for everyones help.

Bold is mine.

 

[DanG144]

For some resistance and voltage readings, to check the wiring, look at the link I posted in #15 above.

 

[DanG144]

While resistance and voltage checks are not infallible, they are often worth doing, and do not take long. But for an intermittent problem you always need to do a wiggle test.

 

[doug1976]

Plug Voltage / Ohm Testing

I unscrewed the injector plug and tried to do voltage / ohm checks on the list provided. May be I'm doing something wrong because I'm not getting the values in the write-up.

Key off. pins 2-7 resistance to Ground - no reading OK that matches
Key off. pins 2-7 voltage all 0 Vdc - OK that matches
Key on (engine not running) Pin 7 = 2.4 Vdc all other pins dead. Aren't I supposed to get 0.55 volts on pins 2,3,5 and 6? Was I supposed to have the engine running?

The mechanic said he checked the resistance on the injectors and they were fine. Why don't I have 0.55 Vdc on the pins 2,3,5,6 and what should I do about it?

 

[oilhammer]

So, did you do the wiggle test or not?

Trying to determine here if there is some intermittant wiring issues.

 

[DanG144]

Ok, Doug, now I know which thread.

 

[doug1976]

Fuel Pressure Checks Ok - Can I get Someone with a 2006 to check volts

Dan,

I did the fuel pressure and flow checks today and they were all good.

Can I get someone with a 2006 Jetta to please unscrew the injector plug to the head next to the tandem pump and check the voltages with the key off and on (without the engine running). I only get voltage on pin 7 with the key on.​

Ok, Doug, now I know which thread.

 

[doug1976]

VCDS Exact Codes

For Christmas I got the real Ross-Tech cable. Here are the codes I'm dealing with. Does this Help? I've had the engine harness checked by mechanic - no broken wires. Car runs fine until it warms up and computer starts making adjustments. Runs fine again if you turn key off and back on for awhile. Runs good if you keep the revs over 3000. Else sucks - limp home.

VCID: 63EB7FD1DBD3
4 Faults Found:
004713 - PD Unit Injector: Cylinder 4 (N243): Implausible Signal
P1269 - 000 - -
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 01100000
Fault Priority: 0
Fault Frequency: 2
Mileage: 101938 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2000.00.00
Time: 03:19:37
Freeze Frame:
RPM: 1911 /min
Speed: 88.0 km/h
Load: 51.4 %
Voltage: 14.52 V
Inj. Quantity: 0.07 mg/str
Temperature: 32.4°C
(no units): 16.0
004710 - PD Unit Injector: Cylinder 3 (N242): Implausible Signal
P1266 - 000 - -
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 01100000
Fault Priority: 0
Fault Frequency: 2
Mileage: 101938 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2000.00.00
Time: 03:19:39
Freeze Frame:
RPM: 1932 /min
Speed: 88.0 km/h
Load: 52.2 %
Voltage: 14.52 V
Inj. Quantity: 0.00 mg/str
Temperature: 32.4°C
(no units): 16.0
004704 - PD Unit Injector: Cylinder 1 (N240): Implausible Signal
P1260 - 000 - -
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 01100000
Fault Priority: 0
Fault Frequency: 2
Mileage: 101938 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2000.00.00
Time: 03:19:40
Freeze Frame:
RPM: 1890 /min
Speed: 88.0 km/h
Load: 56.1 %
Voltage: 14.59 V
Inj. Quantity: -0.14 mg/str
Temperature: 32.4°C
(no units): 16.0
004707 - PD Unit Injector: Cylinder 2 (N241): Implausible Signal
P1263 - 000 - -
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 01100000
Fault Priority: 0
Fault Frequency: 2
Mileage: 101938 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2000.00.00
Time: 03:19:40
Freeze Frame:
RPM: 1827 /min
Speed: 87.0 km/h
Load: 56.5 %
Voltage: 14.44 V
Inj. Quantity: 0.05 mg/str
Temperature: 32.4°C
(no units): 16.0

Readiness: 1 4 0 0 1

 

[doug1976]

Solved

I bought a set of used injectors and installed them. All is well now. Runs like new. Only thing, I dropped a 1/4" and 12 point socket into the engine and can't fish it out with a magnet. Hope it doesn't find the oil pump or something like that.