Questions About My 2011 Sportwagen Codes

[dux11sw]

I picked up a 2011 Sportwagen last summer that my son took to college. It had about 116k on it and had recently had the timing belt, water pump done. The car had also had the AC system replaced when it was purchased from a dealer with about 60k on it and the DPF and EGR were replaced with about 68k on it so I was hopeful that it would be good to go for a bit. On a recent trip home, the CEL came on. I scanned the codes and got current faults of P0401 and P2271, pending faults of p013B and p2459 and a historic fault of P240f. I cleaned the EGR and cleared the codes but after a brief drive the p0401 returned. The EGR had some buildup in it but it really didn't look that horrible. Is this consistent with a cracked DPF? The car runs fine and I couldn't find any threads that showed this combination of faults so I'm a little lost.

 

[DrGERTol]

Our experience is that a failed DPF is likely. If you find loose soot at the tailpipe after wiping clean & driving a bit, expect a failed DPF. We needed to replace the thermostat recently, too, at 175K miles, which can affect EGR efficiency. --g

 

[dux11sw]

That's what I was afraid of. The DPF has about 57,000 miles on it. Not cool. From what I have read, you can drive with a cracked DPF for a while. The car is now about 4 hours away so it will be a bit before I can replace it. We have annual inspections here that include emissions for cars under 15 years old so looks like I will get to replace it this summer.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

That's a short service life for a DPF. I see a couple of these codes are for slow response by the EGR. That might be because of the DPF getting clogged, or it might be the EGR itself. The P2271 is a failed test of the downstream (after CAT) 02 sensor. So a faulty sensor may also be causing a problem.

Although DrGerTol might be right, I wouldn't immediately jump to the DPF being shot.

BTW, is the dux in your username for Duxbury?

 

[dux11sw]

I am in Duxbury, but the car currently isn't. Looks like you're my parts source. Probably should have checked that sensor too, but that code didn't return after the EGR cleaning and my time with it was limited. I'll have to get my son to find a place to read the codes and see if that one returned. That one looks relatively easy to replace.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Small world. I'm here, too, and my son was here doing fluid and filter changes on his '11 JSW yesterday.

Where is your son? Maybe we know of a good shop near him.

 

[dux11sw]

He's up in Orono, Maine which is next to Bangor. There must be a good indy shop up in that area.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Not sure what to suggest in Orono. My son (guy under the car in the photo) went to U of Maine his freshman year, but we had a no cars for Freshmen rule in our house, so I didn't get to know what was up there for repairs. There used to be a good diesel Land Rover shop there, but I'm not sure they would be of much help given the complexity of newer TDIs.

 

[06bluebeetletdi]

My beetle just had the p0401 it was the egr pipe, it cracked at the flange by the egr near the front of the block and cracked the dpf, i had just under 14,000 miles on the dpf, luckily im still under the emissions warranty.

 

[dux11sw]

My son hasn't used the car since he got back to school but he was able to get an OBD2 reader from a friend and the only code that it showed was a P2271. Maybe it's just a bad sensor at this point. I know driving it with a bad sensor isn't ideal but I'm not sure how his affects a tdi. I had a Land Rover Discovery 2 that liked to throw rear O2 codes but that was due to the cats, not the sensor and was easily fixed with an anti-fouling adapter. Will driving this for a bit be an issue? I'd rather replace the sensors myself if possible but it might see 1,000 miles of driving before then. The car is running fine but if I'm risking damage I'll find somewhere for him to take it.

 

[DrGERTol]

We saw P2271 (O2 Sensor Signal Stuck Rich Bank 1 Sensor 2) on our '11 wagon in November, which turned into P0136 (O2 Sensor Circ.,Bank1-Sensor2,Malfunction - sporadic). Solved by replacing the rear O2 sensor, VAG p/n 1K0-998-262-AE. --g

 

[dux11sw]

Hoping that's all I will need. Based on the symptoms and history of the vehicle it seems like it is a bad sensor. It appears that the downstream O2 sensor in a tdi is similar to one in a gas engine vehicle in that it just checks the function of the emissions system and doesn't impact the operation of the engine and fuel system so running with a bad sensor isn't going to damage anything.

 

[Wilkins]

As long as it regen’s normally it should be fine. Worry is it doesn’t regen…. I don’t know enough to say. Should be ok for a short while?
If the dpf was replaced did the mechanic route the rear O2 wire properly? If it wasn’t clipped in properly it could get too close to the dpf and be damaged by the heat.

 

[oilhammer]

The rear lambda sensor wiring as well as the exhaust flap wiring are common victims of road debris damage. They hang sort of low and are exposed right under the middle of the car. I've had to replace a lot of those subharnesses under there, too (plenty of those out there laying around unused from deleted cars, though).

 

[dux11sw]

Thanks for all the replies. It seems to be running fine up there for now. I'll dig in to it when it gets back in May and I'll be sure to update the thread.

 

[dux11sw]

Well, the car is back and has a P0401, P2459, pending P2271 and a historic P240F. The tailpipes are clean. When I wipe inside them there is nothing. I guess I need to check the lines to the sensors and then go from there. It seems to run great and it's still getting 40+ mpg. He smashed his left rear tail light too which is awesome since they are apparently on a national backorder.

 

[dux11sw]

I just pulled the 2 sensors and checked the lines. I blew through them with air and they seemed clear. Nothing in the sensor nipples either. I had cleared the codes yesterday but today it was showing the P0401 code again even though it only was driven maybe 8 miles. I didn't have much time with it so I plugged in an ELM dongle and read the codes through Torque on my phone and it actually shows DPF differential pressure and Exhaust Pressure. The numbers were 0.195 psi for DPF and right around 0.021 for the exhaust pressure at idle. The DPF pressure didn't change though while I was watching it. Wondering if the sensor has an issue.