Limp Grey Maxi

[drgonzo]

Hi Guys, after some research combined with E-Bay related impulsivity I picked up this 2012 grey Maxi 16.TDI:





It needs a good clean inside, but generally, in a good material state, I would plan to run it as a daily, fit some soundproofing, insulation and carpets, decent stereo and the progressive addition of modern comforts such as heated seats, new steering wheel etc, while having the space to carry bikes and children in the back seats. This one attracted me with the electric windows, AC and tailgate, it's fairly basic other than that.



I test drove the van and we agreed on a price, bearing in mind the recurring limp mode to sort. A few days later I picked her up and drove the 50 miles home, it ran ok, went in and out of what I think was limp mode, very low power, really struggling to accelerate at all, had to pull over a couple of times, but most of the time driving ok.

I got it home and carried out a scan using OBDEleven, a few faults of note:

P008700 Fuel Rail/System Pressure too low

P2112 Throttle Actuator Control System Stuck Closed

P229A00 Fuel Pressure Regulator "B" Exceeded Control Limits - Pressure


Now here's where I may have really messed up.....I decided to attempt to clear the faults to get to a clean slate where I could begin testing to see what was still active, for some reason I did this while the engine was running and it immediately stopped; it would not start again other than enough to move from blocking my driveway after a battery disconnection and some easy start.

Some research suggests that the likely culprit(s) could be HPFP, Lift Pump, Pressure Regulator or Injectors, my worry is that the HPFP was on the way out and has now destroyed itself, I'll be checking the fuel filter for metallic particles tomorrow.....

[sewi]

Hi mate, it is a nice one. Very similar to mine when I bought it and even though there are nicer color options this one quite interesting too.
One thing I can't quite decide on is the stainless steps. Weirdly it looks better then I'd expect.
Hope you get the engine bits sorted. It sounds a bit dicey

[drgonzo]

Thanks Sewi, yeah I think they look decent for now, I was debating whether they might look good powder coated black, but definitely got to sort these dicey issues first!

[Irish-si]

Cool colour

[drgonzo]

I only had one key and was thinking that there could be an intermittent communication fault with the immobiliser so to eliminate that possibility I got in contact with a local auto locksmith to get another key fob coded.
Top-guy came and coded the key, definitely not an immobiliser fault but he did tell me that there is an issue with the Canbus system, with the Gateway, the Cluster or wiring between, or any combination thereof. So it looks like there is a fuel pressure issue and an electrical issue, he thought it unlikely to be caused by clearing the codes when the engine was running. We didn't have time to carry out a full investigation that night but I will post up progress as it happens.

In the meantime, I have tested all four injectors and got 200 KOhms on each, while that doesn't necessarily indicate they are healthy, I think it is a good sign.

Also got the fuel filter changed, was worried at first to find a broken Torx-end in one of the screws, maybe this hasn't been changed in a long time.......



Luckily got it out without having to wreck the screw and got the filter casing open. I was concerned that I'd find evidence of total HPFP failure, there were some metallic particles in there but I don't think they're are indicative of a total failure, just wear. I will get it changed but I don't believe it's the cause of the running issue. Does that leave the Fuel Pressure Regulator as the probable culprit?

[drgonzo]

Long time update: After hours spent checking wiring and fuel purging etc, it was believed that the ECU was most likely at fault. A matched ECU, Clocks, BCM with keys was found on ebay and then installed......still no start; attention was brought straight back to the fuel system. I removed all injectors (eventually, after struggling to remove one stuck injector for weeks) and sent them to United Diesel in Shrewsbury for testing.

Two of the injectors were bad and one could be recovered, I had a dodgy old one a friend had donated which I also sent over and together with my originals, four good injectors were put together and returned to me for £500 including the original testing, which I thought was fair.

The refurbished injectors were fitted and along with the replacement ECU etc, the van started and ran!

Curiosity got the better of me and I installed the original ECU back in the van to see how it went....It didn't start but I could tell that the immobiliser was interfering. I called my locksmith friend and we investigated; the immobiliser, clocks and ABS all required the coding to be re-entered, this did take a while, but eventually sorted and the van ran on its original ECU and clocks.

Next on the list, the van was in desperate need of a regen, I ragged it down the a34 with no luck, I suspect it had been driven in limp mode prior to my ownership for a long time because the DPF soot content was so high that a regen was impossible.

I took it to a garage for a Terraclean, no luck, too much soot for it too work, they removed the DPF and shipped it off for a deep clean. It returned with the caveat that it still may not be clean, guess what, it wasn't .
More sensible people may have turned back at this point, but I couldn't let it go, I opted for a refurbished VW DPF to be fitted, success finally!

This brings us up to the present day, the van runs well (with exception to a rattle under acceleration), and has covered a few hundred miles without issue, I do have a spare injector just in case.

I've got a set of engine mounts coming tomorrow to swap over and fingers crossed that is the end of the rattle.......

[drgonzo]

All the time spent with the van stuck on the driveway and awaiting parts, gave me time to clean and tidy up the interior, so far I've carried out the following:

- Dynomat throughout and bottle insulation in all cavities and above headlining
- Alpine head unit with Apple Carplay
- Components in the doors, tweeters in dash position, underseat sub underneath driver's seat, coaxial speakers in tailgate panel, shark fin DAB, GPS aerial
- W8 interior light
- New hi-line clocks (originals had faults causing dim illumination of non-active warnings)
- Passat MSFW Steering wheel and corresponding steering module
- Caddy Life, dash top storage lide
- Van X glovebox lid
- Touran armrest (not yet fitted)
- Underbonnet soundproofing
- VW Engine Cover
- Touran front carpet

17" Sao Paulo alloys

Next to happen: Carpet lining the interior and some heated seats, probably some from a CC.

[Doc]

Fair play, you've put some time and effort into sorting this out.
Fingers crossed you get an appropriate amount of trouble free driving after all that.

[drgonzo]

Thanks Doc, yeah, looking forward to getting some miles done in it now!

[drgonzo]

Realised i hadn't done an update for a while, as for the rattle under acceleration, I found that it was caused by the DPF making contact with the Master Cylinder/ Servo bolt. The garage who fitted it did take some time to align everything as best they could but although improved, it was still there. They couldn't work out why it was so close and I decided to live with it and try to improve on it myself.

The DPF heat shield was a bit rough, with extra holes drilled in it, I decided to replace it and this is when i realised why the DPF was making contact, it was not the same as the original. The bolt pattern was different and the place that refurbed it had re-drilled the cover to fit. I'm guessing the 'new' DPF is from another model and is larger or angled slightly differently.

I'm in two minds whether to take it back to the garage to sort, I feel it was an honest mistake on their part and they were let down by their supplier, although it is irritating to go a long way to reduce noise in the cab with sound-proofing only to be hit by a vibration that shouldn't be there.

[drgonzo]

I had generally good running with the van, one vacuum leak on the turbo actuator hose, shown by codes P256300 and P02990.

A few more upgrades:

-Golf R heated seats (eBay), combined with a loom from Stan the Man, working great.
-PTC Heater (used from eBay), also with loom from Stan the Man, not working so great, I believe i have some dry joints in the heater to re-solder.
-Door courtesy lights, just because I didn't like the non-functional reflectors.
-Washer Bottle level sensor, courtesy of Tommy Zoom
-Upgraded BCM, specifically to allow fog lights, I went the OEM route to gain cornering lights and coming home lights (when combined with an Auto-switch and Chinese light sensor unit). Still underway with this, I've made my own loom and fitted everything to find that the front fog output from the switch is missing. Just waiting on some pins to be delivered and i'll fit a new wire between the switch and BCM (T10h/5 to BCM plug T52a/21).

Next I'm planning to fit BMW rear number plate lights to remove the sporadic bulb failure warning as well as some additional ambient lights in the footwells and door cards.

[3rdLeg]

Nice work sorting this out!

Looks like it fell into the rights hands, could of been a total nightmare for someone less determined and clued up