MK5 GT170 sport tdi - problem! Which went away should they worry?

[dragongreengolfgti]

Right guys just on my way home from visiting my sister down south about 2 hour journey each way  a problem occurred and i think the car went into limp mode 

Bit about the car :

Its a 2.0Ltr 2006 reg mk5 golf gt170 tdi sport completely standard. I sold this to my sister just over two years ago as my job then went bad and i lost it  Anyhow that's the car now onto the problem!

Weather conditions :

As you may be aware today its wet everywhere and the journey mostly bumpy A roads.

Problem :

On our way home after getting there with no problems about 1 hour into the journey back a light came onto the dash (picture of a coil in orange appeared) The car lost all power especially up hills so i said right i think it's gone into limp mode and you probably have no turbo at all. Was i right ? anyway i said best pull over and turn her off i'll have a fiddle around  knowing my vw's this could have been many things  Right anyway i do have a look but no obvious problems are present so i said start it up and i will listen out for boost leaks etc but nothing was there also. She then points out the light was gone and everything seemed normal. Sounds good yes a car that can fix itself  was fine all the way back home with no more issues! I also scanned it for codes when i got home nothing on there 

Things which have been done recently by VW :

Right she has recently had both turbo hard pipes replaced due to them splitting and releasing oil is this common? (both looked attached when assessing the problem by the roadside)
Also she went in for a recall due to a wiring issue on the injection system shes telling me  Whats the deal with this?

Questions :

what could it be?
why did it do it?
And does she need to worry basically?

[Rhyso]

It wasn't the Glow Plug light by any chance?

What did you use to scan the car?  VAGCOM or a Snap-On type device?

Limp mode is indeed reduced power; the car does it to protect itself from further damage

need a bit more info as to which light but if could be a DPF issue; if that's the case get it seen to ASAP.  9/10 times its a sensor that fails.  If that's the case, once replaced and a regen done you should be fine.  Don't assume because it's gone off that all is well.  By turning off the ignition all you've done is interrupted the regeneration cycle and when doing another journey it may well hit limp mode again    Do that too often and the DPF will get clogged beyond a regen being able to save it 

[Rhyso]

There is also an official recall on the injectors so the car needs to go in for them to be replaced unless its not already happened.  If an injector fails the car shuts down all power and you can't restart it; that tends to happen at motorway speeds too........

[dragongreengolfgti]

Cheers for the reply rhyso

To be honest im not sure what the light indicates the symbol as best i can describe, It looks like a piece of wire which is in a spiral shape i.e coil about 10mm long and illuminated orange its top left light on the dash  

I scanned it with my hand help code reader for all vw/audi/seat which is usually pretty good (especially on my mk3   ) not mega expensive by all means though.

I know sensors are a constant nightmare on golfs   all i can think it was is we hit a few good size puddles on the way back and i thought i heard a clunk go under the car just before this happened. I can not say it was related however so unsure. Could a big enough puddle effect anything within reach to cause such a problem?

Obvious she would like a definite answer and she has no problems taking it back to VW to look over there previous work only done last month as mentioned. But i feel there could have been a similar problem from a forum user and could save her some money hopefully. What is the DPF problem? i have read about it before but not sure exactly what it is as I've never seen it explained.    

[dragongreengolfgti]

There is also an official recall on the injectors so the car needs to go in for them to be replaced unless its not already happened.  If an injector fails the car shuts down all power and you can't restart it; that tends to happen at motorway speeds too........

Ah OK she did mention she was given the recall to do with the injectors when it was having the turbo pipes done 

[Rhyso]

That does sound like the glow plug light 

DPF is basically a CAT for diesels; it helps reduce emissions.  The early generation DPF's had numerous problems in that the sensors would fail thus not activating the regeneration cycle.  The pipe then gets clogged up with soot, carbon etc to a point where its so clogged the only course of action is to replace it completely 

Saying that Chuff has mentioned to me that there is a DPF cleaner available from Wurth which they've used in the garage he works at and it seems to help!

I've given you all that info but equally the glow plug light can mean a few things; unless you can pull codes from it it could be difficult to pinpoint the exact problem 

[dragongreengolfgti]

That does sound like the glow plug light 

DPF is basically a CAT for diesels; it helps reduce emissions.  The early generation DPF's had numerous problems in that the sensors would fail thus not activating the regeneration cycle.  The pipe then gets clogged up with soot, carbon etc to a point where its so clogged the only course of action is to replace it completely 

Saying that Chuff has mentioned to me that there is a DPF cleaner available from Wurth which they've used in the garage he works at and it seems to help!

I've given you all that info but equally the glow plug light can mean a few things; unless you can pull codes from it it could be difficult to pinpoint the exact problem 

Cheers again rhyso very helpful i will forward on some info and see if she can get to the bottom of it 

[Rhyso]

No worries 

Shame you are not closer otherwise id run my vagcom on the car to see whats amiss

[dragongreengolfgti]

Cheers mate hopefully i can get my hands on a full vag-com around my way luckily i know a few local mechanics so i will ask around i have let her know what the possible problems could be for now so will let you know if they find anything 

Mike

[Rhyso]

If you get hold of VAGCOM yourself (remember it needs to be CANBUS; older style leads won't work) have a read of this

http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q/vw-jetta-tdi-golf-dpf-filter.htm

Gives you all the measuring blocks etc etc