Glow plug warning flashing light on

[Immi10]

Hi, A6 S line ultra 2.0 

2015 

Flashing glow plug warning light

How much it could cost to fix

[Stevey Y]

20 hours ago, Immi10 said:

Hi, A6 S line ultra 2.0 

2015 

Flashing glow plug warning light

How much it could cost to fix

How long is a piece of string, don't be terrified it could be anything from a dodgy glow plug, MAFsensor, or any other sensor come to that, without getting it plugged in and finding the fault codes, try your local independent garage provided they have an up to date scanner for a small financial consideration they will give you the codes then you can either put them up here or trawl the net for answers.

Just because its an Audi the first thing people look at with dread are the £ signs when realistically they don't cost anymore than any other brand of vehicle to fix due to good old globalisation of parts within VAG, unless of course you go to the main dealer in which case give em your bank details and then apply for bankruptcy.

You did not say if the car was in limp mode no power if it is not it could be  something as simple as a faulty brake light switch !, get it read.

[Uldis]

Dpf is full . Automatically or mechanical gear box 

[Jacko2479]

Hi, I have a 2007 A4 2.0 TDI.

I also have a flashing glow plug/coil light, and the car goes into semi-limp mode. When I say semi I mean the car will still drive at 60mph, but there is no turbo so sluggish. It's been in the garage for new glow plugs, electrical wiring inspected and new vacuum valve but the issue is still there. Any suggestion would be appreciated. 

[Stevey Y]

2 minutes ago, Jacko2479 said:

Hi, I have a 2007 A4 2.0 TDI.

I also have a flashing glow plug/coil light, and the car goes into semi-limp mode. When I say semi I mean the car will still drive at 60mph, but there is no turbo so sluggish. It's been in the garage for new glow plugs, electrical wiring inspected and new vacuum valve but the issue is still there. Any suggestion would be appreciated. 

Hi, have you had it scanned for codes, this would get you in the right ball park, how many miles has it done? could just be something as simple as an oxygen sensor, without scanning you can spend a fortune trying to cure the problem and never get lucky enough to have nailed the problem, flying blind I think is the correct term I used to try that one many years ago until I got my local independent garage to plug the car in, give em a tenner and actually have a better idea of what was going on, eventually I bought my own diagnostic platform with generic software pre loaded and with the help of a computer orientated friend developed it further from there .

[John C5]

The glow plug light flashes to show that there is currently a fault with your car, not necessarily glow plug  related. I agree you should get the fault codes read to give you an idea of what the issue might be. A common issue that causes this is oil getting in to the electrics on the anti shudder valve which can restrict flow through intake and EGR. DPF has it's own light so probably not that. Might be as simple as needing  a good fuel cleaner run through the system.

[Stevey Y]

7 minutes ago, John C5 said:

The glow plug light flashes to show that there is currently a fault with your car, not necessarily glow plug  related. I agree you should get the fault codes read to give you an idea of what the issue might be. A common issue that causes this is oil getting in to the electrics on the anti shudder valve which can restrict flow through intake and EGR. DPF has it's own light so probably not that. Might be as simple as needing  a good fuel cleaner run through the system.

The trouble is there is so much information on line as to what the cause of your problem could be, all good but never definitive without codes being read it could be Anything, oxygen sensor, implausible correlation information between the MAP and MAF sensors, sticky turbo vanes, EGR bypass valve stuck, faulty injector, some faults can be in a chain where one sensor goes down and and the others get a default setting from the ECU to get you home [Limp Mode] all ECU software regardless of manufacturer will have a defence strategy built in to it, the idea is that you get home without destroying the engine I.E. it runs everything on the minimum range until the offending part is cleaned/replaced.

Had the once with one of my neighbours cars, he had recently changed the starter motor, fair effort, but some how he bent one of the pins on the oil temperature sensor no EML but when I was checking the fault codes for him it flagged up that the oil temp was 180 degrees this was of course impossible so the ECU had set a default so rather than the engine temperature being assessed from the oil and water sensor it was just relying on the cylinder head temperature sensor to tell the ECU what was going on real time, we changed the oil temperature sensor cleared the code and normality returned.

[John C5]

45 minutes ago, Stevey Y said:

The trouble is there is so much information on line as to what the cause of your problem could be, all good but never definitive without codes being read it could be Anything, oxygen sensor, implausible correlation information between the MAP and MAF sensors, sticky turbo vanes, EGR bypass valve stuck, faulty injector, some faults can be in a chain where one sensor goes down and and the others get a default setting from the ECU to get you home [Limp Mode] all ECU software regardless of manufacturer will have a defence strategy built in to it, the idea is that you get home without destroying the engine I.E. it runs everything on the minimum range until the offending part is cleaned/replaced.

Had the once with one of my neighbours cars, he had recently changed the starter motor, fair effort, but some how he bent one of the pins on the oil temperature sensor no EML but when I was checking the fault codes for him it flagged up that the oil temp was 180 degrees this was of course impossible so the ECU had set a default so rather than the engine temperature being assessed from the oil and water sensor it was just relying on the cylinder head temperature sensor to tell the ECU what was going on real time, we changed the oil temperature sensor cleared the code and normality returned.

Agreed Stevey, it could be anything but I recently had similar symptoms on my A4 and no EML either. Read codes on Vag Com which showed two intermittent faults, "insufficient flow for regeneration" and "intake valve motor implausible signal" from memory. I took the anti shudder valve off and opened it up, electrical  components were full of oil, cleaned it up and refitted it. No more problem. 20 minute job requiring minimal tools or mechanical know how, no cost, although I have now replaced the valve as a worn out seal had obviously caused the issue. Turbo vanes sticking as you say can cause boost problems but not necessarily throw up any specific codes, a good fuel cleaner can sometimes sort this without having to strip it down. Just a couple of low tech, low cost suggestions, not a remote diagnosis 👍

[Stevey Y]

23 hours ago, John C5 said:

Agreed Stevey, it could be anything but I recently had similar symptoms on my A4 and no EML either. Read codes on Vag Com which showed two intermittent faults, "insufficient flow for regeneration" and "intake valve motor implausible signal" from memory. I took the anti shudder valve off and opened it up, electrical  components were full of oil, cleaned it up and refitted it. No more problem. 20 minute job requiring minimal tools or mechanical know how, no cost, although I have now replaced the valve as a worn out seal had obviously caused the issue. Turbo vanes sticking as you say can cause boost problems but not necessarily throw up any specific codes, a good fuel cleaner can sometimes sort this without having to strip it down. Just a couple of low tech, low cost suggestions, not a remote diagnosis 👍

Hi John, you had me going for a minute, I was thinking what the hell is an Anti Shudder Valve so I googled it and its a throttle valve by another name, suppose I am going to have to get used to the different terminology used for dealing with German engineering on cars, though having now seen what it was I have had plenty of experience with these, normally caused by an air leak in the intake hose below the throttle, this allows the crankcase ventilation gas/oil to hang around because of the drop in barometric pressure so it weeps into the control box on the side of the unit, then causes the throttle butterfly to stick open and the engine would briefly run on after the ignition was turned off.

I agree its worth trying the low cost options but if you have no idea whats causing the light how much are you likely to spend on different treatments before it adds up to the high cost option, in all fairness at least you had two faults so at least you had an idea of what it might be. believe me when I tell you as we have staggered in to Euro 6 with even more sensors the software programmers have a code for just about everything, I know its not the same manufacturer but on my Euro 4 spec cars I could unplug the Map sensor take it out and clean it, plug it back in and go to work, the Euro 5 was a different animal in so much as any sensor to do with the emissions that you unplugged would case the car to fly into limp mode when started so you would have to clear the code before she would start, the thing that amazed me was that the sensors are still monitoring even when the engine is dormant, work that one out.

Think a lot of these strategies are used to discourage the average home mechanic from having a go, lets face it the average dealers will charge an hours labour for  five minutes work, I am aware that the whole ethos of forums is to try and help each other overcome problems that would otherwise make ownership uneconomical but I cant see the point of rocking up on any forum with no information other than the light is on how much to fix it, try that one at any garage and as John said its a process of elimination.

Regards Steve. 

[John C5]

Hi Steve, apologies, I should have just said throttle body. Sounds like you, like me, miss the good old days of points, distributors and topping up the oil in your SU carbs 🙈. I love working on my old Audi 80s and leaving the laptop in the toolbox, kind regards John.

[Stevey Y]

17 hours ago, John C5 said:

Hi Steve, apologies, I should have just said throttle body. Sounds like you, like me, miss the good old days of points, distributors and topping up the oil in your SU carbs 🙈. I love working on my old Audi 80s and leaving the laptop in the toolbox, kind regards John.

Hi John, its an absolute oasis in desert of OHM readings and re learning values to hear someone who knows about points and condensers and especially S.U. carburettors, I especially miss the old bar stool debates over which was the better version, S.U., Stromberg, Pierburg, and the universal condemnation of carbs like the Ford VV, all long forgotten thanks to fuel injection, these along with distributors were a work of art to any mechanical self servicing fanatic and without doubt a source of great personal satisfaction when you had just fitted a refurb kit and re tuned your carburettor with the aid of an airflow meter or colour tune, [remember them], then go out on a warm spring day for a blast over to a country pub with the girlfriend.

Mind you can you also remember hanging out of the bonnet with your best clothes on with a small screwdriver or spanner trying to iron out some small flat spot while the girlfriend sat in the car chain smoking with a face like thunder, thats how we learned I suppose, thank you for the resurrection of fond memories.

Regards Steve.

[John C5]

Indeed Stevie, first car was a mk1 Escort, then a succession of Minis before mk3, 4 and 5 Cortinas. Glory Days. No ECU but automatic (sometimes) choke 🤨 Still have an airflow meter and vacuum gauges but mainly use them on my bikes, cheers, John

[Stevey Y]

2 hours ago, John C5 said:

Indeed Stevie, first car was a mk1 Escort, then a succession of Minis before mk3, 4 and 5 Cortinas. Glory Days. No ECU but automatic (sometimes) choke 🤨 Still have an airflow meter and vacuum gauges but mainly use them on my bikes, cheers, John

Now your talking, I cut my teeth on most of those, Minis the bypass hoses and if like I did you tried to make them go faster you caused yourself a whole heap of trouble like idler gears shredding because they were not built to handle another 40 BHP, head gasket blowing constantly because the block had hardly any metal left between the two middle cylinders where it had been over bored to far. it was not until my friend an ex REME engineer suggested if I wanted fast its better to buy fast off the peg.

So went for a mk4 Cortina 2.0 Ghia,  after a while I discovered things like void bushes and half shaft bearings and the best one was the oil spray pipe for the camshaft this would block and total the cam and followers, this all led to no small skill with a spanner, I even bought my first torque wrench.

This is what makes me smile when Audi do a recall and everyone starts flapping, at least they admit they have a problem Ford/GM will normally deny all knowledge and hope it will go away, unless you have ever owned any car from that era you will never really appreciate how good modern German cars are, I don't think many people bought Audis or NSUs back in the late seventies as the brand loyalty was always Vauxhall, Ford, British Leyland, my dad would have considered me a traitor if I had bought a German/Japanese car, it took a long time for this mind set to disappear, its been an interesting and on occasions happy journey and I learned a lot. With has really made me appreciate my Audi.

Regards Steve

 

[Mitchell Lippman]

Bought new 2014 Audi A6 TDI diesel January 2014. Has been always serviced according to Audi recommendations. December 2021 the fuel pump failed and took a month to arrive from Germany.  Three months after fix check light and glo plug light came on. I continued to drive slowly and car stopped altogether. Car was towed back to repair shop and was told problem was a loose connection. 
In Chattanooga September 3, 2022 and lights came on again so towed it to the only Audi dealer in town. Service department closed for Labor Day holiday and sales people there said to leave car and keys with filled out information form and service will look at it Tuesday September 6. Since I live in Atlanta had to rent a car and come home and wait for call from Chattanooga Audi
Would like to know if problem with car could be due to repair shop installing fuel pump did it improperly or damaged car in process 
Any help would be appreciated 

Mitchell Lippman

[Anna Conrad]

Hello!

Of course, it’s a Bank Holiday Monday and we have a long (>250 miles) and the glow plug light starts flashing in the 2008 A6 Le Mans that we bought just a week ago. The car is in semi limp mode and can eventually get to 60mph but I am concerned about doing damage to the car. We are going to stop in Lancaster which appears to have a National Tyres & Auto Care centre which is open. Fingers crossed that they can do a diagnostic. If not, we are wondering if it’s going to damage the engine if we keep on going to the South Coast….