A5 3.0tdi dpf regen problems

[Matty]

Hi my a5 was code red the other day and has some faults stored on the ecu. The heater plugs are not working. Suspect the relay. Also the egr was on there to possibly failed or blocked. What i want to know is would the regen cycle stop because of these faults stored, causing the dpf to block up. Im going to have alook further into the egr and then take it off an clean it if the flow is insuffient. Just not sure about the glow plugs if this would stop the car regening

[Steve Q]

Hello Matt, yes I do believe the dpf regent will not occur if the heater plugs have stopped working. 

Not sure if the egr problems are connected to the heater plugs not working though. But I would doubt it. 

Cheers

steve

[Matty]

Thanks steve. I have put 6 new heater plugs in but there is no feed i can only presume the relay as i dont think there is a module is there

[Steve Q]

Your welcome :) 

its worth replacing the relay. But like you I'm unsure if there's a module. 

As long as the dpf isn't nearly full it should do the Bergen ok once fixed :) 

in terms of the egr and egr cooler, replacing them is an expensive job. You'd probs be looking in the region of £1000. When I worked at Volkswagen in the service department it was common of VWs to come with this problem. It was mainly the 1.6 and 2.0tdi which were common. 

Cheers

steve

[Matty]

My friend has the same model a5 as ne so we are going to try the relay out of his tonight to see if that solves the problem and also code read the egr to find out what the problem is. Do you think it will regen with a egr fault code stored? 

[Steve Q]

Erm, it could affect the regen being carried out. Normally it's the egr cooler that's at fault rather than the egr. Normally you change both though. 

Cheers

steve

[Matty]

These are the codes we got. We did try and take my mates relay from his and try it in mine. And test with a power probe when the ignition was on and off and still nothing at the end of the plug lead. 

[Rob F]

Hi. Just a little help. I had a friend who had issue with dpf blocked. It went into limp mode. Apparently  she took her Audi to Halfords and they offer a clean out service. Around 70 quid. Apparently it runs fine now. I do agree though  that if it has codes set, it may not regen on its own.  Also I bought a Delphi 150e obd reader off eBay for 50 quid. Chinese copy with software. It links to your laptop with the software and you can force a regen  on that. It does loads more too. I have an A7 and it's paid for itself 10 times over. Rob

[Matty]

Rob that is very helpful. So you have forced regen your one on that scanner and its worked? Wonder if mine will regen with the faults on the ecu with a force regen on the scanner il have alook now on eBay. 

[Rob F]

You can force it to regen. Even if it doesn't that piece of kit is worth it's weight in gold. Make sure you get one from the UK in case you need to return it. Mine was fine though. It will load to most laptops but you have to disable  your anti virus software. If your not good with  computers you may need a little help to load it.  Hope it helps

 

[Matty]

One of the codes is insuffient airflow to the egr valve. Does this mean it is blocked? My car orginally had a fault showing on the ecu with intake flaps., but i had a mobile man come out and do a dpf clean and remap as he remapped the flaps out the system, do the egr and flaps work hand in hand. Would i be correct to pull the egr and manifold off and give it all a good clean out? With brake cleaner? Would that fix the problem

[Rob F]

The swirl flaps in the manifold are to lengthen and shorten air flow into the engine to provide better torque at low speed and also speeds.  The EGR recycles exhaust gases into the manifold to lower peak combustion temperatures to help prevent NOx.  It might be the metal pipe blocked to the EGR . This is going to sound mad, but the best thing I've found to remove carbon build up is oven pride. Yes oven pride. Remove EGR.  Pipes etc. Soak and thouroghly wash out. I used it on my turbo on my a4. Vanes stuck. It went like stink afterwards. 

[Matty]

Thanks rob so the ecu code insuffient air flow means it blocked. Not that the egr is knackered. Yeah i had a caddy van and that stuff worked gold for cleaning the vains out il give it ago. Thanks pal

[Rob F]

Could be yeah. Punch the code into Google and ull find some info on it. 

[Matty]

So i removed the egr tonight and cleaned it but it wasnt thats dirty anyway cleaned the valve up so il see if its any better but i dont think its fixed. Iv ordered a new relay so il have to rescan it an see what faults come up

[Steve Q]

How was the egr cooler Matt? Did she throw any codes up for that? 

Hopfully it gets sorted soon :) 

cheers

steve 

[Matty]

The only codes i had was what i posted the other day, on this topic. Yeah fed up with it now, but i do enjoy my a5 

[Steve Q]

Keep persevering, you'll get it sorted :) 

the a5 is a lovely car :) 

[Matty]

I have know fitted a new heater plug relay and still not getting the heater plugs to light. Is there a fuse for them to? And where isit's location? 

[Matty]

I get thw light on the dash board going on and off as normal, but no power at the plug lead end. Could a weak battery have anything to do with it. As sometimes it turns over very slow and other times it turns over fine