Cali let me down

[spitzie]

So 4 hours before catching a ferry for our annual Le Mans trip, popped to fill up with diesel.
Then on the way home, the Cali goes into limp mode and the flashing amber coil is displayed. Rude words were said.
Got home, quickly plugged in carista, to see the error was air take leak to turbo A. Didn't have time for much else as I needed to unpack Cali, pack another car and change ferry booking. And will have to deal with it after the trip.
Is this a common issue on 9yr old Calis?

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[WelshGas]

So 4 hours before catching a ferry for our annual Le Mans trip, popped to fill up with diesel.
Then on the way home, the Cali goes into limp mode and the flashing amber coil is displayed. Rude words were said.
Got home, quickly plugged in carista, to see the error was air take leak to turbo A. Didn't have time for much else as I needed to unpack Cali, pack another car and change ferry booking. And will have to deal with it after the trip.
Is this a common issue on 9yr old Calis?

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Common - No. Possible - Yes.

 

[Lambeth Cali]

Sounds very similar to what happened to our 2008 T5 on way back from the Alps last Easter.

This pipe had become detached.

We had to abandon it with the AA an hour south of Paris and go home on Eurostar, fortunately paid by the AA.
A week later I had to go pick it up after a Peugeot garage fixed the pipe. Bill was something like €130. €30 for parts and labour, €100 for testing it, which I was very glad of.

 

[Brodger3]

flashing amber coil

How low was the tank? I had this after filling up when running on fumes. Limped off the motorway. Drove on a bit on the back roads and then stopped to Google it. When ready to go again it had cleared. A blast down the motorway and no more issues. The lesson learnt was not to get so low on fuel the sludge at the bottom of the tank starts to get pulled into the engine. The fuel also cools the pump and it is not good to constantly run on low fuel warning light.

 

[WelshGas]

How low was the tank? I had this after filling up when running on fumes. Limped off the motorway. Drove on a bit on the back roads and then stopped to Google it. When ready to go again it had cleared. A blast down the motorway and no more issues. The lesson learnt was not to get so low on fuel the sludge at the bottom of the tank starts to get pulled into the engine. The fuel also cools the pump and it is not good to constantly run on low fuel warning light.

DPF regeneration will not take place if the fuel level drops below 20% or so. The first sign will be engine management light and limp mode.

 

[Kayleigh]

Hmm, so the common thread in these cases is France?

 

[sticky1]

How low was the tank? I had this after filling up when running on fumes. Limped off the motorway. Drove on a bit on the back roads and then stopped to Google it. When ready to go again it had cleared. A blast down the motorway and no more issues. The lesson learnt was not to get so low on fuel the sludge at the bottom of the tank starts to get pulled into the engine. The fuel also cools the pump and it is not good to constantly run on low fuel warning light.

I suspect the inline fuel filter will stop the sludge!
I am interested in the fact that several people have mentioned France, I would have assumed that long motorway runs and regular DPF cycles would have been a good thing.
Could there be a heat element to this? Is the seal failing after long hot runs and could it just be a case of tightening the jubilee clips? I’m thinking about preventative maintenance.

 

[Lambeth Cali]

Mine had nothing to do with France. We’ve been taking it to France for 16 years. 55,000 miles done in France.

A pipe came off.

Weeks before my electric door was broke. Various forums suggested changing a fuse underneath the engine battery. I ended up taking the battery out 3 times. There was a lot of brute force, cut hands and swearing. Bits of plastic broke off. The turbo air pipe was right next to the battery. That’s the only relevant geography here.

I was one of 2 people who mentioned France!

 

[spitzie]

The tank was half full. But will let you know more, when I return from Le Mans

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[Ch1pbutty]

Hmm, so the common thread in these cases is France?

It’s just that it has more impact just before a big road trip. If it happens on a ‘normal’ day, you just limp to the local garage and they fix it quickly.

I have had some disasters hours before the ferry, (ie - trapping the towbar wiring whilst attaching the bike rack in a hurry, which caused the flasher relay to melt in the das, on an old T4)…but have always found AA / RAC very good at sourcing part & fixing the issue in time! They tend to know exactly which motor factors / local mechanics will have a suitable part.

 

[Skinnee D]

So 4 hours before catching a ferry for our annual Le Mans trip, popped to fill up with diesel.
Then on the way home, the Cali goes into limp mode and the flashing amber coil is displayed. Rude words were said.
Got home, quickly plugged in carista, to see the error was air take leak to turbo A. Didn't have time for much else as I needed to unpack Cali, pack another car and change ferry booking. And will have to deal with it after the trip.
Is this a common issue on 9yr old Calis?

Sent from my Pixel 9 Pro XL using Tapatalk

I had very similar symptoms, and air intake leak reported on my obd scanner. It was the front egr pipe. One of the flange joints had failed. VW replaced it with a reinfored design. A one-hour job as long as the bolts dont shear. The workshop supervisor said they are prone to failing without warning. Hope this might help when you get to investigate yours

 

[spitzie]

Back in the UK, so decided to investigate.
Can't see anything on a visual inspection.
Took Cali round to block to get screen shot of the error and it had changed to turbo under boost.
Drove to my local garage (not VW, but are very good) to get it booked in and again the error changed back to air intake leak.
Drove back from garage and no warning light or error code.

 

[Lambeth Cali]

Doesn't the air intake pipe feed the turbo? That's how it was described to me.

 

[Skinnee D]

Back in the UK, so decided to investigate.
Can't see anything on a visual inspection.
Took Cali round to block to get screen shot of the error and it had changed to turbo under boost.
Drove to my local garage (not VW, but are very good) to get it booked in and again the error changed back to air intake leak.
Drove back from garage and no warning light or error code.

View attachment 137264

View attachment 137265

When my egr pipe failed I also got that same turbo underboost code intermittently.