Technical %$&@ing Croma broken down again - any ideas?

[Doofer]

So, no faults for almost a month, so it had to be time.

Going up a hill, it got slower and slower and eventually stopped and stalled. No warning lights. Stopped and restarted, and got a burning smell and "low oil pressure" warning. It sounds bad to me.

I'll plug in Multiecuscan tomorrow and see if it's telling me anything. Any ideas? The breakdown chap reckoned it's the turbocharger, but I'd prefer something less expensive sounding.

It's a 1.9 16v diesel.

 

[LUSSOROSSO]

Hi
I have a brand new turbo for the Croma

The part number is. 55196859

My contact no is 07851 739784

 

[Doofer]

The bloke from the garage had a look today and reckons it's probably the EGR valve, not the turbo. Hopefully good news then. It's going into the garage for a proper look at tomorrow.

I had an EGR valve go before, but it ran fine with the engine light on. This time there is no light, but it won't run. Perhaps it was stuck closed before, this time it's stuck open.

We'll see. Now I'll search the forum for info about (mostly) blocking the blooming thing off.

 

[LUSSOROSSO]

Quite a variance in opinion from one mechanic to another!!

Doesn't fill you with confidence

 

[BrianMcL]

At least ruling the EGR in or out will only take a few minutes.

If it is the problem then definitely fit one of the mid gaskets as they make the world of difference.

What did ecuscan have to say?

 

[BrianMcL]

Not sure about the burning smell but when my last alternator failed it did exactly the same thing - basically the car just ran out of electricity and stopped working.

 

[tarquin1867]

So, no faults for almost a month, so it had to be time.

Going up a hill, it got slower and slower and eventually stopped and stalled. No warning lights. Stopped and restarted, and got a burning smell and "low oil pressure" warning. It sounds bad to me.

I'll plug in Multiecuscan tomorrow and see if it's telling me anything. Any ideas? The breakdown chap reckoned it's the turbocharger, but I'd prefer something less expensive sounding.

It's a 1.9 16v diesel.

Did you get all sorts of warnings on the screen as it was stalling out? Such as Power steering unavailable and ABS/Hill Holder/ etc. when mine did this it was out of electricity . Almost like running out of diesel.

 

[Doofer]

Not sure about the burning smell but when my last alternator failed it did exactly the same thing - basically the car just ran out of electricity and stopped working.

It's definitely not the alternator, as electrics are fine. I had about an hour wait on a dual carriageway (with no hard shoulder), so had the ignition on so I could keep the back lights on and power my fag-lighter tyre pump, which has a dazzling flashing yellow light - I put this on the roof. For half an hour I had dipped beam on, until I saw it and changed to sidelights. The electrics are still fine after this.

He said that if the turbo goes you normally get filthy clouds, not just a bit of a smell, as the oil is dumped into the exhaust. You also get over-running from the burning oil - it isn't doing this. The engine oil level is fine.

I'm hoping for a hose or EGR valve. If the EGR was stuck 100% open would that suffocate the engine due to lack of oxygen?

I haven't tried ecuscan yet, just about to.

I will fit one of the gaskets. I'll get a standard one for now, to get it running, then swap it myself later. The EGR valve's done about 45k miles since it was last changed.

Edit: Checked with MultiECUScan - all looks healthy to me, according to that. All done with ignition ON, but engine not running (it sounds rough, then stalls after a few seconds), so the boost figures are meaningless. Checked a few other things though - a clogged DPF or exhaust was another possible diagnosis, but it looks healthy...

No fault codes
Battery voltage: 11.8V
Baro pressure: 1004 mBar
Boost pressure: 1001 mBar
Desired boost pressure: 1000 mBar
Boost pressure signal: 1617.5 mV
Boost control/solenoid: 74.96%
EGR valve opening: 4.00%
EGR control: OFF
Particle filter status: Normal clogging
Particulate filter clogging: 45.96%
Regeneration progress: 0.000%
Forced regeneration state: Not active
Odometer at last DPF replacement: 136900 km
Distance from last regeneration: 420.8 km
Last 5 regenerations average duration: 542 sec
Average temperature of last 5 regenerations: 618.26 degC
Oil change counter: 5
Oil degradation level: 75%
Odometer at last Oil change: 23396.4 km
Distance to next Oil change: 37500 km

It was due for an oil change early next year, so I'll probably get that done now instead. Other than that I don't see any clues. I don't know why it says the DPF was replaced though - it never has been. Perhaps that's just a quirk, and it shows the current odo reading - it converts to 85k miles, which is its current reading.

I wonder whether the EGR opening reading is genuinely read back from the physical valve itself, or if it's just the ECU's desired position, i.e. is it possible that it would like it to be at 4%, but it's actually stuck at 100%.

 

[Doofer]

And the fault was...

(drum roll)

The EGR valve.

Bloody hell. If I'd known that I could have changed it myself. The last time, the car ran fine but with the dash light on. This time, no faults were reported but the car was dead - the complete opposite to last time.

So, when fault-finding, whatever goes wrong (e.g. wipers not working, wheel falls off), it's probably the EGR valve.

 

[bobbyblue]

I have got to admit doofer I was baffled, what threw me was why did the low oil pressure warning flag up? Still, it's another quirky fault to store in the memory bank for future reference.
On a different note, I came close to replacing my Croma owned for 4 years late in the summer, but when I look at what's out there and the ridiculous money they are asking coupled with the rock bottom trade in for the Croma I decided to stick for another year.

 

[Doofer]

I've found exactly the same - we have a nice car (that's a pain at times), but it's worth less than a poverty-spec same-age city car with windey windows and no air con that will do lower mpg and cost more to insure.

I think we're all lumbered with having to drive (and fix) our roomy, comfortable, luxurious, safe cars until they're scrapped. Except Hellcat, who's giving his away for next to nothing!

 

[BrianMcL]

I've found exactly the same - we have a nice car (that's a pain at times), but it's worth less than a poverty-spec same-age city car with windey windows and no air con that will do lower mpg and cost more to insure.

I think we're all lumbered with having to drive (and fix) our roomy, comfortable, luxurious, safe cars until they're scrapped. Except Hellcat, who's giving his away for next to nothing!

I get asked all the time, if the car's so unreliable, why not just get rid of it?

Then I get whatever's broken fixed, usually with the help of everyone here, and it's great again. Big, comfy, economical (in fuel if not parts), solid, powerful enough and a radio that gets TMS on R4LW (my last 2 Passats only got MW or FM). If only they'd built it out of proper bits.