HELP! More Rough Idle, Juddering and Rev problems

[Crasher]

I had a quick read back through and two things jumped out at me I had not noticed, the car was built with a DPF, is it still thre or has it been removed as I have had a large number of poor idling PD DPF cars where the DPF has been removed and the ECU remapped to suit. The other is obviously it has suffered the usual BRE oil pump failure which has damaged the engine and so who rebuilt it and the turbo, which always suffers? It could be as simple as a miscalculation of the head gasket thickness, see which one is fitted and if it is 3 hole that could indicate it had a 1 or 2 hole originally and someone just lazily slapped on a 3 hole as they could not be bothered to measure the piston protrusion, just a theory.....

[Boat_face]

Just PMd you contact details for Indy VAG garage in Exeter. In case you're in need of it.

Hope that helps


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[tmoram86]

Hi @Crasher. It was sold to me without a DPF and they put a new one on it, as I asked if the current setup would pass an MOT. Rather than answer the question, they just put a new DPF on it! I've had three DPF regens in 4 weeks!!
A remanufactured engine was fitted, the turbo was looked at and I was told it was fine.
What you've said about the head gasket has gone over my head a bit, sorry.

In another interesting turn of events, ive just found out this morning that the company who I purchased the car from, and who it is still under warranty with, have closed down and gone into liquidation. So looks like I'm on my own with it now!!

[Crasher]

If they fitted a pattern DPF, that could be causing a problem, I have given up on aftermarket DPF's, they are nothing but trouble. Was it mapped back to standard after the DPF was re-fitted? It would be worth getting it re-flashed by Audi or someone else with ODIS or who has the standard file. The head gasket comes in three different thicknesses, 1.55 1 hole, 1.63 2 hole and 1.71 3 hole. If the car was built with a 1 hole and to save effort they slapped on a 3 hole hole, the would adversely affect the compression pressures.

[IMG]file://C:\ElsaWin\graphics\wi\A15-0802.png by Steve Cresswell, on Flickr[/IMG]

[tmoram86]

Hi @Crasher - thanks for that. I'm not sure what DPF was fitted, but I'm assuming it's aftermarket. I believe it was mapped back to standard after the new DPF, but I'm looking at getting a full custom re-map done next month to look into that.

Interesting that you mention compression pressures...

I've had it looked at by a local independent VW/Audi place. ((Thanks to the other guys who've recommended some other garages - but they're a bit too far out for me to use at the moment)).
I described the problems I've been having, and gave him all the paperwork for what it's had done recently, results from his checks;

Tested for air in diesel. All OK.
Checked Cam Timing. Cam Timing was out. Now set correctly.
Injector adjustment was incorrect on all injectors. Now set correctly.
Checked Cam Shafts - all looks good.
Carried out compression test.... Low compression on all four cylinders.

I've been advised that it should be approx. 400psi on each cylinder, and he was expecting it to read slightly low due to an extension/adapter he had to put on his compression tester in order to "reach". But the results were;
Cyl 1 - 350psi
Cyl 2 - 300psi
Cyl 3 - 350psi
Cyl 4 - 320psi

His guess is that the engine has not been correctly run in. Given the low mileage on the new engine, he's suggested draining the current oil out and filling up on "running in oil" and doing another 500-1000 miles on the specialist running in oil.
Unfortunately I cannot confirm if my old garage used "running in oil" or not, one of the other mechanics suggested that he probably just used whatever oil is supposed to go in the car.

Does that make sense?

I'll suggest this head gasket to him, see what he thinks.

[Crasher]

Suggest to your chap Millers Glaze Bust oil, it has sorted out a few cars for us that have been run on synthetic too early or been poorly run in . Use the Glaze Bust for 200 miles and then 500 on some running in oil. Then use a simple 15w/40 mineral oil but this is hard to find, all I have been able to obtain is Motul - Oils and lubricants Products, I tired a Fuchs oil that was supposed to be mineral but the (new build) engine started burning oil after the running in oil so we did Glaze Bust and the Motul and so far he has not said anything.......

[tmoram86]

Hello! Sorry it all went quiet, was really ill over xmas for several weeks, then off on holiday and been really busy. Here's where I am...

Have had oil drained out and Millers Liquid Glaze Bust put in. Did 200 miles on that.
Drained out Glaze Bust and put in Millers Running In Oil. Did approx. 850 miles on that.
Drained out running in oil and put the regular stuff back in with a new oil filter.

Still got an intermittent rough idle, and intermittently the car still revs too high while driving at low speeds/low power. So no real change so far, although i've noticed that it seems to be happening less frequently.

I do get very frequent DPF blocked warnings (in the week or so that I did the 1000 miles above, I got 3 DPF blocked warnings!) Interestingly; I NEVER (NEVER) get any running problems while the amber DPF warning is illuminated/sounding. So you may be onto something there with the DPF issue? I'm still considering getting the DPF removed and the car remapped, but looking at the new MOT laws coming in - that might not be a great idea.

The local indy Audi/VW garage I'm using now noticed that my engine is running too cool (i was told that it wasn't hot enough to run a compression test on the computers), he thinks the thermostat is faulty so that's being replaced soon.

So, still got the same problems. Still not running right, but only intermittently. Definitely leaning towards the DPF as a part of it.... why would I get smooth idle and no high revving problems when the DPF warning is on?? Is it possible to buy genuine VW/Audi DPFs second hand that have been professionally cleaned/restored? They cost a small fortune new don't they?

[Strath44]

Running in oil? I do get that but seriously surely its time to get rid of this car............so many components have been changed its almost impossible to figure out what may or may not be correctly working and or incorrect parts.
This car is best going to someone who is an Audi mechanic and can fiddle about in their spare time to get it sorted!
I would not normally be this negative, but there are so many variables on the go, I think the point of finding a straight forward fix is long past!
Compression like that I cannot see being fixed by running in oil, thats a headgasket issue in some form.

[tmoram86]

@Strath44 - I understand where you're coming from, and I wish it was that easy. For a start, if that was an option I'd only be stitching up someone else with the same problem!! But I took out a 3 year HP on it, so I'm financially tied into the car for a while yet. If I'd purchased the car outright then I would be looking at selling or p/xing by now.

I'd say it runs OK for 70% of the time. For the remaining 30% of the time it's either idling rough, which obviously only affects the car when it's stationary - or it revs slightly too high. Other than that, I've got an almost brand new car and I don't quite want to give up on it yet! I've only spent about £200 on it out of my own pocket.

I showed my indy Audi/VW the gasket image and said about the wrong gasket thickness etc. But they said they'd expect to see equally low compression across all cylinders, whereas this is showing lower on some cylinders than others.

Based on earlier advice here and conversations with my local indy Audi garage, I'm thinking it's something to do with a cr@p/cheap DPF fitted to the car. Every time I get an amber DPF warning light come on - the car runs smooth 100% of the time!!!

Recently I was out driving for an hour or so around town, and I'd been having the rough idle/high rev problem that day, I came to a stop at a red light, the amber DPF warning came on while I was stopped, I pulled away 20 seconds later and the car was immediately running smooth again and carried on running smooth until I had to do some motorway miles a couple of days later and the DPF light cleared. Once the DPF warning was gone, the running issues started creeping back again a few days later.