Faulty ABS Module? Audi to Install New ESP System.

Hello everyone,

And once again, I'm having a problem with my car, even though it's supposed to be "new."
Apparently, I am not suitable for diesel engines.

My car: a 1998 Audi A6 Avant, 110 horsepower, 135,000 kilometers, manual transmission.

On Wednesday, I covered a distance of approximately 180 km, completing it in segments of about 60 km each, and at a fairly brisk pace.
Approximately 10 kilometers of country road, then 40 kilometers of highway, and another 10 kilometers of country road.

Then I parked the car in the evening, and after 3 hours of rest, I wanted to leave again.
When I tried to start it, nothing happened at first; the starter motor just spun at its normal speed, but...
(Self-) ignition, nothing's happening.
It wasn't until the fourth attempt (turning the key, then back, removing the key, and starting over) that the engine finally started, idling at a normal speed.
First, I started driving, but after 150 meters, the engine turned off while I was going around a curve (I had pressed the clutch). It was funny, doing that without power steering .
It then started again after the first rotation. This sequence repeated three more times, with intervals of 100-150 meters.
Occasional sawing was also involved, but only for short periods.
After that, the car started again, but after a while, the preheating indicator light started flashing cheerfully at me...
The manual says: "Injector malfunction detected. Please take your vehicle to the workshop immediately..."
Supposedly, the engine then switches to a reduced-power mode, but I couldn't subjectively detect any decrease in performance...

Okay, so the next morning it's off to the friendly mechanics. No unusual behavior during the drive, just that dim headlight.
It blinked cheerfully and merrily.

Since the young men didn't have a rental car available at the moment (they were all booked out, unfortunately), the customer service representative suggested that...
I just had a check-up done. I was able to observe everything perfectly from my "parking spot." Everything looked great:
The mechanic disconnected the pump, connected a diagnostic device in between, and seemed somewhat confused.
He somehow started adding more and more diagnostic devices. After 1 1/2 hours, he came back in and said,
that an error code related to the quantity setting device was stored in the fault memory. The customer service representative then stated that this would be...
The fuel injection pump is integrated and only available with this specific unit.
Price starting from €900 and upwards, depending on the amount of additional work required. This is a good option, especially considering that the used warranty is also currently...
The three weeks have passed. However, I didn't purchase the car from that dealership (they are actually a highly recommended Audi dealer!).
purchased, but from an Audi dealership that was further away.

After the initial shock, and also based on the mechanic's statement that he couldn't reproduce the error during a test run, ...
I was able to provoke the issue again and have it reconnected. The mechanic had cleared the error memory.
It also deletes the data and then shows me a diagram of my car's fuel injection timing.
It's slightly within the lower tolerance range, but that's likely because the engine is still cold.


I was then able to easily drive the 60 kilometers to and from work. I searched in the forum, but couldn't find anything.
I could only find one post that was somewhat relevant to the VP37, but it concerned the 1Z engine.
There, a short circuit in the cable connecting to injector pump number 6 caused an error in the "quantity control" memory.

Okay, since my car was already due for maintenance, I scheduled the appointment for Thursday and specifically requested that they include a check for [mention what you want them to check for].
"Cable break/short circuit in the ignition coil wiring harness" was added, but without any result.
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday went smoothly.
On Sunday morning, I went out for another ride, covering about 20 kilometers on country roads, which was also uneventful.
The car then stood for approximately 1.5 hours. It started without any problems afterward, but after about 150 meters, the following happened:

The vehicle successfully maintained the last instruction given to the ESP system, which was approximately 2000 RPM.
And it successfully ignored every command from the accelerator pedal. I then turned off the ignition - with no effect.
Then I pulled the key out: no effect... At that point, I was feeling a bit frustrated.
The engine was running at 2000 RPM. I put the key back in and set it to level 2 (which means operation without using the starter).
The engine sputtered briefly and then stalled. The initial attempts to restart it failed, but then it started up again.
However, it was only for a short time, as I was just driving along the country road... Then it went out again, and failed to respond to subsequent attempts.
After about 10 attempts, it stubbornly refused to start. Eventually, it finally started, and then the preheating indicator light began flashing.
After some time, it started working again. The return journey was then trouble-free except for the blinking light.

Okay then, I'm heading home now to start looking for a place to park my car this afternoon.
Since I couldn't find any (solutions), or at least none that were obvious, I decided to try the following as a precaution.
The cabling was repositioned (while ensuring it was de-energized) because the cable was touching the probe rod and had been slightly chafed.

I also cleaned the mass airflow sensor (MAF), as it can sometimes cause problems in Audis as well.
Everything is reassembled, I took it for a test drive, and including my commute to work today, there were no issues.
I no longer trust that roast at all. However, I had a pump replaced for 900 euros just to be on the safe side.
I don't like that either, especially since I'm not convinced that's what it is. Either the track switch mechanism is broken, or...
Or not? But days of peace, and then suddenly it breaks again?

I previously owned a 2.5L BMW diesel. After some time, it started making a terrible grinding noise, which turned out to be the DDE (likely referring to a component or system).
However, both a Bosch employee and someone from BMW had previously said that it was the fuel injection pump. But it wasn't actually that.
That's why I have a healthy skepticism towards these diagnostic programs, because they can only report what they are programmed to detect.
before it was programmed with input interpretation capabilities.
What other exam options do I have?
I'm also quite unsure now whether I might have accidentally put gasoline into the tank instead of diesel; if that were the case, there would be about 60% diesel remaining.
I filled up the tank completely after the last outage, and everything has been fine so far...

Thank you and best regards, Frank.

fbeera wrote:

The vehicle successfully maintained the last instruction given to the ESP, which was approximately 2000 rpm. And it successfully ignored every command from the accelerator pedal. I then turned off the ignition - with no effect. Then I pulled the key out: no effect... At that point, I was feeling a bit frustrated. The engine was running at 2000 RPM. I put the key back in and set it to level 2 (which means operation without using the starter). The engine sputtered briefly and then stalled. The initial attempts to restart it failed, but then it started up again. However, it was only for a short time, as I was just driving along the country road... Then it went out again, and failed to respond to subsequent attempts. After about 10 attempts, it stubbornly refused to start. Eventually, it finally started, and then the preheating indicator light began flashing. After some time, it turned on again. The return journey was then trouble-free except for the blinking.

Well, that's quite remarkable.
The stopping usually occurs via the quantity setting device and the stopper = solenoid valve.

So, it seems that either the fuel system or the ignition system is malfunctioning intermittently - or perhaps the engine is burning oil, for example, due to a leaky turbocharger. However, in that case, it wouldn't usually maintain a constant 2000 rpm; instead, it would rev uncontrollably and be impossible to shut off (except by stalling), as long as the oil pump still has enough oil to pump.

Considering your overall symptoms, I'm leaning more towards a problem with the engine control unit (ECU), which is extremely rare (or has someone messed around with it, perhaps a tuner or someone else?).
Or exotic cable breaks and shorts within the realm of everyday carry (EDC) that can cause such symptoms – with a probability roughly equivalent to winning a 6/49 lottery over several months...

Hello Ulf,

First of all, thank you very much for the response.

To my knowledge, the tuner didn't modify the car in any way.
However, the car isn't very slow, which I attribute to the regular highway driving (maximum speed = 210+ km/h).

Well, bewilderment everywhere .
The friendly service people initially thought it was the fuel quantity sensor, but they were quite surprised when I pointed out that the engine was still running. The error code related to the fuel quantity sensor remains in the system's memory. After refueling, the problem hasn't reappeared since Sunday (covering about 300 km), so I'm starting to suspect either myself or my gas station...
What effect does a 40% gasoline content have? You should still be able to drive with it, but what would that have to do with the running engine?

I completely rearranged the wiring and reinstalled the potted 8-pin pump connectors, rotating them 360 degrees. Since I also cleaned the mass airflow sensor (MAF), a more precise analysis without errors is now difficult.

I will now purchase a repair cost insurance from Audi. The initial price is €360 for the first year, and then €180 for subsequent years.
Unfortunately, my used car insurance had expired three weeks ago...
It will at least relieve me emotionally to some extent.

Best regards, Frank.

fbeera wrote:

The friendly technicians initially thought it was a quantity control valve issue, but they were quite surprised when I pointed out that the engine was still running.

The error code in the diagnostic memory still indicates a problem with the quantity control valve.

Quote:

I've also encountered MSW errors on the AFN while trying to re-align for tuning purposes. The engine control unit typically detects incorrect wheel speed sensor voltages at the connections and issues flashing signals. But for me, starting and stopping the engine was still completely normal.

What effect does a 40% gasoline content have?

Quote:

"The engine starts and runs normally for now, but further starts may become problematic depending on the fuel mixture, compression, etc. (this is only if the fuel injection system functions correctly – otherwise, there's a risk of damage to components like injectors)." I haven't heard of any instances where the engine unexpectedly started multiple times related to gasoline issues, nor have I heard of it continuing to run when trying to turn it off.

I simply rearranged the entire wiring and, in the process, reinstalled the potted 8-pin pump connectors by rotating them 360 degrees. }
Unfortunately, these methods rarely provide a permanent solution for getting rid of wireworms, and they tend to reappear eventually.
Hopefully, you won't be overtaking a long truck on a country road while oncoming traffic is approaching rapidly...

First of all, thank you very much for the answers!
Well, I suspect there might have been something wrong with the fuel.
A review of the invoices confirmed that I had paid for diesel, but the ghosts disappeared immediately after refueling.

If it turns out that they were indeed wireworms, I'll just post about it again if the problem reoccurs.

Best regards, Frank.

fbeera wrote:

however, the ghosts disappeared immediately after refueling.

Then the pump might have also sucked in air, either because the pipes or filters are not completely sealed, or because the tank ventilation is too tight.
This also hinders the function of the MSW (Main Service Window), so the error message would at least be plausible.