Emergency Heating: Cold Weather Solutions

Hello everyone,

'For the past few days, with temperatures below -10 degrees Celsius, my Passat TDI, 90 horsepower, manufactured in 09/97, went into limp mode. After restarting, everything is fine again. The error occurs above 3000 RPM. When the temperature is less than minus degrees, for example -6 degrees this afternoon, everything is fine again.'
Has anyone else experienced this effect?

I would be grateful for your help.

Best regards, Franz.

I can imagine that the VTG (Variable Turbine Geometry) adjustment of the turbocharger might be the problem, especially if it's stuck in the 'full power' position when the engine is cold.
temporarily frozen. This, of course, does not apply when the engine/charger has been warmed up.

Marco wrote:

I can imagine that the VTG adjustment of the turbocharger is the problem, if it is in the full power position when the engine is cold. temporarily frozen. Of course, this does not apply when the engine / charger is warmed up.

Hello Marco,

I believe the risk of freezing is practically impossible, because the exhaust gases, in my opinion, will warm up the turbocharger and VTG (variable turbine geometry) faster than it takes to park the car and reach performance levels that could trigger a limp-home mode.

It would look different if, for example, an ice droplet were stuck in a line between the solenoid valve and the external pressure, and it were melting very slowly.
Then, the VTG (Variable Turbine Geometry) might not be able to react quickly enough to increasing boost pressure, and the pressure could continue to rise into the "red zone," leading to an emergency mode.