Help please MK4 V5 Golf - Error code 17748 Camshaft pos sens

[aidan1988]

Hi guys,

I hope you can help.

I bought a 2001 golf v5 from a car dealership in Wakefield 3 weeks ago. Upon test driving the car the engine management light came on with a fault stating misfire on cylinder 2, this I understand was due to a dodgy coil pack, so they changed this and the light came off.
Given i thought all the problems were sorted i decided to buy the car for £1650, the car is in excellent condition will full leather seats. I love the car in honesty. However the car started to misfire and started to cut out last week. I took it to a friend who code read it, it came back with 17748 camshaft position sensor. He subsequently gave it a full service which didn’t seem to make a difference.
I decided to take the car back to the garage, they have been great about it, they have taken it to their mechanic and have changed both camshaft sensors which seems to fixed the misfiring and poor idle. In all honesty it seems to be running fine.
However the engine management light has returned with the 17748 code, I am now worried there is an issue with the chain or something more serious.

I have now been left with 2 options, firstly my money back or I take the car and hope for the best. I was just keen to get some advice to see what the possible issues are and whether I am better just getting a full refund. Just gutted, as I have just serviced and taxed it.
As it is running fine should i take the risk and hope it doesn’t develop into anything further?
If the chain is stretched would there be any other symptoms?
Will it just get progressively worse?

Any help would be massively appreciated
Thanks Aidan

[SuperchargedVR6]

17748 - Camshaft / Engine speed error - Incorrect correlation.

As this has 2 cam sensors, it must be the later 170hp 4 valve head?

Basically, that error means the ECU cannot see a cam sensor. Normally the error would tell you which cam it can't see.

That could be caused by chain stretch. Ideally you need VCDS to go into the measuring blocks 208 and 209 and see what cam offsets are. + / - 8 degrees is the maximum allowable drift. If it's any more than this, the static cam angle measuring blocks will be empty, meaning the ECU can't see it. Which also means the ECU is in limp mode and over-fuelling for safety.

If it is chain related, get your money back! It's a gearbox off job and few mechanics ever get the timing correct on these VAG VR engines.

Or if you're handy with the spanners and have a warm garage, there's plenty of info on assorted VW forums and you can do it over a weekend. The chain parts from the dealer will set you back ~ £170ish.

Edited by SuperchargedVR6 on Monday 22 October 15:27

[aidan1988]

Thanks Bud,

I think that is the safest option, its a real shame, the car is in mint condition, the leathers are in excellent condition. That said I dont want to be shelling out £1000+ in the next few months.

Its fustrating as after we have changed the sensors it seems to be running fine. As you can tell, I dont want to admit defeat however im going to have too.

Thanks for the advice.

Aidan

[SuperchargedVR6]

It's worth finding someone with VAG-COM just to check what I've advised, just to be sure, but if it is chain related, then yep, it's a potential nightmare you can do without.

VW upgraded the chains on the later V6 engines because of stretching issues, but I've not really heard of V5s suffering problems. Same technology though.