How can a Software update completely destroy a good car...
Discussion
My car is a 2011 Polo 1.6TDI, I know it’s not that exciting or expensive. But I saved as hard as I could to get a decent first car, that wasn’t a 1.2 Corsa.
I bought the car in December 2015 at 17 years old, the car was lovely. It’s a top spec SEL Polo with all the extras, only 4% of Polos are SEL and the TDI is even rarer. Now I was fully aware of the issues surrounding the Dieselgate scandal, but the potential for 65MPG was too good to resist.
I drove the car happily for a year averaging 57MPG (and I have quite a heavy right foot). It was Torquey and a real blast for such a small car. The engine was quiet and smooth. Then in January 2016 I received a letter from Volkswagen inviting me for my Emissions Update, without a second thought I called them up and got it booked in for the next week.
From the moment they pulled the car around I could tell the engine note had completely changed. It was so grumbly and sounded like it was about to cut out, but I took it home anyway thinking it was just my imagination. Then I started reading of horror stories online on how the update had completely destroyed people’s cars and going into limp mode on Motorways dropping the speed from 70 right down to 30mph.
The next day I took the car for a long drive and I could feel a difference, but nothing too bad. It was when I parked up at my destination I noticed the rpms without me touching the pedal were jumping up and down between 800 and 1000 every 5 seconds.... and when they were at 800 the engine was knocking back and forth violently and making the most irritating vibrations throughout the car, so they would then shoot back up to 1000 rpm and run rich before dropping back to 800, doing this over and over again every 5 seconds....!
Took the car back to VW and they kept it for a week, FOC and gave me the worlds slowest 1.0 Polo. They did Injector tests and couldn’t find anything wrong with it and they had been unable to recreate the fault, but I insisted they kept it until sorted. Eventually they were able to recreate the fault and contacted head office for yet another Update. Out of the blue I get a call saying your car is ready. So off i went to pick it up and for the past 10 months it has been running fine but the mpg is still nothing like it used to be (47 average down from 57).
But now it has once again redeveloped the fault, and I do not know what to do... VW have no idea what they are doing. They just plug it into a computer but no faults show up, so tell me nothings wrong. When there clearly is something very wrong. The car has gone into limp mode once in the past 10 months but I turned it on and off again and no more limp mode.
I planned on remapping the car when I first got it, but considering VW’s own map doesn’t even work on their own cars I am no longer going down that route. I love VAG cars and the only other car I would consider is an Audi A1 1.4TFSI but can’t afford it at the moment.
Any suggestions on where to go now.
I would upload a video but don’t know how to, sorry I’m new to PH!
Thanks Cam
I bought the car in December 2015 at 17 years old, the car was lovely. It’s a top spec SEL Polo with all the extras, only 4% of Polos are SEL and the TDI is even rarer. Now I was fully aware of the issues surrounding the Dieselgate scandal, but the potential for 65MPG was too good to resist.
I drove the car happily for a year averaging 57MPG (and I have quite a heavy right foot). It was Torquey and a real blast for such a small car. The engine was quiet and smooth. Then in January 2016 I received a letter from Volkswagen inviting me for my Emissions Update, without a second thought I called them up and got it booked in for the next week.
From the moment they pulled the car around I could tell the engine note had completely changed. It was so grumbly and sounded like it was about to cut out, but I took it home anyway thinking it was just my imagination. Then I started reading of horror stories online on how the update had completely destroyed people’s cars and going into limp mode on Motorways dropping the speed from 70 right down to 30mph.
The next day I took the car for a long drive and I could feel a difference, but nothing too bad. It was when I parked up at my destination I noticed the rpms without me touching the pedal were jumping up and down between 800 and 1000 every 5 seconds.... and when they were at 800 the engine was knocking back and forth violently and making the most irritating vibrations throughout the car, so they would then shoot back up to 1000 rpm and run rich before dropping back to 800, doing this over and over again every 5 seconds....!
Took the car back to VW and they kept it for a week, FOC and gave me the worlds slowest 1.0 Polo. They did Injector tests and couldn’t find anything wrong with it and they had been unable to recreate the fault, but I insisted they kept it until sorted. Eventually they were able to recreate the fault and contacted head office for yet another Update. Out of the blue I get a call saying your car is ready. So off i went to pick it up and for the past 10 months it has been running fine but the mpg is still nothing like it used to be (47 average down from 57).
But now it has once again redeveloped the fault, and I do not know what to do... VW have no idea what they are doing. They just plug it into a computer but no faults show up, so tell me nothings wrong. When there clearly is something very wrong. The car has gone into limp mode once in the past 10 months but I turned it on and off again and no more limp mode.
I planned on remapping the car when I first got it, but considering VW’s own map doesn’t even work on their own cars I am no longer going down that route. I love VAG cars and the only other car I would consider is an Audi A1 1.4TFSI but can’t afford it at the moment.
Any suggestions on where to go now.
I would upload a video but don’t know how to, sorry I’m new to PH!
Thanks Cam
Sorry to.hear about your woes and this is exactly the reason I refuse to get my Scirocco updated. Frankly, it's not worth the risk despite the "Building Trust Initiative".
A 3rd party remap probably is the only solution unless you want to get to know your local VW Service advisor much better
A 3rd party remap probably is the only solution unless you want to get to know your local VW Service advisor much better
Edited by cuprabob on Sunday 8th October 13:16
Auto sparks here. I would imagine they have worked the EGR harder (waits to be flamed), and it's the EGR starting to play up. Unlikely to get fault codes at the early stages - though you should have codes for a limp mode.
If it were mine, I would remap it with an EGR deletion, and possible a moderate power increase (Blend map), and I would think it would run a load better. Be aware there are legal penalties for being caught running no EGR valve,and possibly some insurance implications, so be happy with these first, but I think that would go a long way to solving these issues.
I've had experience with similar issues on a Sirocco.
It's also the reason I would never encourage anyone to take it for a software update if it's running OK.
If it were mine, I would remap it with an EGR deletion, and possible a moderate power increase (Blend map), and I would think it would run a load better. Be aware there are legal penalties for being caught running no EGR valve,and possibly some insurance implications, so be happy with these first, but I think that would go a long way to solving these issues.
I've had experience with similar issues on a Sirocco.
It's also the reason I would never encourage anyone to take it for a software update if it's running OK.
bearman68 said:
Auto sparks here. I would imagine they have worked the EGR harder (waits to be flamed), and it's the EGR starting to play up. Unlikely to get fault codes at the early stages - though you should have codes for a limp mode.
If it were mine, I would remap it with an EGR deletion, and possible a moderate power increase (Blend map), and I would think it would run a load better. Be aware there are legal penalties for being caught running no EGR valve,and possibly some insurance implications, so be happy with these first, but I think that would go a long way to solving these issues.
I've had experience with similar issues on a Sirocco.
It's also the reason I would never encourage anyone to take it for a software update if it's running OK.
I had the EGR Replaced literally the month before I had the the update done at £800, its not even 2 years old. I do approximately 12k Miles a year and next year with commuting should be more like 20k.... But when I bought it had only done 36000 Miles, nothing for a 4 nearly 5 year old car so was definitely clogged up from the previous owner. If it were mine, I would remap it with an EGR deletion, and possible a moderate power increase (Blend map), and I would think it would run a load better. Be aware there are legal penalties for being caught running no EGR valve,and possibly some insurance implications, so be happy with these first, but I think that would go a long way to solving these issues.
I've had experience with similar issues on a Sirocco.
It's also the reason I would never encourage anyone to take it for a software update if it's running OK.
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