VW UK Action plan for EA 189 EU5 engines

[05surveyor]

To be honest I don't care too much about a slight difference in mpg.  My Greenline does 60mpg average, (yes, on the car computer which i accept may not be absolutely accurate), , sometimes up to 70 mpg on a run, and is £20 per year VED.  Fully comp insurance under £200 per year.  For me it's cheap motoring for a car plenty big enough to trasport me and the missus plus daughter and two teenagers complete with luggage.  I am now 70 years old and my days of driving sportily are well behind me.  I want comfort and economy from a car, and the Superb Greenline gives me that.

[Sad555]

QUOTE.      So the EA189 update was done on my car today.  On the 12 mile drive home I noticed no difference, but I will monitor performance and economy for a reasonable time.  Interestingly the service desk at my local Skoda agent told me that the people who are experiencing problems following the fix are those who have remapped their engines, either before or after the fix was done.  An interesting statement, is there anyone out there who has had problems following the fix but has never done a remap?  I will be watching tomorrow's Watchdog with interest!

In Germany VAG are paying owners the cost of having the remap re applied after the fix/fail.so never ever believe anything you hear from Vag employees they're only interested in themselfs not the customer.

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Edited 20 July, 2017 by Sad555

[CWARD]

Sounds like they are getting their excuses ready and blaming the customer with the remap excuse. Will be hard to prove that you haven't when they can just "Yes, you have. This bit of code is different" that could be anything from VCDS adjustment to activate cornering lights or a complete lie by VAG. The customer will have a hard to prove otherwise without expensive experts.

My brothers car wasn't remapped and now is gutless at low revs after the "fix". It struggles that badly to tow the caravan, which is what he'd bought it for, that they can no longer use it.  

[05surveyor]

C Ward, So what model/spec is your brother's car? I suspect not a Greenline because he probably wouldn't have chosen that for caravan towing in the first place.

[CWARD]

He has the Octavia Mk2 FL VRS estate. When he first bought I had the same car but hatchback and 6 months older. A week after he had his fixed, which he was only told about afterwards, he came round to see me as he thought he had a problem with the car. I took it for test drive and felt gutless from low revs up to 2500rpm. Doing the same loop (country roads with priority chicanes, T Junction and hills) with my car the difference was really noticeable where as before they was nothing between them other than a bit more body roll in the estate. We must have done 3-4 loops each in both cars back to back and each time the difference was there that his felt under powered, only when you got it over 2500rpm did they feel similar but this isn't were you drive a diesel car. 

[Sullyman]

Hi 05surveyor, I have done alot of miles, as I said 140k in 7 years.  I did 300 yesterday to Cornwall on business and back in one day.  I do keep a manual log of fuel so hence I do no my exact usage.  That suits me, whatever suits you - then fine.

As I said most of my limes is at the "wrong" revs for this fix.  The engine was not designed for this map and my extended warranty does not cover the 2 items that seem to fail - EGR value and DPF.  So I will not have the "fix"

Ta again re real world stuff.

[Sullyman]

CWARD, again ta for this real world stuff.  As I said in my previous post, I drive most of the time 1,500 to 2,500 revs and so as you say this is not why I bought my car.  BTW it is a VRS estate like your brothers and goes really well under 2,500 revs.  No fix for me!

[CWARD]

Touch wood he hasn't had any problems with the EGR or DPF yet other than a more frequent regens 

[05surveyor]

A question from someone with absolutely no technical knowledge of how a modern diesel engine works, and terms such as "EGR" and "DPF" etc. might as well be Greek to me!  How do you recognise when the engine is undergoing a "regen"?

Edited 20 July, 2017 by 05surveyor

[CWARD]

EGR. Exhaust Gas Recycling which puts tthrough some exhaust bank into the intake mainly to cool the combustion which creates less NOx emissions. The exhaust gases are very dirty an mixed with small amounts of oil you get in the intake from the turbo it creates a tar like gunk than jam the EGR valve which is either a dirty job to clean out or replace. Most garages just replace due to the time required to clean. 

 

DPF. Diesel Particulate Filter traps the soot and unburnt fuel in the exhaust to then burn off when it reaches operating temperature known as a regeneration. Most times you won't know it is happening but can monitor it through software like VCDS. The ECU can force a regen if it's not reached operating temperature, you will hear this as the engine fan will continue to run at full even when you switch off. 

DPF's eventually fail and very expensive to replace hence why more regents are bad news. 

 

With the EGR and DPF not being covered by the extended warranty people are worried that the fix can create future expensive repairs for these parts. 

[Sad555]

New extended warranty under SERVICE ACTION 236r EA189

[WaveyDavey]

They'll consider it...... And then say it's not related and just life expired then charge you £1500 or whatever for replacing it.....

 

[Sullyman]

I am also sceptical - "they will consider the complaint very seriously" then say no.  In my case my car has done 140k miles so I would not get the 2 year warranty.  From all I read then the "technical measure" does effect the engine.  On the BBC this week then had an A4 which had been rolling roaded before and after the "technical measure" and it was different to the owner and was only after very minimal mileage.

So again, I am not having the fix.

[S00perb]

22 hours ago, 05surveyor said:

C Ward, So what model/spec is your brother's car? I suspect not a Greenline because he probably wouldn't have chosen that for caravan towing in the first place.

I use my greenline superb 1.6 to tow a caravan (admittedly a smallish 2 berth one) but it has taken us over the French Alps twice (had a custom tune that increased torque and lowered consumption!). It never seems to be underpowered, very rarely had to go into 2nd gear up the steepest of hills (maybe twice). Constantly amazed at the ability of this car. There is NO WAY I am getting the VW fix/brick!!

Biggest problem with superb greenline towing is how low the car is - had to get a set of spring assists, raised the car a few inches at the back (French speed bumps can be a devil). The tow bar has to be fitted by adding a whole new rear bumper - but the whitter solution means you can remove the tow bar when not using it.

Edited 21 July, 2017 by S00perb

[RMurphy195]

8 hours ago, S00perb said:

I use my greenline superb 1.6 to tow a caravan (admittedly a smallish 2 berth one) but it has taken us over the French Alps twice (had a custom tune that increased torque and lowered consumption!). It never seems to be underpowered, very rarely had to go into 2nd gear up the steepest of hills (maybe twice). Constantly amazed at the ability of this car. There is NO WAY I am getting the VW fix/brick!!

Biggest problem with superb greenline towing is how low the car is - had to get a set of spring assists, raised the car a few inches at the back (French speed bumps can be a devil).

 

This car has, therefore, been remapped, and the suspension mods added means it may still bear the "Greenline" badge but is no longer to "Greenline" spec. It isn't a "greenline" any more.

[S00perb]

On 7/21/2017 at 19:09, RMurphy195 said:

 

This car has, therefore, been remapped, and the suspension mods added means it may still bear the "Greenline" badge but is no longer to "Greenline" spec. It isn't a "greenline" any more.

Shhhhhhhh..... we don't want any more emision scandals.........

[RMurphy195]

On 23/07/2017 at 00:02, S00perb said:

Shhhhhhhh..... we don't want any more emision scandals.........

 

Here's an interesting thought - up until March of this year the tax regime for vehicleswas dependent on the CO2 emissions - the lower the emissions the lower the tax.

 

Once a car has been remapped,and is no longer to specification, shouldn't that mean the VED should be re-checked?

 

After all, it's quite clear since the recent changes, where the sliding-scale has been pretty well abandoned in favour of maintaining the tax revenue, that one man's "cheat modification" is another man's cost. Like most things tax- and insurance - related?

[Sullyman]

Hi S00perb, if you have now had the fix, then I think this will over write your own remap.  So you may now have a "standard Superb" back in your pocession.  So whatever the remap cost has now gone, if I am right.  Anyone got a view??

[S00perb]

5 minutes ago, Sullyman said:

Hi S00perb, if you have now had the fix, then I think this will over write your own remap.  So you may now have a "standard Superb" back in your pocession.  So whatever the remap cost has now gone, if I am right.  Anyone got a view??

As I said " There is NO WAY I am getting the VW fix/brick!!".

I did a lot of research on how I wanted MY engine to perform. It uses less fuel and has torque exactly where I want it. I am not letting VW mess with it. It is MY engine.

As to tax, I will pay whatever I am asked for.

[Sullyman]

Hi S00perb, thought you had had the "fix".  Right if not then your own remap is still there and as you say does what you want it to do.  Re VED, I am relaxed as the VED is set when you buy the car and never changes as far as I know.

[S00perb]

1 minute ago, Sullyman said:

Hi S00perb, thought you had had the "fix".  Right if not then your own remap is still there and as you say does what you want it to do.  Re VED, I am relaxed as the VED is set when you buy the car and never changes as far as I know.

I am quite surprised the government doesn't jump on the fact that it is not as green as VW said it was and make us pay.

[Sullyman]

That's my belief, let's see if anyone else knows anything?  

Else the government would have a huge job getting everyone to advise re any remap or change - which does not happen.

[voxmagna]

2012 Yeti Tdi has been 'fixed' now 2 or 3 months. I'm not the regular driver but something caught my ear last week when I drove it.  Under load it makes the normal diesel engine sound but lift the accelerate a little to part load the engine and there's what sounds like top end rattle. I need to investigate further but I know it wasn't there before it was 'fixed'. 

 

On the issue of remaps I tried to get some questions answered but got nowhere. Remaps tend to be from stock files tested on ECU's pre-VW fix. What is the VW fix? has anybody compared ECU files before and after an ECU fix? If they have just modified the fuel mapping section of code a re-map should still work after a fix, but if they have altered other code then a stock remap file might be worse or not perform as expected?

[Sullyman]

Hi voxmagna, I was trying to assist S00perb and your comments add to that so thanks.  

I am not sure what S00perb had done, but now he can evaluate his changes.  Maybe he asks the provider will there be any impact if he does have the fix.  

What have other people found??

[S00perb]

28 minutes ago, Sullyman said:

Hi voxmagna, I was trying to assist S00perb and your comments add to that so thanks.  

I am not sure what S00perb had done, but now he can evaluate his changes.  Maybe he asks the provider will there be any impact if he does have the fix.  

What have other people found??

I know exactly what will happen:

1, They will overwrite my remap with their messed up 'fix'

2. My EGR will instantly bust

3. I will complain like mad and, maybe, get a bit back on the £900+ EGR replacement

4. The car will be underpowered and run like a dog

5. The car will use more fuel

 

I know No.2 for certain because the EGR was bust when I had the remap done - it's still bust but not in use now. The others I am guessing at, but why take the risk?

 

Personally I would recommend the EGR remap to anyone - more power, less fuel consumption and less cost than the EGR replacement.

If anyone is worried about the EGR hack/remap being a bad idea for the environment, think on this:

The EGR mealy reduces particle size, it can't make them magically disappear.

The smaller the particles, the lower in the lungs they can get to and settle.

The larger the particles the more chance they will never get to the most delicate area of the lungs.

Of course the fuel savings means less pollution in the first place.