Those Glow Plugs! "P2563 Turbocharger Boost Control Position Sensor Circuit"

[student91]

Hi all, hope you're doing well whoever may be reading this! I wanted the advice of your experiences, and add to the case studies - this is the closest complete entry I've seen.

 

Yesterday was plodding along nicely in my 2010 Fabia (1.6 Tdi), clocking up to 175k miles so a good advert for Skoda in general! (Bought at 90k 5 yrs ago.) Yesterday got those blasted glow plugs flashing, disappeared on turning on and off until driving for 5 mins or so. Today get the flashing more constantly + a temperamental EML light. I understand these to be non-specific especially as there's no difference in driving. Had one of the excellent chaps from the VCDS map run diagnostics which showed:

 

Quote

1 Fault Found:

7286 - Turbocharger Boost Control Position Sensor Circuit

          P2563 00 [167] - Implausible Signal

          MIL ON - Not Confirmed - Tested Since Memory Clear

 

I did the first thing anyone does and Googled it. Came across some useful looking things on here: http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/18995/P2563/009571 and this is really good: https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/p2563-obd-ii-trouble-code-turbocharger-boost-control-position-sensor-circuit-range-performance-by-jay-safford especially the "what repairs can fix this" bit, at least to my unprofessional eye.

 

(1) I don't know what a turbocharger actuator is but this word comes up when reading about it, and learned that TPS sell them for 170 incl VAT.

(2) I've booked into a garage for Thursday (earliest they could do) to have a look at the issue. Not sure what they're looking for, whether there's something to try, or replace the actuator, or if there's a sensor can be replaced... not sure.

 

Any wisdom from any of your experience and knowledge? You have all saved me a lot of time and stress and money in the past so am always grateful for thoughts.

Edited 17 September, 2018 by student91

[student91]

Just to confirm that since Monday, i.e. day 2 of the problem (when I started seeing EML), I am indeed in limp home mode! 

[Bertie90]

Has your car had the VW Emissions Update by any chance? 

[student91]

34 minutes ago, Bertie90 said:

Has your car had the VW Emissions Update by any chance? 

 

No. I feel (maybe erroneously) that if it ain't broke don't fix it. 

[Bertie90]

5 minutes ago, student91 said:

 

No. I feel (maybe erroneously) that if it ain't broke don't fix it. 

Good because they definitely break it. 

 

Not sure about the rest sorry.

[student91]

Took it to one indie today and they took a 5 min look under the hood and reckon the turbo is all carboned up and needs replacing and that the sensor is actually fine and so is the actuator. The number of £400 was thrown around. Said to try a fuel cleaner in the first instance. 

 

Edit - that's actually 400 for a non genuine part without labour. Another indie said similar thing and said the number £800!!! At 175k miles not sure it's worth it. Gonna try the cleaner thing. Tonnes of it. 

Edited 20 September, 2018 by student91

[student91]

Put some Wynns Diesel Turbo Cleaner in the tank and did a stretch on the motorway. I do feel the car isn't doing the jittery hesitation it sometimes does but maybe too early to see any difference.

 

Still EML and flashing glow plugs. No limp though. Drives fine. Current plan is to do this one more time (tank of premium diesel and turbo cleaner), reset fault codes and see if any difference. Might be deluding myself but anything short of £800 is better at this point. 

[MartinLM]

Hi. Did you fix the problem? If yes. How?

[Bertie90]

Don't know how fuel cleaner can clean carbon buildup. There's no fuel going to the turbo just exhaust gasses. 

 

Best thing to do is to take the turbo off, take it apart and carefully clean it.