Possible problem with car???

[Pintman]

Hello all,

Following an outing to Tesco, I got in the car to reverse out of my space and the car died on me.  Tried to start it but wouldn't fire up.  Considering I was between the space and the road, I had to put it in N (DSG box) and push it back in.  Anyway, tried to start it, but it wouldn't fire up.  Must have tried half a dozen times.  The engine turned over but wouldn't start.  Got the RAC card out to give them a call and thought I'd try it one more time and low and behold, it started. 

I thought it might be some crap in the system, so gave it a bit of a 'rag', but I am still a little worried.  It struggled to start again on Friday, but this time it did fire up.  I looked on the net, on here and other forums and people in similar situations had problems ranging from puel pump sender, fuel pump, ignition coils and ECU...... the list goes on.  I thought the best thing would be to go to a garage to run a diagnostic via VCDS to see if anything appeared, where the cheapest was £30 for the job. Have looked on the VAGCOM register but no one is in Bristol or close by as I don't want to drive too far.

The question I need to ask is has anyone had a similar situation?.  My car is an '06 MK5 GTi with DSG.
Another question is has anyone used an alternative to VAGCOM (VCDS) to get the error codes?.  The price of the cable at present is a bit expensive for me, so I am looking to an alternative rather than taking it to a garage.  An example of what I have found is at  http://www.gendan.co.uk/category_145.html


Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Cheers

[stealthwolf]

Do you have any warning lights?
Mine had the engine management light come on first. After that, when I drove, everything would cut out without warning. If I started it up and gave it some high revs, the engine worked for a bit longer but would still die if I tried to drive anywhere.  Ended up being the fuel pressure sensor which was a known problem. 

[Pintman]

Hi,

No lights came on or are on at present. I have put some injection cleaner into the fuel just to see if it helps. Also managed to get my hands on a vagcom cable, which will hopefully come next week. Should be able to run a diagnostic scan to see what, if anything, is wrong and go from there.

Just out of interest, was it much to replace the sensor?

Cheers

[stealthwolf]

Mine was under warranty. Not sure about costs/parts.

[Greeners]

Did you try putting it through all the gears in the box then trying to re-start. The car can somethimes get confused and 'think' it is still in 'D' and hence not start.

Did this once in my .:R and then realised the gear selector wasn't quite in place. 

[Pintman]

It might have been the case that it wouldn't start.  But I had to put it into Neutral to push it back into the space that I came out of.  Also, what is puzzling me is why the engine died while reversing?.  The only analogy I can put to it is it was like the car stalled and then couldn't start as the engine was flooded.

Very strange.  Hopefully the diagnostic scan will show up something.  Then again, if it is going to be expensive, lets hope that it is nothing!.

[Pintman]

Okay. After scanning with VCDS, the only error that came up was the following:

Address 01: Engine       
 

1 Fault Found:
012555 - Low Pressure Fuel regulation: Fuel Pressure Outside Specification 
               P310B - 002 - Lower Limit Exceeded - Intermittent
             Freeze Frame:
                    Fault Status: 00100010
                    Fault Priority: 0
                    Fault Frequency: 1
                    Mileage: 95412 km
                    Time Indication: 0
                    Date: 2000.00.00
                    Time: 12:27:02

             Freeze Frame:
                    RPM: 888 /min
                    Load: 34.1 %
                    Speed: 0.0 km/h
                    Temperature: 75.0°C
                    Temperature: 30.0°C
                    Absolute Pres.: 1010.0 mbar
                    Voltage: 14.351 V

Readiness: 0000 0000

Looking at the fault code, it says check fuel pump and/ or pressure.  Considering this has only happened once, is it something to be concerned about?.  Also, has anyone had there fuel pump changed?.  If so, roughly how much did it cost?.

Cheers in advance   

[stealthwolf]

On iPhone but have a look at my thread clicky

I narrowed it to either sensor or pump. Ended up being the sensor, which apparently is a common problem.

[Tarmac_Terrorist]

Wasn't there a warranty reflash of the ecu in conection with low fuel pressure. Mine is an 06 gti and I seem to recall that there might have been a dealer bulletin about this