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Author Topic: Limp-Home Mode (long post)  (Read 2034 times)

Offline oldrascal

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Limp-Home Mode (long post)
« on: August 14, 2012, 08:56:53 am »
Was on an outing yesterday into deepest Devon, about a 4 hour drive from 'chez moi'.  About 2 hours into the jouney, an articulated lorry carrying straw bales managed to pull-out of a farm into my path on a two-lane road.  Double lines and oncoming traffic kept me behind the truck for 5 or so miles whilst a blizzard of straw bits blew off the untarped load.  When I say blizazrd, the stuff filled the air enough to lower visibility. Grrrrr...........  But a brief bit of dual carriagway eventually saw me blast past the truck and into clear air at last.   That said, I had been keeping an eye on the water temp - probably an irrational thought but I had images of a blocked rad- but all seemed OK.  Until the next bit of open road that is.

When I tried to accelerate, the car only responded weakly with what felt like drastically reduced power and an unwilliness to rev.   Although no warning lights appeared, it felt like a typical 'limp-home' safety mode had kicked in.   All that I could imagine was that some straw bits had found their way into the air-filter and were restricting flow.   I pulled into the first laybye and opened the bonnet but there was nothing else to be seen apart from a few random straw bits wedged into nooks and crannies.

So I abandoned the trip and drove (slowly) back to the supplying dealer near my house.  To their credit, they took the car out for a test drive immediately but when the techie returned he said that the car was 'going like a train, guv".  I tried it myself and all was back to normal.  A restart of the engine seemed to have re-booted the system.  A quick VAGCOM later and a number of old faults popped up - nothing seemingly relevant though.  So they cleared them off and suggested driving normally for a few days then returning to see if any new faults had occured.   So dust across the MAF sensor perhaps?







Offline RedRobin

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Re: Limp-Home Mode (long post)
« Reply #1 on: August 14, 2012, 09:04:41 am »
.
Devon/Dorset is my neck of the woods and it is the season of harvesting with much straw loaded traffic on the roads - A time for extra care. Some tractors etc will pull off the road if they can and let a tailback clear, but not all are so considerate even though I think they are obliged to do so by law if the tailback exceeds a certain number of vehicles. Someone here might know the details.


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Offline oldrascal

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Re: Limp-Home Mode (long post)
« Reply #2 on: August 14, 2012, 10:35:04 am »
I have seen too many long, long queues behind tractors to believe that the old courtesy of pulling-in to let a line of cars pass is respected much these days.  I put it down to agricultural contractors or gang-masters using the cheapest labour (generally Eastern Europeans) and giving them strict time schedules to follow.  Its not like the old days when farmers did their own work.

But in my case, it was a 38 tonne artic with no name on the tractor unit (or else I would have been on to the owners) and a driverchatting on his mobile at max speed of 56mph.  I took the reg number but that's not a lot of use I suppose.

Offline RedRobin

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Re: Limp-Home Mode (long post)
« Reply #3 on: August 14, 2012, 11:18:34 am »
^^^^
Around here in the predominantly hilly areas of West Dorset / East Devon, the countryside has not been changed for centuries and farms and fields are still on a much smaller scale. Hence farmers generally are doing their own work and sometimes only hiring local folks to help out at harvesting.

I find that I come across the old courtesy of pulling-in about 3 or 4 times in every 10 but it depends of course on the nature of the road. I always hoot to acknowledge thanks and will stick a thumbs-up through my sunroof if practical. I also acknowledge tractors waiting for me to pass before pulling out from a side junction but perhaps they think I am travelling faster than I am. The worst are the old Dawsett farmers in a rust bucket 4x4 with sheepdog in the back who barely go faster than 35 mph and seem to hate everyone they don't know personally as a Grockle.


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Offline Tortaruga

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Re: Limp-Home Mode (long post)
« Reply #4 on: August 14, 2012, 11:36:39 am »
I always hoot to acknowledge thanks and will stick a thumbs-up through my sunroof if practical.

In Ireland we put our hazard lights on briefly to say thanks. Don't think you do that across the pond?
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Offline RedRobin

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Re: Limp-Home Mode (long post)
« Reply #5 on: August 14, 2012, 12:24:10 pm »

In Ireland we put our hazard lights on briefly to say thanks. Don't think you do that across the pond?


....Yes, we do that here - It's usually more easily seen just after you have passed a vehicle. A truck will do it when you let him out of his lane and he might also give you a thumbs-up as you go past, pedal to the metal! What goes around comes around. I use whichever is going to be seen more easily and if the circumstances allow it to be done safely - Waving a thumbs-up through the sunroof while you disappear through a hedge or down a ravine isn't exactly clever!


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Offline oldrascal

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Re: Limp-Home Mode (long post)
« Reply #6 on: August 14, 2012, 01:25:57 pm »
er...............much as I enjoy discussing traffic jams behind tractors, could I bring the thread back to my original question and search for an answer  :happy2:.........

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Re: Limp-Home Mode (long post)
« Reply #7 on: August 14, 2012, 01:28:01 pm »
Have you opened up the air box to check the contents

Offline RedRobin

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Re: Limp-Home Mode (long post)
« Reply #8 on: August 14, 2012, 02:24:57 pm »

er...............much as I enjoy discussing traffic jams behind tractors, could I bring the thread back to my original question and search for an answer  :happy2:.........


....Sorry  :ashamed: I thought that all was back to normal and I was just responding to your mention of tractors pulling-in. My apologies  :smiley:


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Offline Tortaruga

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Re: Limp-Home Mode (long post)
« Reply #9 on: August 14, 2012, 02:35:26 pm »
Have you opened up the air box to check the contents
+1. Just to see if your filter has been clogged a bit by straw.
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Offline oldrascal

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Re: Limp-Home Mode (long post)
« Reply #10 on: August 14, 2012, 03:43:06 pm »
The first thing that I did but the filter is as clean as a whistle, not a sign of muck.

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Re: Limp-Home Mode (long post)
« Reply #11 on: August 14, 2012, 03:44:03 pm »
The first thing that I did but the filter is as clean as a whistle, not a sign of muck.

Then your engine must like chewing Straw then  :signLOL: