Ok, just removed the radio there, something else i'm working on. started the van to check if she was still happy. She fired up first time but with fuel light on, even though half a tank, and best of all, smoke started to billow out from the double din where the radio was. Now feeling super happy, my obd2 cable dosnt want to work either, says van is not compatible... Class, I love it.

 

And a new funny one, the fuel guage works fine as the van pre heats, but about 20 sec after she starts up the cooling fan comes on ( even though the engine is cold ) and the fuel guage switches off, does the fuel guage going into empty position indicate a loss of power to the tank pump???
Ps, no smoke anymore???

 

Have you found the source of the smoke? That would indicate some serious loom damage somewhere......

 

On the smoke, my chinese obd cable which dosnt seem to work was plugged into the diagnostic port that time I started the van. The smoke was almost immediate so I killed the ignition, no smoke on subsequent startups. I've pulled off all the easily removable bits of dash and no sign of burning or melting, either its not that bad ( fingers crossed ) or its buried deep in behind the dash clocks, more likely.
Whats stranger is that their is another 2.5 130 at work, same year with similar problems. It started acting up about 2 months ago, fuel starvation issues. The mechanic has pretty much stripped out everything from the fuel tank to the injector pump, problem not sorted...Fuel guage not working either.
Does anyone know if the fuel pump/guage and the cooling fan share any common wiring, maybe under my seat, near the dodgey central locking thingy???

 

I've got similar problems with a van i'm looking at.

fault code read the dash and it says tank sender and ambient temp sensor on bumper open circuit.

the ambient sensor makes the cooling fans come on.

They share an earth wire but as far as i can tell looking at the diagrams it is just earthed back to the cluster.

I've read someone had a similar problem on a passat and just earthed the sensor earth wire out permanently and it cured it but i'd like to know what the real problem is.

 

Erm!!!

Have you anymore to update?

I had a similarly problem see post http://www.vwt4forum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=226265

Was running fine then stalled on reverse. Would not start but turned over ok.

Be great full for any advice.

T

 

Hi zmok, thanks for the reply. Where does the ambient temp sensor live, grounding that perm sounds like a good option.
Still didn't sort why van cut out, but its a start. I've had her on lots of local runs since with no problems - apart from the fan/gauge thing.

 

Maybe the short tricked the ECU to thinking the fuel rail was pressurised when it wasn't and starved itself of fuel?:*

 

Thanks wicked,
Its funny, she ran perfect all day today, startin fine, proper power. Fuel gushes Workin, no sign of cooling fan. Its a funny one for sure, couldn't be much wrong.

 

I dug out that ambient temp sensor this evening, its working fine. Dug out another sensor on bottom nearside of radiator, its fine also...gonna have to chase another ghost, any ideas guys and girls. Take out seats and pull up cab mat is next I think, check as much of the harness as I can under there...

 

She's in the garage, died right outside a local one today... Once they have a look at her I'll put more info up

 

Yo - Mechanic says, injector 5 is down - via diagnostic. Hence the van is a bit lumpy at low revs. The diesel in the fuel filer is like watery grey tea, fuel filer was changed 25k ish kilometers ago. And that I have an undiagnosed cambia fault code - P1855.
Action???
New filter, wash tank.
Check injector after that, change as necessary.
Fault code???
He had no opinion on the irregular fuel guage operation, or the continuous cooling fan operation - hopefully that's the fault code. Any ideas guys and girls???

 

Hi Guys and Girls, update on this post. All this turned out to be caused by a faulty ECU. I had mine replaced with a second hand reprogrammed unit. Running perfect ever since.