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My new Lupo is broken 😔


loopydebs
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Sooo my gut instincts were right, she’s got a potentially big problem.

I was driving it and the glow plug light came on and she lost all power.

Had her recovered to my preferred garage.

At some point water has got into the ECU and the wire that connects the throttle pedal to the ECU has corroded causing an intermittent fault 😔

They cannot prove it was there before I bought the car from the eBay seller.

My garage have cleaned it all up and it hasn’t reoccurred. They’ve advised I drive it around over Easter and see how it goes.

If it’s not fixed then I need to recondition my ECU or buy a new one.

They say they’ve come across this only twice before and only successfully fixed one of them.

She is in beautiful condition otherwise.

Deciding if I should keep her or not 😔🚗💨🤷‍♀️

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All cars go wrong. It's just a machine.

The more faults that are fixed, the more reliable and better the car will be. :)

ECUs rarely go wrong and wiring faults are the biggest problems on all modern cars, so once fixed, you should be fine. Usually it's pretty obvious where the cause of the fault originated when you pull a car to bits to fix it. Worth asking for their opinion what the cause may have been. Source of the leak and corroded wire? Sometimes it's a rare manufacturing fault that has been festering for years and decides to fail just at the wrong time, but more often it's "expert" mechanics that do the most damage. You go in to fix the car and immediately it becomes very obvious that some grease monkey has been in there before and completely messed everything up. And now it needs fixing... properly.

When my clients bring their cars in and I find a grease monkey problem, I always take pics to show them what caused it. And then again once fixed properly.

You'll be fine. Just enjoy the car...

Edited by mk2
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@mk2 source of leak is rain through from the dashboard where it is on the car. The car is completely rust free otherwise so am hoping it’s superficial and not massively rotten inside.

sending the ecu off for inspection, should hear back next week.

@Skezza yes you’re quite right, I am definitely panicking! Car wasn’t cheap, damage to the ecu is a concern.

I can’t afford to break down on my way to work, I can’t deal with the stress and I can’t fix it myself, it’s all money 😔

 

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7 minutes ago, loopydebs said:

@mk2 source of leak is rain through from the dashboard where it is on the car. The car is completely rust free otherwise so am hoping it’s superficial and not massively rotten inside.

sending the ecu off for inspection, should hear back next week.

@Skezza yes you’re quite right, I am definitely panicking! Car wasn’t cheap, damage to the ecu is a concern.

I can’t afford to break down on my way to work, I can’t deal with the stress and I can’t fix it myself, it’s all money 😔

 

The ECU's are pretty tough :) Trust me.

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i bought a spare ecu to mess with and the loom plugs as well. Car had been standing ages in the weather with no bonnet and the wiring at ecu plugs was all stiff and corroded when i was making my bench harness. ECU was fine. The plugs have seals on and unless it has been under water or else previously opened I doubt there will be a problem with it due to water.

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If water had gotten into the ECU you would really know about it.

A lot more than a throttle problem.

I'd replace a wiring loom before I would replace an ECU and even then I wouldn't do that.

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Why throw money at a problem that hasnt been confirmed yet? Get a 2nd opinion.

You can buy TDi ecus for £15 that would need a bit of effort to make work or get a remapped ecu with immo off on ebay for about £75. Even then it is doubtful you need one.

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Make sure the drain holes are clear on either side of where the ECU is located. Blocked drain holes will be the only reason that the ECU has been waterlogged.

RAB

 

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@loopydebs , if you haven't 100% committed with that overpriced ECU service, back out. There'll be someother small mechanic's place in your area that specialises in vdubs. They'll provide you with a much better service, and may actually know what's going on. And they'll plug in their diagnostics for a quick look for FREE. It takes two minutes to get the info from the car's computer. Please please look around. I hate seeing people getting ripped off!

Anyone else here know any decent vdub/audi enthusiasts in Norfolk area?

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I am so grateful for all of your help and suggestions on this!

The garage she’s at has looked after all my cars for 15 years and I’ve always been happy with them. 

They’ve shown me the corrosion which is on three of the ECU tiny connectors.

The codes that it came up with are:

17978- engine start blocked by immobiliser P1570-35-00 which he says is nothing to be concerned about.

18047- accelerator position sensor 1/2 (G79/G185) P1639 -35-10 - implausible signal - intermittent

readiness: 0 0 0 0 0

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Update:

the 2 places my garage usually use won’t look at my ecu because of the water ingress/age of car.

Of the 2 other places they found 1 had 80% bad reviews so they decided against them, the other is called ECU testing. I’ve just spent time looking through their reviews and they’re a bit hit and miss. They’ve quoted £60 to look at it and £220-250 to repair it if required.

Does anyone have any ECU checking/repairing companies they would recommend? Or any experience of ECU testing?

I’m sticking to this plan as I trust my mechanic and I will undoubtedly need him in the future! 😂

They say the wiring loom is sortable if need be but it looks ok so am hopeful on that aspect.

I thought low mileage would be a good thing but it’s not all it turned out to be!

thanks all xx

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Only tip I can offer is... a lot of people who chip cars are cowboys (as in the people you take your car/ECU to). But, one thing they generally are good at is electrical work and are usually quite good at recognising ECU faults. They spend many hours attempting to repair ECUs they've just accidentally broken while trying to change the software- so they don't need to shell out buying a brand new ECU! So IMHO, phone a few local 'tuners' and see what they have to say... :)

Often cheap too. If they sound like dodgy gangstas, they'd be the ones I'd pick. Not sure if they had a scouser accent though. My last thought is, again, it is unlikely to be the ECU at fault.

Edited by mk2
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So you are happy to throw hundreds at a problem that probably doesnt exist to save face with your usual mechanic and keep him sweet? All that will prove to him is how easy you are at being manipulated into parting with money.

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@Sausage , not everyone is tech/auto mech savvy and they are completely at the mercy of others to keep their cars on the road. It does make me wonder though,  how you get many people who love to own really old classic cars, yet know very little about them. There is definitely some conflict between people's ability and their love for their car. You have to be able to trust someone.

And the trouble nowadays is so few people are getting "into" cars because the amount of knowledge needed. In the past ignition systems were mechanical and it was pretty obvious if something went wrong, and how to fix it. Same for fuelling. A car was a simple piece of machinery compared to the spaceships you get now. I also think it's the reason so many new cars are not as reliable as they used to be because the teams that design stuff don't have the "wisdom" that some of us on here have.... :)

 

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Personally, I would have been taking this back to the seller asap if it happened very soon after purchase and come to an agreement or returned the car if I thought it had a problem needing £100s spent on it that hadnt been disclosed. He was probably trade anyway.

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