Good morning, everyone. This is my first post here on the forum, and I regret to say it may be my last. This story may get a little long, so please bear with me.
We've had our 2009 TDI Jetta Sportwagen for a couple of years now, and we absolutely love it. Unfortunately, I have codes for the exhaust gas pressure sensor (P047C), my intake manifold runner position, low EGR flow, and an intermittent exhaust temperature sensor. I've read them with OBDWiz and the ScanTool cable (no VCDS), and because of the friendly "Engine Fault Workshop!" and flashing glow plug warning I had a dealer take a look. They threw in (among a lot of other "recommended" things, of course) that my DPF is at 189mL of ash load, and say that it should be replaced at 200mL. Total dealer repair bill was approaching $4k.
I can do the sensors myself and use the dieselgeek part to fix my runner position, and it'll only set me back about $200. The question I have here: how important is adjusting/calibrating the new sensors? I've read a few international forum posts where they say they didn't do it and faults cleared on their own with now issues, but all of the domestic (US) posts insist it must be done. Does anyone have a technical justification? My cable doesn't work with VCDS Lite, so the lowest level software package/cable combo is another $200 (unless anyone is in the Norfolk, VA area that could help me out? I didn't see anyone in the VCDS finder thread).
That leaves me with the EGR and the DPF ash load. There's pretty considerable soot buildup on the tailpipe, which has me slightly concerned that I could have a crack in my DPF core. Does anyone know where the 200mL limit came from? All of the other threads I've found say "we don't really know what the limit is yet." I just want to make sure the dealer didn't conveniently find out 5 minutes before I got there that the limit is only 10mL (and therefore about 10,000 miles) from where I am now. I'm no welder, but have a friend who is. I might attempt to cut it open and clean it myself. What's the worst that could happen? I botch the job, patch it up, limp to the dealer and sell it back under the emissions settlement.
That gets me to the biggest question of all. I'm going on vacation in a week - it'll be about 1000 miles of driving total, mostly on the interstate, with my wife and 1 year old in the car. Does anyone out there see any major issues with driving this car on a road trip like that? I can get sensors replaced and runner position corrected if necessary, but probably no VCDS adaptation. I hesitate to do them, though, because it feels silly to throw a few hundred bucks at the car when the DPF may push me to sell the car back to VW when we get back anyway (as of now, we can actually make money on the deal...).
Any thoughts or insights from those who have been this way before or have a good technical opinion would be most welcome and appreciated. Thanks everybody.
-Pete
2009 Exhaust Pressure/Temperature and the DPF
