Exhaust Gas Temperature Sensor Bypassed?

MarkR

2007 Skoda Octavia VRS diesel. I've had error messages on the display in regard to this, and bought a new sensor from skoda and went to have it fitted today.

When they went to swap them, they noted the old block connector was taped up, and a resistor was in place where the connectors should have met.

I was all for taking out the resistor, putting either the old one back, and testing it, or at the least putting on the new one as a precaution.

Garage (VW dealership in Limerick) were hesitant to do this, in case it caused further faults (meh.) or damage (uh oh..)

Garage was wondering had it been chipped or something, and recommended I try to contact who may have done the work on the car. While I do have some service history, it doesn't mention arsing around with sticky tape!

Anyone any ideas what the purpose of this might have been?

Eric Cartman

If your car has a DPF it could be there to trick the engine into regenerating the dpf below temperature , could also be done as part of a DPF delete (if applicable) , Id just go with sticking the new sensor in and seeing what happens.

MarkR

Eric Cartman wrote: »

If your car has a DPF it could be there to trick the engine into regenerating the dpf below temperature , could also be done as part of a DPF delete (if applicable) , Id just go with sticking the new sensor in and seeing what happens.

Has a dpf all right. Way garage was talking, you'd swear I was talking about playing Russian roulette, asking them to replace the old taped off one - without knowing why it was taped off.

My thinking is, its only a sensor, and it mustn't have been doing anything in its current state. I might get a error, but it can't damage anything?

Eric Cartman

MarkR wrote: »

Has a dpf all right. Way garage was talking, you'd swear I was talking about playing Russian roulette, asking them to replace the old taped off one - without knowing why it was taped off.

My thinking is, its only a sensor, and it mustn't have been doing anything in its current state. I might get a error, but it can't damage anything?

I wouldn't imagine it would do anything, that's provided nothing else has been modified, if anything a resistor taped there would do more harm, put the sensor back in, take it on a drive for 20-25 mins and drive it hard to get it up to temperature, then see if any errors come up.

MarkR

Booked in at my indy's to get it done Thursday. I've given 70 for a diagnostic, and then 110 for them to scratch their heads and wonder why the resistor was there. They reckoned another 150-180 to fit the part I bought from them for 200!

I had gone their for convenience (close to work) but I'll stick with my regular guy.

Nissan doctor

MarkR wrote: »

Booked in at my indy's to get it done Thursday. I've given 70 for a diagnostic, and then 110 for them to scratch their heads and wonder why the resistor was there. They reckoned another 150-180 to fit the part I bought from them for 200!

I had gone their for convenience (close to work) but I'll stick with my regular guy.

Very likely that its had a re-map or a DPF delete. Not an overly professional job though if the sensor plug is just taped up.

MarkR

I had thought that maybe it was because of the cost of a replacement sensor (€200).

Never noticed any smoke from the car, which I thought would be noticeable after a removal? I haven't enough experience of vrs's to say whether it's been remapped.

Anything obvious that my mechanic should look out for? He does have all that vag software, so scanning shouldn't be an issue. I've actually got a printout from a scan he did when he did a service for me a few months back at home somewhere.

If it does start throwing up dpf errors, I'll have to consider a dpf removal. Any recommendations around Limerick, or is it all up the the big schmoke?

Eric Cartman

MarkR wrote: »

I had thought that maybe it was because of the cost of a replacement sensor (€200).

Never noticed any smoke from the car, which I thought would be noticeable after a removal? I haven't enough experience of vrs's to say whether it's been remapped.

Anything obvious that my mechanic should look out for? He does have all that vag software, so scanning shouldn't be an issue. I've actually got a printout from a scan he did when he did a service for me a few months back at home somewhere.

If it does start throwing up dpf errors, I'll have to consider a dpf removal. Any recommendations around Limerick, or is it all up the the big schmoke?

if he has all the vag software he should be able to flash the ecu back to stock anyway, it will undo any remap/dpf delete but means the sensor will work correctly and take out any chance of a computer error in there.

MarkR

So far, so good. It looks like the resistor was on the exhaust gas temperature sensor to fool the car into thinking it was at full operating temperature, and to allow more fuel to pass through.

So a failed 20c resistor has so far cost me about 400. I should be able to return the sensor (I hope) and my indy is only charging a diagnostic fee.

Resistor has been taken out, and sensor attached. He's taking it for a long spin to see if there are any issues.