Hi everyone, this is a good one... The CJAA common rail from 2011 through 2014 has a known TSB issued for intercooler icing during colder weather, where either chunks of ice, or water, will enter the combustion chamber upon start up and can cause a rough start or no start condition, and possibly damage to the engine. The supposed remedy from the TSB is a modified intercooler system which is supposed to alleviate this issue, but stories from others who have had symptoms and the fix has shown this to not be case.
Well, my car did have a rough start/stumbling a couple of times this winter, so a few weeks ago, I decided to see if I had any water sitting in the pipes. I removed both hot and cold side pipes that go to the intercooler, and didn't find any.
Except for today...
Last few days there was a cold snap where it dropped to between -5 to -10 celcius. I had just gotten my car from the body shop for some rust warranty yesterday, went to fire it up with no issues, drove home, parked it in a warmish garage (maybe 1-3 celcius), and well today, that first start did not end well. It fired up, and died within a second... I tried to crank it again for a split second and it was like the battery was dying, a tell-tale sign of intercooler icing. I went ahead to check the intercooler pipes, and in the picture below is what I collected. Bottle on the left is from the passenger hot air side, right bottle is from the drivers cold air side...
I towed the car to the vw dealer, as I still have the extended emissions warranty and from what i've read, this intercooler issue is covered as per the TSB, but I'm not sure what the dealer will/can do. I have read some have just gotten the intercooler update done and were on their way, but now begs the question, is the engine ok, did it bend a rod, or worse, hydrolock? Presumably without dismantling the engine, there's no way of knowing if a rod is bent, and if it's hydro locked, well then that one is pretty obvious as it won't turn over anymore
I will keep this thread updated as I find out what happens
Well, my car did have a rough start/stumbling a couple of times this winter, so a few weeks ago, I decided to see if I had any water sitting in the pipes. I removed both hot and cold side pipes that go to the intercooler, and didn't find any.
Except for today...
Last few days there was a cold snap where it dropped to between -5 to -10 celcius. I had just gotten my car from the body shop for some rust warranty yesterday, went to fire it up with no issues, drove home, parked it in a warmish garage (maybe 1-3 celcius), and well today, that first start did not end well. It fired up, and died within a second... I tried to crank it again for a split second and it was like the battery was dying, a tell-tale sign of intercooler icing. I went ahead to check the intercooler pipes, and in the picture below is what I collected. Bottle on the left is from the passenger hot air side, right bottle is from the drivers cold air side...
I towed the car to the vw dealer, as I still have the extended emissions warranty and from what i've read, this intercooler issue is covered as per the TSB, but I'm not sure what the dealer will/can do. I have read some have just gotten the intercooler update done and were on their way, but now begs the question, is the engine ok, did it bend a rod, or worse, hydrolock? Presumably without dismantling the engine, there's no way of knowing if a rod is bent, and if it's hydro locked, well then that one is pretty obvious as it won't turn over anymore
I will keep this thread updated as I find out what happens
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