B8.5 Ultracharged engine stall, fault codes 16903, 11010

[Mobileguy]

After a ~60 mile drive at highway speed (85mph) at about 95F for most of the time, I experienced my first significant engine problem. I stopped at a store close to home to pick up some groceries and when I exited the parking lot, my engine stalled and the EPC warning light came on. There wasn't any limp mode, the car simply went from running to stuttering to off. I had to re-start several times (took about a minute each time for the engine to start up again) and sort of limped home for the last two miles with the engine shutting off several more times. I plugged in my Carista and ODB Fault codes 16903, 11010 and 02305 came up. Tried to Google it but nothing... I assume heat soak since my p3 gauge showed ~165F for pre supercharger coolant temp. Any ideas what these fault codes may be?

[yjypm]

Carista sometimes gives some codes that are just random numbers. I'd suggest you find a shop that has vagcom to look up the codes.
Does the car still drives normal after it cools down?

[Mobileguy]

[Mobileguy]

Carista sometimes gives some codes that are just random numbers. I'd suggest you find a shop that has vagcom to look up the codes.
Does the car still drives normal after it cools down?

Not sure, I parked it to let it cool down. Not thrilled with Carista at this point. Even less thrilled with the car crapping out on me for no apparent reason...

[KnewJack]

Check the TPS plug. I've heard there are some connection issues on earlier build UC.

[nomis88]

Check the TPS plug. I've heard there are some connection issues on earlier build UC.

This. My connection had come loose twice causing the exact issue. Replug it back in and clear the codes and hopefully you will be good to go

[Mobileguy]

That does not seem to be the issue - just checked the connectors and both were tight fits...

[Loe]

since you have a bluetooth dongle, try another app like Torque app to read codes.

[Mobileguy]

since you have a bluetooth dongle, try another app like Torque app to read codes.

I just drove the car and everything seemed normal - I read out codes on carista again and they are gone *BUT* it now shows a "Not Ready" for emissions. I also have ODB Fusion and remember that it did not produce any codes yesterday but showed a cross (fail) symbol for Fuel System and Catalyst. I just run it again and it now shows a "not ready for emissions testing" with several fail symbols - see screen shots

[cspcrx]

Is it possible the cats are failing, would be the first ultra car to have cats fail. Member here in Phoenix had them fail.

[Mobileguy]

Is it possible the cats are failing, would be the first ultra car to have cats fail. Member here in Phoenix had them fail.

Well, that is my concern as well... interesting thing is that I have never pushed the car over any kind of distance ever, especially not in any hot climate (I'm in Cali and unfortunately the German autobahn is ~5,000 miles away...). With the initial apr tune and after the larger throttle body was installed (i hate to use their stupid *ultracharger* marketing therm) I went WOT maybe 5 to 6 times in mostly cold weather and only for short periods (<10 sec) at a time. Whenever I pushed it, it was for the extra power kick. If that alone is enough to kill a cat, APR has more than just a PR Problem...

[Acejam]

Well, that is my concern as well... interesting thing is that I have never pushed the car over any kind of distance ever, especially not in any hot climate (I'm in Cali and unfortunately the German autobahn is ~5,000 miles away...). With the initial apr tune and after the larger throttle body was installed (i hate to use their stupid *ultracharger* marketing therm) I went WOT maybe 5 to 6 times in mostly cold weather and only for short periods (<10 sec) at a time. Whenever I pushed it, it was for the extra power kick. If that alone is enough to kill a cat, APR has more than just a PR Problem...

APR clearly states that they do not

recommend use of the factory catalyst.

I hate to be blunt and feel for your situation, but it's not their problem you didn't take their recommendations into account.

http://www.goapr.com/products/throttle_body_30tfsi.html

[Thurston]

Doesn't apr advice the removal of factory cats at stage 1 levels as well? we have seen factory cats fail on stock 3.0t's prior to vw/audi's "ecm update" so i wouldn't feel to bad but yea you may want to contact evan doel about test pipes.

[Mobileguy]

APR clearly states that they do not I hate to be blunt and feel for your situation, but it's not their problem you didn't take their recommendations into account.

http://www.goapr.com/products/throttle_body_30tfsi.html

I realize that removing cats is their recommendation but I disagree that it is not "their problem" if this turns out to be a broader issue. As per my earlier post, I have not been pushing the car at all and if that is all it takes to blow your cats, they should not call it a "recommendation" but a clear "requirement". In any event, at this point all of this is speculation because if my cats are in fact failing - it could just be because I am that unlucky guy whose cats would have failed anyway... I guess we will see over the next year how many others have problems with their cats on an ultracharged car.

[cspcrx]

I know of two others already, oddly both in Arizona where heat is already an issue. Adding more heat with a 187mm DP only increases that even more. I agree these cars have had failures totally stock so it is tough to say what the actual cause is. Seems these are poorly positioned in the exhaust system.

[Acejam]

I realize that removing cats is their recommendation but I disagree that it is not "their problem" if this turns out to be a broader issue. As per my earlier post, I have not been pushing the car at all and if that is all it takes to blow your cats, they should not call it a "recommendation" but a clear "requirement". In any event, at this point all of this is speculation because if my cats are in fact failing - it could just be because I am that unlucky guy whose cats would have failed anyway... I guess we will see over the next year how many others have problems with their cats on an ultracharged car.

It's likely not a requirement because the car will function with stock cats. But when pushed hard, they have the potential to fail.

A requirement would entail something that is, well, required. For example, the APR Ultracharger tune is required in order for your car to start after installing the throttle body. If you don't flash that UC map, the car will fail to start, therefore it's required. An inverse example might be: you can run the stock ECU map with an aftermarket supercharger pulley installed. The aftermarket map is not required in order for the car to run, but why wouldn't you flash it?

I'm pretty sure you signed something when you had this setup installed as well, acknowledging the risks and confirming you were aware of the requirements and recommendations. I know I had to sign something when I was flashed with APR software.

From APR's view, they released all these updates and said "Hey this stuff works, but we strongly recommend that you don't run it with factory cats". Everyone then said "Ok, got it, but I'll try it anyways.". Fast forward a few months, and people are magically dumbfounded that their cats are suddenly failing, blaming APR. We can argue about the semantics of "required" vs "recommended" all day, but the fact is they told everyone up front.

I know there have been a few cases of cats failing recently, some on Ultracharged cars and some not. As Thurston pointed out above, even stock cars have had cats fail. It is an unfortunate position to be in, but it comes with the territory, and a quick call to Evan Doel for some test pipes should fix things up rather quickly for you.

When you're pushing 500hp on a tuned car, you gotta pay to play.

[Loe]

I wouldn't worry about the OBD readiness, it takes a few cycles to completely show "ready"...

[thegoldentheory]

Hi, I know this is four years later. I had the epc light come on in my car and I got that same 11010 fault code with no tracing available. Did you ever figure out what the issue was? My car isn’t stalling and appears to be at full power and runs perfectly fine but the light still turns on and it’s worrying me. Thanks.