P0444 Code After Evap Purge Control Valve Replacement

[promet]

I was having the, ' rough idle on initial cold start ' that a lot of A4 B6 owners on the forum seem to have had.

I was very consistently having various ' P03** ' misfire codes and the P0441 ( Evaporative Emission System Incorrect Purge Flow ) code in my 2004 A4 B6 1.8t Quattro.

I installed a new after-market Vacuum Control Purge Valve ( VCPV )

( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003SOJV3C...roduct_details ).

After this valve replacement all misfire codes and purge flow codes stopped occurring completely. Now though I have only a single code that triggers my CEL. The P0444 code ( Evaporative emission (EVAP) canister purge valve open circuit ), and the cold starts have improved noticeably, though not ' perfect'.

I've read a lot of vacuum system threads here and elsewhere. While there are a lot of good ideas and observations, I haven't seen a lot of people mention the vacuum check valve ( VCV ), ( ' pancake valve ' ) that, in my A4 B6, follows immediately inline from my VCPV.

Because of the disappearance of the previous codes, I don't think this code is occurring literally because of an electrical issue ( i.e. the new VCPV has changed opertaion, and therefore seems to be communicating electronically, and is not, itself, an ' open circuit ' ), but maybe that a weak or failed vacuum check valve is allowing ' blowback ' to and ' confusing ' the ECM's reading of the VCPV?

Just a theory of course but, again, haven't seen many thoughts on * this specific * observation.

I ordered a new VCV and will report back. Just wanted to throw this out there though.

If anyone has any thoughts, i'd appreciate it.

p.s. ordered some 1/4" general vacuum check valves, hoping these would be more robust than the plastic ' pancake style ' check valves

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0987C57SY...roduct_details

and would be curious if anyone has any good reasons why this might not be a good idea? For a regular noob it seems like a ' good ' idea, lol...

best,

[EuroxS4]

The best way to check the system is to clamp off the hose right before the n80 vale and run the test for evap I think its adaption or basic settings channel 70 or 71. If it passes with it clamped off before the n80 it means the system is airtight up to that point. If it fails it means you may have a issue with the lines or ldp pump and charcoal canister under the car. Most common is a crushed evap line at the passenger side fender under the car. People jack the cars up and crush that line all the time. I would also check the seal on the gas cap look at it with a light check for any cracks.

[promet]

hey,

thanks for the reply. these are all good observations, i appreciate it.

gas cap looks kosher. will check - to the best of my ability - the lines. the evap charcoal canister is on the ' short list ' already ( tank doesn't want to fill fully, ' gas ' smell after filling tank up to what it * will * take). i pretty well presume it's clogged/someone 'overtopped' the tank and sloshed some gas in there.

vacuum check valve was supposed to arrive today, but didn't, so that's not yet in. which will be the next step, may make little difference i suppose but, ' climb the cheapest mountain first ', i guess. thanks again for taking the time...

best,

[EuroxS4]

hey,

thanks for the reply. these are all good observations, i appreciate it.

gas cap looks kosher. will check - to the best of my ability - the lines. the evap charcoal canister is on the ' short list ' already ( tank doesn't want to fill fully, ' gas ' smell after filling tank up to what it * will * take). i pretty well presume it's clogged/someone 'overtopped' the tank and sloshed some gas in there.

vacuum check valve was supposed to arrive today, but didn't, so that's not yet in. which will be the next step, may make little difference i suppose but, ' climb the cheapest mountain first ', i guess. thanks again for taking the time...

best,

Not a problem. Most common failure point is charcoal canister if it wont take fuel to full. But checking coding in the cluster to make sure its coded for the correct sized fuel tank wont hurt either. Best way to check charcoal canister if it failed would be to compare by weight with a good known one. The one that's good will be lighter.

[old guy]

hey,

thanks for the reply. these are all good observations, i appreciate it.

gas cap looks kosher. will check - to the best of my ability - the lines. the evap charcoal canister is on the ' short list ' already ( tank doesn't want to fill fully, ' gas ' smell after filling tank up to what it * will * take). i pretty well presume it's clogged/someone 'overtopped' the tank and sloshed some gas in there.

vacuum check valve was supposed to arrive today, but didn't, so that's not yet in. which will be the next step, may make little difference i suppose but, ' climb the cheapest mountain first ', i guess. thanks again for taking the time...

best,

Clicky click

[promet]

GENERAL UPDATE:

replaced vacuum check valve that immediately follows my N80 ( VCPV ), and noticed that the previous owner ( i've only had this car for 3 months ) had neglected to clamp the forward end of this valve's vaccum tube insert point, which i corrected. sadly neither of these fixes corrected my P0444 code.

so on toward the canister and ldp end of things next. not sure when i'll get to this, as i have few tools, i.e. jack stands for getting to the charcoal canister with ease, etc. i will progress one way or another and update appropriately though.

best,

hey euroxs4,

thanks again. these are all

[promet]

hey old guy,

i love ' exhaustive ' explanations, so thanks very much for that! there is some good stuff to chew on there. seem to be angling toward a charcoal canister replacement which, probably a good idea anyway...

thanks guys!

[promet]

this thread though:

https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...ighlight=P0444

makes we want to re-examine my n80 valve electrical connection, as it is one of those ' dorman 911-800's ' with the kind of funky power connection adapter...

[promet]

hmmm... went out to try and purge my coolant today and car wont start. turns over, shows a weak rpm reading ( ~100 rpm ? ), gasps a little as if it want to catch, but doesn't.

checked all the fuses in the driver's side box just inside the door, all good. fuses in the ecu box also seem good. relays also ' look ' good.

even popped off the casing on the ' 219 ' relay and it looks good to me actually, though i'm no electrician.

code #p0444 persists, and now code #p0888 has cropped up suggesting perhaps that though it ' looked ' good to me, relay 219 may have failed, or perhaps it's wiring?

good news is it happened in my parking lot, right where i'd be tinkering with it, so, ' cold comfort ' there i guess.

also tried to prime the fuel rail by turning the key on and off, this initiates what i assume is some kind of ' priming ' sound in the center dash by the firewall. but the little black screw cap at the end of the rail when loosened shows zero fuel, not even a vapor smell.

i wonder if my n80 replacement may have had something to with this? Tempted to put the old part back on as a test.

i guess i will check power to the 219 relay socket tomorrow before buying a new relay.

at any rate, if anyone has any thoughts, it would be greatly appreciated...

[EuroxS4]

Most likely caused by low voltage charger battery and retry,

[promet]

thanks for the thought. just to be clear, you're suggesting low voltage is not ' triggering ' the 219 relay?

it's a new battery that had been doing well, but surely is a little tapped from the repeated turnover attempts.

this begs the question what was the initial low voltage cause to draw down from the new battery which had been at a nominal 12.6v (my phone charger in the cigarette lighter, which i remove when not in use, has a little circuit that reports this). it now reports only 11.6 though... 🤔️

[EuroxS4]

Most relays need at least 12v to latch properly. My suggestion is the fault and issue your having is most likely related to battery voltage drop or a other issue within the battery.

[promet]

thanks for that insight. i will factor this into my troubleshooting.

[promet]

okay, looks like electrical short has regained the lead in this troubleshoot.

disconnected a positive battery terminal and connected a multi-meter from the positive terminal to the positive battery cable lead. i believe all ' auxiliary ' draws are off, and there still seems to be a ~500ma draw from somewhere which is, of course, slowly draining the battery. Also now, more so with my occasional ' cranking checks '.

so, I'm charging the battery now to see if i can get it to turn over at operating voltage to try and rule out failed relays.

strategy for finding the short:

it's been suggested to me that i could leave the meter attached to the positive battery pole and lead, as per the above, and methodically pulling the fuses to see if any, when they're removed, will cause this current draw to drop to zero across the battery.

if anyone has any thoughts about this method, or suggestions about an improved method, or suggestions in general, i'd be happy to hear them.

onward and upward (probably, lol...) !

[EuroxS4]

Is there any water in this car?? Was the ebox opened up?? water is usually the #1 cause of draw, although I have seen the factory radios draw as well. As far as finding the draw by pulling the fuses goes that is the best approach if you ask me. The one thing I will mention is this. Once you pull the fuse and check the meter give it a few seconds before ruling out that circuit is not your issue. Acceptable draw on these cars is 0.030amps or 30miliamps. anything above that is considered a draw. Note it may take up to 20 minutes after locking the car for all the modules to go to sleep.

The only other things I would mention to check as possible way to short cut the draw diagnosis would be checking visors and wiring going to visors, seat switches if power seats installed, and any aftermarket accessories,radio.

[promet]

hey euroxs4, thanks for your time.

it's rained quite a bit this past week, but i can't see any ' standing water ' anywhere. though shortly after it rains i'm always surprised when opening doors and such where this body frame seems to pour out ' held water ', so i won't say there isn't a ' hidden puddle ' in there somewhere.

oh the ebox has def been opened up, mauled a little bit in fact, lol... but... it is dry as a bone in there, and unlike a lot of a4 b6 ebox images shows little if any moisture corrosion on the relays or their sockets. i even popped open the 219 relay to see if it was totally destroyed and it looked, frankly, pretty good; bright copper, spring good, solder good. i was surprised.

thanks for the suggestions, i will try to implement these to the best of my - very junior - electrician abilities. but even beyond my chops, i *always * like to know the ' minutiae ', helps to percolate solutions and learning so, much appreciated.

best,

[EuroxS4]

Not a problem, I have been around Audi's all my life and own 3 of these cars as well as a few other audi's . All I can do Is pass the knowledge onto others to help them get their car back on the road.

[promet]

[promet]

i was poking under the drivers seat and noticed a ' rockford fosgate ' - aftermarket premium audio company - wire running under there. also, there is a stray rca cable in the spare tire well, probably for a previously installed sub-woofer, is there some way to discern with the multi-meter if these are drawing current? or other good reason to imagine they might be?

i believe they are running under the carpet as well. do you know in the audi ' electrical scheme ' where these might be connected? would it be directly into the dash-radio module? there is also a finer guage loose wire dangling around there, lol... #theplotthicks...

[promet]

well, as it turns out it was the 219 ( J271 ) relay, ordered a new one from ecstuning, plugged it in and it started up immediately, seems to have improved my running engine battery voltage as well. thanks every one for your time and input!

now back to the lurking #P0444... lol... though my confidence is much improved... although i am now paranoid-ly suspicious of * every * relay in this bish 🤨️... lol!

[promet]

hey euroxs4, thanks for your time.

it's rained quite a bit this past week, but i can't see any ' standing water ' anywhere. though shortly after it rains i'm always surprised when opening doors and such where this body frame seems to pour out ' held water ', so i won't say there isn't a ' hidden puddle ' in there somewhere.

oh the ebox has def been opened up, mauled a little bit in fact, lol... but... it is dry as a bone in there, and unlike a lot of a4 b6 ebox images shows little if any moisture corrosion on the relays or their sockets. i even popped open the 219 relay to see if it was totally destroyed and it looked, frankly, pretty good; bright copper, spring good, solder good. i was surprised.

thanks for the suggestions, i will try to implement these to the best of my - very junior - electrician abilities. but even beyond my chops, i *always * like to know the ' minutiae ', helps to percolate solutions and learning so, much appreciated.

best,

just an update, i pulled all of my driver's dash side fuses with a multi-meter attached to the disconnected negative battery terminal and the negative cable terminal, to measure drain. i found sound mildy interesting anomalous readings there but was disappointed that i couldn't find anything to drop my drain current ( it was strongly wavering between 0.03 - 0.09 amps ).

before digging into the ecu box, and then the fuses and relays under the kick-panel, i thought i would take a closer look in the engine bay. i found long splits in the ground cable covers that go from my negative terminal right to the chassis beside the battery, and also the other battery-attached ground that goes down from the battery under the engine... somewhere... luckily this split was visible closer to the battery.

i patched these slits in the covers with run-of-the-mill electrical tape. that second split was * very * close to two black hard pipes that run along the passenger side of the engine block ( a4 b6 1.8t quattro ). i think this may have been bleeding current into those pipes. after the patch, the drain settled right down to the most stable 0.02 - 0.03 amps i have seen since i started checking. i'm gonna leave the battery connected tonight to ' stress test ' this diagnosis... 🤞️

[EuroxS4]

0.03 sounds right. As long as its not more than that id say your good to go. Glad you got it sorted.

[promet]

0.03 sounds right. As long as its not more than that id say your good to go. Glad you got it sorted.

from your mouth to the audi-gods ears! lol...

[promet]

ohhh, had to jump start again this morning. so... back to the drawing board, though i am a bit puzzled now. i will hook up the meter again this afternoon and look for something i missed.

also, i think i'll start a new thread re: parasitic battery drain. also, though it's only four months old, i am now suspicious of the battery itself also now...

[promet]

i have a failed alarm siren that i've read can draw current due to failed batteries in its internals. this seems like a good next step would you say?

[promet]

i have a failed alarm siren that i've read can draw current due to failed batteries in its internals. this seems like a good next step would you say?

the guts of my failed Audi MkII Auto Alarm siren, lol, you think this being attached to the circuit may be a drain? lol...

[EuroxS4]

That ting looks toast time to get another one.

[promet]

That ting looks toast time to get another one.

lol, quite... i am debating that though. i have never really been a ' theft siren ' guy, philosophically speaking, though i'm sure i'm in the minority on that...

QUICK OVERALL UPDATE:

so after removing the ultra-dead siren, i hoped for enough charge to start the car the next morning ( this morning ), but no dice. i was about to take the battery back to walmart as it's warrantied, but discovered i didn't have a ratchet extension to remove the battery retainer bolt, lol! ( may need this if i ever have to go after the camshaft position sensor anyway )

so, it was off to autozone first anyway, while there for ratchet extenders and other tidbits, i picked up a battery tester. since walmart was just going to test the battery anyway to prove the need for a warranty swap i just decided to do it myself, plus, a useful thing to have around...

the battery, to my surprise, actually exceeded its cca rating ( 760 cca ) on this meter's load tester, closer to 800. so that's made me feel like it's not the weakest link.

so i got out the battery charger ( rapidly accumulating quite a stock of auto maintenance equipment, lol! ), and topped it off. previously it'd taken 4.5 hours to charge this battery from 12.2V ' cold ' to full by the charger's reckoning. today though from 12.0V to full was only ~2.5 hours, which i also took as a sign of relative battery health ( maybe this battery is ' acclimating ' to this charger ? ) .

around this time another relay ( previously had replaced ' stock 219 ' ( J271 ) ) that i'd ordered arrived ( stock ' 395 ' - now ' 404 ' ( 7M0951253C ) ) a.k.a. ' Relay 5 ' in the ECU box diagram, which i now know as the ' Starter motor inhibitor switch relay '.

popped that guy in there, ( it's literally like 3 inches from the previous relay ) which makes me want to replace the ' 373 ' ( coolant fan sensor relay ) as well, and probably * every * relay in this car. at any rate, after a few false starts, got a strong ' punchy ' start, stronger i believe than the new ' 219 ( J271 ) ' engine control module ' relay did on it's own.

and now that i think about, it makes a lot of sense that these two relays are actually pretty interdependent. i'd also read that the starter motor relay could in some cases cause a battery drain condition as it fails bleeding current to the alternator when the car is off, and this is along the lines of my troubleshooting scheme.

so, once again, letting it sit with the battery connected overnight ( should get down to ~47F tonight ), and see if i can get a good cold start in the morning...

[promet]

lol, quite... i am debating that though. i have never really been a ' theft siren ' guy, philosophically speaking, though i'm sure i'm in the minority on that...

QUICK OVERALL UPDATE:

so after removing the ultra-dead siren, i hoped for enough charge to start the car the next morning ( this morning ), but no dice. i was about to take the battery back to walmart as it's warrantied, but discovered i didn't have a ratchet extension to remove the battery retainer bolt, lol! ( may need this if i ever have to go after the camshaft position sensor anyway )

so, it was off to autozone first anyway, while there for ratchet extenders and other tidbits, i picked up a battery tester. since walmart was just going to test the battery anyway to prove the need for a warranty swap i just decided to do it myself, plus, a useful thing to have around...

the battery, to my surprise, actually exceeded its cca rating ( 760 cca ) on this meter's load tester, closer to 800. so that's made me feel like it's not the weakest link.

so i got out the battery charger ( rapidly accumulating quite a stock of auto maintenance equipment, lol! ), and topped it off. previously it'd taken 4.5 hours to charge this battery from 12.2V ' cold ' to full by the charger's reckoning. today though from 12.0V to full was only ~2.5 hours, which i also took as a sign of relative battery health ( maybe this battery is ' acclimating ' to this charger ? ) .

around this time another relay ( previously had replaced ' stock 219 ' ( J271 ) ) that i'd ordered arrived ( stock ' 395 ' - now ' 404 ' ( 7M0951253C ) ) a.k.a. ' Relay 5 ' in the ECU box diagram, which i now know as the ' Starter motor inhibitor switch relay '.

popped that guy in there, ( it's literally like 3 inches from the previous relay ) which makes me want to replace the ' 373 ' ( coolant fan sensor relay ) as well, and probably * every * relay in this car. at any rate, after a few false starts, got a strong ' punchy ' start, stronger i believe than the new ' 219 ( J271 ) ' engine control module ' relay did on it's own.

and now that i think about, it makes a lot of sense that these two relays are actually pretty interdependent. i'd also read that the starter motor relay could in some cases cause a battery drain condition as it fails bleeding current to the alternator when the car is off, and this is along the lines of my troubleshooting scheme.

so, once again, letting it sit with the battery connected overnight ( should get down to ~47F tonight ), and see if i can get a good cold start in the morning...

Okay, it was rough, and took two attempts but it did start, after the cold night, which is great; making some progress.

Would definitely like to see a snappier turn over though, as it's about to get legit cold and I've got no garage or shop to do ' real ' work in. But, again, getting there...

[A4SoftWalker]

You're getting there. All the best

Are your starter wire connections solid?

[promet]

thank you so much, i appreciate your time, advice, and encouragement! when you say ' starter wires ' are you talking about the lead from the positive terminal of the battery down to the starter (i've never actually traced it), and the ground connection from the starter to... wherever... it is grounded? i actually don't know that either.

but this sounds like an excellent idea, cause that would def be an issue. am i approximating what you mean by ' starter wires ' in the above? i'm kind of a ' noob ' mechanic and sometimes need clarification on the ' lingo '.

but thanks again! much appreciated...

[promet]

Okay, it was rough, and took two attempts but it did start, after the cold night, which is great; making some progress.

Would definitely like to see a snappier turn over though, as it's about to get legit cold and I've got no garage or shop to do ' real ' work in. But, again, getting there...

Quick Update:

so after installing the ' 219 ( J271 ) ' engine control module ' relay, i decided to test battery drain again by leaving the battery connected for two days.

when trying to start on the second day, again got crank, no start condition. so it seems like a battery drain was persisting.

i got out the battery charger and topped it off. took off the negative battery cable, capped the terminal and left it to sit over night.

next morning, though the battery was fully charged, the engine cranked but would not turn over.

i decided to take the next step in my ' plan '. i pulled the driver's side ' kick plate ' panel under the steering wheel and installed a new fuel pump relay ( STOCK relay ‘ 167 ‘ - ( replacement part no. 191 906 383 C ) ).

cranked ' several ' times with no luck, was about to go grab the battery charger because of the voltage draw the cranks were causing, but decided to give it one more try. the engine roughly turned over and smoothed out at idle after a little gas.

i let it come to temp at idle. turned it off, and started it again, started up pretty easily.

also, i do believe that i was hearing a much stronger fuel pump 'priming'. also, it seems like i can now hear the fuel pump itself ( i hear people mentioning this in their fuel troubleshooting ). i don't recall hearing the pump itself so much as the ' under dash ' (behind the glove compartment) priming sounds.

the fuel pump now can be heard, quietly ' humming ' though now, almost like a cat's purr. i take this as a sign of improved pump operation? though i would like anyone's opinion on ' healthy ' fuel pump sounds. also, it seems like the accelerator is ' drawing ' rpm's from the engine more responsively, and that the rpms are a bit more aggressive. that is, it seems like my rpms are ~200-300 rpms higher at each ( middling gears at least ) gear change. so, if i'm right about that, it suggest to me a more robust fuel availability at the injectors?

also, i'd read in a few places a weak and failing fuel pump relay, may also be a culprit in parasitic battery drain, such as this comment on a troubleshooting site:

Can a fuel pump relay drain a battery?

If the relay has an internal short it may keep power fed to the ignition and fuel system, even when ignition cylinder is in another position, or the key is removed. This will cause the fuel pump and ignition components to remain powered on, drawing current, at all times, which will eventually lead to a dead battery.

so i am hoping that, not only is this another improvement to my fuel/ignition system adventure, due to relay replacement ( my progress has been directly related to three straight failed relays ), but that the replacement of these relays may also, simultaneously, be helping with my parasitic battery drain issue.

next step is to leave the battery connected over night, and see if it'll start in the morning without too much battery drain, and hopefully a healthy turn over.

also, when my ' fuel filter line pliers ' ( which i ordered because i'm paranoid about breaking the clips ) arrive, i will also be replacing the fuel filter...

<* fingers crossed *>

[promet]

Quick Update:

so, i've since replaced the alternator, as i was supposing that might be a drain on the battery as well, though i may have been wrong about that, glad anyway though as the car's power system seems more robust afterward, and this will 'baby' my battery more i'm sure.

but the crank no start condition persisted. for two days in a row though, basically out of frustration, lol... i kept cranking more than usual ( i am kind of paranoid about wearing out the starter ).

i noticed that with each round of cranking the engine was getting closer and closer to turning over, and once it finally started running, would quickly stabilize.

i had also been reading elsewhere about stuck fuel injectors causing this type of ' long crank / eventual start'. what i had was not a car that ' wouldn't start ', but a car going through ' a long struggle to start '.

when the key is turned on and the pump primes the fuel rail (a) stuck (open) injector(s) leaks fuel into the intake. this both causes ' flooded ' combustion areas, and weakened pressure in the rail.

so you have the engine trying to combust this, initially overly rich, but maybe declining, fuel delivery, and eventually it succeeds. it sputters to life and gives you a puff of pretty white smoke out of the tailpipes, lol...

so, i decided to replace the injectors. autozone didn't have any in-stock audi injectors, so while i was there i got some injector cleaner, new o-rings, some plastic automotive picks, and some white lithium grease. i later ordered some refurbished bosch injectors off e-bay, but was impatient and wanted to try something that day (yesterday).

i pulled all the injectors, hosed them down in a bucket with the cleaner and an old toothbrush, replaced all their o-rings, and lubed the o rings with the lithium grease. i also sprayed out all the electrical port/connectors with spray electronics cleaner.

i plugged them all back in and the car started on the first long crank (5 seconds maybe).

i let it sit overnight with the battery connected, and got a decent start again in this morning. this is making me think that injectors where a big part of my crank/no-start situation. though i am glad to have all these new parts, because i legitimately think there were issues there as well.

hopefully this will stabilize my no-start condition, so i can A) drive it, lol... and B) start screwing with other things. it's only been a day, but the prognosis is good...

ironically, for instance, none of this affected my #P0444 code at all, lol... so it looks like a charcoal evap canister, and or leak detection pump is the next stop at ' tune-up station '...

incidentally, i had already replaced the fuel filter, and i also took out and hosed down the mass air flow sensors with maf cleaner, hoping that'll also help the ecm deal with the newly cleaned injectors (and other ' maf-y ' things)

hope these long-winded exposes are of some help...

best,

[promet]

Not a problem. Most common failure point is charcoal canister if it wont take fuel to full. But checking coding in the cluster to make sure its coded for the correct sized fuel tank wont hurt either. Best way to check charcoal canister if it failed would be to compare by weight with a good known one. The one that's good will be lighter.

hey, after straightening out some other things, returning to this #p0444 issue.

when you mentioned:

" checking coding in the cluster to make sure its coded for the correct sized fuel tank wont hurt either. "

i don't understand how this is done. could you explain in a little more detail please?

Thanks!

[promet]

Just getting back into this Code P0444 (EVAP Purge Valve Circuit Is Open ).

So, to recap, i was having some P03XX codes ( misfire related codes ), and the P0444 code to begin with.

So, easy right? replace the N80 ( evap purge control valve ), which i did with this after market:

" Dorman 911-800 Vapor Canister Purge Valve Compatible with Select Models "
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003SOJV3C

now i had assumed this had helped, because my misfire codes immediately stopped and never returned after installing this part. the p0444 code persisted though, which i lost sight of because i was working on other problems.

now though i am very curious about this code. i inspected the wiring ( as you can see the part has a weird aftermarket clip in two-wire attachment unlike the oem part. ) and i can't see anything obvious.

before i start unwrapping the thermal wrap and or ordering a new oem N80, i thought i would ask you guys:

1) is there a way i could test the N80 connector and or the valve with a multimeter to see if they are faulty, and if so, what would i be looking for in terms of ' signal/feedback '

2) have you guys heard of aftermarket valves working ( i.e. eliminating misfires by, at least somewhat open and closing the valves ) but also maybe sending some kind of weak or wanky signal to the ecm that it doesn't recognize (assuming there is no audi wiring issue)

3) if i do have to go digging around under the thermal wraps, is there some ' nice ' replacement thermal wrap you guys recommend other than regular old electrical tape? i'd like to rewrap it with something more sturdy an functional if possible, similar to the fabric-like thermal wrap that i see in some parts of the engine compartment, which i assume is oem

my suspicion is that this thing is doing enough of it's job to purge the evap canister gases, but is also may sending ' bad signal/response ' to the ecm.

at any rate, just thought i'd ask before i started spending money and digging around. p0444 is my last code and i'd sure like to see the CEL go the hell off and stay off for a little while at least... lol...

best,

[promet]

Just getting back into this Code P0444 (EVAP Purge Valve Circuit Is Open ).

So, to recap, i was having some P03XX codes ( misfire related codes ), and the P0444 code to begin with.

So, easy right? replace the N80 ( evap purge control valve ), which i did with this after market:

" Dorman 911-800 Vapor Canister Purge Valve Compatible with Select Models "
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003SOJV3C

now i had assumed this had helped, because my misfire codes immediately stopped and never returned after installing this part. the p0444 code persisted though, which i lost sight of because i was working on other problems.

now though i am very curious about this code. i inspected the wiring ( as you can see the part has a weird aftermarket clip in two-wire attachment unlike the oem part. ) and i can't see anything obvious.

before i start unwrapping the thermal wrap and or ordering a new oem N80, i thought i would ask you guys:

1) is there a way i could test the N80 connector and or the valve with a multimeter to see if they are faulty, and if so, what would i be looking for in terms of ' signal/feedback '

2) have you guys heard of aftermarket valves working ( i.e. eliminating misfires by, at least somewhat open and closing the valves ) but also maybe sending some kind of weak or wanky signal to the ecm that it doesn't recognize (assuming there is no audi wiring issue)

3) if i do have to go digging around under the thermal wraps, is there some ' nice ' replacement thermal wrap you guys recommend other than regular old electrical tape? i'd like to rewrap it with something more sturdy an functional if possible, similar to the fabric-like thermal wrap that i see in some parts of the engine compartment, which i assume is oem

my suspicion is that this thing is doing enough of it's job to purge the evap canister gases, but is also may sending ' bad signal/response ' to the ecm.

at any rate, just thought i'd ask before i started spending money and digging around. p0444 is my last code and i'd sure like to see the CEL go the hell off and stay off for a little while at least... lol...

best,

Addendum:

found about four of these complaints ( picture attached ) amongst the 1% ratings for this part on amazon, so somewhat reaffirms the ' crap part ' theory, lol... ;)