Whopperoni

Hi guys.

Gonna try to summarize my problems as short but as descriptive as possible.

Background:
Car has just switched over to 310k km, recently emptied DPF and had a stage 2 remap (pretty sure it's a generic file, and not specific for my car) done almost exactly one month ago.
Owned the car for just over 4 years and have serviced it well within its intervals. Fuel filter has been replaced about a year ago / not even 10k km's ago. A couple of weeks ago I filled the car up and put an injector cleaner bottle in it. I have since then filled it up (with diesel) once more, so it's currently not on any additives.
Battery is new:ish, as of two years ago. AGM 90ah, registered and confirmed coding for AGM charging and the correct ah's.

The problem:
When pulling out from a stop this weekend and giving it full gas it completely stalled on me. Did not restart until I pulled the key out and hit start again, then it fired right up.
Managed to recreate the problem once more before limping home with a very gentle foot on the gas.

Once home I read out fault codes with ISTA which read:
DDE: Injector Cylinders 1 to 6 (all 6) , activation
0047C7
0047B7
0047A7
004797
004787
004767

Cleared codes and went out for another drive to recreate problems. Same issue, and same codes.

Checked "smooth running controls" while idling, and the values were well within spec.
-0.4 -> 0.2 between all 6 injectors.
(OK - -5.0 to 4.0)

Figured it's either electrical related or stage 2 remap related, so I plugged the IBS back in (I drive without it in the winters due to the harsh climate here, and driving short trips + using the auxillary heater a lot) just to put that theory to rest.

Drove to my parents house which is about 20 minutes away, with zero hickups. Hard accelerations when cold or when warm gave me no issues at all. Put the trickle charger on it (c-tek, supply mode) just to make sure it's not battery related. Also checked the ground cable between the engine and body which was fine.

However afterwards when I was gonna head home, it stalled while in "P" and then once more while driving around 20 km/h to get out to the freeway. Decided to bring the car back to my parents. Tried unplugging the MAF which didn't help at all. Still stalled.

I haven't checked fault codes since the last trip yesterday, but I'm guessing it's still giving fault codes for all 6 injectors, "activation".

I've asked the tuner to put my original file back in just to rule that out, next step is gonna be to look over the connectors to the injectors because I highly doubt all injectors have gone bad at the same time. (I've had my comptuer and ISTA hooked up several times over the past few months, and never had a fuel related issue/fault code).

Although the car has been running fine for about a month with the stage 2 remap, is it possible this might be the culprit?
I've heard someone had a theory it might be fuel pump related, but shouldn't that throw a fault code for the common rail pressure instead of faulting all injectors?

Short of the stage 2 remap, I'm thinking it might be electrics related? One injector shorting out all the others? Where does one start to troubleshoot that?
Or does anyone here have any other theories?

Thanks.

donpb

What does your charge cycle histogram show? Is your battery AGM?

Whopperoni

I haven't checked the charge cycle histogram, but yes it's a fairly new 90ah AGM battery. Registered when swapped, and confirmed it's charging as an AGM and at the correct ah's. I also left the car on a c-tek charger just to rule out battery issues.

The only other car I've seen online with the same error codes is this one:

You Tube

This leads me more to believe that this is either wiring related or DME related. Gonna swing by the car today and go over the wires, and will also check for possible water intrusion near the DME.
If I have the time I will also hook up my computer and see what voltage the alternator is charging the battery at.

donpb

A charge cycle histogram is not a voltage verification (or load test).

I've had plenty of batteries fail charge cycle (or load test) while exhibiting proper battery and charge voltage.

Whopperoni

Thanks, I'll try that as well and will post results.

Whopperoni

Just got back from the car.
Initial scan with ISTA gave me the same fault codes as before on the injectors (since the car stalled on Saturday) with a bonus code this time: 00E714 (battery voltage, 0x3BE) faulty, receiver IHKA, transmitter DME-DDE. This went away after reset and never came back, so I'm not sure if that's a legit code or not. It showed up as "no" under "existent".

I pulled up details for 4767 (Injector, cylinder 1 activation) which said the following under "fault types": Fault currently not present. Short circuit to positive (positive side of a bank or negative side of a cylinder). Fault does not trigger a driver information at the moment.

I've wiggled all the injector connectors around a bit and didn't find any obvious loose connectors or see any damaged cables. I also lifted up the plastic underneath the cabin air filter and unscrewed the ECU/relay box cover which looked dry and well.

The "Energy diagnosis" (closest thing I could find to charge cycle histogram) said:
Battery condition: No fault found Vehicle battery is OK
* Current state of battery charge: 80.86%%
* Current startability limit: 37.50

State of charge for the past 5 days has been between 91.80% to 76.95%.

The one thing I found that *was* out of spec was the MAF.
Using ISTA, it showed:
Air mass target value: 412.1mg
Air mass actual value: 600.3mg
Not sure if thats enough to cause stalls? I have had (a week or two after the stage 2 tune) an iDrive notification for increased emissions and a yellow check engine light.

Checked rail pressure with ISTA as well:
Rail pressure target value: 374.5 bar
Rail pressure actual value: 373.6 bar

Idling I'm getting these values:
Battery is charging at 14,9v -> 15.0v which seems a bit high, but is within the limits for an AGM battery from what I've gathered?
(Setpoint 12.5V -> 15.0V)
Alternator load signal is at 42%
DDE System voltage: 14.8V -> 15.0V

Left the car running for about 30 minutes, and did a couple of hard revs and it didn't throw any codes or stall.

Gonna take it out for a drive on a couple of smaller roads this afternoon most likely.

Last time I filled it up I put a fuel injector cleaning product in it for the first time in my ownership. (I'm on another full tank of diesel without any added injector cleaner at the moment).
Surely that can't be the reason behind the injector activation codes, right?

Whopperoni

Went over all the cables and connectors yesterday as well as I could without taking off the intake manifold. No visible cable damage, and no loose connectors going from the injectors to the DME.
Took the car for a test drive, and I'm only getting it to stall when I'm giving it full gas again (as opposed to on Saturday when it died in park and then died when slowly driving along).
Fault codes are still reading "Injectors 1 to 6, activation - Short to ground positive".

If it isn't the stage 2 remap, I'm starting to suspect maybe the DME is starting to throw in the towel since it's all injectors.

Unless there is one injector that is completely crazy which sends back a shorted ground signal to the DME which in turn shorts the entire injector activation part of the module? Because I'm still unable to get the car to start if I just put it in park as soon as it happens. It'll just chug on the starter motor forever, until I pull the key out and I guess reset the DME.

I'm still hopeful that restoring the DME to the original map file will make these problems go away.

Whopperoni

Another theory:

Since I'm getting errors "activation injectors 1-6, short to ground positive", I inspected the ground strap between the engine and chassis. Definitely looks like it's seen better days, but looks to be intact even though it has some slight fraying and is pretty blue. Could this possibly be the culprit?
In case it is power related, that would also explain the "ghost" fault code I received previously I'm guessing? (00E714 Message (battery voltage, 0x3BE) faulty, receiver IHKA, transmitter DME-DDE)

Gonna see if my local parts store has a similar length and width ground cable and replace just in case, but would love to hear feedback on this theory.

Whopperoni

Ground strap between engine and body replaced. Didn't help, still getting the same codes. Cable had some slight fraying and was pretty blue but still very flexible and didn't fall apart in my hand. Still, nice to know it's been replaced.
I've left my car at the tuners place. He'll get around to reverting the software either Monday or Tuesday. Kinda hopeful this will solve the issue still.
If not, I guess my best bet is to start looking over injectors? Probably just gonna outsource that job to a shop if it comes to that.

Drove around today after replacing the ground strap, and it's now only stalling when I give full throttle again. With a bit of luck, I've just been driving too carefully for this to be noticed before. I had to do 15-20 hard pulls before it started cutting out (and then started cutting out more and more once the first "cut" happened).

Will keep updating here, and I'd appreciate any other feedback and theories.

seanjordan20

It's hard to say with a short to ground. I'm leaning towards a DME or injector issues. Short to ground is hard to pin on a tune especially if it starts happening when things get warmed up