For the past couple months my car has been going in to limp mode while driving, with the fault code: P0016. I haven't noticed any sort of pattern, as it seems to happen randomly. One minute it's driving fine, then all of a sudden the glow plug light starts flashing and I have almost no acceleration. If I turned the car off and back on again, sometimes it would go straight back in to limp mode, or sometimes it would be fine for a bit. But now it doesn't like to start either. If I let the car sit for a long time then it usually starts first time. But after I drive it and turn it off, it fires up and dies straight away with the glow plug light flashing (same fault code). According to live data, the camshaft speed is still showing a number even with the engine off 🤔 But the crankshaft speed is showing 0, which I assume is how it's supposed to be for both. So I'm lead to believe that the camshaft sensor is at fault. 

This is a job that I could do myself, but I believe the timing belt and everything has to come off to change the camshaft sensor on a CBAB engine, and it's not the right time of year to be doing a big job like that on the driveway. So I have it booked in on the 11th January to have the timing belt, water pump, and camshaft sensor done. I also have the parts to do the crankshaft sensor (will do it myself) at a later date, just for peace of mind. But does anybody else have any other suggestions of what the problem might be? It has a brand new battery which is less than a week old, and the alternator was replaced last year. The car is a 2009 Audi A3 (2.0 TDI).

Edited December 24, 20223 yr by Ca11um43

Sounds like you're on the right track. Might be worth getting the garage to check the condition of the bullets when you get the work done

On 12/30/2022 at 12:45 PM, Steve Q said:

 Might be worth getting the garage to check the condition of the bullets when you get the work done

Bullets? I guess this is a typo but I can not decypher it.

GET NEW ONE THESE  P0016 Crankshaft Position Camshaft Position Correlation Bank 1 Sensor A

13 minutes ago, cliffcoggin said:

Bullets? I guess this is a typo but I can not decypher it.

I can't seem to figure it out either 🤔

34 minutes ago, cliffcoggin said:

Bullets? I guess this is a typo but I can not decypher it.

The joys 😁 f auto correct 🤦‍♂️ should say pulleys. 

Thanks for bringing it to my attention. 

21 minutes ago, Ca11um43 said:

I can't seem to figure it out either 🤔

It should have said pulleys. Apologies 

Ah, that makes sense. I wondered briefly if you meant bullet connectors, but that they became obsolete years ago.

14 minutes ago, Steve Q said:

The joys 😁 f auto correct 🤦‍♂️ should say pulleys. 

Thanks for bringing it to my attention. 

It should have said pulleys. Apologies 

I assume (and hope) that he would check it all any way...But I'll mention it to him. I did remove the top of the timing belt cover the first time it wouldn't start. I believe it had a different fault code though (stupid me didn't take a picture before clearing it), and I also had a warning on the dash for the battery voltage being low. Even though the battery was absolutely fine 🤔 So I changed the battery and then it was fine until a couple weeks later. But any way, the cam gears and everything else I could see looked fine. 

 

The timing belt and water pump was done around 50,000 miles ago, so I don't think it needs a new one yet, but might as well do it while it's all apart having the camshaft sensor replaced. I'll do the crankshaft sensor at a later date.

Edited December 31, 20223 yr by Ca11um43

22 minutes ago, Ca11um43 said:

I assume (and hope) that he would check it all any way...But I'll mention it to him. I did remove the top of the timing belt cover the first time it wouldn't start. I believe it had a different fault code though (stupid me didn't take a picture before clearing it), and I also had a warning on the dash for the battery voltage being low. Even though the battery was absolutely fine 🤔 So I changed the battery and then it was fine until a couple weeks later. But any way, the cam gears and everything else I could see looked fine. 

 

The timing belt and water pump was done around 50,000 miles ago, so I don't think it needs a new one yet, but might as well do it while it's all apart having the camshaft sensor replaced. I'll do the crankshaft sensor at a later date.

That makes sense. And yep it should have been checked when Cambelt was fitted. However in the situation I had, the lower pulley became very loose due to the connecting parts wearing.