Water Injection Troubleshooting/Testing (water not being consumed)

[daveishi]

Originally Posted by Prodrive_X

03/2018 update, with esys, never go to the dealer

I'm surprised your software was out of date that long, makes me wonder whether mine is as well although the PO took it to a dealer right before I purchased it because the battery had died.

Very interested to hear if that fixed your water injection. I'll have to get into e-sys and check my software as well, and I think I'm going to replace the filter again even though it hasn't used any water since the last time I replaced it a few thousand miles ago.

[Track/S]

Originally Posted by daveishi

I'm surprised your software was out of date that long, makes me wonder whether mine is as well although the PO took it to a dealer right before I purchased it because the battery had died.

Very interested to hear if that fixed your water injection. I'll have to get into e-sys and check my software as well, and I think I'm going to replace the filter again even though it hasn't used any water since the last time I replaced it a few thousand miles ago.

Mine only has 5k miles.
I did not put newer software to avoid losing the mapping by obd.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by Prodrive_X

03/2018 update, with esys, never go to the dealer

Very interesting!
It's nice to see another Spaniard on the forum!

[Track/S]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

Very interesting!
It's nice to see another Spaniard on the forum!

[daveishi]

Wanted to provide an update as it may help others with a similar issue. As noted previously my car hasn't been consuming water, thus I haven't checked the filter again since I first changed it out because I figured there was no reason to since water wasn't going through it, well was I wrong.

It's worth noting that when I changed the filter when I first purchased the car (Oct 2021) the filter I took out still looked like new with 0 visible entertainments. Last Friday I decided to check the filter prior to heading to the track that weekend and upon removing WOW was I amazed by the amount of calcification accumulated around it. I am mostly amazed because I checked the water and still no visible consumption, but just look at the picture I took below. I am embarrassed to show the filter in that condition given I am meticulous about maintenance- doing oil analysis after every oil change every 1k miles or so, etc, but I share because it's a good reminder to check even if your car doesn't seem to be using water.

I was very excited to head to the track and so I checked the power gauge once on the way (oops) and also in the morning and it was reading above the middle line so likely around 30-40 hp more than before and should be right around 500. I didn't check the levels throughout the weekend however upon arriving back home I decided to check the filter again, and yet AGAIN it had accumulated calcium (or whatever it is) but not nearly as much as before, however the odd part is it seems to have used almost no water again, perhaps it was an imperceptible amount.

Anyway all of this to say my theory is that there is build up within the lines and/or the injection block and each time I put a new filter in and hammer the throttle a bit of old water and contaminants gets injected and clogs up the filter. I don't know the prior owner since I bought it through a broker and thus am not sure what type of water he may have put into the tank, I've only topped it off using distilled of course but maybe I should have purged it when I first bought it, or perhaps the build up is from sitting unused prior to me purchasing it, no way to know unless others have any insight?

[SYT_Shadow]

Incredible. I've changed mine once but it looked nothing like that!!!

Keep replacing them. Someone must have put normal water in the system

[Gomeler]

Agreed, that is absurd. It's a real shame that filter element is so damn tiny. Ze Germans made a maintenance mistake there IMO.

[NSX2M4]

Serious question as I’m not familiar with the GTS but I like learning about it.
Can’t you guys just use distilled water in these systems to cut down on deposit build up?

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by NSX2M4

Serious question as I’m not familiar with the GTS but I like learning about it.
Can’t you guys just use distilled water in these systems to cut down on deposit build up?

The system only takes distilled water, but when you buy used cars you never know which kind of animal owned the car originally

Even with distilled water there is still some buildup, but it's minimal.

[daveishi]

Originally Posted by Gomeler

Agreed, that is absurd. It's a real shame that filter element is so damn tiny. Ze Germans made a maintenance mistake there IMO.

Yea would be nice if it was bigger, but all of the hoses in that injection block ae tiny so maybe something to do with maintaining pressure, I don't know, I'm not an engineer. However I am glad it seems to be catching everything, I prefer that over the block getting clogged up.

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

The system only takes distilled water, but when you buy used cars you never know which kind of animal owned the car originally

Even with distilled water there is still some buildup, but it's minimal.

Indeed. Just going to keep checking it after each session and replace as needed, just ordered 2 more filters, hope it doesn't take many more to clear out the block.

[daveishi]

Wanted to provide a quick update as well as a word of advice to future new owners. I was thinking recently- the tank was almost half full when I purchased the car and topped it off with distilled water, but it hasn't used hardly any since. Due to the calcification I'm seeing in the filter it is very possible that the PO wasn't using distilled so it would make sense to purge whatever is in the water tank and refill with 100% distilled.

I popped the trunk to see what it would be like to get all of the water out of the tank and it was a breeze. Just 10 minutes and a gallon and a half distilled water is all it takes, so unless you speak directly to the PO and know that 100% your car has distilled in the tank, may as well empty it and start fresh to avoid future calcium deposits/headaches/etc.

Essentially all you need to do is remove the Velcro strap, unplug two sensors, and disconnect the water outlet line (push buttons in on both sides of plug), and its out! But be ready to plug the outlet port with your finger because it will flow freely

[SYT_Shadow]

good work!! I hope this works!

I took the filter out of GTS2 (7.5k miles) and it had some gunk, but no whiteness.

We're going to have to find a way to flush the system with something other than distilled water before letting the car sit for winter. Distilled water by itself is very aggressive