GTEMK8 - Engine needs to keep running issue

[VAGlad]

Hi forum, I am new here!

I have been driving the mk8 GTE for a few months now and I am experiencing an issue which I hope someone can help me with.

I keep getting a notice on the dash that says “Engine needs to keep running” and it doesnt let me switch back to EV mode sometimes even though I have charge.

I know that for engine mamagement it needs to do this so that the engine runs once in a while. But this warning is so random and sometimes doesnt go away for hours/days which makes me think something is faulty.

Any ideas?

 

[Massimo 2323]

I have the same problem as you with my eHybrid. I have never seen this message for months. Left the car in to fix the camera issues for 7 weeks and as soon as i left the workshop this message came up for 20 minutes. It happens at least once a month even when i’m doing 90km drive in hybrid mode at 120km/h speed every week.
I was giving this information from VW that should help:
On the GTE or eHybrid, if the following message appears: "engine needs to keep running" it is normal and happens when certain parameters and operating conditions makes it necessary to operate the engine for a certain period. Normally it takes about 15-20 minutes of driving with a constant speed between 100 and 120km / h (Ideally to be done on the motorway)

 

[Maturedriver]

I have yet to see the “engine needs to keep running" message on my GTE but I have noticed that once the engine has fired up I can’t return to electric only mode until the engine is up to temperature (a message saying something like “electric mode unavailable“ appears). Also, I have heard that the car can sense when the petrol is getting stale and the electric motor won’t operate until most of the fuel has been consumed. This might be based on time rather than petrol quality sensors.

 

[VAGlad]

Thanks! I have been driving in EV mode for about a month since I wasn't doing long journeys but now since I had to drive further and used up all the battery when the engine kicked in it kind of doesn't want to turn the engine off at all, even after refuelling.

Like when you go below 30 it shuts the engine off and then on again and then gives that warning. So that warning just keeps on popping up like every 10 seconds which is super annoying when driving.

I can't figure if there is a fault or if it's actually designed to work like that which is quite dumb. Surely it should just keep the engine running until it thinks it's ok and only give the warning once instead of every 10 seconds right?

 

[VAGlad]

I have the same problem as you with my eHybrid. I have never seen this message for months. Left the car in to fix the camera issues for 7 weeks and as soon as i left the workshop this message came up for 20 minutes. It happens at least once a month even when i’m doing 90km drive in hybrid mode at 120km/h speed every week.
I was giving this information from VW that should help:
On the GTE or eHybrid, if the following message appears: "engine needs to keep running" it is normal and happens when certain parameters and operating conditions makes it necessary to operate the engine for a certain period. Normally it takes about 15-20 minutes of driving with a constant speed between 100 and 120km / h (Ideally to be done on the motorway)

Yeah that's what I thought. Initially I got engine management light and had to take the car to the garage, they said it was software so just updated it and it was ok. Since then I didn't get to test it and was driving mostly in EV mode.

I have been driving mostly country roads so not high-speed but need to see if it will go away in a couple of days.

 

[VAGlad]

VAGlad you obviously have something wrong with your car. It shouldn’t do as you describe. When in Hybrid (with any charge in the battery) the electric should always operate at slow speeds (eg urban environment) and under light loads. Do you drive in Sport Mode? I find when I do the engine tends to run more.

Sometimes my car starts the engine when I first turn it on. If I’m about to go on a short journey I turn it off and start again making sure it’s in Electric only. Have you tried stopping on a journey, turning it to Electric and get going again?

I tend to switch between sports and comfort mode on a longer journey but mostly in comfort mode.

Yeah it even does it at low speeds but it's very random. Like I could drive fine with the engine turning off for like straight 10 minutes and then eventually it will just go back to showing that message and turn on / off engine all the time.

Even happened last night when I charged the car and had 6 miles range which usually allows me to drive in EV mode. I couldn't keep it in EV mode at all it just switched to Hybrid at all times

 

[Massimo 2323]

So VW have come out with a software update for the engine control module that should fix 2 things:
1 - (TPI: 2064560/2)
The message "engine needs to keep running" which when it appears shows up intermittently on the dashboard. With the software update the message will now appear uninterrupted until it is done.
2 - (TPI: 2065864/2)
Noises after cold starting at an increased idle speed from the front of the vehicle / engine compartment. These noises can be heard for about 1 minute with the engine running and is caused by the software calibration in the engine control unit.
These 2 TPI's only apply to GTE/eHybrid with the following ECU software number and version:

Engine Control Unit Software Number	Old Software Version	New Software Version
04E906014AB	0632, 0713, 0814, 1069, 1211	2334
04E906014AC	0634, 0712, 0815, 1070, 1212	2335

 

[UPL02]

Hi guys, I've just registed after I've found this discussion with Google.
I have the engine needs to keep running issue since a week on my MK8 eHybrid and it doesn't seem to go away.

It appears just after I switch from EV to Hybrid mode and then you cannot go back to EV anymore until you shutdown the engine; it is a little annoying because the engine never stops at the crossroads like before.

Surely it should just keep the engine running until it thinks it's ok and only give the warning once instead of every 10 seconds right?

In my case the message appears for a couple of seconds after choosing Hybrid mode and then it doesn't appear again (but the ICE never stops of course).

sometimes doesnt go away for hours/days

Exactly. Since a year has passed from your last post, how often did you get this message now?

I can't figure if there is a fault or if it's actually designed to work like that which is quite dumb.

Same for me! Shouldn't the operating manual say something about this, if it's not a matter of minutes to go away?

Normally it takes about 15-20 minutes of driving with a constant speed between 100 and 120km / h

I've driven my eHybrid for months freely choosing between EV and Hybrid mode until this message appeared days ago... now it didn't go away when I drove my daily 6-7 km routes (two times a day), or even 20+20 km single journeys. Does it mean that if I won't drive on a motorway it won't disappear never again? I'm a little scared!

If a single journey of about 20 minutes at 100 km/h is required, than it could be a serious drawback...

With the software update the message will now appear uninterrupted until it is done.

In your opinion this software update will only keep the message on screen or "solve" the issue of requiring the ICE to be on for so long?

 

[Maturedriver]

If you drive exclusively in electric only mode for several months the car will decide to run with just the engine until most of the petrol has been consumed. This function is designed to prevent the petrol in the fuel tank getting too old and stale. As for when and how this process kicks in I’m afraid I don’t have a clue .

 

[UPL02]

This make sense, but I think it's not the case of this topic. At least in my case I drove both in EV and Hybrid, alternating them according to the short or "long" trip that I did.

Personally, I don't think that forcing to keep the motor always on for such a long time is a good choice...

 

[Maturedriver]

Personally, I don't think that forcing to keep the motor always on for such a long time is a good choice...

When/if this this happens you will not have a choice in the matter unless you siphon out all the nearly stale petrol.
If you have had the engine running regularly due to longer journeys in hybrid mode (and therefore frequent refills) what I am describing is not relevant in your case but I thought it was worth a mention.

 

[jonfl]

I've got the same issue with it only running in Hybrid and refusing to stay in e-mode, plus "Engine needs to keep running" every few minutes and have had it since the middle of August this year, still ongoing. It's been in at the dealer and they returned it to me saying it was fixed, but it wasn't. I emailed them to ask what's going on and got this back over the weekend.

"When he did the road test he did state the vehicle did bring up the message with regards to engine needs to run for longer than after a few miles it switched into E/Mode for him. There are no faults on the system and his stating its working as it should.
His also advised if you want to pop in during the course of this week your more than welcome. What he’ll do is take the vehicle for a road test alone and then once he gets it up and going he’ll take you with him and show you that it's going to E/Mode"

I have yet to reply. Would be good if they actually explained why it is expected behavior, when it hasn't done it for the first 15 months I owned the car.

 

[Massimo 2323]

Same thing with my eHybrid. The last couple of weeks having this message come up even after doing 80-90 kms in hybrid mode.. this is ridicoulous… I have always used hybrid mode a couple times a week doing at least 100 km and never got this message in the summer now its just pestering me.
The software fix doesn’t solve this behavior but fixes the intermittent message which was also bothering me.
Have an appointment to get the software update…

 

[UPL02]

Have an appointment to get the software update…

Did they suggest to do a software update after you complained about this message?

 

[jonfl]

I've got the same issue with it only running in Hybrid and refusing to stay in e-mode, plus "Engine needs to keep running" every few minutes and have had it since the middle of August this year, still ongoing. It's been in at the dealer and they returned it to me saying it was fixed, but it wasn't. I emailed them to ask what's going on and got this back over the weekend.

"When he did the road test he did state the vehicle did bring up the message with regards to engine needs to run for longer than after a few miles it switched into E/Mode for him. There are no faults on the system and his stating its working as it should.
His also advised if you want to pop in during the course of this week your more than welcome. What he’ll do is take the vehicle for a road test alone and then once he gets it up and going he’ll take you with him and show you that it's going to E/Mode"

I have yet to reply. Would be good if they actually explained why it is expected behavior, when it hasn't done it for the first 15 months I owned the car.

Had the car in at the dealer on Thursday. Turns out that when they replaced the battery control module they charged up the 12v battery and the hybrid only issue (engine needs to run longer message) went away and the car ran fine in emode only.

The technician took the car for a drive and confirmed the issue still remained. He suspects fully charging the 12v battery is what fixed it briefly, so am booked on for a replacement 12v battery in a few weeks.

Will update here on the results.

Also getting the 1896 update (from 1890)