0281001827 Injection Pump Control Unit for Audi VW 2.5 TDI PSG5 VP44

The published applications for this unit are the diesel models built around the Bosch VP44 pump. Audi A4 2.5 TDI and the A4 Avant quattro on the 8D platform, from around model year 2000, and Audi A6 2.5 TDI with its Avant version on the 4B platform from 1998 to 1999, all with the 2.5 litre V6 TDI. Volkswagen Passat 2.5 TDI on the 3B platform runs the same pump arrangement. The Opel and Vauxhall side covers Astra 1.7 DTI with the X17DTL engine, Astra 2.0 DTI with the X20DTL engine, and Frontera 2.2 DTI with the X20DTH engine, with Vectra B and Omega B listed against the same pump ECU as well. Nissan Almera II 2.2 Di at 81 kW, and Ford Focus I Kombi with Transit VI, are listed under the same trade entry. An 0281001827 belongs to that group and to nothing else we can stand behind.

Why the engine code matters more than the model badge. The same shell of car was built with more than one engine, and the pump fitted to it changed with the engine. That is exactly why the engine code plate decides the order and the badge does not. X17DTL, X20DTL and X20DTH are three different engines in the Opel range alone, and a module that runs one is not the module that runs another. Read the plate, write the code down, and send it with the number off the old module. A photograph of the plate is better still, and it takes a minute. Together with the stored fault codes that gives us everything needed to confirm the part before it is invoiced, which is the point of the check rather than the paperwork.

What this page is not claiming. We are not saying that any neighbouring 0 281 number fits, that a PSG5 module from another application substitutes, or that the pump is common across the range. 0281001827 is the module for the applications listed above, and the Bosch reference describes the same function on those pumps. Anything beyond that is better answered from your own parts data, and we would rather answer it with you than assert it here. The engine code plate is the document that settles it, and live data settles whether the module is the fault at all.

Before common rail took over, most European diesel cars ran a distributor pump, and the most widely fitted of them was the Bosch VP44. It works as an axial-piston pump: one pump element serves every cylinder in turn, and the pump itself decides how much fuel goes out and when. On the VP44 those two decisions are made electronically rather than by a mechanical governor, which is what the electronic diesel control, usually shortened to EDC, means. The part doing that controlling is the 0281001827 pump control unit — the module bolted to the top of the pump. Bosch calls it the PSG5 control unit. In the workshop it is more often called a pump ECU or a diesel pump ECU, and in vehicle diagnostics it turns up as the fuel pump control unit, sometimes with the vendor designation J399 attached to it.

Two jobs sit inside that small box. It drives the valve on the pump that meters injected quantity, which is the valve the trade calls the fuel quantity regulator. It also reads the pump sensor that reports the rotating angle of the pump shaft, and from that it works out injection timing. Take the module off and the pump becomes a hydraulic device with no idea what to do; that is why a failed module stops the car completely rather than making it run badly. All of those names — pump control unit, PSG5, pump ECU, EDC unit, J399 — describe the same module, and that is precisely why the part is misordered. A single function, several names, and a number that has to be read off the part rather than guessed from the model.

The misidentification runs in two directions and both are expensive. The first is to read the word injection and the electronics and conclude that this is an injector or a common rail component. It is neither; the VP44 is a distributor-pump system, and common rail is a different system altogether, with different parts, on different vehicles. The second is to read the words pump control unit and conclude that this is the pump. It is not. What we supply is the electronic module. The pump body is a separate assembly with its own number, and inside it sit the valve and the sensor that the module commands and reads, each with numbers of their own. When a diagnosis says the module has failed, the pump stays where it is.

Where our supply differs is in what arrives. Bosch supplies this module through its own network, and a buyer who needs a Bosch-boxed unit does need to go there. What we supply is a new compatible unit for the same job, sold under the Vidishi Auto brand, at a single-unit minimum with no core return. On this family that last point carries real weight, because rebuilding PSG5 modules is an established trade service and a great many of these units are repaired rather than replaced. A workshop that wants its original module rebuilt should use a specialist rebuild house. A workshop that wants a new unit without waiting for a core to be accepted, and without a core charge on the invoice, is who this line is built for.

One thing we do not do is dress that up. The module we ship is ours, not Bosch’s and not a vehicle maker’s. The Bosch number 0281001827 and the Opel reference 0470004003 appear on this page so you can match the part you are replacing. They are references for fitment, not a claim about who made the part. The Bosch reference pages on this site hold the cross-reference material, and the glossary explains the terminology if any of the names above are unfamiliar.

How we label data. Confirmed means a value read directly from the goods we handle, including the housing, the connector block, the flex ribbon cable, the mounting plate with its perimeter gasket and the pump-end bush assembly. Reference means a Bosch, Opel or trade number quoted so your paperwork can be matched, and carrying no claim about origin. Not published means the field is left blank on purpose — a coding figure or a terminal assignment that we cannot source would be worse than an empty cell, because someone would act on it.

What is in the box. One electronic pump control unit: the module in its black housing with the multi-pin connector block, the flat flex ribbon cable that links it to the pump, the red four-way terminal strip and the braided wiring, together with the aluminium mounting plate with its machined inner face and green perimeter gasket, and the pump-end assembly photographed with it. The VP44 pump body itself is not included, and no injector, nozzle or high-pressure pipe is included. Nothing on this page is sold loose from the module, and the pump is a separate assembly with its own number and its own line.

Read the table from the top. 0281001827 is the Bosch number and it is the one that matters on the vehicle side of the job: it is what the catalogue carries for the PSG5 module, and it is what you will find quoted against the unit you are taking off. The grouped forms are the same number written with spaces, which is worth knowing because a parts system will match one and not the other, and because a hand-written stock tag may carry either. If your paperwork shows 0 281 001 827 with the grouping, it is the same module.

The Opel column is the second half of the mapping. 0470004003 is the vehicle-maker reference that resolves to this Bosch number, which is what a Vauxhall or Opel specialist will have on the job card instead of the number we quote. The trade code 001-001-010408E and the EAN 8596667333008 travel with the same reference. Treat that as a cross-reference entry, not a statement that the numbers were assigned by the same company. It exists so that one buyer holding a Bosch number and another holding an Opel number can be told, in a single line, that they are asking for the same module.

One entry in that table is there for a different reason. 0281001692 is the number printed on the stock label of the goods we photographed for this page. It is a different PSG5 catalogue entry, with its own trade code and its own EAN, and we are not asserting that it substitutes for 0281001827. We list it so that anyone who has seen our photography and read that label knows exactly what they were looking at, rather than being left to wonder. Read the number off the unit in your hand, send it to us, and we confirm which module you need — that is the only reliable route, and it is a 0281001827 cross reference in the sense that matters.

What the table deliberately does not do is extend itself. It does not say that a neighbouring 0 281 number fits, that a module from a different application substitutes, or that the pump is common across the range. Those are exactly the assumptions that turn a cheap order into an expensive week, and we would rather leave a cell empty than fill it with a guess. If you are holding a number that is not on this list, send it to us with the engine code plate and we tell you what it is and whether it is this module. As a pump control unit cross reference the table is a boundary as much as a bridge, and that is the point of it.

The commercial difference is easy to state. A VP44 pump is a substantial assembly, and replacing one on a suspicion is how a no-start becomes a very large invoice. The module is the smaller half of the same circuit and, on this pump family, the half that fails more often, because it is the part carrying the electronics and the connector runs. Confirming the fault with the stored codes and live data, and then replacing the module, is the sequence that keeps the cost of the repair proportionate to its cause. The pump stays where it belongs — on the vehicle — unless the data says otherwise.

• An engine that cuts out and will not restartThe classic module failure. The car stops as though the key were turned off, cranks without firing, and no amount of throttle changes it.
• 01318 or 0526, fuel pump control unitThe usual stored code on this family, recorded against the module that designation points at.
• 01268 or 04F4, fuel quantity regulatorThe neighbouring code, recorded against the valve the module drives. It points at the same circuit and does not on its own prove which of the two has failed.
• P1630, P1220, P1335, P1631, P1564, P1664 or P1665Manufacturer-side codes that appear on the same family depending on the vehicle. They narrow the circuit, they do not name the component.
• A loss of power under loadWhere the module is failing but has not yet died, delivered quantity falls short of what is asked for and the car feels flat exactly when it is worked hard.
• An unstable or hunting idleQuantity that drifts at low demand shows up as an idle that will not settle, sometimes with a shake that no ignition fault explains.
• A limp mode that keeps returningBecause the cause is electronic rather than a service item, clearing the code buys time rather than a repair, and the same fault returns once the conditions repeat.

Read the list as a set of electrical symptoms rather than a diagnosis, because every item on it has at least one other possible cause. A tired pump produces the same no-start and the same loss of power. A chafed harness, a corroded connector pin or a chafed run to the pump produces the same codes. What separates them is measurement: the stored codes read properly rather than skimmed, live data for pump timing and quantity, and a look at the connector block and the harness while the engine is running. A module on its way out usually fails outright or throws intermittent codes that return; a pump that has given up simply cannot deliver. Confirm which one you have before a part is ordered, because the two cost very different amounts.

Two more practical notes. If the car has recently had work on the pump or the fuel system, look at that first: a connector not fully latched, a pin pushed back in its cavity or a damaged flex ribbon cable will produce exactly the symptoms above, and none of them needs a new module. And on these engines a misfire code is not evidence of a module fault; the two are linked through the pump, but the diagnosis runs from the codes and from live data, not from the misfire. A pump control unit fault on this family is proved with a scan tool and a wiring check, and that is where a sensible workshop starts.

1. 1. Release the pressure and disconnect the batteryDepressurise the fuel system and isolate the electrical supply before anything is opened. A diesel pump circuit holds pressure after the engine stops, and the module sits directly above fuel connections.
2. 2. Clean the top of the pumpWash the pump and the area around the module and blow it down before a fastener comes out. Grit that falls into the pump or onto the mounting face is the fastest way to spoil a replacement module.
3. 3. Photograph the connector runsTake a picture of the connector block, the terminal strip and the harness routing before anything is unplugged. Photographs cost nothing and they are the only reliable record of where each run went.
4. 4. Remove the module fastenersTake the fasteners out evenly and lift the module square off the plate. Do not lever it, and do not pull on the flex ribbon cable or the braided runs. Keep the fasteners with the vehicle they came from.
5. 5. Inspect the mounting plate and its channelCheck the plate face and the gasket channel for corrosion, old seal residue or distortion. The gasket is a sealing face, and a channel that will not seal is a leak that no amount of correct fitting will cure.
6. 6. Renew the perimeter gasketFit a fresh perimeter gasket rather than reusing the one that came off, and seat it evenly in its channel with no twist and no overlap. A reused gasket on this joint is the most common cause of trouble after a module swap.
7. 7. Refit square and tighten evenlyDrop the module onto the plate square, start the fasteners by hand so nothing cross-threads, then tighten them evenly. The torque figure belongs to the vehicle, not to the module.
8. 8. Verify with the codes and live dataClear the stored codes, run the engine, and read live data against demand before the vehicle goes back on the road. No code returning immediately is not the same as a circuit that behaves.

Most of the risk in this job sits either side of the module itself. Before it goes on, cleanliness and the perimeter gasket decide whether the joint seals. After it goes on, the codes and a live-data check decide whether it runs right. Neither is difficult and both get skipped under time pressure. The wider routine around a diesel pump job is in the installation guide, and the service intervals that keep an injection system healthy are in the maintenance guide. If you would rather talk the job through before you start, put the question to us first.

Two notes for workshops. A pump control unit replacement starts with an electrical check as much as a mechanical one: a damaged connector pin or a chafed harness will kill a new module as surely as a bad fit. And look at the pump itself while you are in there, because a module that has been working against a worn pump element is being asked to cover for a fault that is not its own. Beyond that the job is standard: correct isolation, correct tightening, a fresh gasket, and a check that proves the result. None of it is specific to this number, and all of it is what keeps a VP44 vehicle starting properly after a module swap.

Every 0281001827 module is covered by a 12-month warranty against manufacturing defects. That covers a unit that arrives out of specification or fails early because of how it was made. It does not cover damage from contaminated fuel, from incorrect fitting, from a reused perimeter gasket, from a damaged connector or harness, or from a separate fault elsewhere in the diesel fuel system. It is a supplier warranty from Vidishi Auto and it is neither a Bosch warranty nor a vehicle-maker warranty — we are not a distributor for either and no cover from either travels with this part.

The cover sits at unit level. It applies to the module as supplied, and it does not extend to the pump it was fitted to, to the engine, to labour, or to another component damaged when a faulty module was run on. That boundary is normal for an electronic part, and it is worth stating before the order rather than after a problem.

Two questions buyers ask. The 0281001827 warranty starts from delivery rather than from fitting, so a module held on the shelf for a season is still covered for the stated term from the date it reached you. And because there is no core return with our supply, the warranty is not tied to an exchange claim: the old module stays yours, and what you do with it has no effect on the cover on the new one. If you keep a known-good unit for diagnostic swaps and it is still in its packaging when it eventually goes on a vehicle, the cover is unaffected by the shelf time.

The minimum order is 1 pc, which is deliberate. This is a diagnostic part: a workshop that suspects one keeps a known-good module on the shelf to prove the fault before it quotes a customer for anything, and forcing a set on that workshop would be poor service. From there the line scales normally — a diesel pump specialist will take several at a time, and a parts distributor will take them alongside the rest of a fuel system order on one set of export documents.

We act as a parts supplier for export and we build this line ourselves as the manufacturer behind the Vidishi Auto brand. Pricing on this line is quoted per order rather than published as a fixed figure, because it moves with quantity and with what else is on the same shipment, which is how wholesale pricing normally works on diesel parts. Mixed orders are normal on our side and are not a special request: put the module alongside gaskets, filters or the other lines you already buy and it travels on the same paperwork.

For trade buyers, one practical point about this family: because there is no core return and no core charge, your procurement does not carry a returns loop on top of the order itself. That is the part of buying a rebuilt or exchange unit that usually costs the most administration, and it disappears when the part is new rather than reconditioned. If you need the number matched against a vehicle list before you commit, send the list with the engines and we work through it with you rather than asking you to take the fitment on trust.

The dimensions above are the packed export figures for a single unit. We do not list a bare module size or a bare net weight, because no source we can trust gives one for this part, and a specification table padded with approximations helps nobody. Lead time is quoted per order and depends on quantity and on what else is on the same shipment. For export shipping, every order leaves with its paperwork in place — commercial invoice, packing list and HS code. Read our shipping information for freight options, and track your order once it ships.

An electronic module is a small part with a disproportionate effect on whether a vehicle starts, so this line is checked at unit level rather than by sample. Every batch passes an incoming check for the Bosch number and the connector format, a housing and mounting-plate inspection, a confirm that the perimeter gasket is fitted as supplied, and a packed-weight confirmation against the documented figure. The supplier states ISO 9001 production, which appears on the supplied photography and is recorded here as a supplier statement rather than as a certificate we issue. Rather than publish reviews we cannot verify, we tell you how the part is inspected and let your own scan tool be the judge.

Support is not an add-on on this line — it is how most of these orders get placed correctly. It costs nothing before you buy: send the number read off the module you are removing, the vehicle identification and a photograph of the engine code plate, and we check the whole set against what we supply before quoting. That last item is the one people skip, and it is the one that matters most here, because the same body shell was built with more than one engine and the pump changed with the engine. Support continues after delivery: codes, fitting questions and warranty claims all reach the same team, and the person who confirmed your fitment is the person who answers if something is not right.

Supplier note. WholesaleAutoPartsDirect is an independent supplier of compatible automotive parts and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or acting as an agent of Bosch, Audi, Volkswagen, Opel, Vauxhall, Nissan or Ford. Brand names and part numbers are used for reference and fitment only.