Limp mode without any dashboard lights...

[Bavaria]

Hi all!

I have an Avensis T27 2009, 126 hp D-4D. The car has served me well for 15 years now, and there is still a lot of car left. However, I have this issue: It all started with a lot of grey smoke from the exhaust a while back. A friend of a friend of mine (who is a mechanic), did a DPF and EGR delete in the ECU. The smoke is gone now, but I have a strange problem: When I start the engine, I am able to activate the electronic speed limiter. However, after approx. half a minute, the speed limiter function is disabled, together with the gear shift indicators. If I stop the engine for a few minutes, the electronic speed limiter, cruise control, and gear shift indicators are back.....but only for another 30 seconds. In addition, when I drive "long haul", the car goes into a limp mode without showing any dashboard lights. When this happens, I am not able to keep more than 50-60 kph in moderately steep uphills (flat out in 3rd gear). If I stop the engine for some minutes, the power is back...but only for a while. This only happens when driving long stretches. When driving short trips, the power is there....albeit with the electronic speed limiter, cruise control and gear shift indicators being disabled after 30 seconds.

Fun fact: During winter, when the tempartures were low, I could drive for more than 30 seconds before the car disables the speed limiter and the gear shift indicators.....maybe up to 5-10 minutes. 

The car has been diagnosed by another tuning company. They found fault code P0488 (EGR), P2002 (DPF) and C1249 (ABS/VSC/TRC). They have flashed the ECU with new software twice now, but the symptoms are the same.....No electronic speed limiter, no cruise control and no gear shift indicator after 30 seconds...and limp mode without dashboard lights when driving long stretches.

In a desperate attempt, I took off the EGR valve, discovering there was no blanking plates there. I installed blanking plates for both sides of the EGR valve and checked/cleaned the terminals for the EGR plug....but this did not fix the issue. 

I am about to give up now.... Any help is very much appreciated

[Bavaria]

Forgot to mention: My friend says that the internals of the DPF was removed when they did the DPF delete.