Hello guys, this is my first post on SCN but I’ve been a ‘ghost’ member for ages, spending my time finding the solution to problems I was encountering from just reading what other people had had trouble with and how they resolved it.
The time has come to actually ask for help myself, because I haven’t found any situations or problems which appear to match what’s going on with my car!
I bought my Leon back in May as an ex long-lease company car which had been well maintained and serviced before I bought it, it had 86k miles on the clock. I have been to the French Alps, up to Orkney, down to Plymouth, and a million places in between since May, and have managed to put 16k miles on the clock in 7 months – I love my Leon, but now it needs my help.
Car:
’54 plate Leon FR PD 150 TDI
102k Miles
Mods;
Audi TT Quattro 312mm upgrade
Brembo Max 312mm Discs
EBC Yellow stuff Pads
ATE Super blue racing fluid
Pipercross panel airfilter
Michelin Pilot Sport 3 225/45R17 tires
... everything else standard
Problem:
About a month ago my car started feeling like it had lost some power, and didn’t punch me to the back of the seat as much as I know it could, but it was a very slight feeling and I wasn’t 100% sure it was an issue. My girlfriend agreed it was definitely less powerful in hard acceleration so I thought it was probably just a culmination of crappy winter diesel and bad weather causing more friction on the car (the massive winds and rain etc). Then I got a check engine warning light come on the dash, which annoyed me – I hate things not working properly. I pondered as to what it could be, and read a lot of posts about boost leaks, issues with the MAP, the MAF, airfilters, basically the induction side of things. I noticed a bit of an oil buildup around the bottom pipes from and to the intercooler so wondered if that was where my boost leak was coming from. I figured I had a boost leak, it was reading odd pressures from the MAP which made the engine warning light come on so set about sorting them.
I have fitted a new pipercross airfilter, cleaned both the MAP and the MAF with carb cleaner, and changed the o-ring seals on all the charged air induction pipes after the tubro. I’ve partially cleaned the EGR valve, but not thoroughly.
Symptoms:
Orange check engine warning light
Reduced power
Reduced fuel economy (by approximately 5-10mpg average over a full tank, doing the same driving styles as before)
Warning light has gone off, temporarily, of its own accord, then came back about 10 minutes later – this has happened once.
Engine runs fine, smoothly, starts without hiccup, has no obvious issues other than the warning light, low economy and slightly reduced performance.
I do a lot of miles, so losing 10mpg makes a massive difference to the cost of running my car which is why I care so much about trying to get the car running back to normal.
I have checked the tire pressures and I have changed the engine oil more regularly than recommended, so it is neither of those things.
I know the really obvious thing is to just put the car on a diagnostics machine and find out why the orange light is on, but I am very reserved to pay £50 to the Seat Dealers for them to just plug a computer in and look at a screen. I do everything to my car myself, I’ve stripped engines down to the bare bones and re-built them again, I’m a professional engineer and I know the value of working on cars, £50 to plug a computer in is a massive rip. I wondered about buying VAGCOM myself, but it is a bit expensive for me this month (following the spending of Christmas) and I know you can get cheaper £20 hand held code readers but I wanted to get a full diagnostics on my car with sensor read outs, not just a code. My friend has a Sharlk Performance STS hand held chip-box thing for his Fabia which claims to be able to read codes, tried that and it couldn’t detect the code, but could clear it. It disappeared then came back about 5 miles later so the problem definitely still exists.
I’m currently living in Liverpool and I know that some guys on here have VAGCOM and occasionally share the facilities they have bought with other SCN members. I feel really cheeky asking this as this is my first post, but is there anyone around the Merseyside area (or even Halifax, where my girlfriend lives) who would be willing to scan my car with their VAGCOM system? I suspect it’s a sensor somewhere reading faulty levels, or something.. but I’m not sure, and don’t fancy blindly replacing all the sensors.
Sorry my first post is a begging/asking/whining one... When work permits me to have a bit more free time in the evenings, I’ll do readers ride post and get some photos of my car up, as well as some of the jobs I’ve done on it.
Nice to meet you all!
Chris.
The time has come to actually ask for help myself, because I haven’t found any situations or problems which appear to match what’s going on with my car!
I bought my Leon back in May as an ex long-lease company car which had been well maintained and serviced before I bought it, it had 86k miles on the clock. I have been to the French Alps, up to Orkney, down to Plymouth, and a million places in between since May, and have managed to put 16k miles on the clock in 7 months – I love my Leon, but now it needs my help.
Car:
’54 plate Leon FR PD 150 TDI
102k Miles
Mods;
Audi TT Quattro 312mm upgrade
Brembo Max 312mm Discs
EBC Yellow stuff Pads
ATE Super blue racing fluid
Pipercross panel airfilter
Michelin Pilot Sport 3 225/45R17 tires
... everything else standard
Problem:
About a month ago my car started feeling like it had lost some power, and didn’t punch me to the back of the seat as much as I know it could, but it was a very slight feeling and I wasn’t 100% sure it was an issue. My girlfriend agreed it was definitely less powerful in hard acceleration so I thought it was probably just a culmination of crappy winter diesel and bad weather causing more friction on the car (the massive winds and rain etc). Then I got a check engine warning light come on the dash, which annoyed me – I hate things not working properly. I pondered as to what it could be, and read a lot of posts about boost leaks, issues with the MAP, the MAF, airfilters, basically the induction side of things. I noticed a bit of an oil buildup around the bottom pipes from and to the intercooler so wondered if that was where my boost leak was coming from. I figured I had a boost leak, it was reading odd pressures from the MAP which made the engine warning light come on so set about sorting them.
I have fitted a new pipercross airfilter, cleaned both the MAP and the MAF with carb cleaner, and changed the o-ring seals on all the charged air induction pipes after the tubro. I’ve partially cleaned the EGR valve, but not thoroughly.
Symptoms:
Orange check engine warning light
Reduced power
Reduced fuel economy (by approximately 5-10mpg average over a full tank, doing the same driving styles as before)
Warning light has gone off, temporarily, of its own accord, then came back about 10 minutes later – this has happened once.
Engine runs fine, smoothly, starts without hiccup, has no obvious issues other than the warning light, low economy and slightly reduced performance.
I do a lot of miles, so losing 10mpg makes a massive difference to the cost of running my car which is why I care so much about trying to get the car running back to normal.
I have checked the tire pressures and I have changed the engine oil more regularly than recommended, so it is neither of those things.
I know the really obvious thing is to just put the car on a diagnostics machine and find out why the orange light is on, but I am very reserved to pay £50 to the Seat Dealers for them to just plug a computer in and look at a screen. I do everything to my car myself, I’ve stripped engines down to the bare bones and re-built them again, I’m a professional engineer and I know the value of working on cars, £50 to plug a computer in is a massive rip. I wondered about buying VAGCOM myself, but it is a bit expensive for me this month (following the spending of Christmas) and I know you can get cheaper £20 hand held code readers but I wanted to get a full diagnostics on my car with sensor read outs, not just a code. My friend has a Sharlk Performance STS hand held chip-box thing for his Fabia which claims to be able to read codes, tried that and it couldn’t detect the code, but could clear it. It disappeared then came back about 5 miles later so the problem definitely still exists.
I’m currently living in Liverpool and I know that some guys on here have VAGCOM and occasionally share the facilities they have bought with other SCN members. I feel really cheeky asking this as this is my first post, but is there anyone around the Merseyside area (or even Halifax, where my girlfriend lives) who would be willing to scan my car with their VAGCOM system? I suspect it’s a sensor somewhere reading faulty levels, or something.. but I’m not sure, and don’t fancy blindly replacing all the sensors.
Sorry my first post is a begging/asking/whining one... When work permits me to have a bit more free time in the evenings, I’ll do readers ride post and get some photos of my car up, as well as some of the jobs I’ve done on it.
Nice to meet you all!
Chris.
