Looking to buy a Seat Leon 1.9 TDi... However...

[newtoseatleon]

Hi, new to this forum - have come seeking a bit of advice.

My uncle is selling his 51 plate Seat Leon 110bhp, 70k miles. The car is in very good condition in terms of trim and bodywork, and mechanically sound appart from one problem: the turbo has been intermittently cutting out! He is not sure what the specific cause of the problem is, and has told me that it could be anything from a sensory problem.. to a busted turbo.

He is offering me the car as it stands with a 7 month MOT (sale, due to not needing a second car at home) for £2500, however.. giving the problem in question I think I might be able to knock the price back to closer to £2000.

The question is.. to buy or not to buy?

I'm thinking I may get good value for money if the turbo problem isn't serious.. but am i likely to be walking straight into a £1000 repair? thus taking all value out of the sale..

Any advice appreciated

 

[jonjay]

I think £2000 is closure to what you should be paying if the car was in good working condition. As for the turbo cutting out it could be a variety of things so best get it taken down to a garage and get them to run a VAGCOM diagnostics on it to see what codes it brings up.

As a car, I used to have one and I thought it was brilliant. 110BHP is a nice figure for a deisel and makes it quite fun. The engine is a little more ruffer round the edges than a PD engine but thats nothing to worry about or put you off. Leon build quality is pretty good but you may find a few rattles in known problem areas, nothing which cant be fixed with some foam backed tape.

 

[chris285]

sa said you really need to find out what the problem is, as it could be pricey to fix it

 

[allh2k]

I had this issue and then it disappeared !

2500 quite alot for a 51 plate its like 7 years old!

My turbo only cuts out when i am ragging the stuffing out of her so just for advise

and the price of diesel is like 15p more ffs so dont get a diesel stick to ur petrol ! the diesel is mine!

 

[jasonhanson88]

Get it checked out mate,
could just be a faulty MAF,
I'd recommend the car, excellent engine!

 

[af1]

hi, its the vnt mechanism sticking, you can either get the turbo rebuilt or use something called a innotec turbo cleaning set ... search for it on google...

thats the worst case scenario ... it could be a faulty n75 valve

get the 110 then get it remaped... then you are looking at about 140-145bhp

do it
£2000 is fapping cheap

 

[Nutkin]

I had this issue and then it disappeared !

2500 quite alot for a 51 plate its like 7 years old!

My turbo only cuts out when i am ragging the stuffing out of her so just for advise

and the price of diesel is like 15p more ffs so dont get a diesel stick to ur petrol ! the diesel is mine!

Diesel goes down to 99.9p at asda tomorrow.

As for the leon, i love mine, its a great step up to a faster car, and the engine is a bit rough but its solid and good.

As for the turbo, seriously go get that sorted, you get oil in there and BANG your in for a big bill

 

[newtoseatleon]

Thanks for the replies and advice thus far. This is part of an email I received earlier regarding the problem:

I have been out twice in the car over the weekend and it has run perfectly,
climbing the local hills without any issue (i.e. accelerating up them)

We are happy to ask the seat garage to come and collect the car and put it
on the analyser (which they did last year when we took it in) and see if it
shows anything different to last time. The only thing that was confirmed last time (as has been confirmed by the trips out over
the weekend) is that the Turbo is actually working and even on the odd
occasion when it isn't, the car is quite driveable

I have asked him to get hold of VAGcom codes from the garage if possible, so that I can have a look around at possible causes & soultions, before I decide to buy or not... It doesn't sound like a new turbo job though, right?

 

[sssstew]

new turbo job is a last port of call, if sticky vanes or a boost leak cannot fix it.

 

[CHR15B]

I think thats a steal of a price for the car.

I'd have assumed it was the MAF as I had the same problem on my TDI 110 Toledo and it went through two MAF's in a few months - the third was fine.