Seat Altea 2.0 Tdi sport losing power?

[stato]

Hi,

I bought my Seat Altea 2.0 Tdi sport last month and I have had a problem with it since then. When I was driving it back up from Leeds where I got it on the motorway it lost power when I was cruising, all of a sudden there was no acceleration. I stopped the car and it was fine for a while. Then the emissions light came on. I got back home and put it into my local seat garage (after telling the guy I bought it off I was going to do this and he would pick up the tab as I have a 3 month warranty) and the verdict was a new pressure control valve.

Got the car back thinking that would it be sorted but a few days later again driving on the motorway at about 80mph it happened again. The weird thing is that when you stop it turn it off and go again it is fine. I got home fine that day without any problems. I took it back to seat and they again put it through their diagnostic machine and it came up with no faults, they were scratching their heads. They said they thought it had been re-mapped and it may not have been done properly? but I think that is a load of rubbish. It happened again last night again on the motorway. It seems fine any other time but cruising on the motorway. I think it might be over-boost problem? but I am not sure.

A friend who used to be a mechanic at Audi drove it this morning and of course the car was fine. He was driving behind me last night and said whenever I dropped down a gear a bit of black smoke would come out the exhaust? He thought it was a bit too sooty. Looking at the servive receipts the last thing done was the timing belt at 40k, he maybe thought that the timing may be out and not fitted properly?

It is so frustrating as apart from this the car is fantastic, great to drive etc. I just have no trust in the car. But as I said it has only happened on the motorway at a constant speed. It is probably really simple, but the garage don't seem to be able to sort it.

If you have any advice I would be very grateful (The car has 50k on the engine)

Thanks,

Blair

 

[Toxic]

first point of call is with the warranty. could be the MAF sensor failing. has anyone check the ecu for error codes? what were they? the smoke, well depends on how black it is. most diesels will smoke when you drop down a gear and give it some.

is the FMIC showing any sign of oil at the hose joints?

 

[CrispDust]

Thoughts are either MAF or boost pipe leak (FMIC)
Seat guys can tell if remapped by checksum count ie number of times ecu has been written to.

 

[Toxic]

Seat guys can tell if remapped by checksum count ie number of times ecu has been written to.

Thats not true in my case new software for my ST3 device after reapping asks me if I wish to keep the count as it was or reset to zero

 

[stato]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your replies.

Today I took my car to Superchips in Glenrothes just outside Edinburgh. I have used this garage before and are good guys. They specialise in superchips.

They carried out a diagnostic test on the bosch KTS520 and came up with fault number 379 which was boost pressure control- Now they said this is the worst type of code error as it could be a number of things such as engine speed sensor etc etc. And because it is so intermittant very hard to pin down.

They erased the fault memory which may help? I have read on here that it has helped in the past? Also, they gave me Millers diesel power to mix with my fuel to help clean out the system. Also I was told to really give it a good thrashing over the next week to try and clean out anything that may have clogged up. You never no how the last person drove the car?!

Anyway, not at the bottom of it yet but it is not a major problem. I am taking it a longer drive tomorrow so I will keep my fingers crossed.

Thanks,

Blair

 

[Toxic]

sounds like a leak then. either the Pipework from air intake through FMIC to inlet manifold or it could the the boost pipe mentioned here perhaps:

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=153838

 

[SAAB95]

Hi,

I bought my Seat Altea 2.0 Tdi sport last month and I have had a problem with it since then. When I was driving it back up from Leeds where I got it on the motorway it lost power when I was cruising, all of a sudden there was no acceleration. I stopped the car and it was fine for a while. Then the emissions light came on. I got back home and put it into my local seat garage (after telling the guy I bought it off I was going to do this and he would pick up the tab as I have a 3 month warranty) and the verdict was a new pressure control valve.

Got the car back thinking that would it be sorted but a few days later again driving on the motorway at about 80mph it happened again. The weird thing is that when you stop it turn it off and go again it is fine. I got home fine that day without any problems. I took it back to seat and they again put it through their diagnostic machine and it came up with no faults, they were scratching their heads. They said they thought it had been re-mapped and it may not have been done properly? but I think that is a load of rubbish. It happened again last night again on the motorway. It seems fine any other time but cruising on the motorway. I think it might be over-boost problem? but I am not sure.

A friend who used to be a mechanic at Audi drove it this morning and of course the car was fine. He was driving behind me last night and said whenever I dropped down a gear a bit of black smoke would come out the exhaust? He thought it was a bit too sooty. Looking at the servive receipts the last thing done was the timing belt at 40k, he maybe thought that the timing may be out and not fitted properly?

It is so frustrating as apart from this the car is fantastic, great to drive etc. I just have no trust in the car. But as I said it has only happened on the motorway at a constant speed. It is probably really simple, but the garage don't seem to be able to sort it.

If you have any advice I would be very grateful (The car has 50k on the engine)

Thanks,

Blair

I also have exactly the same problem sink the foot and we loose power although not all the time seems to be only when were overtaking large lorries, not good. again garage found nothing wrong however the problem continues to persist we are now out of warrenty 05 plate car goes like stink when everything working and we dont realy want to change it however if we dont find the problem I see no other option. Any suggestions welcome..

Garry

 

[techie]

Is it a 140bhp engine?

Has been quite a few issues with the wiring to the boost pressure sensor. There was a modded wiring loom that runs from the ECU to the sensor to sort it at one point. But depends on engine code etc.

 

[SAAB95]

140 bhp 2.0 tdi power loss

I shall look into this as ours is a 140 BHP2.0 tdi as ive said great car if only this problem would go away, very frustrating to think we are stuck with a car with this problem. We have contacted the garage we bought it from again in the hope they can fix it, last time they said they put some sort of fluid through the turbo, not sure what this was all about however the problem did go away for a while, now its back.
Weve only had the car 7 months so again im trying to get the garage to sort it only trouble is warrenty has run out. will let you know how we get on.

Garry

 

[purtoo]

driving a 140 tdi leon and have the exact same thing occasionally, normally cures by stopping and restarting but on the the two occasions this didn't work I went straight to the garage and filled with diesel and this cured it.
I'm wondering if was caused originally when I once got low on fuel and ran some crap into the system which keeps fouling it up. I once experienced a problem with a golf when the fuel cap wasn't venting properly stopping air getting into the fuel tank to replace diesel being used, I doubt this is it but next time will try just removing the cap without adding fuel an see if it changes anything.. Ran some additive into the tank this week so will see if that helps
Pete

 

[CrispDust]

curious same thing happened to me yesterday - hoofed the right foot up a very steep hill and all that lovely remapped torque and acceleration just vanished after 10 seconds of boost. Tank 1/4 full so I don't think its that. Stopped angine restarted, no problems - weird.

 

[daz_pd]

Classic symptoms of Sticky Vanes in the turbo lads, get it out and get them cleaned, or your other option is a new turbo or get that one reconditioned.

 

[CrispDust]

but why would sticky vanes be "cured" by an engine switch off/on? Sticky vanes is mechanical not electrical

 

[UKMKIV]

It sounds like the same problem that afflicts all 2.0TDi engines.
Overboost causing limp mode.
The overboost is sensed by the MAP, erm.....sensor.......and the ECU limits boost to protect the engine.
It's usually caused by coked-up turbo VNT vanes (very common).
Use some diesel additive (a cleaner) and give the car a right good seeing to.
If it's too bad, it might be turbo-out time, to have it cleaned internally (shot/sand/wheat blasted) etc.

50-80k is usual mileage when this shows itself.

The ECU will reset the "limp mode" by toggling the power (ie switching ignition off then back on).

 

[stato]

Hi guys,

I wrote the original post to this topic. It seems as if this problem is not that uncommon. It took me a few trips back to superchips where I took the car to finally get it sorted. To be honest I was not convinced it was going to get sorted.

Eventually the main boost pipe close to the front of the car was found to be loose. It had been repaired and basically could come off in your hand. Not good. So got a new boost pipe and it seems to have been fine since. have done a number of longish journeys and so far no problem.

Basically, I was told that there can be no leak in any pipe etc anywhere.

Hope you get it sorted

Blair

 

[CrispDust]

Mine was the boost pipe too, the one into the intercooler. Now secured with cable ties as back up to crap VAG design.......