Tdi110 turbo probs. Help!?!?!?!?!

[tatepie]

Hi all, I have a 99 Toledo Tdi. First things first can someone confirm that it is a 110 please? The badge has a red i on the end.
Right, the turbo prob: the car runs great and pulld really well but sometimes (maybe once a day) all of a sudden there is no power from the turbo, the car pulls crap, if I stop, turn the ignition off then start the car again all is good again!?! Obviously re-starting the car resets the ECU. My local mechanic changed the brake sensor as he had heard that could cause the prob, and because it was only 9 quid worth a try, but no joy exactly the same.
The only other thing he said to change is the boost sensor which can be seen on the turbo inlet pipe just infront of the washer bottle but they are about 70 quid.
Has anyone else had the same prob or know how to resolve this please?
While am on here, what is the best air filter to use?
And what wheels will fit (5stud).
Cheers all, tatepie

 

[cheshire cat]

I would guess it's a 110, sounds like you have a sticky turbo, to know where you are going you need someone with vag-com before spending more money, I would also fit a boost guage, depends on milage but by now the whole egr/intake is probl'y full of gunge and needs cleaning, do a search on turbo/high/low pressure/limp mode to get a better idea

 

[garry01]

i too have a 110 tdi leon and i too have had this problem a few times, and as you say if you reset the ignition it clears itself. if you find out the cause post up the answer for fixing it, as i will do too if i manage to sort it first.

garry

 

[tatepie]

I would guess it's a 110, sounds like you have a sticky turbo, to know where you are going you need someone with vag-com before spending more money, I would also fit a boost guage, depends on milage but by now the whole egr/intake is probl'y full of gunge and needs cleaning, do a search on turbo/high/low pressure/limp mode to get a better idea

Cheers for that.
I have now had the car plugged in and been told it is the sensor on the turbo intake. Quoted about £70 and a DIY job as just 2 screws hold it in. Will let you know if it sorts it.
Thanks again

 

[Muttley]

1999 could be a TDI 90 or 110. The red I should mean it's a 110 though. Look for the engine code, most likely to be ASV, which is a 110 engine.

How do you work out that it is the turbo that is at fault? What you describe sounds like the ECU detecting a fault and going into "limp mode", which is meant to protect the engine from damage.

Is there any consistency to when it goes into limp mode e.g. when overtaking on the motorway, at a certain speed or when asking for a lot of power?

How many miles has it done?

 

[Muttley]

tatepie wrote

I have now had the car plugged in and been told it is the sensor on the turbo intake. Quoted about £70 and a DIY job as just 2 screws hold it in.

MAF sensor (next to the air filter) or MAP sensor (between intercooler and intake manifold, close to the washer bottle). MAF sensors are relatively vulnerable, but don't usually cause limp mode. MAP sensors are rarely reported as failing. But if that's what the diagnostics say, then change it.

 

[tatepie]

1999 could be a TDI 90 or 110. The red I should mean it's a 110 though. Look for the engine code, most likely to be ASV, which is a 110 engine.

How do you work out that it is the turbo that is at fault? What you describe sounds like the ECU detecting a fault and going into "limp mode", which is meant to protect the engine from damage.

Is there any consistency to when it goes into limp mode e.g. when overtaking on the motorway, at a certain speed or when asking for a lot of power?

How many miles has it done?

Hi Mottley, thanks for your reply.
The car has done 160k miles but been services top notch. I have noticed that the ecu light does not come on when the ignition is turned on and a mate of mine told me some ppl take the bulb out?!?!
The car seems to run fine some days and not so well on others.
e.g I travel to work- 10 miles of motorway great, turn off motorway onto a b road put my foot down and the boost has gone. Seems to do it at the same point of the journey most days. The other day I came home from work (35 miles total) and the car did not loose boost once and flew all the way, i have never known it go so quick, but I have only owned the car for a couple of weeks.
A local mechanic has had the car plugged in and says he found 2 errors, 1 was the brake sensor which he changed and the other code was the turbo inlet sensor. So think am gonna trust him and change the sensor. Hopefully all will be well then.
Any ideas on good mods for the toledo?
Cheers

 

[tatepie]

tatepie wrote

I have now had the car plugged in and been told it is the sensor on the turbo intake. Quoted about £70 and a DIY job as just 2 screws hold it in.

MAF sensor (next to the air filter) or MAP sensor (between intercooler and intake manifold, close to the washer bottle). MAF sensors are relatively vulnerable, but don't usually cause limp mode. MAP sensors are rarely reported as failing. But if that's what the diagnostics say, then change it.

What would usually cause `limp mode`?
Please excuse my lack of knowlege but like i said I only got the car 2 weeks ago.
What do you think about the ecu light?
I cleaned the sensor next to the air box this morning but no change.

 

[Muttley]

If the ecu light doesn't come on when you first turn the key then something is very wrong. The car does a power-on self test to check all the systems, part of which is to illuminate every warning light so that you can tell that they are working.

The indicator squares are all illuminated by LED's that are soldered to the surface of the dashboard PC board. They have very long lifetimes and should never fail in the lifetime of the car, so are not mounted in removable sockets. The only way I've heard of blanking them out is to stick some opaque tape, electrical tape or duct tape for instance, over the inside of the dash panel. The dash panel will have to come off to check.

Limp mode is a fallback position for the ECU if it loses the reading from a critical sensor, or if a sensor reports an out-of-limits condition. One relatively common cause on the TDI 110 is an overpressure report from the MAP sensor, the one close to the washer bottle. This is often caused by sticking turbo vanes, or the EGR valve sticking open, mechanical faults. In order to protect the engine from too much inlet pressure, the ECU falls back to a less powerful map.

 

[trebormint]

Have a look inside of your egr valve/pipe. Mine was disgusting! (only way to describe it!)

Cleaned out so much black gunge it was untrue. I blanked the EGR as soon as I got the car, but still had 144k worth of crap in there.....

Next stage is to clean the inlet manifold, which had loads more in (which I could see)

 

[tatepie]

i too have a 110 tdi leon and i too have had this problem a few times, and as you say if you reset the ignition it clears itself. if you find out the cause post up the answer for fixing it, as i will do too if i manage to sort it first.

garry

Hi all, got it sorted now
I changed the MAF sensor first which made the car run better but did not solve the prob.
Now changed the boost pressure sensor (the one near the washer bottle which is a swine to get the bolts out of) and hey presto!!! Runs like a dream now.
Next step is off to be remapped. 150bhp on its way!!!
Still looking for a spoiler and skirts so if anyone knows best place drop me a line.

Cheers all for your help, tatepie

 

[Muttley]

You still need to get the front off the dash and see why the ECU light didn't come on. MAP failure should always bring this up. I'd guess that a previous owner has taped over the panel.

If you're going to remap it, you definitely need to know that your ECU light will tell you when things are going wrong.

 

[tatepie]

You still need to get the front off the dash and see why the ECU light didn't come on. MAP failure should always bring this up. I'd guess that a previous owner has taped over the panel.

If you're going to remap it, you definitely need to know that your ECU light will tell you when things are going wrong.

Cheers Muttley will do

 

[cypher007]

hello

mine was a sticky vnt actuator, unless some of the wd40 got into the turbo, i just sprayed the linkage that i could see on the top of the turbo and hey presto the next day all was fine. my map sensor had packed up also. on the ecu light side of things, even with a faulty map sensor mine didnt throw an ecu light, though it does come on and go off when i start the car.

 

[tatepie]

mine was a sticky vnt actuator, unless some of the wd40 got into the turbo, i just sprayed the linkage that i could see on the top of the turbo and hey presto the next day all was fine. my map sensor had packed up also. on the ecu light side of things, even with a faulty map sensor mine didnt throw an ecu light, though it does come on and go off when i start the car.

Cheers Cypher for your comments.
Good news is got the re-map done, car goes like sh*t now
Bad news is the limp mode has not gone away
Could you give me some more info about the vnt actuator please? where is it? what does it look like? I wonder if I am having the same problem that you had, so def worth a try as I am at the end of my teather now, abaout £125 just in sensors and still not right.
Cheers again

 

[cheshire cat]

any joy ?

 

[basstard]

pretty common limp mode caused by boost fluctuations,,,

check that the vacuum hoses are airtight, same for the IC pipes, spray some WD-40 in the actuator arm [let it dry overnight before you drive the car!!] and see how it goes,,, if it still goes on it's the turbo,,, had the same prob on mine,,,

 

[asthpsw]

What about exercising the vanes in the turbo

Paul

 

[basstard]

yeah, better if after having sprayed some WD-40 in there,,,

 

[asthpsw]

Agreed would it be worth doing a "sticky" on how to a) Exercise the vanes (if you've not got VAG.com) & b) Apply WD40 to all the places it needs to ?.

Paul