Uriel

I got a new OEM compressorfor my 110 Octy tdi - fitted and gassed for £415 at Autorads / Statller in Sheffield back in April. (http://www.autorads.co.uk/). Work had a 1 year warranty. Unfortunately that's going to be a bit of a bit of a treck for the OP.

Copied from another post of mine :

Update on this: Further diagnosis did reveal a definite sticking VNT issue. Realtime logging of requested boost indicated that it was a bit all over the place but mainly overboosting. Remedy was going to be turbo off and remanufacture or replace - plus I wasn't going to DIY it. Unfortunately the whole 'to do' list was longer (needed thermostat, wheel bearing, brake discs + pads replacing sooner rather than later). Tax was coming up (in the engine size rather than CO2 bracket so nearly double a 2001 car)and I had the offer of a long-term interest free car loan from a family member. To cut a long story short, I'm no longer a Skoda Octavia owner. PXed for a 2010 Honda Insignt ES at the weekend. Will copy this info into threads where discussion of the car's limp mode was active to bring a little closure. I guess I'll be a lot more scarce around these parts from now on.

I'm getting the same code and have yet to get to the bottom of what is causing it. My car is also an SLX TDi, a 2000 reg with about 96k on it. Mine's intermittent, and it's had the issue sinc I bought it in April. It's often fine for motorway driving but give it a particularly steep hill and accelerate and it may drop into limp mode. I've found I can replicate it 100% by booting it over the brow of a hill in 3rd accelerating up to motorway speeds. Spirited driving to high revs/load seems to temporarily improve it but is not a permanent solution (and it's never stopped it limping with the hill brow test). Investigations so far haven't turned up anything conclusive. I suspect something is up with the turbo control or boost. This could be a solenoid, vacuum piping, boost leak, turbo vanes, control ring or actuator... Tried swapping out a few things and checking the piping. Only thing found to date was a bad connection between piping and intercooler (not completely off though). That was put right but the limp issues have continued. I have read of two people on forums solving or working around it. One had an intercooler / piping connection issue. The other ran without the EGR solenoid plugged in. I've tried both and no joy. Edit: Sorry - having to reschedule diagnostics.

Seems similar to noses mine makes on light braking, particularly when changing gear and cornering at low speed. Only thing found so far that might contribute to noise is a tiny bit of play in the NSF wheel bearing. Odd as noise isn't restricted to left of the car.

Very similar to the OP - I'm running an SLX TDI in Sheffield with 95k on it. Mines a 2000 though. My brim to brim mpg has ranged from 38 mpg (mainly town driving) to 60mpg (trip to Cornwall - mainly motorways). Over 2500 ish miles since I got it I'm averaging about 46 mpg calculated or 48 mpg on the computer. On the daily commute to Chesterfield I get 49 to 54 mpg on the way there and 40 - 46 on the way back. 30mpg would be really poor - I only get that on really short trips involving hills and speedbumps. Running the climate control seems to reduce efficiency but not by a huge amount.

The 1.4 8v was sluggish and thirsty enough in the Fabia. Dread to think what it would be like in something Octavia sized.

Out of interest, did you reuse or replace the bolts in the turbo?

Nope. Instructions here though: http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a4-s4-forum-b5-chassis/107121-un-sticking-your-tdi-vnt-turbo-vanes.html Caveat emptor and all that...

Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner and Millers, plus a bit of cardboard and a tube could be had for £15 though...

Application is with exhaust downpipe off. You apply cleaner, leave it for a while, exersise VNT mechanism, apply alkali neutraliser and it comes with a fuel additive. It's a bit like using the Mr Muscle technique, with something to make it a bit safer for the cat, followed by a high dose of Millers. Heck of a markup really but a lot cheaper than turbo off and manual clean. R-Tech in Hinkley used to do the Innotec Method for about £90 all in. I believe that they now advise customers to remove and properly clean the turbo as Innotec turned out to usually only offer a temporary improvement (plus once they started doing it they saw what Innotec left behind). I think they now do turbo removal and cleaning for a little over £200.

Take it to an aircon specialist. Fast fit places usually won't diagnose faults and could do more harm than good if they get it wrong.

My best brim to brim was 60 MPG which included a long journey with climate control turned off. In normal usage (9 mile each way commute, plus variable weekend and social trips) I'm averaging somewhere around 43 mpg. Last 2.5k miles since I got the SLX TDI gives 48 MPG on the trip computer and 46 MPG calculated.

My SLX TDI only goes to 200 before --- . My previous Fabia 1.4 8v Comfort would get the odd number up to several hundred. The other main differences between the trip computers are that the Fabia had genuinely instantaneous consumption readout. On the SLX it reads (according to the manual) the fuel consumption over 30m stints (so is less responsive and updates periodically as you're driving). Also the Fabia's computer would estimate remaining range but the SLX doesn't do this. I think the 2000-2001 facelift models have the same trip computer software as the Fabia.

The rod should move into the actuator under vacuum and the spring should push it out when vacuum is released.

Does the actuator hold vacuum? If not the diaphragm might be broken. If so the actuator will need replacing.

Just wondering how much fuel people put in if they brim once their fuel light comes on? I know it's supposedly about a 55 litre tank but my Octavia 1.9 SLX TDi seems to only take about 40ish litres if I fill up as soon as the light comes on. I would have expected it to appear with 7l left so around 48l. Once brimmed the fuel gauge starts to drop immediately, where as with my old Fabia it would take a while for the needle to start moving. Am I right in thinking the gauge can be recalibrated using VCDS?

Still limping when pushed but the pipe has stayed on. Mechanic reckons VNT is probably fine. Somewhat mystifying...

In for a service today. The mechanic is going to check out actuator and VNT movement. If it's VNT sticking I may just go for the turbo off and clean option. Tired of the limp-mode lottery every time I put my foot down at speed when going uphill. Have tried a few non-intrusive things that have given partial / temporary improvement to limp issue but nothing that seems to really sort it out. Edit: in progress. Car back tomorrow but mechanic has found loose boost pipe near intercooler. Still to find out about VNT / actuator. Loose boost pipe alone would be a lot cheaper...

Funny - I had exactly the same happen on my old Fabia. No obvious stone chip - just a cracking sound to start it off and the crack got bigger fairly quickly Autoglass turned up with a windscreen without the sunstrip for me, despite being told over the phone what was needed. I just accepted it because I wanted to get the car back on the road.

I managed it and I'm 17 stone and six foot 1. Not really slim arms then... Awkward to get to though. The actuator is located somewhere down the back of the crankcase - offside centre. Follow the vacuum line down from the N75 and it leads around to the bottom of the actuator. The moving arm and lever are on top of it. Getting at it is easier with the engine cover off. I found I could just about see the actuator / lever arm moving from the top with the cover off and leaning over the bonnett. You can sort of see the bottom of it looking down from the nearside past all the pipework but not much of the actuator or arm. With 17965, I'm pretty certain that you'll have a stuck actuator or vane mechanism. I use a generic code reader and got 17598 but think that's my problem. Apparrently the generic reader might be misreading it and with VAG-COM I might get the same as you. Confirmed stiff and creaky movement of the vanes / actuator anyway - particularly towards the low vacuum position. May get my turbo removed and cleaned in conjunction with upcoming service, depending on whether the mechanic agrees with my diagnosis.

Yep but strong co-incidence. I don't think they touched the clutch. However, if they got the gas pressure / amount wrong the clutch is designed to fail in preference to the compressor internals destroying themselves and sending bits of metal through the aircon system. The main thing that went wrong is I suspect KF failed to recognise the problem and advise accordingly.

I think they do warranty the turbos they clean though. Worth considering I think.

How much is it going to cost to have it removed, sent off, cleaned and refitted? Been enquiring and I seem to be looking in the £210 to £275 range for experienced mechanics that will remove, refit and clean all in. Don't think I'll attempt it myself. Lack of tools and experience means that I think I'd rather not be messing with tubo removals and internals. Given the lack of bother it causes me unless I'm looking for limp mode, there's always the 'do nothing' option or another couple of ideas I have...

I spoke to Statller in Sheffield about turbo cleaning (as they'd done a good job with my aircon compressor recently) and they said they usually send them off to a place in Wakefield to be de-gunged. Could be one and the same?