TurboTurbot

Another update: My VNT seems to get clogged about every 4 months now and I think it is time for a more permanent solution, i.e. recondition or fit a new one. Any suggestions here? Is it the case that the treatment gradually gets overtaken by carbon deposit build-up? Would it be best to re-con or after-market (reputable ebay) replace? Thanks.

Did the treatment on Saturday and it worked a treat! This time used special hose clip pliers to remove air hosed for better access - they helped. Also using 4mm tubing from B&Q (2m of) - no faff or mess. Left the MM in for 3 hours (whilst periodically shuggling the actuator using a very long screwdriver (much easier than a thumb!). At 2 hours, put pipework back, so last hour was with engine ready to go. Car fired up quite normal, gave it a minute of idle, then up to 2k for a bit incase that would clean the muck out. Then off for a drive - all normal eccept now no chuffing or noises. Went into some hills giving it welly - up to 4k no problem at all: smooth and quiet. On a longer trip, everything was as it should be again. This treatment really works.

Update on that. I have been using James Logan Cars for several years now (Octy mkI TDI) and found them sincere, accommodating and fair. They are much more reasonable than the bigger Belfast based Skoda specialists. Their workshop is competent, but, as I said elsewhere on these forums, they seem weirdly reluctant to 'take the bull by the horns' and you might end up with a partial solution on occasion. They know VAG and Skoda in particular and I understand the workshop staff are more or less Skoda enthusiasts, owning Skodas themselves. James the boss seems a nice bloke and I can recommend them. Just make sure they understand you want it *really* fixed, not just enabled to limp along another few weeks.

Surprised nobody mentioned James Logan at Green Island (Skoda specialist). I use them rather than getting ripped off in Belfast. I have found them strangely reluctant to find a fault, but when they do, it is sorted at a reasonable price and their heart seems to be in the right place (James himself seems a nice bloke). The only criticism is that they have missed some important faults that cost me dear once I was out of range of their efforts. But when they have replaced a part, they did it properly, so I do go back and would recommend them, with the previso that you should tell them what is wrong and which bit you want replaced, otherwise you might get the car back with some 'workaround' that quickly turns into false economy (that has happened to me three times).

To Kissifer and anyone else with this querie - I have only the experience of one car, but would say that the blue smoke is nothing to do with it (and a common experience at this time of year with an older diesel). Other symptoms that accompany my VNT clogging problem include a characteristic sound when the turbo has been brought in and spins down - it makes an interrupted almost scraping sound like chi-chi-cha-cho-choo, rather than the smooth downgliding whistle sound it should. Also the actuator arm is really hard to move manually (see if you can find yours and push it down). When faced with a tough hill, especially when the engine is still cold, it sometimes 'chuff's - heitant and jerky power, making a chuffing noise that corresponds with the turbo seemng to spin, get stuck, try again and so on, opening and closing its actuator (?) - I'm not sure about that last bit. You will see there are other explanations for the sudden limp on loading (e.g. loss of vacume), but most people here have found the MM VNT cleanup to help. If you do it right, it seems no harm is done, but I must say describing it has raised a few eyebrows in the trade. I am having another go on Saturday.

Did this a year ago on my Mk1 TDI Octy - it worked, though not entirely convincingly (a bit like some here, when pushed really hard, it would still limp, but far less often than before). Actually in the run up to the MM treatment, the N75 wastegate valve had blown and I had a "professional clean" done at an auth. dealer - to no avail. After having 'fun' spraying foam over self, and friend whilst figuring out how to keep the flexible tube on the can nozzle (!) things went quite well. Actuator arm was pretty well jammed to start with, but got moving. Hose clips are tough to get on and off, by the way - need to be careful they don't fly! Wear Goggles (I managed to get some MM in my eye). OK, here we are a year on and limp mode is back whenever I call for some welly. I will be doing the treatment again and hoping it works. I noticed that at least one person got the soot cleared only after 6 treatments!

Thanks guy.Guarage says it will cost me > 800 to just walk away from the car. They suggested a new gasket without the shim for £1200 all in, but up to 2k for the proper job. I watched them feel along the cylender head and record a 3-4 thou dip on the side of one valve, all good elsewhere. They said it was fine without the skim shop work. How do we feel about this, apart from the £100 per hour labout cost...

Hi all, in another thread, I describe a developing coolant loss issue with my 2003 100k 1.9tdi . I've been told it needs a new head gasket and it will be a 'four figure sum' - no more precise than that. This is in Aberdeen where everything seems to be expensive, but what should I expect to pay for this? Any advice well received. Thanks.

Further update: news today is that the head gasket has gone (some would have guessed that). This became obvious when a little reving (just a few seconds) from cold (left overnight) produced a good amount of pressure in the cooling system. Major expense ahead, end of trip and flight back home.

Update: the leak was a cracked header tank. However, following replacement of that, the level would fall, giving the appearnce of a persistent leak. Closer inspection revelaed that it was in fact gas presure drving the level down, as it would 'bubble' back up on releasing pressure form the tank. This has been getting worse: you can see the fluid drain from the tank as the engine revs. Return of fluid (via pump) seems fine. I have booked into another VAG specialist to have a look at what is causing this, but if anyone has any ideas or experience, it would be good to hear. Thanks, Keith.

I had these symptoms a few years ago. But I used SuperScan VS450 VAG scanner (entry level kit) and it showed as something like "implausible value". So your problem might be the same, but with incompatible scanner, else it is not that simple. It seems most of these problems are the sensors, not the things they are meant to be sensing.

I wish it was Paul. However, I am familiar with the condensation dripping. This leak, as I said: (a) smells of antifreeze, ( looks pink when collected, © is perfectly correlated with a loss of coolant fluid. Ken - I did not know hot coolant went to the A/C. condenser : sounds ominous if true. I was thinking (perhaps hoping) it was a hose (or attachment) feeding the heater matrix. Other explanations I have seen all seem to appear on the left (passenger) side. Thanks, ... still interested in your thoughts.

Hi Folks, I have a 2003 TDI Octy which drips coolant (characteristic smell etc.) from around the driver's side (RHS) suspension arm (about 8 inches under drivers door). Flow is about 12 drips / minute but only when the heater / A/C system has been ON during a run of the car. Have topped up about 1 litre water per 200 miles. Dripping and loss completely stopped when I switched climate control (Elegance model) OFF (car has been working like that for a month). Yesterday I had it in at a Skoda specialist who pressure tested and replaced header (expansion) tank. I picked it up, drove home with the climate control switched back on and ... the drips are back just the same. No sign of loss header tank, no damp or smell in the cabin. I cannot get the car in the air, but can root around a bit. Any ideas?

Exactly the same happened to me (including that it was the left-most wire on the block) : see my comments on http://www.briskoda....tor-or-dfm-wire . It is with DM Motors of Belfast right now, where they say the wire is still heating up when the engine runs and claim this is a "mystery that could take a long time to solve". Did they think of replacing the wire??? They will not discuss it with me. They know I have delayed the Irish Sea ferry booking 'till Wednesday to give time to fix this - I guess they want to go right up to the deadline and then charge me £££££ for the job. Thing is, I cannot get my car back off them until they are satisfied it is drivable. Nightmare! If I don't get the car back tomorrow it's rather a lot of money down the drain (oh and I have an MOT booked on on Thursday - in Aberdeen).

UPDATE: dear oh dear! Not just batery, the junction box on top of it had burned due to the nut holding one of the wire crimps down comming loose and touching next-door (other polarity) wire. Further problems in wiring back to alternatator, which itself may be stuffed: they don't know yet. I am told it is lucky there wasn't a fire! Ferry cancelled. K.

Well, I'm glad I found all this. My '03 Octy TDI just flaked out on the way back from B&Q - no warning at all. Here is the sequence: The radio switched itself off; odd I thought, but I could not get it back on, then while trying I saw the brake and ABS warning lights come on, "hellow", I thought then heard the engine sound rather agricultural and decided to pull over incase I did any damage. I Left ignition off for a while, then turn the key - all warning lights on, and then off in what looked like the right sequence, but ignition would not happen and no effort from the starter motor was heard. I plugged in the diagnostics thing and I got no engine codes, but I did find 'low voltage' on the brakes. After about 15 mins resting, the starter motor managed a very small push (not even a chug), but this indicates to me that I do not have a control circuitry or fuse problem, rather the poor old batery has given up (it's nine or ten years old now). Could be alternator, leakage, etc., etc. We will see tomorow. I hope I get this fixed quick - I'm booked on the ferry on Sunday (and this is Friday night). Keith.

I have just fitted the newer and better (and H-rated to 130mph) snowtrac 3 tyres to my Octy 1.9TD. They are very grippy and don't spoil the handling as far as I can tell, though they do make a swishing sound correlated with acceleration / deceleration. I think this is from the little sig-zag slits in the rubber blocks that grip the ice. It is quite likely that these tyres reduce the effective power on the road slightly, especially if under-inflated (and they take a bit more pressure than normal tyres). However, over the next three months, driving around in the Highlands, rest of Scotland and a northern England, I will be much more secure with good stopping distances and road holding. I recommend this course of action to anyone who has to drive in wintery weather and cannot put off a journey easily. I'll update folks after I have more experience with them.

My symphony radio, in an '03 Octy TDI Elegance, developed poor reception, especially AM (see related threads) - all original kit. In searching here I found that the base of the aerial is prone to corrosion damage due to water ingress (other possibilities are loss of power to radio pre-amp in the aerial base). I did not find any info about how to get at this bit of the car and Haynes say little other than that you need to remove the soft inner boards and plastic to get at it, which they helpfully suggest requires an expert. Undaunted, I went ahead. The first bit of plastic (along the edge by the hatch back) pulls off easily. Then the rear passenger grab handles come off (posidrive screws behind plastic covers which flip up when you unclip them). The wee lights are slid out, but not taken off. Then the side pieces of plastic can be carefully pulled away (these cover the back sides of the interior cabin near the hatch), noting that they slip out from rubber seals (rands). This done, the sponge coated interior roof board can be carefully pulled down from the back. Don't pull down too far as the board can crease and this is not good at all - about 4 inches is plenty. Now you can feel and see a fairly large nut in the roof with the aerial wire coming out of the bottom. This wire has a connector concealed in a piece of sponge a few inches back from the nut, so you can remove the whole antenna if needed. I unscrewed the nut, loosening it first with an 8 inch adjustable spanner (so I don't know what size the nut is). Once off (all in one piece with the special washer), the aerial, with its base, pops up through a small square hole in the roof. Turning the aerial base over, two small posidrive screws are found holding it together. As well as this there is a plastic skirt on which it stands and this can be prized off to reveal a rubber ring seal. I unfastened the little screws to open the base, revealing the amplifier and the way it connects to the antenna. With this lot exposed, I switched on the car and radio and put a voltmeter on the antenna terminals of the little amp. I got 10.4V DC there - good news. I noticed some slight corrosion, so cleaned it all up with meths and a cloth, then with fine metal abrasive paper, I cleaned up the terminal contacts and finished off with a spray of WD40. I put grease on all the seals and fastened the base back together. To re-install the aerial base is best done with a helper who holds the aerial base down as you put the big nut on from below (you can't reach to both on your own). All the time this was going on, I was listening to the radio on AM and it intermittently jumped from nothing but crackle to passable reception. Thankfully, on tightening the nut and checking all was correctly aligned and secure, the reception remained usable. All that is then needed is carefully reversing the procedure on the internal cosmetics. Hope this helps others.

650 miles mixed driving no problem! TDI - Ha ha!

Is a neurotic over-boost sensor not another possibility here? It's happened to my 110TDI too - but only when wellying it!

The one with the slash through is the average (I think averaged over the trip); the other one is near instantaneous readings - don't get mesmerised by that! I would consider the average to be a more accurate measure anyway.

I think the same has happened to my Symphony (2003 Octy TDI Elegance). At some point recently, not sure exactly when, AM (especially) reception plummeted to cats-whisker quality. I used to listen to Radio Scotland AM in Ireland!, but now all I get is crackle. Does anyone have handy instructions for investigating the antenna and feed into the radio? Further - does anyone know of a booster that can sit between them? That would be nice.

Thanks, folk. My faith is Skoda restored, in my ability to read the manual diminished. Happy peddle pushing.

I've had my Octy (2003) 1.9TD Elegance for 23 months now and noticed that on hard breaking I get a little kick back from the break peddle (just a pulse) and if I break hard enough it makes a clunk and kicks a bit harder. This is disconcerting. I am not used to ABS and have never encountered this problem / effect before. Any ideas? Should I be worried? The discs are in good shape and the car was thouroughly examined by a reputable dealer before sale (!?)

Dear all, I have recently bought my first Octy after threatening this for two years - it's a nice 110 tdi Elegance with 38k on the clock. Well, I went to the car yesterday morning and some joker has pulled out the plastic side grille on the front bumper (drivers side). No sign of damage, but I cannot imagine that it fell out (after inspecting the other one) and I can't find it anywhere. Can you recommend good place to get a replacement? More generally, advise on replacement parts would be useful (I couldn't find this using search). I assume the grill is easy enough to put in, once I've got another one and that they don't regularly fall out. Thanks, Turbot.