When accelerating in 5th on the motorway last night the car seemed to loose all its low down torque. It was sudden and at about 75MPH. After that the loss of power persisted all the way from Wigan to Blackpool. It would struggle to maintain 80MPH on the uphill bits on cruise control and was no better on the throttle. The fuel economy didn't seem to be affected though

However it was absolutely fine this morning on the way to work and since has shown no OBD diagnostic problems on my ELM thingumy. Though I don't fully trust the thingumy.

It felt like the turbo boost had gone and I was driving a standard diesel. :thumbdwn:

Any ideas?

Stuck turbo VNT mechanism, leading to an over boost followed by the ECU shutting the turbo down, which is reset by turning the ignition off then on. Usually there is an over boost code shown in the diagnostics.

Exactly as fordfan said. There are many threads on this subject so try a search.

I had my turbo cleaned to fix the problem.

Temporary fix is to use high revs and full throttle but it is very temporary. It will "trip" each time you try it so you then need to stop, turn the ignition off then on again, and repeat the process. Each try will increase the revs at which it "trips".

In the threads you find at least one company that will clean the turbo.

Its the moving vanes that get coked up, particularly if low revs are used most of the time. See here:

http://www.technologie-entwicklung.de/vtg-sequenz.gif

3rded. Try sending a PM to Greg123 about cleaning the VVT.

Nice one.

That makes sense cos I do lots of economy style driving (block changes, coasts, low revs low throttle)

What doesn't make sense is the lack of DTC from the ELM OBDII whatsit. Does the code get wiped everytime the engine is turned off?

The fault will probably stored as 'turbo overboost'. There is a VNT cleaning guide, which a search should dig out.

Nice one.

That makes sense cos I do lots of economy style driving (block changes, coasts, low revs low throttle)

What doesn't make sense is the lack of DTC from the ELM OBDII whatsit. Does the code get wiped everytime the engine is turned off?

I used to drive like that untill i learned that coasting uses more fuel as the engine is

actually ticking over.

If you leave it in gear going down a hill or approaching a junction etc

it doesent use any fuel

here you go I'd bookmarked it: http://briskoda.net/octavia-i/tdi-110-replacement-turbo-needed/49488/ -especially post #23

As Litto says, if you can keep the engine turning above 1_200rpm on a closed throttle, you can make progress whilst using no fuel at all.

Big thanks to all for that.

Its got me thinking though....

If I'm going to have to remove the turbo then what are the options for upping the power to somewhere between 130BHP to 160BHP??

Bigger turbo??

With a healthy turbo, all you need to get 140bhp from the 110 is a remap.

To get a 130esque output, you'd need a hybrid turbo, and I think different injectors (the 130 uses unit injectors as standard, unlke the other variations on the 1.9d).

My taxi had exactly the same symptoms (posted on here), tried a few things (apart from stripping turbo), but changed the fuel filter about a month ago.........light hasnt come on since! (fingers crossed!!!) worth a try??

With a healthy turbo, all you need to get 140bhp from the 110 is a remap.

To get a 130esque output, you'd need a hybrid turbo, and I think different injectors (the 130 uses unit injectors as standard, unlke the other variations on the 1.9d).

Maybe I'm being thick here, but you can get 140 from a remap, but you would need a hybrid turbo and injectors for 130? Or do the upgrades mentiond for the 130 give you more opportunity for further power increases.

I am definitely up for a remap. How do I get this done?

Maybe I'm being thick here, but you can get 140 from a remap, but you would need a hybrid turbo and injectors for 130? Or do the upgrades mentiond for the 130 give you more opportunity for further power increases.

I am definitely up for a remap. How do I get this done?

That's me being unclear in what I said.If you have a healthy standard turbo, remapping a TDi110 will give about 140bhp.Achieving the output of a standard TDi130 would require changing the injection system and turbo, but a healthy 130 will remap to about 170 to 180 bhp.As for how to do it, have a look in the Site Sponsors section, because several of them offer remapping services.

Thanks KenONeil - I will sort that out after sorting the current problem.

Its done the loss of power thing again, but this time it didn't seem to be in response to acceleration.

When I got home I immediately plugged in the ELM (without switching the engine off) and queried for fault codes - again there was none reported. Because I didn't trust the software supplied with the ELM I downloaded a Telnet app and talked to the car in low level OBD commands (beep, beep, buzzz, squeak, boooooppp)

The telnet session was definitely running OK and the car responding to the commands, but when I requested the number of DTC's stored (command - '01 01') the answer was 'nowt' (or the hex equivalent at any rate)

So its got me worried that there is something different happening....:(

Is there always a code? Does the 'check engine' light come on??

If you're using generic OBD cammands it might not give you the fault code. Get a copy of VCDS on it, as that uses some proprietary protocols to query the car.

I don't think the CEL always lights, but an overboost code should get logged.

BTW, how do you talk OBD to a car with a terminal? any tutorials on the net?

Edited 6 September, 200916 yr by DGW
No need to quote previous post.

From our experience the check engine light wont come on, fault will be intermitent but will slowly become more frequent

Re remap you might see a bit more than 140 from the 110, also with a remap mpg will improve "honest"

Bigger Turbos can be adapted to fit, We fitted one from a 130 bhp fabia, just needed a pipe adapting,

Jabba I believe know a bit about which std vag turbos will fit, they also do stonking remaps Ive been told ;)

If you're using generic OBD cammands it might not give you the fault code. Get a copy of VCDS on it, as that uses some proprietary protocols to query the car.

I don't think the CEL always lights, but an overboost code should get logged.

BTW, how do you talk OBD to a car with a terminal? any tutorials on the net?

Download PUTTy for free (or use Hyperterm), set up the COM port and the baud rate and youre away. With my device which uses an ELM327 chip you can choose to send 'AT' commands to change apects of the communication, or send it direct OBD commands '01 01' is a request for fault codes '03' requests those codes and '04' will clear codes. I dont know about other devices.Look at the datasheets for the 327 chip on this site 'www.elmelectronics.com'

Shareware VCDS is free to download, and gives you standard diagnostics that everyone else will understand too.

hi ,

you might have gone down this route, i dont know but if you loose power suddenly it can be related to the brake light switch or something simple as this....

KenONeill,

I got a copy of the VCDS (which installed absolutely fine on a VISTA laptop) but the ELM wont work with it. I think the problem is that the software will only take 19200 baud max, but the device is 38400 baud?

So I will have to buy a new interface.

Skoda_auto: Are you saying that if the brake light comes on when it shouldn't then that can make the car lose power? I guess that if I get VCDS working then I can query more than the engine for faults.

I can't help about datacomms from here.

What I can say is that I've never heard of brake switch failure causing loss of power before. Loss of cruise control (if fitted), traction control (if fitted, which it is on most 110s), ABS warning light on, loss of all brake lights.

My 110 tdi elegance was remapped and made 143bhp on the rolling road.. it also destroyed the DMF and clutch in about 5000 miles......and the dogbone mount.....

My turbo also showed signs of sticky vanes by which time i had enough of the car and got rid of it!

I miss the mid-range punch at times though...:(

Sorry to go against the grain here, but:

Intermittent power loss on TDI 90s and 110s may be due to one of the following:- sticking turbo due to dirty oil; dirty or faulty mass airflow sensor; exhaust gas recircularion solenoid valve sticking open; wastegate valve actuator rod sticking; faulty throttle switches; faulty temperature sensor; loose or leaking brake servo pipe or turbo boost pipe from fuel pump to turbo; faulty ECU.

...I'd cover some of those bases before assuming the turbo was FUBAR...

I thought all turbo related problems don,t log codes on these:confused: