Hi all,

I have a problem with an 02 Octavia 1.9 TDI. Last weekend the car lost all power - no boost - I thought oh no, a new turbo on the horizon. I had a new cambelt fitted in August so I took it back to them to investigate. They found a hole in a small pipe on the right side of the engine and they duly fixed it. The problem was not solved however and after further investigation by myself, I found that a small plastic nipple had broken off from the EGR valve. I took the car to another garage to have a new EGR valve fitted but the problem still persists. There is a fault code

44F8 Start-of-injection control

Control difference

The garage that fitted the EGR told me it was an injection pump problem £500 - £600 plus labour, best part of a grand. After telling them about the cambelt change they told me to go back to the first garage and query their work. I have done that this morning and they have shown me that the timing is accurate and that if anything was wrong with the belt I would know about it by now because the engine would have died completely. They said the 44F8 code was too vague to pinpoint it to the injector pump so I find myself on this forum hoping to find someone who can help or may have had the same problem.

Thanks for you patience in reading this.

Go to the VAG-COM forum, and get someone there to confirm the codes and recheck the pump timing.

This might help too, as might this.

If the power loss is sudden though, it's more likely a sensor has failed or a pipe/cable dropped off.

Edited 3 October, 200916 yr by cjb

Went out in car last night and noticed that when it gets to 2500rpm everything is normal, turbo cuts in and all. Its just at low speed and revs that the engine sounds like a bag of nails and gutless. Someone out there must have had this happen, I can't be that unique.

Cheers.

Went out in car last night and noticed that when it gets to 2500rpm everything is normal, turbo cuts in and all. Its just at low speed and revs that the engine sounds like a bag of nails and gutless. Someone out there must have had this happen, I can't be that unique.

Cheers.

Not a solution but just some thoughts

1) I had the timing reset slightly more retarded recently to cure a cold starting problem but one side effect is that the bag of nails diesel noise when cold is now gone and it is smooth and quieter at all temps and speeds.

2) I had a problem with a stuck vane mechanism in the turbo nearly 2 years ago, where the vanes stuck in the position that gives extra boost at lower revs. This is a common problem and well documented on this forum. This is not your problem BUT if the vanes were to be stuck in the other position I would expect there to be limited power below 2500 rpm. You can easily check if the vanes are free by moving the operating rod with your hand (normally vacuum operated).

Just some thoughts but may lead you to the cause.

The fault on my car has been sorted, it was the injector pump. My vehicle has an ALH engine which can apparently have 1 of 2 cambelts, the first garage fitted the wrong belt but are now saying that it wasn't that that caused the pump problem. I am paying a £850 bill and they want to reimburse me £135 for the wrong cambelt. I would like to know if anyone on here has any technical information that states what damage can occur if the wrong cambelt is fitted to a ALH engine. The 2 cambelts appear the same but one is stronger than the other.

Please help.

I m assuming its not a pd diesel engine? i think from the sound of it the fuel pump timing is out, it should be set up/checked with 5051/vag com after the belt is changed:thumbup:

You can easily check if the vanes are free by moving the operating rod with your hand (normally vacuum operated).

I find mind really hard to operate by hand. Do you operate yours from above, or below?

I normally disconnect the hose and suck down it, and I can just make the control rod move, there is no way I could move it just by hand - unless I am pressing/pushing in the wrong place.

I noticed when doing this last w/e, that the control rod got stuck before returning to its nature 'at rest' position and required me to blow down the vacuum pipe and then it "clicked" back. I repeated this process about 10-15 times hoping to free it up a bit. I then got one overboost on the way to work, and 2 on the way back. Grrrr.

I noticed when doing this last w/e, that the control rod got stuck before returning to its nature 'at rest' position and required me to blow down the vacuum pipe and then it "clicked" back.

It was the clicking in the middle of the range of movement that my Skoda garage said was the confirmation of the sticky vane problem.

It was the clicking in the middle of the range of movement that my Skoda garage said was the confirmation of the sticky vane problem.

Did you replace your turbo, or take it off and clean it up?

The fault on my car has been sorted, it was the injector pump. My vehicle has an ALH engine which can apparently have 1 of 2 cambelts, the first garage fitted the wrong belt but are now saying that it wasn't that that caused the pump problem. I am paying a £850 bill and they want to reimburse me £135 for the wrong cambelt. I would like to know if anyone on here has any technical information that states what damage can occur if the wrong cambelt is fitted to a ALH engine. The 2 cambelts appear the same but one is stronger than the other.

Please help.

That is not correct, the 2 belts are identical, fitting 1 over the other wont cause a fuel pump to fail, the fault you have is more than likely a misaligned pump as i mentioned above:thumbup:

Did you replace your turbo, or take it off and clean it up?

I had the local Skoda dealer take it off, send it away for cleaning and then replace it on return.

Luckily it was within one year of purchasing the car (second hand) and almost all the cost was covered by an insurance type warranty given with the car by the (non Skoda) dealer.

I find mind really hard to operate by hand. Do you operate yours from above, or below?

They are fairly stiff to move IME- I did it from below on my A3 just to check it.

I noticed when doing this last w/e, that the control rod got stuck before returning to its nature 'at rest' position and required me to blow down the vacuum pipe and then it "clicked" back. I repeated this process about 10-15 times hoping to free it up a bit. I then got one overboost on the way to work, and 2 on the way back. Grrrr.

Sounds like you've found the problem :(.

That is not correct, the 2 belts are identical, fitting 1 over the other wont cause a fuel pump to fail, the fault you have is more than likely a misaligned pump as i mentioned above:thumbup:

It is correct, I have spent hours researching this over the last month. I have a technical bulletin from Gates stating that there is a physical difference and one must not be replaced with the other, Contitech have even stopped supplying the older version.

How does a misaligned pump work for 5 weeks then fail?

Just trying to help you mate, dont worry eh !

Even if you're wrong Ally, surely it's the responsibility of the supplying garage to check that they have supplied and fitted the correct part, and to replace any damage caused by them fitting a wrong part?