Hi all,

My parents have a late 2005 2.0 TDi (PD140) Octavia, which had its first MOT under their ownership recently (at ~63k). Whilst it passed, the smoke test readings were a little high for their liking - 2.72, 2.54, and 2.48 (average = 2.58).

The main dealer it was purchased from did an MOT immediately before pick-up, with the following readings - 3.95, 3.21, 1.56, 1.38, 1.29 (average = 1.41), so I guess it was a little coked-up to start with, and the couple of high-revs cleared it out.

At purchase, it had a new air filter, and has done approximately 6k since then (the filter's a little grubby, but not black), and it had a new turbo fitted under warranty in the spring. I've recently done a fault scan, and there weren't any logged. It's been fed on a mix of Shell Fuel Save, Esso ULS, and Sainsbury's diesel.

Generally, it's been used to go to/from work, and has generally been driven gently - 3000rpm would be hit occasionally, but not much more, and it'd generally be run under 2000rpm. Although it's been mostly used for short trips (~8m), it's done a few 70m+ motorway trips in the last couple of weeks, and was given a bit of a push onto the motorway (3000rpm). The trip to the test centre involved a short motorway run, including a 3000rpm up a moderately steep slip-road.

The test centre was running a little late, so it was left standing for 10mins before being fast idled for a bit to bring the temperature up. Apparently, there wasn't an obvious large cloud of smoke - just some small puffs - during the test, so the readings are a little surprising.

So, do you think that it just needs a bit of an "Italian tune-up" (should that be hitting 4000rpm? red-line starts at 4500rpm)? Or would it benefit from some Millers or Forte? (although the manual says not to put additives in it?) Or could it be something else?

Thanks for any input.

I would say it needs a few good thrashings. These cars have variable vane turbos which can gum up if the full rev range isnt used on a regular basis so worth giving the car some exercise from time to time anyway as its a big bill to fix

I always put a bottle of Redex in the tank before a Mot, last reading was .73.

Thanks, guys.

I'll get them to give it a bit of a thrashing, and, as they're friendly with the MoT guys, see if they can be bribed to do a quick smoke-check when mine has its MoT to see if it's any happier.