Can anyone advise or diagnose my turbo problem please?

Car is 2008 TDI 140 with BKD engine.

Symptom is slight audible whistle as turbo spins up and I think also with wastetgate opening. Although performance seems good there is some turbo lag, especially cold and boost performance seems a bit fierce. Economy is also a worry - struggle to get 45mpg overall although I generally drive very steadily and hardly ever see 50 mpg even cross-country!

I have seen articles on Turbo VN sticking/seized, bent turbine shaft, and vacuum/solenoid problems but don't know where to start!

Maybe if someone has access to diagnostics in the West Mids/Worcestershire area that would be a good start?

Any help or advise would be appreciated, otherwise I think car might have to go!

Those symptoms don't sound all that good, I have to say. How many miles has the car done?

Slight whistle as the turbo comes on boost can be a characteristic and I know quite a few who've had this for thousands of miles and throughout the ownership of the car, and it's not caused an issue or manifested a problem.

Excessive lag and spikey/fierce power delivery could point to a sticking mechanism or excessive play in the shaft. Unfortunately it's quite difficult to diagnose properly, even with diagnostic reports. Although that would be a decent first start. I'd get the car into a trusted garage or dealership, and get them to take a closer look.

I have the BKD (2.0tdi 140) engine also, and it has developed the exact same fault tuesday just gone, before that its been a great drive, but im having the same issue as cazzie51, cars done just this side of 64k, its in the garage tomorrow for its service so will see what they say.

Could this also be down to a gummed up EGR?

Would have to be pretty well gunked up I'd have thought, but worth checking out....

My PD140 has a faint turbo whistle, it always has done...

My brand new turbo had a slight whistle when it was fitted, and it is still there 35K later.

The spikiness in power delivery is more worrying.

Have you tried running some Millers diesel additive through it? Works wonders on cleaning injectors etc and may make a difference, but I suspect the start of sticking vanes.

Do you get a black cloud out of the back if you really boot it in 2nd and 3rd? Has it ever gone into limp home mode that has cleared when you turn the ignition on and off? A good old 'italian tune-up' might be all it needs to free things up again.

No smoke out of the back of mine, and the whistle is quite promanent at very low rev's, will report back when i get it back from the garage.

When my turbo started to fail the boost was very agressive, after it had been replaced the power delivery became much smoother.

Heres a sound clip of what my turbo sounded before I had it replaced

I'm looking at a turbo replacement too (07 Octavia); whats a ball park figure for a replacement + labour? I'm dreading what the bill could be

It depends if you are wanting to take it to a Skoda main dealer or an independant garage?

For reference I recently had the turbo replaced at Skoda on my PD170 vRS and the bill was £1,450.

There are lots of ways to reduce the cost quite a bit though...

- source the replacement turbo yourself

- trade in the old turbo to offset the cost of the new one

- find a local VAG specialist who will have lower labour rates

Factor on 4-5 hours labour, plus £100 in associated parts - along with the cost of the replacement. You'll be at around 1k, ballpark.

Talk to AET or CR Turbos about replacement units. I went with CR in the end.

My turbo doesn't sound anything like matts, i can hear it more inside the cabin than outside, ive had someone rev the car while i had my head stuck under the bonnet, but couldn't hear anything over the clatter, went to the garage and they told me the turbo was fine. they all sound like that he said, not sure he even looked myself. have to see how it gets on.

Bare in mind that it can sound different revving the car in neutral, as the engine isn't under load.

I'd be asking how they know it's fine, and what checks they've done. In writing would be good.

You could be describing my car. That's the kind of mpg I've always had from new. The turbo noise is less since I'd a replacement at under 20,000 miles.

Wastegate noise has me puzzled though- never seen that mentioned in the forum.

Weird about the economy and I know that can vary so wildly depending on driving style and routes travelled - and what people's definitions of 'steady driving' is too

But on a longer fast A-road route, keeping between 50 and 65 with steady, flowing traffic, I'll get 55-60 from mine and it's not in a particularly standard state of tune! Saying that the mapping could help quite a bit in those sorts of situations, as the engine's just not having to try hard at all to keep that sort of pace.

I was thinking of getting my car mapped, before the turbo sounds started, the garage we use isn't great i must confess, but as its a company car i have little choice where to take it. but after going out with one of our other engineer's that runs his own car, 525d bmw thats been re-mapped to about 240bhp, mine feels very slow.