Just thought I'd share my woes...

About three weeks ago I bought an 05 plate Octavia II PD140 Elegance, in what looked like good condition from a mid-sized independent - won't name them at present. Drove well round the city streets nearby - couldn't take it onto dual-carriageway or motorway though so couldn't really open it up. Was a good price for the spec - leather seats etc. - at only £5,449, with around 80k miles on it. I was giving up a much loved but very ragged Fabia I VRS aiming for a bigger car and more refined ride.

Getting to the point... After about a week of owning it, whilst happily overtaking on a dual carriageway, I suddenly find myself in limp home mode :-( an interesting experience! Luckily momentum got me past the car I was overtaking. Back home a lot of reading of these forums indicated it could be the VNT turbo problems that several people have experienced. I have since experienced the same problem on a daily basis, with it triggering when I am accelerating hard (past about 3.5k rpm) and most often as I am pulling up long steep hills.

Quick trip to my regular garage, Blade Skoda South (used to be Clist & Rattle), where they ran the diagnostics and confirmed that a turbo over boost error has been logged. Shortly after this visit the emissions light came on too - I'm assuming that's a consequence of driving it with the turbo problem?

Anyway, after a few days of telephone tag with the dealership, they are taking it back into their workshop next week to confirm the diagnosis and to repair the fault. They obviously don't want me to take it to Blade Skoda South because as many of you have reported a franchised dealer turbo replacement costs somewhere north of £1200.

Being a slightly suspicious soul, I'm wondering how I can verify that they have taken the appropriate action, and fitted a decent replacement turbo? Was thinking of asking them to provide me with all their paperwork e.g. Invoice for the replacement part from wherever they source it. Obviously I will know whether the fault is gone through driving it, and I can get the diagnostic run again, but just want to have all the facts for future resale of the car.

Any thoughts?

If it's a clogged up VNT nozzle ring, which could be the problem if it's overboost you're experiencing, then it's only a cleaning that's needed. Not a replacement.

I expect the dealership will be looking for the lowest cost way to fix the problem! I'm not too bothered as long as it's a genuine remedy and not just cutting costs that leave me with a problem that will recur.

I thought most warranties were a third party setup similar to a insurance polcy.

I know the bigger dealers offer their own warranty but if this is third party warranty you should be able to take it anywhere you want. Whether or not the warrnty provider agres to the repair work is a different story.

Hope all goes well for you.

Thanks! I'm not handling this via a warranty at the moment, I'm taking the approach of requesting a repair under the consumer rights I have due to the sale of goods act. Within the first six months of owning a second hand car any faults are assumed to have been there when it was sold to you and your contract with the dealer is assumed to mean that the car was in reasonable condition - having a working turbo seems to fit that bill for me!

I do have a third party warranty for faults that arise in the longer run, but I know that they will simply say that the dealer should fix this as its only 3 weeks since I bought it and they don't cover pre-existing faults.

The dealer did give me a basic 3 month warranty but it excludes turbos! Suspect they are wishing they had included it now as presumably their insurance would have covered the work.

Does it sound like a police car yet?

Guys,

All this talk about noises coming from turbos are scaring the hell out of me. Mine whistles every now and then, can hear it better when setting off from stand still then the whistling disappears I think because of road noise so it inst that loud.

I also find sometimes when I start the car up and it is idle the turbo whistles for about 10 seconds then stops, is that normal?

I have had the car just short of two months and also bought it from the dealer so it is faulty or shouldn't be making a whistling noise then I need to know to take it back.

Whistling is hard to pin point but in general a whistling noise wont be a failing turbo and is nothing to worry about. If it sounds more like a police siren thats usually a good indication that the turbo is going to fail at some point.

Without hearing the whistle its very hard to advise.

Mine failed without whistling though. :think:

Honestly, all turbo's whistle. It's the police siren you have to watch out for.

Did someone mention a Police Siren

Any noise other than this & you should be ok

mr muscle, it always works.http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/243533-the-mr-muscle-vnt-turbo-treatment-thought-we-needed-a-guide-of-sorts/

Did someone mention a Police Siren

....

Any noise other than this & you should be ok

Hi all, missed your comments earlier - had a busy day at work.

Forgot to say in my original post that it does indeed have the police siren noise, although not as bad as in matt@theforce's video. Not quite so pronounced, but goes on longer.

That's why my first conversation with the dealer was "you've sold me a car with a failing turbo, I want it replaced".

Difficult to know exactly how hard to push it. I'm no mechanic so can only report second hand what these forums are telling me. Also can't easily refute what the dealer tells me about the fault.

However they may handle this right, and not quibble. I'll just have to see next week when I take it in.

i did mr muscle on a passat 06 plate recently and the siren noise went away.

I guess that the Mr Muscle procedure is basically reconditioning the turbo, so effectively it's like getting a reconditioned turbo to replace the old one...

cleans the vanes, its such a common problem, i have now done 15 and all were a success. follow that guide and no more limp.

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/243533-the-mr-muscle-vnt-turbo-treatment-thought-we-needed-a-guide-of-sorts/

Edited 14 September, 201213 yr by Lofty79

Just had a brand new turbo fitted to my 05 plate Octavia after the police siren sound went on for sometime. As before the siren sound is the warning the turbo is about to expire. Mine was well less than a grand from a fantastic VW independent in Exeter, volkscraft.co.uk brand new with a two year warranty. Now it is quiet and refined again.

Just thought I'd share my woes...

About three weeks ago I bought an 05 plate Octavia II PD140 Elegance, in what looked like good condition from a mid-sized independent - won't name them at present. Drove well round the city streets nearby - couldn't take it onto dual-carriageway or motorway though so couldn't really open it up. Was a good price for the spec - leather seats etc. - at only £5,449, with around 80k miles on it. I was giving up a much loved but very ragged Fabia I VRS aiming for a bigger car and more refined ride.

Getting to the point... After about a week of owning it, whilst happily overtaking on a dual carriageway, I suddenly find myself in limp home mode :-( an interesting experience! Luckily momentum got me past the car I was overtaking. Back home a lot of reading of these forums indicated it could be the VNT turbo problems that several people have experienced. I have since experienced the same problem on a daily basis, with it triggering when I am accelerating hard (past about 3.5k rpm) and most often as I am pulling up long steep hills.

Quick trip to my regular garage, Blade Skoda South (used to be Clist & Rattle), where they ran the diagnostics and confirmed that a turbo over boost error has been logged. Shortly after this visit the emissions light came on too - I'm assuming that's a consequence of driving it with the turbo problem?

Anyway, after a few days of telephone tag with the dealership, they are taking it back into their workshop next week to confirm the diagnosis and to repair the fault. They obviously don't want me to take it to Blade Skoda South because as many of you have reported a franchised dealer turbo replacement costs somewhere north of £1200.

Being a slightly suspicious soul, I'm wondering how I can verify that they have taken the appropriate action, and fitted a decent replacement turbo? Was thinking of asking them to provide me with all their paperwork e.g. Invoice for the replacement part from wherever they source it. Obviously I will know whether the fault is gone through driving it, and I can get the diagnostic run again, but just want to have all the facts for future resale of the car.

Any thoughts?

Ask for a copy of the invoice for the replacement turbo as the part itself will have a warranty on it, and you want it for your records should the fault occur again within the warranty period of the part.

My replacement turbo has had the police siren (albeit fairly quiet) since the day I drove it off the Skoda dealers forecourt.

Took it back and they said it's fine.

Done 20,000 miles since then and all appears OK.

Does anyone know the exact cause of the siren sound? In my experience most turbo noises that sound extremely dire turn out to be manifold gasket leaks. The reason they go away with a turbo change is because the joints are removed and replaced during the turbo swap.

In my experience if a turbo is going to die (broken shaft etc) there is no warning. It will go from working normally to pieces within seconds.

It seems to me there are three possible failure modes here:

1. Leaks making noise.

2. Vane mechanism sooting up and causing overboost.

3. Turbo shafts breaking.

Only #3 requires a turbo replacement. 1&2 can be fixed with some maintenance.

Update time...

After a fair bit of round the houses and to and fro, I eventually got to the point where I agreed with the dealer to use their warranty company to book the fault in, and get it diagnosed. Many of you won't be surprised to hear that I had to take the car to a Halfords Autocentre. After a few hours they called me to tell me that I had a Turbo Overboost fault... which we knew, but now the dealer has it in black and white. Also turns out that my EGR valve is stuck open - could that be caused by the faulty turbo?

The official line on this is that both parts have to be replaced, can't be repaired - appreciate that this isn't strictly true as per commenters above, but there doesn't seem to be any other avenue open. As the dealer is going to have to sort it, I'm not too bothered.

Having said that, I've still not managed to get the dealer pinned down with a proper response and agreement to sort things out... fingers crossed there's not too much wriggling before the end.

As you have a warranty get them to replace the parts.

Otherwise and for those reading this in future - try a dose for Forte Diesel cleaner - £ 10 off ebay and stick it in the fuel tank.

Lots of good reviews on the net for Forte and nothing to lose for a tenner.

Edited 21 September, 201213 yr by Web Ferret

So, the dealers warranty company say you need a new EGR and turbo?

Can't see the dealer has any other option than to do this then?

Give them 7 days to sort it to your satisfaction and provide a loan car whilst it is in - put this in writing and send recorded delivery or email it to them with a delivery and read receipt.

If that's what the dealers experts have said (replacement), then who are we to argue?

Web Ferret, diesel additives will do absolutely nothing for an overboosting turbo and/or stuck EGR valve.

Spoke to the dealer yesterday and they are committing to do the work, just a question of whether they accept the quote from the Autocentre or get the car to a garage that will cost them less. Fingers crossed, should have it back in a couple of days.

Will be nice to find out how the car drives once I can go above 3500 revs - I've not taken it on the motorway yet either as it didn't seem too sensible! The idea of losing all power whilst overtaking in the outside lane wasn't appealing...