Car in question is a leon fr tdi (arl engine pd150)

Thought id ask here as

A) probably highest number of pd owners i know

B ) seatcupra.net is poop and briskoda is excellent

Symptoms

Car suffers what appears to be sticky vanes on the turbo. Hesitant through the rev band. Coughs and splutters itself on and sometimes goes into limp mode.

Note - this is ONLY when the engine is cold. As soon as the engine temp warms up towards 90 degrees it is bob on!

I have cleaned the turbo ala mr muscle effect which has helped resolve the problem a fair bit. (Used to do it when warm but that is gone)

I didnt clean it brilliantly so granted another go may resolve the issue completely.

Its just strange how this only happens when cold?

Any ideas

Cheers

Oh and no fault codes stored or eml's ever even with limp mode

Leaking pipes or gasket things expand when they get hot and contract when cold clutching at straws but you never know or just try cleaning it again

Ive done the crank case vent to air mod so no oil in my intercooler pipes

Fitted new o rings to intercooler pipework 5k ago and cable tied them tight. I have zero leaks on that side of things

Egr valve and inlet manifold was also de-coked 5k ago at the same time....

As its a cold issue im wondering maybe lack of oil flow when cold? Possibly oil feed to turbo but i dont know if that would cause my issues. I would suspect if the turbo was getting starved of oil at cold it would of went pop long before the 100k im now at

I would just have another go at cleaning it and see what happens if no better sure someone on here will be able to advise on what the problem might be although you might want to try to post a bit earlier as a lot of tech minded people have long gone to the land of zzzzzzzz:)

Yeah i'll ask tomorrow

Only thing its a proper nightmare to clean the turbo on an arl engine as it runs an egr cooler...

What about MAF?

From cold only though??

I know it's odd,

Run some logs on it if you can?

Edited 24 January, 201313 yr by wilsy7

I do not have the software available to run logs

Was going to get vcds at xmas but i spent the fund on other things :(

I am in cumbria mate, at the weekend i have the vcds lite and a cable that works.

Can you run live data logging with vcds lite?

the sticky vanes is always accompanied by the "boost pressure, positive deviation" fault code.

If thats not appearing its something else.

Yes in the boxes and make excel spreadsheets

the way to do it with excel spreadsheetrs

the sticky vanes is always accompanied by the "boost pressure, positive deviation" fault code.

If thats not appearing its something else.

Always?

I get zero fault codes what so ever!

Where in cumbria are you going to be mate? Think you can pinpoint the problem? It probably wont rear its head as it needs to be cold

The whole point the engine goes into limp mode is to stop the turbo overboosting, hence the code. It can sometimes also throw an underboost if the vanes jam in low boost position (i.e. high revs position).

Logging what is happening with vcds will let you check if what is happening is what the ecu is trying to achieve.

What about a fuelling problem?

Is it definitely limp mode? Once it happens you don't get the performance back until you cycle the ignition.

Yes 100% limp mode.... Turbo cuts out completely and wont come back to life until engine off and back on.

It only happens when cold, doesnt happen any other time, when engine is upto temp it is perfect. No turbo issues what so ever. Pulls like a train in all gears all rpm

Havent had a fault code at all

When my old octavia went into limp because of the turbo it always logged a code.

However I have had the CEL come on on SWMBOs Leon without logging a code!!! so maybe it's a seat thing.

Overboost limp mode from sticky vanes is also not related to engine temp. It will do it all the time.

I had the cel on once before but only once. Glow plug 2 was goosed. Replaced that and erased code

Havent had a light or code since. Its starting to bug me and im at a loss. If its not sticky vanes that is a plus i suppose

Will hopefully be getting some logs done on sunday.

Will post copies when they are done

You need to run logs at least. Too many potential causes to simply 'diagnose' over the web without them.

big thanks to ajs_vrs i now have logs

cheers bud

anyting jumping off the page guru's?

Any1?