1.4 tdi loss of power

[Intercityuk]

This is apparently a very common problem with this engine. The engine runs fine but every so often there is a big loss of power like the turbo has stopped working and the engine management light comes on. When you turn the engine off and restart the fault is clear and everything is ok.

 

This must be a common problem because i was so impressed with the car/engine that i bought a vw polo 1.4tdi and guess what? it has exactly the same fault. Interestingly they both have the same mileage 80000 miles.

 

When the computer is plugged in there is no fault found or turbo pressure fault. i can't afford to start replacing turbos if the problem is elsewhere.

 

Surely VW / Skoda must know about the problem

 

This fault is very dangerous especially when i'm on the motorway

 

The Skoda is 2007 and the Polo is 2005

 

Please Help

 

Regards Paul

[Dean-]

This is apparently a very common problem with this engine. The engine runs fine but every so often there is a big loss of power like the turbo has stopped working and the engine management light comes on. When you turn the engine off and restart the fault is clear and everything is ok.

 

This must be a common problem because i was so impressed with the car/engine that i bought a vw polo 1.4tdi and guess what? it has exactly the same fault. Interestingly they both have the same mileage 80000 miles.

 

When the computer is plugged in there is no fault found or turbo pressure fault. i can't afford to start replacing turbos if the problem is elsewhere.

 

Surely VW / Skoda must know about the problem

 

This fault is very dangerous especially when i'm on the motorway

 

The Skoda is 2007 and the Polo is 2005

 

Please Help

 

Regards Paul

 

Try replacing the MAF sensor. See if this fixes the issue.

 

My mate who also had a 1.4 TDI Polo found cleaning the EGR Valve stopped this aswell. 

[faboka vrs]

Connect VCDS, log groups 3 and 11 and try and replicate the fault. Post the logs.

[Guest]

Hi Intercity uk, Welcome to the site. 

 

It certainly is not a common problem for the 1.4TDI to experience this fault. I think you have just been unlucky. It is however a fault that any diesel can experience, usually when the miles are high or if the engine has been used for lots of town or slow speed work. It is usually due to the problems already outlined by previous posters. The MAF sensor can be it, but it's probably the egr valve becoming stuck due to being very dirty inside. It is possible to clean them out but most garages will want to replace it as it's fiddly and not guaranteed to fix the problem. Another thing worth checking is the connections to the egr stepper motor. Incidentally, if the stepper motor is faulty (I doubt it) then the egr must be replaced. I doubt it's a turbo problem. Not seen one of those fail on the 1422cc TDI myself. I owned one of these for 5 years and it's one of the most trouble free, robust engines on the market. Good luck and let us know what you find.

[bluecar1]

other one I have seen is the vacuum pipe to the turbo waste gate splitting, this leads to insufficient boost and the ecu puts it into limp home mode and you struggle to get over 3000rpm

 

its easier to check the pipe from underneath (with a cold engine)

 

had both a MAF sensor on my Octavia at about 100,000 miles and a vacuum pipe on my roomster, both actually produced the same syptom push the car up an incline or try to overtake on dual carriageway / motorway without changing down  and car would go into limp mode

 

vacuum pipe is about £30, MAP sensor about £80-£90 recon unit from dealer, both easy to fit with a bit of care

 

you running standard air filter or something like a green cotton one? as apparently if you use a green cotton one you have to be very careful about the amount of oil you put in them or it can contaminate the MAF sensor and cause this issue (remember some threads on fabia mk1 about this)

[Intercityuk]

Thank you very much for all your replies. I also think it is a fantastic engine and i wish i could still buy a new car with the 1.4 tdi in it.

 

I will replace / clean some or all of the sensors mentioned when i have some spare money !!!!

 

It's funny, Polo is back to normal running for the last 3 days but i know it's going to happen again.

 

I will let you know what i found out if anything

 

thanks Paul

[eddyy]

ok , i have the same problem , 1.4 tdi BNM but no warning lights or something , after 140 km/h suddenly i can t accelerate  , everything it s ok after i stop the engine and start again but every  single time  i m driving over 130-140 km/h my engine suddenly dies

what should i check?

[GERMANinAFRICA]

Hi All

My wife has a 1.4TDI amf lovely car, had it for quite some time, we replaced the turbo and the head due to the "limp mode problem" ill advised I suppose, but now the car doesn't rev up and struggle to idle. No errors when diagnostics are ran, all 3 cylinders are fine, replaced the crank sensor
now struggling to get throttle

the car has been standing for a while now being towed from pillar to post and then peter to paul to no luck
is there anybody that knows about a possible cause?

[Bryanhoare]

I am searching for information on a Turbo problem on a 2015 Toyota 1.4 diesel (not hybrid) twice within a year (40,000 miles). It appears as if the turbo has switched off. There is no power and hard to get above 40mph. There is no smoke and no engine management light. It happened about a year ago nearing the end of a 90 mile mootorway journey I turned to the side roads to avoid traffic delay and for about 5 miles it went into this mode, then suddenly it came back to full power. The following week Toyota charged me £60 to tell me there were no codes and did not know what caused it. Last night I once again had the same problem. Parked overnight hoping it would reset, but it had not, carried on regardless with no exceleration, went down hill on a country road when suddenly it burst back into life. 

Reading the above comments on Skoda and Polo, I had this same problem on my last car a Ford Galaxy 2 Ltr diesel turbo variable vain. No one, even Fords could cure the problem. A colleague had the same vehicle, same problem. 

My current Car is used as a taxi, but I only carry out airport work so always on the motorway usually cruising at just above 70mph!!

this car is serviced by Toyota and has 180,000 on the clock, does not use any oil and has no other problem and still returns in excess of 50mpg.