Hi Guys,

 

I bought a mk1 fabia last Sunday from a forum member with a hybrid 130pd turbo, remap, intercooler, EGR delete and all was fine up until today.  It is now not picking up like it used to and there are plumes of black smoke when I put my foot down.  There doesnt seem to be any undue noises from turbo, maybe whistling / spooling sound but thats been there form the start.  I was told that it had been remapped to 210ish BHP and he had asked to turn the traction control permanently off.  I checked by pressing the TC button and true enough the light stayed on.

 

Maybe this is a coincidence but since the black smoke problem the traction light has now gone off from the dash and I can turn traction on and off normally by pressing button!!  

 

Could this be the map causing this? Could the map just stop working or get screwed up so its just dumping lots of fuel in whenever I accelerate?  Reason Im asking this is that if when it was mapped the traction was turned off permanently as part of the map then if traction is now working but car is slower could this be related or do I have another problem?? I have checked intercooler pipes and they are on solid.

 

I use this car for work and have to travel total of about 6 hours tomorrow so am stuck and need to know would it be safe to drive normally at 60-70mph? and maybe I can take it somewhere on the way back.

 

Any help appreciated

 

Kash

btw, it has a decat too

Excessive black smoke suggests over-fuelling for the available boost pressure.

This is commonly due to a leak in the pressurised side of the intake - pipes from turbo to intercooler then to engine intake etc.

Otherwise there could be something stopping the turbo from creating the expected pressure but in my very limited experience this would cause the ecu to trigger limp mode which kills all boost but should therefore stop black smoke.

I would be relucant to drive too far with the excess black smoke as you will be sooting up the inside of the engine.

ok Thanks.

 

Any thoughts on the remap side of things and what i wrote about traction light permanently staying on due to remap but since black smoke it turns on and off by press of button as normal??

 

Just took it out for a drive and turbo noise is more audible.  I think it sounds like hissing? Im hoping is a pipe come off or got a split in.

Edited 9 August, 201510 yr by mpow3r

Do you know who/where the car was mapped. High boost on the standard turbo - over boost and surge issues. The fueling probably been done to help keep temps low and to maintain decent ignition timing on boost. The likelihood is that if you don't have a boost leak, split pipe or vacuum issue then the over boost may be killing your turbo - oh the joys of surge. My mate went through 2 turbos in 3 weeks on one of these thanks to a map that over boosted (he knew this as he knew the mapper who produced a "special" map for him lol) that car used to smoke screen the road when on boost. Hopefully for you this isn't the case but it's worth staying off high boost until you know what's happening

previous owner said it was done by bm coversions 

Edited 9 August, 201510 yr by mpow3r

Thing is its been fine the last week since i bought it. I do mainly motorway miles due to work and have only given it fullthrottle on a handful of over takes and not once done it over 5-6 seconds> What im trying to say is it hasnt been thrashed this past week. If there was a problem with overfueling I would have seen it during the week, no?

Ah mate probs worth getting yourself dirty, jacking the car up and taking all the boost pipes off. If your savvy with the tools get the bumper off and check the side mount for cracks in the end tanks too. All this is bolt on bolt off stuff that you can do in your own time, no pressure. Or you can pay a garage to do this for you. Once you've established the pressurised side is all ok, I'd have to say that one can only conclude that the turbos took the hit. Good luck checking matey

Thing is its been fine the last week since i bought it. I do mainly motorway miles due to work and have only given it fullthrottle on a handful of over takes and not once done it over 5-6 seconds> What im trying to say is it hasnt been thrashed this past week. If there was a problem with overfueling I would have seen it during the week, no?

I'm in the same boat mate. Bought my first fabia vrs and actually first diesel about 3 weeks ago. Got it home and the car suffered head gasket failure - check my new owner, bad experience thread.

I haven't thrashed mine either but seems I've bought a lemon. Nearly 1k down already, got my car back and it's developed other issues!!!! Grrrrr

i need  car for work so ill have to find a garage close by tomorrow. I hear CN tuning is good. Might go there in the morning and see if I can drop it off or maybe he can take a look at it in the morning.  Hope its nothing too serious.

 

Ye, I read it mate. Gutted for you.  The guy I bought this off said he had had the head gasket done and top end rebuild so im hoping mines is nothing to do with that.

Edited 9 August, 201510 yr by mpow3r

Oh and the evidence of over fuelling wouldn't show any signs until whatever has now caused it. The black smoke is produced due to the high volume of diesel in the combustion chambers and exhaust. If this smoke was tinted blur, it would be evidence of oil and therefore turbo oil seals. If you are burning white (plumes not condensation)then bad bad times as that is coolant. All can be perfectly fine one minute and then something finally let's go and you'll end up here as you are not, expelling black smoke. Thing is with pressurise systems, you will not get and warning of a failure until it spontaneously happens, at which point there's no easy fix until the seal or part is replaced. I really hope for you it is a daft boost leak and not a turbo buddy

Thanks Adz

just been out to check and the silicone pipe that comes from the intercooler has been rubbing on drive shaft and I can see it has worn away, enough for white strands to be showing. Im guessing that this is the material under the shiney blue silicone of the pipe.  It doesnt look worn through but im hoping its this.

in case its this does anyone know the diameter of the intercooler to turbo pipe please?

 

thanks

Sound like that's your issue dude! That'll expand under load and may well be you location of a boost leak. Can't help you regards diameter but I bet plenty of the guys here will let you know

cant remember if its the s bend one or just simple 90Deg one (Dont want to go out at this hour as neighbours will thing im on drugs lol).  I really need this sorted tomorrow as work isnt going well anyway and taking days off for  car problems isnt going to help with new ball buster manager.

 

I really do hope its this, if i can get the silicon hose tomorrow then prety confident I can do this.

 

Under pressure air must be escaping. Thats why it only feels down on power on higher revs...

I was thinking "boost leak" before I even opened the thread; I'd bet the mortgage on your worn silicone pipe being the issue.

I have the same issue in my non-mapped VRS. Loud hissing caused by air escaping from the pipe coming up from the intercooler, just behind the front driverside headlight. I've tried reseating the pipe and reapplying the clip but it just pops out again under boost. Going to see my mechanic mate on tuesday to see if we can do something to keep them attatched.

I don't think its the pipe. I took it off to check and although its worn a bit from drivehsaft it doesnt look to go all the way through,  Also, I got some kraken tape, cleaned the area on the turbo pipe and wrapped it around tight, about 4-5 layers.  At worst i thought it would blow it off and I would know its worn through.  Its fine and in tact.  A couple of things though:

 

1. I have the airtec cooler with airtec pipework and when I took the turbo pipe off there wasnt any sort of sealing / o-ring around the neck. I have seen some posts here saying "use your old sealing rings" when putting on silicone hoses, doesn this apply to aftermarket kits or are they on about OEM pipes but aftermarket hoses? Besides if it did need them then my car would have been doing this when I bought it and not have developed it allof a sudden. Right?

 

2. There is definitely a hissing/whoshing noise coming from same area that Caelite in above post has mentioned but jubuilee clips are on solid. I tried to remove dirvers side bumper and got ehad light out but had taken it off the ramps and didnt have time to put it back on and get under to remove undertray to give me access to rake hoses off and check them.  I did start the car and moved my hand around as much as I could to see if i could feel escaping air. Top one seemed ok from what I could feel but could get around to cecking bottom one. Maybe I'l remove the whole bumper to check.  Maybe the intercooler has a crack somewhere. 

 

Ther are no leaks of any sort that I could see when under the car.

Smoke test buddy. Easiest way if you can't get access to ramp to remove parts. Did you notice any oil around the pipes while you were there?

Hi Adz

Very small amount around mouth of both sides of turbo pipe. Swiped it with alcohol swap and cleaned it off. Although there is a very fine mist of what looks to be oil residue on pipe running to egr delete

I have the same issue in my non-mapped VRS. Loud hissing caused by air escaping from the pipe coming up from the intercooler, just behind the front driverside headlight. I've tried reseating the pipe and reapplying the clip but it just pops out again under boost. Going to see my mechanic mate on tuesday to see if we can do something to keep them attatched.

I resolved that one on mine with proper Terry Jubilee clips replacing the standard spring clips.

Mine don't look to gave popped off the samco hoses are on solid and the pipes are quite a way in the samco hoses so if they had popped of I would have seen them off. Looks like smoke test will be easiest way. Will try and get of work early and take it somewhere.

Is strange but when under the car it seems the hissing noise is coming from near turbo and manifold. But when outside it sounds life intercooler egr pipe??

Youre not going to believe this but I drove the car today to a local mechanic for him to have a look.  He attached diag machine to car and said there isnt a single fault code.  He then revved it and saw the plums of smoke. he said maybe your EGR is blocked, to which I replied "it doesnt have one, its been deleted!!" He then said it must be the software they used to delete it. I told him about upgrades and remap and he said take it back as it looks like its the map that is f7cked!!  

 

I explained that when I bought it and  it was running fine the TC had been turned off permenantly due to remap but ever since low power and black smoke the Traction light is operating by the button as it normally should. He said this confirmed that it was a remap/ECU problem.

 

I then got into my car and started to drive, I noticed that the traction light was back on so pressed the TC button to turn it off but it wouldnt turn off!!!  I gave it a boot and Daaamn the power was back, there was a little more smoke but power looked to be mostly back!!!

 

Got home, turned car off and one again and the TC light was off and it operates as normal via the button, meaning remap is gone again!!!! WTF is going on? I never knew a remap could come and go as it pleases.

 

I have called BMConversions and asked them about this as they mapped it but no one was available to talk to me and they said they would call me back!

 

Has anyone heard of remaps coming and going??

im going tomorrow to have a smoke test done anyway just to be sure there isnt a leak anywhere.