Power / Performance Problem

[Cookie12]

I hope someone can give some ideas about a problem i have.

 

I've recently purchased a 07 plate vrs as a run around and immediately after picking it up eml came on. Took it back garage and they had it for a day or so and rang me and said previous owner has put on egr blanking plates and it either needs putting back stock on mapping out. I thought I may as well get it mapped and have egr mapped out, so I've been to More-BHP in Crewe (very reputable locally, and were recommended) today and they told me there is something fundamentally wrong with the car, its only pushing 120bhp and when they mapped it they could only get it to 140bhp and torque won't increase either. They said normally they can get 170bhp without trying on this engine. His words were its just not pulling any air?? and doesnt seem like it wants to give anything. I told him there is a receipt in paper work for reconditioned turbo which was done Xmas 2015, the turbo is Borg warner??

 

I havent owned a diesel car for 10+ years so i'm not sure what theses are supposed to pull like but it feels very underwhelming when flooring it, and in very low revs / on pull off the car whistles alot and is quite loud, very strange noise and when questioning the garage they just said it was normal on these? I know i havent given loads of info, as i dont have it tbh but based on what I've said has anyone got any suggestions?. It is going back garage I purchased it from this Wednesday but tbh I don't trust them one bit and I wanna have an idea in my head about what it is so I can see what they do. My limited knowledge is thinking boost leak? Some sort of blockage, or turbo of course.

 

The car has 75k on clock, in the documents i have it had a new turbo, intercooler, waterpump and timing belt only 8 months ago, it has egr blanking plates on, as mentioned above and apart from that the car is supposed to be stock.

 

Hope someone can suggest something

 

Thanks

 

Cookie

[FromTheDarkness]

The egr blank wont cause issues like this.

 

  -first thing would be to check all, and i mean all boost pipes and connection from turbo to intercooler, does it have a front mount?

 - Then i would be inspecting the turbo, whiste is ok, siren is not, is there any smoke when flooring it?

 - it could also be running in limp mode, if the dash light is on, do you have access to vcds lite... or a means to remove the dash code?

[Cookie12]

1st point - i will check what i can and i will ask the garage to inspect everything, it doesnt have fmic as far as i believe.

2nd - Its a whistle but its loud, and it continues even when you release the accelerator down to idle. When the mappers were flooring it on the rolling road i was standing behind the car and a load of black smoke came bellowing out, made me choke lol. It wasnt white / blue though. But i thought even for a diesel it was alot. but again not much experience with these so dont know.

3rd - the code reader at the mappers said EGR - regulator exceeding limits or something along those lines?

 

I'm an EVO man, my previous car before this was an 400bhp EVO 9, i got this as a temporary car for 12 months or so to save some money for my next purchase. I actually sold my evo for more money than i paid 3 years ago, and with only driving work and back predominantly now it seemed like a no brainer deal as i still bought this skoda and banked over 10k towards next car. I owned evo for 3 years, tracked it, thrashed it and it never ever faltered, owned this for 10 days and had nothing but trouble lol.

[sepulchrave]

I'd check the timing first, the whistle could be a small boost leak. You need to take the car to an independent VAG specialist for a proper checkup.

That the turbo and intercooler were replaced suggests the original turbo blew its guts out, have the specialist check which replacement turbo has been fitted.

[poiuytre111]

So you have only recently purchased this car and have already taken it back once but it wasn't fixed.

Feedback above would have me asking for my money back rather than seeking advice on how to fix it.

[Cookie12]

Yep bought the car two weeks ago today. Ive already asked for money back, the garages words were "were not there yet, you need to give us time to rectify the problem" which is tomorrow but yes that is the second time its will have been back.

 

First time they said, previous owner has put egr blanking plates on so thats why eml is coming on, if i was you id drive round like that as car is fine. Then went to get it mapped and have egr mapped out and they said all of this about not being right with air flow etc. So i do feel like the garage have tried to pull wool over my eyes a little.

 

I've also managed to speak to previous owner today as found his mobile number on a receipt with all the paperwork. Basically he bought the car, which wasnt running right (his words) and 2 months later the turbo blew up. He bought a reconditioned turbo, new intercooler and few other bits and bobs, and also blanked off the egr valve (not sure why tbh as he didnt say). After having it back he still felt it wasnt right, and it also now had the whistle. So he basically cut his losses and sold the car on.

 

Which now i'm obviously the sucker with it. Seems like the car has had issues with the 2 most recent owners and they have just passed the problem on to someone else.

[FromTheDarkness]

Hmm from what i know, and did myself. Ive blanked off the EGR and removed it. it never caused a issue. Whats happened to the vaccum pipe that used to go to the ERG?

There are two that need blanking, not sure if these are left would cause a error code.

 

It seems you have more than one issue here, and i dont think they are related. 

 

The black smoke & whistle could be a boost leak, could also be a **** poor remap.

 

The error light, can come on with a bad boost leak, you would know about it, you would see smoke though the rear view mirror all the time and the back of the car would be filthy.

 

All these issue most definitely are not caused by a blanking plate!!

 

And as above stated, you would be better off going to a VAG indie. This platform of cars are common, they have seen it all.

Edited 2 August, 2016 by FromTheDarkness

[poiuytre111]

I would start moves towards legal action, assembling this  info from prior owners, perhaps an AA report and then tell the garage in the nicest possible way that you are registering with the small claims court - my point is to take the initiative rather than let them string you along. A lot of places will not really respond until they feel they have to. Good luck !

[Cookie12]

Sorted!!!!

 

It went to independent garage, who called himself a car diagnostic specialist and it was relatively a simple solution. Basically the previous owner had put on a cheap ebay maf censor. It didnt even have any branding on it for god sake. This was wrecking the air / fuel ratio something chronic apparently, this and the air box / pipework was broke inside and was actually half blocking the air intake pipework. So he replaced these two parts, the maf censor for an OEM bosch one and did an EGR delete on the ECU and my god what a different car. I am just glad i was proved right, in terms of the garage i bought it from, as i knew the car didnt feel right from the first day i picked it up, and obvious EML light immediately after pick up and their excuses of EGR blanking plates will cause EML but apart from that the car is sound and you can just drive it like this. Trouble is if i didnt decide to go and get a remap and EGR delete of my own bat and money this problem would never have been picked up as the mapper pointed out the issues, and i could have been driving a faulty car for god knows how long. So my persistence only got it sorted in the end.

 

I did my research, kept on that them and reminded them that as of Oct 2015 under consumer law i have the right the refuse the car within 30 days for any reason, even if i found the car not fit for purpose or sold as described and so on, this did spur them on a bit this week and got us to this point and got the car finally sorted. So anyone else reading this take that in mind.

 

In terms of the car now it actually pulls very well all the way to 4k rpm, and feels punchy, both of those were severely lacking before, now for obvious reasons.

 

Thanks for your help and suggestions guys, lets see how i get on with it now for the next few days / weeks / months.