Hi all,

 

Getting the above and my car going into limp mode up hills.

 

I ran a bottle of Forte through it with 3/4 of a tank and it did seem to make a difference to performance but still going into limp mode at high revs if I'm hoofing it.

 

Is it worth doing it properly and running two bottles through, or should I go for something more drastic like the Mr Muscle fix?

 

I took it out today and managed to get into limp mode a couple of times, but it needs to be pushed a lot harder than it did. It used to start limping at 2500rpm but now limps af 3500rpm if it's feeling maladaptive.

 

Cheers

Sticky turbo by the sounds of it.

Sticky turbo by the sounds of it.

I'm pretty sure you're right, I'm just wondering, I only put 1 bottle of Forte in despite the bottle saying 2 if there's a problem.

 

Is it worth putting 2 in, or should I just go for the Mr Muscle route?

You can try Mr Muscle, it's never worked for me.

You can try Mr Muscle, it's never worked for me.

Is there anything that can work that isn't a new turbo or a turbo rebuild?

Is there anything that can work that isn't a new turbo or a turbo rebuild?

 

Not really, the turbo needs dismantling so the VNT mechanism can be properly cleaned, in which case you might as well have a new CHRA at the same time which means an exchange reconditioned unit from a reputable source.

 

There are many here who advocate the use of 'snake oil' to fix complex problems, the Mr. Muscle trick is similar, it's basically just steam cleaning the VNT in situ, as ever with snake oil fixes it might make a difference but more than likely it won't.

I'm under the impression that actuating the VNT manually can help to minimise the issue somewhat.

 

In the 1.9 ATD engine, where is the actuator located so I can give that a go? I've google'd but am not 100% sure on the result.

 

I know ideally I need a new/recon turbo but it isn't really an option at the moment

The red arrows show the vacuum 'motor' of the actuator, the start of the actuator shaft, and the point where it links to the VNT mechanism, from (photo) top to bottom:

 

 

I've had success with Mr Muscle, on a friend's Octavia.  We found the idea of squirting in from the top and maybe just filling up the inlet mani too scary, so unbolted the exhaust from the turbo and just squirted straight in.

Edited 9 August, 20169 yr by Wino

So, finally got around to doing it, and about 100 miles later, limp mode seems to have cleared up. It's done it a couple of times since but significantly less so, and those times have gone from 3-4x in a journey to 1x a day at a push. It revs more freely and drives better too.

 

When I was doing the treatment, I kept moving the actuator and it went from really stiff and clunky to smoothly sliding up and down.

 

I've stuck another bottle of Forte turbo cleaner in as I had it in the boot and it might help dislodge anything that got knocked loose by the Mr Muscle, but all seems good, touch wood.

Edited 18 August, 20169 yr by FollowingGhosts

A good Italian tune-up is worth doing sometimes.  Just a nice full throttle pull through the gears on the flat (where safe to do so)

A good Italian tune-up is worth doing sometimes.  Just a nice full throttle pull through the gears on the flat (where safe to do so)

I did take it for a longer than usual drive on de-restricted roads the day after the Mr Muscle treatment which I think helped, along with letting it go through the rev ranges,

 

The temptation with torquey diesels is to let them chug along near idle and shift quite soon but it seems to appreciate being revved higher

I had exactly the same fault code thurday night last week before heading for cormwall friday

Also did this on my vrs last Friday Mr muscle FTW !!

Stripped the egr and pipe off the turbo removed the air box and boost pipe to get enough room did this on Thursday

Got the Mr muscle Friday got home from work squirter it in pumped the actuator until smooth put back together packed the car for Cornwall from stafford pumped it a bit more had a shower then pumped it a bit more so around 2 hours in total then left no problems what so ever no limp mode for 600 miles

Put it through rev ranges in all gears

Extremely happy with the result as new turbo and no holiday would have beem a slight bummer

Just to add to success rate of the Mr muscle fix If anyone has the same issues