I've had this twice now since I got the car at the beginning of the year (TDi140 manual) - during a long, hard journey, the turbo packs up, leaving me unable to hold a speed much higher than about 70mph. If I stop for a minute, cut the electrics, and re-start, it's all back to normal.

I've only had this on the Autobahn, so we're talking of speeds of about 100-120mph over longish periods - which still leaves you with engine speeds of not much more than 3000 revs. Not that much.

Of course, my (French) dealer hasn't a clue as it's never happened to him; it used to be his own car, come to that.

Any ideas? I had it once or twice on one of my Octy 1s, but we never found a satisfactory answer.

It's not the turbo packing up, it's the ECU going into 'Limp home' mode as it has sensed a problem - if it hasn't logged a fault code then it can be hard to trace, my car was doing this AND losing coolant but the dealer still couldn't trace the root cause until the engine went BANG! :eek: - all replaced under warranty (engine, turbo, intercooler and exhaust system)

I'm out of warranty... :(

Then I suggest you hassle the dealer (or find a better one) and get it properly diagnosed before it gets worse.....

Er... Yes. Is the fault theoretically noted in the log?

I think the problem may be that although cars can go at speeds of over 100mph they are not really designed to do it for prolonged periods which may cause limp mode to come on to protect the engine.

I would say it's an over boost problem which is then causing the ECU to go into safe mode.

It could be caused by a couple of things such as a faulty N75 valve or sticky VNT vanes on the turbo.

A fault code sacn should reveal more clues.

This probably sounds odd, but my non turbo went into this so-called limp mode a couple of times when I pushed the revs [nowhere near red line] but in my case it put the ASR button light on. Did you have any dash lights come on?

When I worked out what was going on I found out that, while going in a straight line and everything safe around me, I put the car in neutral, without stopping, turned off the ignition, put it back on again and started the engine. All was fine then, but I don't like the situation - and it didn't show a fault when put on vag com at my dealer.

I think the problem may be that although cars can go at speeds of over 100mph they are not really designed to do it for prolonged periods which may cause limp mode to come on to protect the engine.

Well, it's only done it a couple of times, and I've done most of my trips problem-free... You may well be right, but I'd expect it to happen more or less systematically.

I would say it's an over boost problem which is then causing the ECU to go into safe mode.

It could be caused by a couple of things such as a faulty N75 valve or sticky VNT vanes on the turbo.

A fault code sacn should reveal more clues.

Wait and see... I'll be taking it in for a servicing before long. My dealer is in fact one of the best I've ever known, which may be why he pulled out of Skoda a couple of years ago. The mechanic is an ace, and the boss is as straight as you can get - not a bad combination!

This probably sounds odd, but my non turbo went into this so-called limp mode a couple of times when I pushed the revs [nowhere near red line] but in my case it put the ASR button light on. Did you have any dash lights come on?

When I worked out what was going on I found out that, while going in a straight line and everything safe around me, I put the car in neutral, without stopping, turned off the ignition, put it back on again and started the engine. All was fine then, but I don't like the situation - and it didn't show a fault when put on vag com at my dealer.

No, no lights or anything - just limp home mode. When my MkI did it a time or two, there was no fault code either, but the thing soldiered on to 250,000Km without any trouble - and died of vandalism :( .