Issue with Passat TDi

Roanmore

Wondering if anybody can help me diagnose an issue I have been having with my car for the past week or if you have experienced it yourselves.

I drive a Passat TDi (130bhp). Last Weds on way to work the turbo in the car died about 5 mins after I left home. No power at all with it. I could drive away but as I was going up a steep hill the speed was gradually dropping but there was no issue with the engine itself. I turned around drove home and took my wife's car. Later she took it to a local mechanic I use who put it on a computer. He found nothing wrong and took the car for a drive and said no problem with it, turbo was working ok. Only thing he found wrong was there was a small hole in the exhaust. I took the car out that night and no issues, no problem at all.

Next day driving to work turbo died at the same time / area. I drove to the top of the hill, pulled in shut car off and on again and drove away and no more issues for the rest of the 40 min journey, turbo working perfectly. Drove home in the evening no problem.

Friday morning, same thing happened at same time and location (if I was in to conspiracy theories I say there must be some force field at work:)). I did feel a slight jolt in the car just before it happened. Anyway, same fix.
Driving home yesterday it happened again, including the slight jolt. Pulled in again, off, on and away I go.

This has me stumped, I'm expecting the same thing on Monday. Is it worth putting on computer again? Will that only pick up a problem when the turbo dies?

Anyway, sorry for the long post. Any replies are welcome.

kwalshe

sounds like a typical passat fuel pump failure, well known issue but not recalled by vw, have a search on the interweb, happend to 15 of the 21 tdi's we had in company

Roanmore

Thanks for the reply k.

I should also have added to my original post that it is a 2003 Passat (if it makes a difference)

alo1587

Could be problem with the boost solenoid,the small pipe that goes into it split in my brothers 02 passat,went way down on power.I think the fuel pump failures were more common on the newer 05+ passats afaik?

EDIT; re-reading your post it defo seems like a faulty boost solenoid,(if its fine after you turn off the ignition and turn it on again\0

Scouserfan

could be boost solenoid, could be leaking vacuum pipe going from boost solenoid to turbo, or could be that the wastegate in the turbo is sticking, all pretty easy to have checked by mechanic

Theta

Im not sure if its the same I dont know but I had a friend who had a very similar issue and it turned out his cat and gone and fallen apart. Same symptoms but I am no mechanic.

Darsad

These have a VTN turbo AFAIK if there is high mileage or the car only does short runs worth checking that the vanes are not gummed up with carbon and sticking a simple dismantle and wash out should do the trick !

macrubicon

kwalshe wrote: »

sounds like a typical passat fuel pump failure, well known issue but not recalled by vw, have a search on the interweb, happend to 15 of the 21 tdi's we had in company

I think all 05+ Passat's have now been recalled for it. They started with the 1.9's and moved onto the 2.0's.

I got the recall letter about 4 months ago for a 2.0 but about 6 or 8 months after the 1.9's went out.

voxpop

MAF - airflow sensor on the side of your airbox. If it goes, the car goes into limp mode - i.e. no boost. Can cause intermittent problems like you describe. To test - unplug the maf and drive the car

robtri

its a real hard one to say, whats exactly wrong with it,
If it was my car, I would start by getting it hooked up to a diagnostic machine by a qualified tech...

Panda Bear

Roanmore wrote: »

Wondering if anybody can help me diagnose an issue I have been having with my car for the past week or if you have experienced it yourselves.

I drive a Passat TDi (130bhp). Last Weds on way to work the turbo in the car died about 5 mins after I left home. No power at all with it. I could drive away but as I was going up a steep hill the speed was gradually dropping but there was no issue with the engine itself. I turned around drove home and took my wife's car. Later she took it to a local mechanic I use who put it on a computer. He found nothing wrong and took the car for a drive and said no problem with it, turbo was working ok. Only thing he found wrong was there was a small hole in the exhaust. I took the car out that night and no issues, no problem at all.

Next day driving to work turbo died at the same time / area. I drove to the top of the hill, pulled in shut car off and on again and drove away and no more issues for the rest of the 40 min journey, turbo working perfectly. Drove home in the evening no problem.

Friday morning, same thing happened at same time and location (if I was in to conspiracy theories I say there must be some force field at work:)). I did feel a slight jolt in the car just before it happened. Anyway, same fix.
Driving home yesterday it happened again, including the slight jolt. Pulled in again, off, on and away I go.

This has me stumped, I'm expecting the same thing on Monday. Is it worth putting on computer again? Will that only pick up a problem when the turbo dies?

Anyway, sorry for the long post. Any replies are welcome.

Kinda sounds like Microsoft restart and it all works again !! no seriulsy though it does sound like a fuel pressure problem of some sort and the computer diagnostic may not be able to do a stress test on it, change the fuel pump for trial l only dont pay for it. I know this may sound wierd have you another route to work just to see how it behave on o different stretch??