98 VW Passat - Dodgy Turbo

BnB

HI

I have a 98 Passat - 1.9 TDI - 90 BHP. 170k miles

Car passed the NCT in January and was going well up untill 2 weeks ago.

Now, for some reason, the Turbo (or something that controls the turbo) seems to be acting up.

What happens is.... I can drive away and take it easy and the turbo will work away fine. But if I accelerate a bit more aggressively and the car gets up to about 3000 rpm, the turbo just stops working. i.e. You can feel the car accelerating away.... and all of a sudden the power drops.

Once, this happens once, the turbo will not kick in again, untill you turn off the engine and start it again. It doesn't matter if you drive 100 miles, the turbo will not kick in again untill after you have you restarted the car.

Once you restart the car, even just turn iit off for 2 seconds and start it again, it will be the same as before. The turbo will be working, and will work away untill you put it under a bit of pressure.

Has anyone ever come accross this before. I have to spend about €400 on tyres and a window at the moment (Because of a robbing scumbag %&£""£er) and I don't want to spend it if I thought the turbo issue was going to take a lot of money to sort.

Thanks in advance

phill106

Sounds like it is going into limp mode. Many causes of it, but restarting temporarily resets it. Lots of posts on vw forums worldwise about it, like vwvortex.com

BnB

phill106 wrote: »

Sounds like it is going into limp mode. Many causes of it, but restarting temporarily resets it. Lots of posts on vw forums worldwise about it, like vwvortex.com

Thanks for the reply.

If it was going into limp mode, should I not be getting an engine management light on ?

phill106

dont think the light always comes on, happened to me a few times, and light only came on once or twice

another example of it here where light didnt come on first time

http://www.tyresmoke.net/forum/vw-technical/88061-mk5-golf-emissions-light-limp-mode.html

BnB

phill106 wrote: »

dont think the light always comes on, happened to me a few times, and light only came on once or twice

another example of it here where light didnt come on first time

http://www.tyresmoke.net/forum/vw-technical/88061-mk5-golf-emissions-light-limp-mode.html

Thanks Phil.

It does sound like you are right. I am going into limp mode.

Having googled it there now, it seems like the exact type of problem I was hoping it wouldn't be. i.e. A bit of a lottery to find out what is causing it. And it seems that the only way to find out is by replacing parts..!!!

bazz26

BnB wrote: »

Thanks Phil.

It does sound like you are right. I am going into limp mode.

Having googled it there now, it seems like the exact type of problem I was hoping it wouldn't be. i.e. A bit of a lottery to find out what is causing it. And it seems that the only way to find out is by replacing parts..!!!

Rather than replacing parts in the hope that you guess right, why not get the car connected up to a diagnostic computer? If the car is going into limp home mode then something is tellling the car's ECU to do so in order to prevent damage. The car's ECU will have a failure code that can be read by someone with VAG-COM software or similar. Alot cheaper than starting to replace parts that may not need replacing.

nogoodnamesleft

+1 on getting a diagnostic.

Limp home mode prevents you for reving past a certain point say 2000rpm.

Passats B5 and B5.5 have a known fault in that the pipe leading from the turbo to the intercooler blows off an thus losing boost (i.e. no turbo) usually you will see lots of black smoke out the back of it.

a_v525

No need for diag.

Happened to me last December, car would drive fine & accelerate up until about 2800rpm & then the car just would not accelerate at all over that (ie turbo not kickin in) I couldnt go over 60KPH!!!

Taught my turbo was ****ed, dropped it to mechanic expecting a fortune, he rang me back 10 mins later & said he fixed it, a vacuum hose had split & as soon as the turbo started working the vacuum was broken so car couldnt accelerate.

Hopefully its just this problem for you too

ottostreet

a_v525 wrote: »

No need for diag.
Happened to me last December, car would drive fine & accelerate up until about 2800rpm & then the car just would not accelerate at all over that (ie turbo not kickin in) I couldnt go over 60KPH!!!

Taught my turbo was ****ed, dropped it to mechanic expecting a fortune, he rang me back 10 mins later & said he fixed it, a vacuum hose had split & as soon as the turbo started working the vacuum was broken so car couldnt accelerate.

Hopefully its just this problem for you too

To find out, he'll need diag!

a_v525

ottostreet wrote: »

To find out, he'll need diag!

... or a half competent mechanic who doesnt need to charge you to hook it up to a computer! Mechanic could determine a leak no prob by an inspection, save ya the cost of a diag

just my 2c

tossy

a_v525 wrote: »

... or a half competent mechanic who doesnt need to charge you to hook it up to a computer! Mechanic could determine a leak no prob by an inspection, save ya the cost of a diag

just my 2c

No offence but your 2c is not worth it in this case.The OPs symptoms could be caused by any number of problems.

To me it sounds like a classic case of the variable veins sticking in the turbo,no need to go to a mechanic for a computer diagnostic either,plenty of users on here with the tools to get a fault code from the car.Then the OP can go to a mechanic armed with some knowledge which is always the best way to approach a garage.

OP where are you based?

PaulKK

I had the exact same thing on my 98 TDI passat.

It was a split pipe coming from the turbo. When you give it too much boost, the split opens and it leaks and goes to limp mode.


Have a poke around the engine bay and feel for any pipes and hoses that may be split. Get in underneath, mine was underneath towards the front.

Think the pipe was 80 quid from the dealer and a few mins to fit, I looked in the scrapyards but all the cars had split pipes already!

BnB

Thanks for the replies. Sincerely very much appreciated.

Not sure how helpful it would be to get it hooked up to a Diag. Having googled the Limp Mode problems, it appears that the error codes aren't that great to diagnose exactly what is causing the problem. Even with error codes, it still seems to be a bit hit and miss. That said, it wouldn't do any harm either. Does anyone know any reasonable Indy in Limerick City / Clare area that could do it. I know my own regular mechanic can't. In fact he told me, he had the same problem with an old Vento of his own and failed to ever sort it. (Doesn't exactly inspire confidence I know)

With the lads that had the split pipe, was it something that started gradually over time. i.e. Was it happening intermittently and did it gradually start to get worse or did it just kick off. With mine, it just went out of the blue one morning, and has gone every time since.

tossy

BnB wrote: »

Not sure how helpful it would be to get it hooked up to a Diag. Having googled the Limp Mode problems, it appears that the error codes aren't that great to diagnose exactly what is causing the problem. Even with error codes, it still seems to be a bit hit and miss

If you hook it up to VCDS or something similar and get the fault codes it will tell you exactly what the problem is,if a car is going into limp mode a fault code is logged in the ECU.

Limerick is too far away,if you were in Kildare i could scan it for you no bother.

bazz26

BnB wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. Sincerely very much appreciated.

Not sure how helpful it would be to get it hooked up to a Diag. Having googled the Limp Mode problems, it appears that the error codes aren't that great to diagnose exactly what is causing the problem. Even with error codes, it still seems to be a bit hit and miss. That said, it wouldn't do any harm either. Does anyone know any reasonable Indy in Limerick City / Clare area that could do it. I know my own regular mechanic can't. In fact he told me, he had the same problem with an old Vento of his own and failed to ever sort it. (Doesn't exactly inspire confidence I know)

With the lads that had the split pipe, was it something that started gradually over time. i.e. Was it happening intermittently and did it gradually start to get worse or did it just kick off. With mine, it just went out of the blue one morning, and has gone every time since.

Grace's garage on the old Cork Road (opposite the entrance to St Enda's Community School) tend to specialise in diagnosing VAG problems. My sister had to have her problematic Lupo diagnosed a few years back. Just be aware the owner can be a little essentric but he knows his stuff. Tel: 061 412993.

PaulKK

BnB wrote: »

With the lads that had the split pipe, was it something that started gradually over time. i.e. Was it happening intermittently and did it gradually start to get worse or did it just kick off. With mine, it just went out of the blue one morning, and has gone every time since.

It was out of the blue, the split obviously gets to a point where it causes the car to go in to limp mode, and from that point on, once a certain pressure is reached, the pipe loses its pressure and the car goes to limp mode.


I had exactly the same symptoms as you, I'd put money on it being the same thing as even all the cars I looked at in the scrapyards for a replacement had the same pipe split, they were taped up and stuff.

BnB

Sincere thanks for all replies.

Unfortunately, I can't give ye closure on it.

I went to see the car this morning for the first time since the Guards recovered it and it was worse than I thought. The 4 tyres were slashed - I knew that. But there were 2 back windows broken as well and a few lights.

But what really finished me was that the inside was sopping wet after being out in the rain the last 2 nights with the broken windows.
With all that on top of the turbo issue that was there before it was stolen, I just decided cut my losses and take the 300 squids the scrap yard is giving me for it.

Rotten theivin backstards. They even stole the baby seat out of the back of it..!!!!

Sincere thanks again for the replies. Much appreciated

phill106

this the passat or have you posted this about wrong car?

BnB

phill106 wrote: »

this the passat or have you posted this about wrong car?

Same car. If you go back to my first post, I was trying to figure out if it was worth my while fixing it up or not after the backstards.

phill106

ah missed that bit! sorry!
I also had a split hose, was one going from the intercooler to the turbo. You would hear the whistle through it if there was a hole, sounded nearly like arch flap dragging.
I used to floor it to get into limp mode so people would stop gawking at the noise off me
I got the hose second hand off a polish chap, who sent me the wrong one first, then the right one at no extra cost. Maybe book it in for one of those free pre ncts you get in various garages, see if they can see an obvious fault on the ramp.
Or try vagdrivers.net, alot of them have the vag-com program, and i know for a fact there was a few in limerick.