2003 tdi Passat underpowered, need mechanic south Dublin

byrnem31

Hi
I have a 2003 passat.
It's a bit underpowered when driving.
I swapped the boost pressure sensor for a new one and this made a huge difference.
But it's still a bit underpowered. It's like the turbo is delayed for a couple of seconds.
I got it serviced by a garage and put it in the nct a few days later. Nct centre wouldn't pass it cause there was too much oil in it. Then the issues started with underpower. Could be related.
Does anyone know a mechanic who is good with diesel/ German cars that can read codes.
There are no codes coming up on this car but I want someone else to look at it. Won't be going back to previous guy I used. Need someone south dublin. I got the oil out and it passed the nct.
Any ideas of what might be wrong.
Thanks for help.

Farmer

If you haven't already done so, do a quick check over all the vacuum hoses for leaks, starting from the vac pump at the back of the engine, then down along the right hand wing to the N75 valve (right down the front of the engine just in front of the turbo) which modulates the vacuum to the waste gate on the turbo There's also a vacuum reservoir down there, just a bit smaller than a tennis ball

Don't stick fingers down there when the engine is running as you're pretty near the drive belt

Those N75 valves do go faulty but I wouldn't be rushing out to buy a new one without proving it further

FR85

I would start with getting the excess oil drained off as this can lead to more problems, a runaway being the biggest problem.

Check to see if it might be a choked EGR valve or stuck swirl flap if fitted?

Did the service include a fuel filter? A new filter can have super results

byrnem31

FR85 wrote: »

I would start with getting the excess oil drained off as this can lead to more problems, a runaway being the biggest problem.

Check to see if it might be a choked EGR valve or stuck swirl flap if fitted?

Did the service include a fuel filter? A new filter can have super results

I stuck a new fuel filter in it last week.
Didn't do much. I'm leaving it with a mechanic in tallaght tomorrow morning so I'll keep the thread updated.

byrnem31

Big shout out to willie coyne in tallaght.
Left the car in today and he fixed it.
Dirty MAF, he took it out and cleaned it. Car is flying along.
He suggested I get a new one in the next few weeks as it looks as though the original is still in it 200k miles later. He fixed the car for peanuts just to get it back on the road.
I'll get anew one soon.
It's better than buying a new turbo like the other mechanic suggested.

FR85

byrnem31 wrote: »

Big shout out to willie coyne in tallaght.
Left the car in today and he fixed it.
Dirty MAF, he took it out and cleaned it. Car is flying along.
He suggested I get a new one in the next few weeks as it looks as though the original is still in it 200k miles later. He fixed the car for peanuts just to get it back on the road.
I'll get anew one soon.
It's better than buying a new turbo like the other mechanic suggested.

Great to hear!

I got a car last week and it's going in to get the egr, maf and throttle body cleaned cause even though its 180bhp it doesn't feel it. Hopefully it'll make a difference....

byrnem31

FR85 wrote: »

Great to hear!

I got a car last week and it's going in to get the egr, maf and throttle body cleaned cause even though its 180bhp it doesn't feel it. Hopefully it'll make a difference....

It's great to finally have a decent mechanic. The last 6, I'm not joking, 6 mechanics I have used over the last 5 odd years have been absolute gangsters/con men or cabbages who I wouldn't let change a wheel on my car ever again as they are clueless.

FR85

byrnem31 wrote: »

It's great to finally have a decent mechanic. The last 6, I'm not joking, 6 mechanics I have used over the last 5 odd years have been absolute gangsters/con men or cabbages who I wouldn't let change a wheel on my car ever again as they are clueless.

I know exactly what you mean, there are an awful lot of part fitters out there and very few who actually trace and fix the problem.

Farmer

If you have an interest and a laptop, you should pick up a cable and vagcom package off eBay for around a tenner plus a few euro postage. It lets you see alot of what's happening behind the scenes e.g boost pressure and much more. Just search under vagcom or vcds

Even if you never fixed anything, It's interesting from a learning perspective

Maybe you're here already

byrnem31

Farmer wrote: »

If you have an interest and a laptop, you should pick up a cable and vagcom package off eBay for around a tenner plus a few euro postage. It lets you see alot of what's happening behind the scenes e.g boost pressure and much more. Just search under vagcom or vcds

Even if you never fixed anything, It's interesting from a learning perspective

Maybe you're here already

I got stuck today with no computer. I put a new bosh Mass air flow meter in the car. Easy enough. However, the car kept coming up with 3 dash warnings, coil light, engine management and bring car to workshop light after driving it. Would not power up at all. Cut out on m50. Cut off car, takes keys out and after a minute it would drive. This happened twice.
I got it to a garage and a guy deleted the codes from the car and it flew along afterwards. After you fit a maf, you need to delete the codes that come up for it to drive properly. I found out the hard way.

Would a cheap vagcom let you turn off errors in the car through the laptop ? Do you need to download anything into the computer or do you just connect it up ?