Turbo cleaning how-to?

Diesl

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2012
Location
Chicago
TDI
'78 Golf Diesel (long gone); 2012 Jetta Sportwagen TDI w/ DSG
After 5 years and 80k miles, I'm seeing the actual manifold pressure lag a bit more behind the requested pressure than it used to. I'm watching the ratio actual/requested, and it drops a bit longer below 1 when stepping on it, and stays for a bit longer above 1 than it used to when taking the foot of the pedal.
I'm suspecting some crud accumulation on the adjustable turbo vanes.
What's the recommended way to clean them, without obliterating the DPF while doing it?
  • Water mist into the intake?
  • Can one flush the turbo while in place (disconnecting exhaust side inlet and outlet)?
  • Complete removal necessary?
  • Has anybody done that him/herself, or had it done at a car shop? How much?
Or will the dealer do it as part of the fix? :D
 

Henrick

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Location
Ireland
TDI
Golf VI TDI, 77 kW (CAYC)
You assumptions on the need of cleaning the turbo vanes are absolutely wrong.
DPF equipped cars do NOT have the sticky vanes problem at all. Due to higher EGTs and regens it's surprisingly clean down there.

If you are having some kind of problems, seek them elsewhere. Trust me, turbo vanes are really in pristine condition. I strongly would suggest not to mess with it.
 

crazyrunner33

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2006
Location
NC
TDI
'10 Golf(bought back)
OP, just give the car a hot supper to help prevent the vanes from sticking. The engines that have vane sticking issues are normally the ones not driven hard.

I suspect the lack of vane sticking on the non SCR equipped TDI engines is related to the cheat, and now the agreement to not quite bring the car down to the original NOx emission agreement. Other DPF equipped diesels without SCR had nasty vane sticking issues. When using EGR or timing to bring down the combustion temperater for NOx reduction, PM increases and is caught by the DPF after the turbo. LNT helps a little bit, but not enough. SCR equipped engines on the other hand rarely have this issue.
 

Diesl

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2012
Location
Chicago
TDI
'78 Golf Diesel (long gone); 2012 Jetta Sportwagen TDI w/ DSG
Interesting. Is it hard to get a look at the vanes?

And what could be another reason for this perceived lag or stickiness of the pressure ratio?
 
Last edited:

ihatespeed

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2013
Location
holbrook, ma
TDI
11 tdi wagon 6mt 15 golf 6mt (Wife's) 2000 Ford 350 7.3l 6mt 4x4 (technically a TDI)
I think you can activate the boost regulator via VCDS while its running, listen for a change in engine note, plus it will give full travel, might help clean up any carbon that's getting in the way. also if you get a mirror you might be able to watch the actuator rod move, see if it looks sticky. also look for an exhaust leak between the turbo and dpf, I had one and it at its worst prevented the engine from making boost at all, odd considering it was after the turbine housing, must have been causing turbulence.
 

turbobrick240

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 18, 2014
Location
maine
TDI
2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
Yeah, I think a bad actuator is more likely than stuck vanes.
 
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