lost...

I recently purchased a 98 tdi that i've been tinkering around with but i know nothing about diesels... She is getting zero boost and is so gutless in limp mode.. here's what i have done.. Replaced the MAF , Replaced that hose inside the ecu which wasn't even bad did it for ease of mind. did a boost leak check no leaks , replaced fuel filter , added a fuel pump since there was some air bubbles in the lines and she just didn't seem like enough fuel was being pushed. I've been sticking way too much money that i don't have to be putting into it.. Clutch and single mass flywheel is next but what's the point if she's not going to run right. She also throws quite a bit of white smoke , more throttle more smoke , and has been using some oil.. i've went through two 5 gallon jugs in 3000 miles.

"Some" oil? A gallon in 300 miles? A quart in 75? Wow! That's more than a two stroke would use.

That much oil use, no boost and the smoke make me think it's a bad turbocharger and the oil is going out the hot side and making the smoke.

At least it hasn't run away yet.

I'd start by removing the inlet to the TC, carefully because it will be brittle and the tabs will probably break off, and checking the shaft for play.

Oops i typed that wrong... i meant to say two of the big 5 quart jugs in the past 3000 miles.

So only a quart in 300 miles. Still a lot. I'd still check the TC.

Cptnkush42zero said:

I recently purchased a 98 tdi that i've been tinkering around with but i know nothing about diesels... She is getting zero boost and is so gutless in limp mode.. here's what i have done.. Replaced the MAF , Replaced that hose inside the ecu which wasn't even bad did it for ease of mind. did a boost leak check no leaks , replaced fuel filter , added a fuel pump since there was some air bubbles in the lines and she just didn't seem like enough fuel was being pushed. I've been sticking way too much money that i don't have to be putting into it.. Clutch and single mass flywheel is next but what's the point if she's not going to run right. She also throws quite a bit of white smoke , more throttle more smoke , and has been using some oil.. i've went through two 5 gallon jugs in 3000 miles.

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n75 valve, ALL your vac lines, replace if necessary after testing the waste gate actuator.
The fuel is suposed to have air in the lines, well not realy but its not a problem. if you want to fix that you need to get the uber kit from Nictane. http://nicktane.com/index.php/product/uber-fuel-filter-kit-passat-2010/
lets put it this way. im rocking 215~ HP at about 400~ ftlbs with crazy CRAZY mods and a satanic Tune from malone on a semi built motor and im not even rocking a fuel pump (YET lol)

Limp mode only really gets activates if too much or too little boost is made, usually too much or out ov value for too long.
If you going through that much oil you need to hose the engine down clean as a whistle with some foam cleaner engine gunk and find where its coming from. pull the cover on the timing belt and check there too. and the rear main seal area (observe oil wetness). check the CCV puck and the down tube on it too, the lower part that has 2 bolts often cracks. If NOTHING is leaking and you can see it coming from the exhaust (use a rag and let the gasses hit it, should be oil spots) you need to replace the oil seals on the valves and check the cylinder walls for scuffing when the head is off. DO NOT BUY PARTS until you find a problem. the fuel pump and filter is one of the areas your wasting money right now!

One other way to check if its the turbo bearings is to disconnect the CCV and let it pump into the air under the car for say 100 miles. Do a full out cleaning of the intercooler and pipes. Run it and see if oil builds on in the pipes. The only way it should get in there is from the CCV. if this is the case, your turbo is fuxeld and you need to rebuild or replace it.

Best bang for your buck for performance and fun is a stage 2 tune from malone, a 20/17 hybrid turbo and down pipe with manifold, PD150 intake manifold and some PP.764 5 hole. Set your IQ with VCDS to 2.5-3 with the hammer mod. This will be crazy fun power but nothing to much where you will have to fix things that break from too much power. It will be reliable as F.

If you do take the head off because oil is NOT LEAKING from anywhere that would cause this issue, Do a port and polish with some undercut valves, new seals and guides. have a shop to the guides and seals and a new deck job. YOU WILL WANT to do a EGR and CCV delete with a catch can ASAP. Message me if you have any questions about this. Ive been there done that. First and foremost is to fix your oil issues.

little to no boost and high oil consumption says turbo issue to me too...

Anyway, i'm also in WI and if you are close enough i can give you a hand with troubleshooting. I'll wager we can find the issue in an easy afternoon.

like mongler said, limp mode is either under or overboost for a certain amount of time... usually. weird fuel issues (pump or needle lift sensor) can do it too but it is then accompanied by flashing glow plug lights. Also, boost issues are more common than fuel issues by like 10 fold...

white smoke - late timing

do you have vag com to check timing?

Mongler98 said:

One other way to check if its the turbo bearings is to disconnect the CCV and let it pump into the air under the car for say 100 miles. Do a full out cleaning of the intercooler and pipes. Run it and see if oil builds on in the pipes. The only way it should get in there is from the CCV. if this is the case, your turbo is fuxeld and you need to rebuild or replace it.

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There was a WHOLE LOT going on in that post. But this one here. wut? Disconnect the CCV and there will still be Oil in the IC. Turbo seals do not keep Oil hermetically sealed inside the turbo...

Anyways all those recommendations should be secondary. It's the turbo. Quart every 300miles can't just be a leaking valve cover.

Sorry for the late replys.. Been a nightmare.. You guys were right though , the turbo must be shot. She is my only means of transportation so i had to keep driving it , probably a big mistake as she blew out 3 quarts of oil in 0.8 miles. luckily i stopped at my friends house before doing other things. no oil on the dip nothing and took about 3 quarts of the t6 rotella. the 0.8 miles back home you could just see the oil streak being left and she looked like fast and the furious's eclipse out of the hood with that sweet burnt rubber smell so im assuming i completely fried the turbo... as for replacement , which turbo do i even have? finding parts has been a nightmare , even replacing that maf sensor i got the wrong part from every store , getting one from a 97 / pierburg worked though. What's cheap china crap and what isn't? http://www.kermatdi.com/stock-turbo-1996-1998-vw-tdi-a3-b4/ this is what i plan to get if its quality.. and that price already makes me cringe.

Look in the For Sale Forum, might get lucky.

idparts.com, boraparts.com usually have TC's and are also reputable vendors. There are others but these come immediately to mind. Look in the Vendor's Forum too.

My apologies to others I didn't mention.

I have a stock turbo from my AHU, its in decent shape, Its attached to the manifold and has a 1/4" NTP spot already drilled and tapped for a EGT probe from Auber going strait into the turbo. Let me know if your interested. When i took it off, it had 310K miles on it on a stock engine. i changed the turbo when i changed my nozzles. I did change out the waste gate actuator at 280K miles. its bolt on ready. Maybe we can trade or sell for a cheep price. i was thinking $225 and you pay shipping?

as far as the oil in the inter cooler from a turbo, like 80% of the oil in the system in from the CCV. once i did my egr delete and much later did the CCV delete and dump and cleaned my pipes, 40K miles later, there is almost no oil at all in the inter cooler. waht a PITA to clean. then again i am running a gt2052 so i dont know how that compares to the stoke turbos and how much oil they dump but i do know that there was always a puddle of oil in the turbo compressor at the inlet and now there is none

Be careful about driving on a blown turbo. you are risking a runaway engine. Once it goes, if your not in gear, your probably screwed. there are cases where you can stop it if you catch it instantly when in gear but its going to make you S* your pants.

80% of the oil is from the CCV? Sorry, not buying that one, especially on an engine with a turbo of any mileage.

Get a new (or used) turbo and drive on. Forget all the other catch-can this, fuel filter that. These things are pretty robust as is and don't spend a ton of money because someone else thinks you should, it's your car. And that turbo is toast, don't keep trying to drive it or you'll be looking for a new engine due to bent rods or burned bearings. You won't be able to dump oil in it fast enough to prevent starving the engine or dump it fast enough to prevent a runaway.

Abacus said:

80% of the oil is from the CCV? Sorry, not buying that one, especially on an engine with a turbo of any mileage.

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• That is too funny, isn't it? Lets see. Healthy engine: 99% of the oil in the The charge air pipe and intercooler is from is from the CCV system. (maybe 3 tablespoons)
• Blown turbo seal on an otherwise healthy engine: 99.9% of the oil in the charge air pipe and intercooler is from the turbo.(cups or more)

Holy Crap!!! My CCV is working exactly as designed so I better rig up a catch can ASAP. Just because a problem doesn't exist doesn't mean you shouldn't try to fix it.

Abacus said:

80% of the oil is from the CCV? Sorry, not buying that one, especially on an engine with a turbo of any mileage.

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Ol'Rattler said:

• That is too funny, isn't it? Lets see. Healthy engine: 99% of the oil in the The charge air pipe and intercooler is from is from the CCV system. (maybe 3 tablespoons)
• Blown turbo seal on an otherwise healthy engine: 99.9% of the oil in the charge air pipe and intercooler is from the turbo.(cups or more)

Holy Crap!!! My CCV is working exactly as designed so I better rig up a catch can ASAP. Just because a problem doesn't exist doesn't mean you shouldn't try to fix it.

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Ok look at it this way, your only seeing the aftermath. A healthy engine at least for a tdi AHU or ALH to my knowledge will have a decent amount of oil in the intercooler and the pipes. Maybe about 1/4 cups worth just sitting around.

About 20% of that is from the turbo; however more than anything the total oil going through the pipes comes from the CCV and some of it stays behind but its over time WAY more than the turbo puts out. Im just using 20/80% as an example. I don't know how much really but i can tell you what i have found. The CCV gets consumed mostly because it’s still in vapor form, the FMIC condenses some of that vapor to droplets that cant make the travel very fast to the intake. Don’t believe me, detach the CCV and get a hose and vent it out the side of the hood and rev up the engine. You will get oil splatter and a LOT of vapor coming out. Now go drive and put it under boost. You will see that it’s like a yellow stone geyser. Now go and take the output of the turbo off with the ccv disconnected and watch how little to no oil comes out of the output. Over time yes and a new engine with only 20K miles will have some oil in the system. Usually we only open the system on cars with 100-200K miles on them without going into those pipes before. We see a huge mess and think that the turbo just blows oil away. Abacus, I hope you understand what I’m saying here. I started using an exhaust venturi system on my catch can I built. Before I did that it was just vented to the ground. Now every oil change I drain it. I get about 3/4 of a cup of oil out of the catch can and even with 48K miles or about 6 oil changes, my inter cooler pipes are very clean and almost NO oil at all. There is a very fine film that’s not very visible, ill wipe down the inside of the pipe and it looks about as dirty as if I wiped my dip stick on it about 5 times. Can you say the same? I built my own catch can with ample filtration layers. After I put it into the exhaust vs just dumping down, I have noticed that when I drain it as normal, I get a tiny bit more now, about 1 full measuring cup. I think it’s due to the negative pressure draw from the venturi but I don’t smell that retched hell CCV anymore. Also I’m pushing 32PSI on an engine with 336K miles so I’m sure I’m getting more than normal amounts. CCV is so dam nasty and combined with the EGR, it’s just a horrible setup. I would like to know your experiences that tell you that it’s mostly all from the trubo and how your CCV's don’t emit so much as a drop.

So it turns out the turbo is fine, like brand new. The oil feed line is junk. However that doesn't explain why I don't have any boost. It has a new maf, hose inside of ecu, did a boost leak test and no leaks. I do have code p1161 I believe it is which is open / short to b+ map sensor I believe.

So no shaft play?

Could still be loosing oil out the turbine. Maybe pull the down pipe and check.

Could be bad rings. Know any history on the motor?

If you have some sort of MAF code that's something that obviously needs fixing and could splain the low performance. Have you tried running with it unplugged? Improvement could point to a bad MAF but I don't know if it will improve with a good MAF and bad wiring.

Where'd you get the new MAF?

Nope , No shaft play.. According to my mechanic its like brand new. I don't really know any history on the motor. Well i replaced the MAF and those codes went away and performance slightly improved. but that was long ago.. The code im getting is for the MAP inside of the ecu. I bought the car a couple months ago for $700 271k miles with a ****ty clutch but still drivable. I also have my mechanic putting a new sachs clutch with single mass flywheel along with the new oil line.. but that doesn't fix the boost haha.. No way an oil leak would cause a loss in boost?

only if it was enough and getting into the n75 valve and into the boost lines. if enough oil got into the waste gate actuator and or the n75 valve, this would stop them from working well or at all. its a long shot but easy to check. pull of the lines, if clean, than its not this. I had my n75 valve FULL of oil due to a wet air filter causing enough back draw. The only other way is that if the EGR was clogging up the intake, thats oil related. You should get a oip PSI gauge from auber if your concerned with oil issues.
Did you open the ECU? i mean it IS possible to get oil into the boost lines. and it is possible that the boost line in your ECU is cracked and it would be possible that your ECU has a quart of oil in it lol but that has never happend to anyone ever so....
Honestly were all here at kinda a loss. you must be burning it some how, thats the only viable way to loss it and not notice. Try bumping up to a slightly higher weight in oil and see how that works.

That's interesting.. I forgot to mention I changed the air filter out because it was absolutely wet. Unsure of how that happens.. Not sure how long it was driven like that.