2006 BRM TDI stumbles upon acceleration

I have a 2006 Jetta TDI with the BRM and a DSG transmission. It's been a good car, though it's several different colors due to an altercation with deer... (body work to be done)
Anyway, it has an intermittent stumble on acceleration, and has had that since I got it about Two years ago. It has a Malone stage two tune and EGR delete and had the camshaft replaced a little while before I got it.

What it does is when you go to accelerate, it'll have no power and start smoking and clattering, and then it'll just pop out of it and be good to go.

There is no codes set from it. I have vcds and Autel as well as a whole shop of tools available. I don't want to go changing a bunch of parts out and want to test things, but really am not sure where to start.

The fuel economy has also gone down pretty sadly... I used to get 43-45, now I'm doing good to get 37mpg.

I don't know if they are related, but suspect they could be.
Oh, one other thing is that randomly (intermittently in mechanics lingo[emoji2]) I will have extended crank time after letting the car sit for a few hours to a few days.

I need to get it fixed soon, since it's not a problem for me, but it's the car my wife normally drives, and it's scared her a few times with the stumbling...

Thanks in advance!

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Most likely the vanes in the turbo are sticking. Look up the zip tie mod and you will find lots of info about this problem and how to check it with VCDS. Zip tie mod is a bandaid, but usually works pretty well. Only true fix is to replace the turbo.

Edit: also make sure you are up to date on fuel filter maintenance, if not change that first and see if it helps.


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kdawg89 said:

Most likely the vanes in the turbo are sticking. Look up the zip tie mod and you will find lots of info about this problem and how to check it with VCDS. Zip tie mod is a bandaid, but usually works pretty well. Only true fix is to replace the turbo.

Edit: also make sure you are up to date on fuel filter maintenance, if not change that first and see if it helps.


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Click to expand...

OK, so I've done some searching and found hundreds of people talking about the zip tie mod, but no complete instructions. Only one link, which a lot of people referenced from "my turbodiesel" forums, which is a broken link and no longer has a wiki. Several people mentioned you need a mytivac, which i have. I kinda have the idea of where the zip tie, or wire goes, but how much vacuum do I need to apply to get it in the correct position?

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I kinda did some guessing and used some mechanics wire to wire it up. I pulled 15 inch/hg and went with that. It's now like driving a completely different car! It has much better acceleration and shifts a lot better. I plan to replace the downpipe and delete the cat, and I'll probably pull the turbo at that time and clean it all up. Hopefully I can put off replacing the turbo for a bit. I'll be ordering a tandem pump because mine leaks down sometimes.

Has anyone had luck with cleaning the turbo vanes by disassembling the turbo? I've done it on a vnt15 and was successful, we have also done it on Ford 6.0 Powerstroke engines.

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Nice, I couldn’t find a more detailed write up anymore either. But basically you want the smallest adjust that fixes it. I’ve never heard of anymore fixing a BRM turbo by cleaning it. Usually the VNT control ring is warped/damaged or something if I remember correctly. The zip tie mod will usually “fix” it for a pretty long time, I ran mine like that for like 30k plus miles and then put a GTB1749V on it, especially if you use wire so it doesn’t melt which it sounds like you did. If you do replace the turbo at some point I highly recommend an upgraded unit.


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