Mahle Turbo, 2004 BEW

lawdog916

Active member
Joined
Jan 10, 2011
Location
Mimbres, NM
TDI
2004 Golf TDI GLS, 2009 Touareg TDI
I was getting an intermittent limp mode. I checked everything and came to the conclusion my turbo vanes are sticking. This is a spare car I have and it gets driven once or twice a week. I found a decent deal on a brand new Mahle turbo or a rebuilt stock turbo. Thoughts on the Mahle? I am short on time the next few months, so anyone want to make a few dollars and replace it for me in the Philadelphia area?
 

pruzink

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2004
Location
Granbury, Texas
TDI
GLS, 2004, silver
There is a pretty good chance that it just your vacuum actuator or an issue with your vacuum lines causing your problem. I have 220,000 miles on my original Borg Warner KP 39 turbo and when I used Vagcom to see if the turbo was delivering the required air, it just wasn't doing what it was told to do. I had some issues with a few very small vacuum leaks and one bigger one, but the vacuum actuator definitely needed to be replaced. When I used a hand vacuum pump to apply vacuum to the new actuator, it would go to a position & hold it solid, the old actuator would start going to it fail to position right away. Changing the actuator is a much easier job than replacing the turbo. When I removed the old actuator, the vanes moved freely with very little effort. I found that checking the vacuum lines in a sink with some positive air pressure looking for bubbles was the easiest way to identify leaks. That rigid plastic vacuum line that supplies the brake booster is an item that cracks, I didn't see the crack until after I removed it because it was under the 90 degree bend.
 
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