Dead turbo cured!!! you'll never quess!

powaw

Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2006
Location
Lawson, Mo USA
TDI
2003 Golf 5spd
Last week I had a huge power loss in my vehicle while driving home from work. I don't have a vag com so I couldn't pull the code. I did some digging on here and checked the Maf sensor by unplugging and going for a ride. That didn't help except that my wife and I noticed that we werent' hearing the turbo. I began researching that and found the thread on turbo overboost problems and headed in that direction as the sympotms fit what I was observing. Since I was at home and didn't have all of the replacement hoses on hand I decided to remove the cat, gut it, and reinstall it to make sure that it wasn't clogged up. It was pretty clogged up, but not enough to screw up the car. So I'm on the ground under the car putting the nuts back on the turbo flange and using a flash light I examined the actuator on the rear of the turbo. It looked fine but it wouldn't budge. I knew that it should so I took a closer look. Here is what brought my car to a lack luster crawl in limp mode..... a ROCK!!! Just behind the actuator arm and under the little bellcrank was a rock. I took my knife out, removed it and went for a test drive. It ran great, as a matter of fact I don't remember it running this well when we took delivery of it 4 years and 150.000 miles ago. I guess my car was ready for me to ditch the cat and talked a rock into helping out. Keep an eye out for this one if you have a turbo problem...what are the odds, I think I might buy a lotto ticket.

Later...
 

nicklockard

Torque Dorque
Joined
Aug 15, 2004
Location
Arizona
TDI
SOLD 2010 Touareg Tdi w/factory Tow PCKG
Do you have the lower cover installed or did you delete it? If it had been installed this likely would never have happened ;)
 

powaw

Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2006
Location
Lawson, Mo USA
TDI
2003 Golf 5spd
Your exactly right. My lower cover is no more...it has been abused by its close proximity to the ground and was in such poor condition that I removed it. Maybe I'll go ahead and make that aluminum one I've been thinking about.
 

w3rr

New member
Joined
Apr 23, 2006
slows down climbing hills

Hi.... My 99 beetle seems to have a problem. A mechanic says it should go up the mountain east of Uniontown PA at 70 mph in cruise.
I have to keep it in 4th and by manually depressing the throttle to a certain point I can get it to go up at 55. If I leave it in cruise it will trip out very quickly.
It seems like when I depress the gas pedal past a certain point in third and fourth....nothing happens....as though something is slipping.
The mechanic replaced the mass flow gizmo....no help. He disconnected the exhaust pipe forward of the cat convertor to try out but still no help. The previous week he cleaned out the goop in the manifold area and that did improve the mileage....but still the problem climbing hills.
He visually inspected the turbo vanes as best he could and blew some air in and he said the turbo looked ok....and by the sound of it sounded ok.
Any advice greatly appreciated. I love this car....especially the 47 mpg part. Thanks .....bc
 

Dave_D

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2003
Location
Gaithersburg, MD, USA
TDI
2015 Passat Titanium Beige six speed manual & Jetta, 1999.5, Tornado Red
Get someone with a VAG-COM to log MAF and MAP actual and requested while going up that grade and see what the problem is. If MAF is low look for restrictions in the intake path such as a clogged snowscreen, air filter or more goop deeper in the intake manifold. If MAP is low look for a leak in the piping after the turbo, sticky accuator or vanes, bad vacuum lines or problems with the N75 unit. Of course if any codes are logged address them first.
 

jollyGreenGiant

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2003
Location
MA
TDI
03 Golf TDI GLS ( my 5th TDI ), 03 Eurovan GLS - VR6 :(
So you gutted your cat because there was a rock stuck in your VNT actuator??? That's kinda sad...
 

McBrew

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 30, 2002
Location
Annapolis, MD
TDI
2003 Golf GLS TDI, 5 speed, Silver/Grey
Hey! 240Ds don't stink... when they're running on the right kind of fuel!
 

deejaaa

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2007
Location
Baytown, Texas
TDI
FOR SALE, 2002 Jetta GLS, 5 speed
Harbor Freight has a cheap ($40.00) OBD2 reader right now if you need something to read codes until a VAG-COM can be had, my 2 cents.
 

mrchill

TDIClub Enthusiast, Super Secret Diesel Ninja Vend
Joined
Sep 16, 2003
Location
MASS! home of THE WORLD SERIES CHAMPION RED SOX! x
TDI
96 B4v red \ 98 Mk3 green\98 Mk3 Jetta black\ 99 Mk4 Jetta green x2\ 99 Mk4 Golf silver x2\ 99 Mk4 Jetta black\ 97 B4 sedan green\04 JSW gold\03 JSW silver
w3rr said:
Hi.... My 99 beetle seems to have a problem. A mechanic says it should go up the mountain east of Uniontown PA at 70 mph in cruise.
I have to keep it in 4th and by manually depressing the throttle to a certain point I can get it to go up at 55. If I leave it in cruise it will trip out very quickly.
It seems like when I depress the gas pedal past a certain point in third and fourth....nothing happens....as though something is slipping.
The mechanic replaced the mass flow gizmo....no help. He disconnected the exhaust pipe forward of the cat convertor to try out but still no help. The previous week he cleaned out the goop in the manifold area and that did improve the mileage....but still the problem climbing hills.
He visually inspected the turbo vanes as best he could and blew some air in and he said the turbo looked ok....and by the sound of it sounded ok.
Any advice greatly appreciated. I love this car....especially the 47 mpg part. Thanks .....bc
This is likely a clogged intake....also it may be coupled with a stuck, or sicky vnt actuator and or mechanism. VERY common. The Beetle is a bit tougher to clen an intake on, so most dont take it out and clean it THOROUGHLY. Believe me, it happens often. I just did one that I had to clean out the head ports because they were as bad as the intake. And the intake was clogged near shut. It also needed a vnt actautor and a maf. SUPER slow. Run nice now though!
 

mavapa

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 29, 2000
Location
rome, ga
TDI
2001 golf
w3rr, you that symptom in my 2001 Golf ended up being mainly caused by leaky vacuum lines. I cleaned the intake, which wasn't really all that dirty, and, since it didn't help, replaced the main line from the vacuum pump to the brake booster. I had noticed a decrease in brake boost and a very occasional almost total lack of boost when coming to a stop, so I already had a reason to suspect the vacuum. In case you aren't aware, vacuum is used to acuate the variable geometry vanes in the turbo.
 

TornadoRed

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 3, 2003
Location
West Des Moines (formerly St Paul)
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI wagon, silver; 2003 Jetta TDI wagon, indigo blue; 2003 Golf GL 5-spd, red (PARTED); 2003 Golf GLS 5-spd, indigo blue (SOLD); 2003 Jetta TDI wagon, Candy White (SOLD)
mavapa said:
w3rr, you that symptom in my 2001 Golf ended up being mainly caused by leaky vacuum lines. I cleaned the intake, which wasn't really all that dirty, and, since it didn't help, replaced the main line from the vacuum pump to the brake booster. I had noticed a decrease in brake boost and a very occasional almost total lack of boost when coming to a stop, so I already had a reason to suspect the vacuum. In case you aren't aware, vacuum is used to acuate the variable geometry vanes in the turbo.
I want to confirm that this is a possible cause of lost power AND lost braking action.

My first indication something was wrong was when I tried to stop. First and second times I "stomped" on the pedal, the brakes bit good and hard. Third time there was almost nothing. Twenty seconds later or so, I tested it again and the cycle repeated: good, good, then nothing (or at least not much).

I was stuck in traffic and didn't notice a loss of power until this morning. Then it was obvious. Barely any acceleration on the flat, none on hills.

A leaking vacuum hose was causing both problems. I was losing brake booster function, and the vacuum leak was affecting EGR function. I can't find the exact connection between brake system and EGR system, but that one 6" piece of vacuum hose was causing problems with both systems.
 
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