2.0 litre TDi engine - sudden loss of power

[rkenny]

I have a Touran which I am hopefully going to trade in soon for a new Scout with the same 2 litre diesel engine. Unfortunately over the last few weeks the Touran has developed an intermittant fault where there is a sudden loss of power, mainly when cruising at 70 - 75 mph. When I stop and start up again the fault clears. I have had it into the dealers twice and nothing has shown up on the diagnostic gear.

Any thoughts on possible cause? I read on another site that this can be caused by faulty turbo boost sensor - does that make sense? Trouble is the dealer won't do anything under warranty unless a fault has been logged.

[bahnstormer vrs]

Could be a multitude of things; fuel supply, air supply, electrical ECU fault. Can you drive through the problem for a mile or so or is the loss of power total?

If you are still under warranty, is it feasible that next time it happens you STOP, call Skoda Assistance and get them to look at it and/or take it too your dealer without restarting (which may be clearing the fault).

[VRStu]

You'll need a diagnostic check to see what is causing the limp mode.

Stoppinf and restarting is simply resetting the limp mode and not doing anything for your problem.

Does it have high miles?

[rkenny]

Car will be 3 years old in January 08 - i.e. warranty nearly up!
No Stu, mileage is about 23,000. When it happens it continues until the car is re-started. Taking it in to the dealer on Monday for another attempt to fix it. Will go on a long run before and if it happens will be able to take it straight in as you say bahnstormer.
Will call out Assistance in the last resort. I need to log the fault with the dealer because I will be 2 months out of warranty before I get the Scout in March.
Will post if problem diagnosed.

[scotskoda]

The current 2.0 TDCi engine used by Ford has a known problem with faulty EGR valves - exactly the same symptons as rkenny describes - I know because I had a C-MAX with this engine and ended up having the EGR valve replaced twice. Frightening when it happened in the outside lane of the M9 on the way to work and having to negotiate my way to the hard shoulder. I think it did show up on diagnostic checks as had no problems getting it replaced.

I don't know if VW engines use this technology too?

[bahnstormer vrs]

Pretty much all engines have an EGR valve to keep emissions under control - could be a good suggestion.

[rkenny]

Perhaps I should be more specific about the fault. All of the power isn't lost. The turbo seems to suddenly stop working. I can maintain up to about 60mph on a level road but when I put the foot down there is no turbo surge. It is not quite as severe as scotscoda's Ford problem but worrying nevertheless.

[cheezemonkhai]

Maybe the turbo is on it's way out/sticking or there is a split hose.

This might then cause the ecu to stop boost to prevent engine damage?

[rkenny]

Believe it or not this is the second turbo in this car! It was replaced under warranty 18 months ago. Maybe I was just born unlucky!

[fireblade]

could it be an electro valve ?

[phiL&K]

Could it be the clutch pedal switch is faulty/incorrectly adjusted. This could cut the turbo out and probably give the same result.

[rkenny]

Well I've got the answer. As I said previously I was booked in to the supplying dealer today. I took the car for a run early and fortunately the power loss occurred again. So I drove straight to the garage and the mechanic was good enough to bring the diagnostic gear out and connected it up while the engine was still idling.

Sure enough a fault showed up: "turbo boost sensor - overpressure". He then took the car into the workshop to further investigate.

The upshot is the car will need a new turbo. He explained that the overpressure caused the turbo to cut out. This was caused by a problem with the vanes in the turbo sticking. Because the turbo is a 'sealed unit', this means the whole turbo has to be replaced - under warranty thank god!

Now this is the second new turbo this car will have had. The first one only lasted 14 months. The second one less than 18 months. The mechanic said they have replaced 'quite a few turbos in both 1.9 and 2 litre TDis'. It makes you wonder about the long term viability of these engines.

The car has also had a new flywheel replaced under warranty!

I still intend to trade it in for a new diesel Scout in March 08. Am I doing the right thing?

[Tom_vRS]

How hard do you rev the engine? The veins stick because they get clogged up with soot. A good hard drive every few hundred miles gets the turbo really hot and blasts all the ****e out, thus keeping the turbo in better condition!

[cheezemonkhai]

Was going to say like Tom make sure you boot the car when warmed up from time to time.

[daz_pd]

sorry to drag this thread up, but my Octy has been doing this since I got it and its been getting worse, ive tried Italian method (thrash!) to fix it but no joy, so its off to the dealers in 2 weeks, but they reckon unless it does it while they see it they cant fix it!

[rkenny]

What I did was take the car for a long run before taking it to the dealer and luckily the loss of power happened. I took it straight to the dealer, left the engine running and phoned the service desk. They were good enough to send a mechanic out to the forecourt with a laptop and sure enough he picked up the 'turbo overboost' error. This resulted in a new turbo under warranty. If I had switched off the engine and back on again it may not have logged the fault.

[Taxi 219]

Originally Posted by phiL&K

Could it be the clutch pedal switch is faulty/incorrectly adjusted. This could cut the turbo out and probably give the same result.

How would a clutch pedal switch do this to the turbo?

[Lummox]

Could just be a boost pressure sensor. The newer turbos on the 2.0s dont seem to suffer sticking but then your mileage is very low.

[daz_pd]

Mines does it almost everytime i move off from cold, although im not going to drive it to the dealers with the fault on as its about 60 miles away over steep hills and motorway, so i need the turbo!

[Johnwg]

Originally Posted by rkenny

Car will be 3 years old in January 08 - i.e. warranty nearly up!
No Stu, mileage is about 23,000. When it happens it continues until the car is re-started. Taking it in to the dealer on Monday for another attempt to fix it. Will go on a long run before and if it happens will be able to take it straight in as you say bahnstormer.
Will call out Assistance in the last resort. I need to log the fault with the dealer because I will be 2 months out of warranty before I get the Scout in March.
Will post if problem diagnosed.

My Dad has a Touran - same engine as yours.... may be worth having a look at this forum;

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