Been away from the forum for a long time. Redundancy, job searching and etc proved to take a lot of time and sap confidence, leaving me not in a good place. Now I have a problem and hope someone here can help.
Altea TDI 140 Sport, BKD engine, 130K miles. Good service history, no previous engine problems.
On the way home from the last of several recent visits to the North East from Kent, sorting out my newly-deceased father's estate, house and belongings (another story, maybe later) the car lost power, stuttering and putting out black smoke. Was able to get home (carried on for 100 miles or so) but all is not well.
Removing connection to MAF cures stuttering and black smoke. Without MAF connected, engine is down on power, struggles to reach 4000 rpm when under way, but is otherwise polite, does not choke following motorists.
Put it in to local independent VAG specialist. They say the MAF signals are good, but turbo actuator not holding vacuum. Diagnosis is 'turbo problem', but they (quite reasonably) don't rebuild turbos and the VAG fix for this car is 'replace turbo'. Not able to afford > £1K at this point.
Tried replacing turbo actuator (not a simple task) setting rod length to match the one we took out. Somewhat better response but still stutters and puts out black smoke. Removing MAF connection still has the same effect, stops the black smoke and reduces power output.
My hope is that someone here recognises the symptoms and ca either cofirm it is a turbo failure of some kind or can identify what else might be at issue. It's confounding me.
Will also post in Altea section, to try to catch all possible answers. Forgive me for double-posting this once?
Altea TDI 140 Sport, BKD engine, 130K miles. Good service history, no previous engine problems.
On the way home from the last of several recent visits to the North East from Kent, sorting out my newly-deceased father's estate, house and belongings (another story, maybe later) the car lost power, stuttering and putting out black smoke. Was able to get home (carried on for 100 miles or so) but all is not well.
Removing connection to MAF cures stuttering and black smoke. Without MAF connected, engine is down on power, struggles to reach 4000 rpm when under way, but is otherwise polite, does not choke following motorists.
Put it in to local independent VAG specialist. They say the MAF signals are good, but turbo actuator not holding vacuum. Diagnosis is 'turbo problem', but they (quite reasonably) don't rebuild turbos and the VAG fix for this car is 'replace turbo'. Not able to afford > £1K at this point.
Tried replacing turbo actuator (not a simple task) setting rod length to match the one we took out. Somewhat better response but still stutters and puts out black smoke. Removing MAF connection still has the same effect, stops the black smoke and reduces power output.
My hope is that someone here recognises the symptoms and ca either cofirm it is a turbo failure of some kind or can identify what else might be at issue. It's confounding me.
Will also post in Altea section, to try to catch all possible answers. Forgive me for double-posting this once?
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