2009 1.4 TSI - blown turbo...?

Need some help please.

2009 Leon 1.4 TSI Sport, 44k miles. Bought last month, fairly decent condition, full Seat history etc. I've had issues with the coolant level, and the car's going back to the dealer on Tuesday to get that looked at and rectified (see here: ="http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=382762").

However, now it seems the turbo has gone?! No big cloud of smoke, no change in engine sound, no warning lights or errors on the dash or any other signs apart from it's sluggish as hell and definitely not boosting.

If the turbo has blown, would it not be running rough and spewing smoke out the back? Coolant level is fine, as is oil level. It drives completely normal apart from it feels like someone has disconnected the turbo, any ideas anyone? Hose come off? Actuator gone?


Luckily it's going in to the garage on Tuesday for the coolant leak, looks like now it might be going in on a flatbed and could result in a much bigger bill for the dealer...

Jarre said:

What help do you need?

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Has this happened to anyone else? What was the outcome?

Is it common on the 1.4 turbo VAG engine (a quick search on google suggests not, but there are 1 or 2 examples of it happening before)?

Can anyone offer a simple solution (eg 'it's just a hose mate, located here')?

Etc.

invisiblekid said:

Sounds like a lemon to me.

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It's crossed my mind... :-(

invisiblekid said:

Can't understand, after reading your other thread, why you've driven it around for almost a month with coolant leaking. I'd have left it at the petrol station and told the dealer to fetch it and reimburse me.

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At that point I didn't know it was leaking / using coolant, it could just have been topped up insufficiently at service for all I knew, hence I ran it around for a few weeks, checking the level often. Once I knew the level was definitely dropping, I booked it in to be fixed but the earliest date I could get a courtesy car was this Tuesday.

Let's see how it goes this week once the dealer's looked at it...

Update: the car has been picked up this morning and taken back to the dealer on the back of a recovery truck (and a 1.4 Vauxhall Astra courtesy car left in its place!), will update the thread once I have further news to report...

Update: the car is fixed, I'm picking it up after work tonight.

Coolant leak - apparently it was leaking from the water pump. Dealer has fitted a new water pump.

Turbo issue - apparently a 'sticking' wastegate actuator. They have managed to clean / lubricate it and the turbo is now working fine.

Has anyone heard of this actuator issue before? I've googled '1.4 TSI turbo issues' a LOT over the last week or so and most issues do seem to be actuator-related, but most people say they had the unit replaced (along with the turbo), so I'm a bit wary that mine has only been 'cleaned' rather than replaced?

It's still under warranty, so if it goes wrong again then no big deal but as the dealer I bought the car from (non-Seat) is 50-60 miles away it's just a pain if I have to keep taking it back...!

J400uk said:

Bit of chatter about the actuator here - http://www.sciroccocentral.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=8915&start=20

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Thanks; interesting read.

Worries me a little; I wonder if what the dealer has done in my case is only going to fix it temporarily and it will eventually get worse and require a new turbo / actuator unit? It also sounds like this problem could affect ALL 1.4 TSI engines eventually in their lifetime (turbo-only, not the twin-charge ones)...?

:-(

Another update (been a while)!

The coolant has been absolutely perfect since the water pump was replaced, not losing a drop and not overheating so happy days there.


However, sadly the turbo has been intermittently stopping working for the last few weeks again. It's really bizarre, the turbo just stops working and the car becomes a 1.4 rather than a 1.4T! No dash lights, no warning, no nasty noises, in fact it runs absolutely perfect but just without the turbo spooling up! It's definitely not going into limp mode as it will rev above 3000rpm, it's just really really slow!

I gave up with the dealer I bought the car from (they couldn't find anything wrong with it) and instead took it to ProSport who are just down the road from me. They initially diagnosed a faulty charge control valve (it was throwing up error code P0299), which was replaced last week, but sadly it broke again on Friday (for my 1-hour journey home from work, but then has been running fine ever since)!

Anyone got any ideas here? It's booked in again for more diagnostics at ProSport tomorrow, I know they'll get to the bottom of it eventually but anyone have any pointers on anything else to check? My feeling is something electronic rather than mechanical maybe, it seems to run absolutely fine but just without the turbo sometimes?!

OK, final update (hopefully!) in case anyone suffers similar problems in the future and searches out this thread.


It did indeed turn out to be this:

anarchy1515 said:

It'll be the turbo actuator (common problem) stuck or sticking

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ProSport found the actuator was sticking, stripped the turbo / actuator unit off and as per the Skoda thread in the link above, it comes as a sealed unit (turbo and actuator), can't be rebuilt, must be replaced, and the only place the unit is currently available is Seat/VW.

So, now all replaced and has been tested and is running perfectly - great news as it's the wife's car and she was due to give birth last Monday so we need it to be reliable (this 1.4TSI was bought to be the 'family' car).


Not sure if this problem will turn out to be more common as these 1.4 turbo engines get a little older; mine was a one-owner, full Seat history, 45k-mile, 4-year-old car that ProSport tell me is in otherwise fine health, and it had this problem. Don't know if it's caused by abuse (previous owner could have screwed it from cold every day for all I know), or short journeys, or any other factors, or if there was a bad batch of parts?

The scary thought for me is that the replacement turbo unit is not an uprated part, it's the same as the original, so in theory in a couple of years it could fail again maybe and need replacing again (it's £1k+ for parts and labour). That would be pretty hard to swallow a second time I think, especially as I like to look after my cars to try and prevent big unexpected bills. But life's too short to worry about that...



ps big thumbs up for ProSport; great service, competitive price and offered to pick me up from work, lend me a car if the missus went into labour etc., would recommend them.




All's well that ends well... I hope!!!