Turbo not kicking in

[thefunkygibbon]

Hi guys,

My 2001 Mk1 standard 180 Cupra's turbo doesn't seem to be kicking in at all.

Theres no smoke, I cannot hear any whining noises. Its not struggling to start either.

Its just not giving the boost around the rpm it should do. I'm unsure if theres a really weak boost or if theres none at all. (is there a way to tell?)

Any ideas?

Been reading up on here and read something about a Limp mode and most of the other people with "similar" issues seem to have smoke or whining noises. Will be ordering a VAG-COM cable at some point soon so hopefully that might be able to show something up (unless theres anyone in the peterborough or nottingham areas that would be willing to look or fire up vag-com? )

thanks

 

[thefunkygibbon]

took it out for a bit of a spin tonight. its still got some ooomph but there is clearly no boost going on at any RPM. although I dont here any whining, i can hear a faint rush of air somewhere in the front. now i dont know if thats just me thinking that the air is something to do with the turbo or if it actually is or not. :-\ its def not a whine anyway.

anyone got any pointers as to what sort of things could be at fault given theres no other apparent symptoms?

thanks in advance


oh and has anyone got any kind of diagram showing whats what and where in the engine bay? ie where the turbo is so i can check the hoses etc?

would a disconnected hose give these (lack of) symptoms?

 

[EL]

Limp mode is the most annoying thing as you won't see any lights coming on the dash, no smoke or winning etc just a load of flatness like your describing. Did this happen after some work being done on the car or just by itself all of a sudden? My recommendation is to check all electrical connections to valves such as the n75, check the maf and then a boost leak test. Vagcom will really help as you will be able to narrow down the possible symptoms with the fault code

 

[LEE69]

Turbo is down the back, and sorry, but if you have to ask where it is, leave the mechanics to a pro
If you haven't got a boost gauge, buy one it will tell you lots of things.

 

[M@rt]

Had this with my 180 the other day, mine has been fine since but i did get an error code of 17705 which is a pressure drop between turbo and throttle body.

 

[thefunkygibbon]

Thanks for the advice, as you point out lee, yes I don't know what I'm looking for but I want to do some basic checks to see if its something simple . Only just bought the car so didn't want to spunk loads on getting a proper pro to look at it just yet.

Hopefully there is someone around peterboro I can find who knows what they are doing with seat turbosto have a quick look.

I've ordered a vagcom cable so hopefully have some diag codes in next couple of days

 

[thefunkygibbon]

ok got the vag-com cable through today and am getting the following

17705 pressure drop between turbo and throttle valve (check D.V.!)
P1297-35-10 - - - Intermittent.
Readiness 0000 0000

 

[thefunkygibbon]

should i clear the codes (just in case)? or not a good idea? could that make a difference ?

 

[Spirit Furtive]

Have you checked the dump valve?

 

[LEE69]

ok got the vag-com cable through today and am getting the following

17705 pressure drop between turbo and throttle valve (check D.V.!)
P1297-35-10 - - - Intermittent.
Readiness 0000 0000

With the code the car sets a safe limit of about 6psi hence you feeling the turbo not working.

clear the codes and it will be fine, untill you boost again and get the fault code.

Boost leaks on these are a PITA smoke test is a good idea.

 

[thefunkygibbon]

well i cleared the code and had a bit of a drive about. i can hear the turbo whine (the normal whine not a bad one) so i guess its working now. maybe not quite as much oomph as was expecting though. its certainly not throwing me into my seat.

come back and checked for errors again and the error doesnt appear to have come back.

could there still be an issue if the code hasnt come back ?

 

[LEE69]

Boost gauge is your next mod, takes the guess work out of it, although you can log with vag com, full version only.
Standard isn't throw you in the seat (not sure what cars you are used too) fast.

If no boost it should be fine...hopefully

 

[fozzy890]

I had this problem with a friends car. We took it to many places to find out the turbo pipe had a little block in it. Im not a mechanic though but if yu have some knowlege, try there

 

[thefunkygibbon]

well the cars i test drove before purchasing certainly had a bit of a "yeah i can feel the turbo" affect.
one was remapped for sure, the other was from a garage and they didnt really have much knowledge on the car so maybe that was too (?)

if i can find a decent diagram of the engine layout i'll have a squeeze about of the hoses.

I'd love to do the turbo pressure gauge mod but it looks a little tricky. does the plastic surround which seems to mould into the pillar come with the gauge (from the guide on the info base on this site)

Although, I'm not sure i'm confident enough to start cutting holes in the turbo pipe to add the gauge

 

[thefunkygibbon]

i did a little VAG-COM testing last night
got this output from 115

2360	36.1	1010	1040
2520	68.4	1170	1070
2720	83.5	1150	1300
2960	94.7	1410	1350
3280	103	1430	1340
3640	112	1540	1360
4000	109	1400	1360
3880	15	1010	1260
3240	11.3	1010	1100
2920	89.5	1380	1230
3080	106.8	1480	1370
3240	109	1590	1360
3400	110.5	1580	1370
3560	112	1580	1360
3720	110.5	1590	1360
3880	110.5	1480	1360
3840	12	1010	1210
3840	11.3	1010	1090
3680	12	1010	1060
3560	12	1010	1050

does this look correct (as much as it can be?) ie the difference between the two pressure readings and the readings themselves?

 

[Dannyh]

Yeasure your G/S ration in 3rd gear from about 2K to readline the post your results, i think you times the G/S by 0.8 to get a BHP figure then you can see if it has the correct BHP

 

[thefunkygibbon]

thanks for the reply Danny, sorry, dont mean to sound like an ass but i couldnt quite understand what you wrote there.

 

[thefunkygibbon]

ah thanks Danny, think i worked it out , checked out G/S and found a write up on rosstech about fuel trim info which pretty much said what you said
makes sense. will try that later on today.

 

[Dannyh]

its ok man no worries, i dont know what block it is but you should be able to find it with a quick internet search and log it, if it works out to be a lot less bhp than standard then there is a problem somewhere, if not then your good

 

[thefunkygibbon]

hi guys again, ok i just tested the airflow on the vag-com and it peaked about 144 g/s which by calculations is 180 bhp?!??

does that imply that the turbo is working or just that the engine has that much power. (i suck at mechanics, clearly)

just checked for fault codes and its come back again , with a new friend.


17705 - Pressure Drop between Turbo and Throttle Valve (check D.V.!)
P1297 - 35-10 - - - Intermittent
17545 - Fuel Trim: Bank 1 (Add): System too Rich
P1137 - 35-10 - - - Intermittent




i bought some valve/sensor cleaner on the offchance ... is it worth cleaning the MAF (and anything else thats easy to clean?)? before going down the route of replacement parts etc?


any help is REALLY appreciated. thank you