Loss of Power & Jerky Gear Change - AGAIN!

[Gordz]

Completely out of the blue, my leon tdi 110 is behaving more like a nissan micra!!!

It took about 30 seconds to get to 60mph today when joining the dual carriageway which was f*cking dangerous to say the least! It just seems to have no power what so ever, and completely maxed out just under 70mph!

On top of the suddenly sluggish engine, the gear change has become very jerky and just not as smooth as it was yesterday. Not sure if this is related, but thought would mention it.

What the hell has happened to my car overnight?!?!?!?! It was perfect yesterday!!!!

Please help!!!

 

[Gordz]

This can't be a unique problem! Anyone had anything remotely similar???

 

[bisto48]

have you tried restarting it since? I had a similar problem felt like the turbo wouldnt spool up. Turned it off went to speak to my neighbour and got him to have a look. Started it up and it was fine (apart from a massive cloud of soot behind hehe). i believe it was just the ecu getting a little confused

Id try restarting it and seeing if it has solved its self

 

[seatcupramad23]

i cud plug my vag com in for mate but i live in tipton near wolverhammpton, but had a problem like dat with my girlfrends seat ibiza mk3 110 tdi, unplug the maf sensor n take it for a drive n see if its any better ?

 

[Gordz]

Cheers for the response!

Well I restarted it at a few junctions when stopped to see if that did anything, but was still the same. I've left the car alone now for a few hours and will see if any different then.

Do you know how your ecu may have got 'confused'?

Just seems really odd that there wasn't even a hint of something wrong with it yesterday!

 

[Gordz]

i cud plug my vag com in for mate but i live in tipton near wolverhammpton, but had a problem like dat with my girlfrends seat ibiza mk3 110 tdi, unplug the maf sensor n take it for a drive n see if its any better ?

Cheers for the offer mate, but probably a bit far away for me!

Will it do any damage at all driving around without the sensor off? And what does it mean if runs better with the sensor removed?

 

[Pyro]

If you unplug the maf and the cars ok then your mafs fooled and that's your problem of it does nothing then it's fine and your issue lies somwere else don't leave it off for to long tho and you'll prob get a traction control light cone on but that will go off

 

[Gordz]

Right, well just gave it a quick run round, and initially it didn't seem good, still sluggish and not right.

So pulled over, pulled maf sensor out while running, then plugged back in and engine kind of changed note. Then when I went off again (with maf sensor in) it was fine. Back to its normal self

Anyone any idea what could have caused all this? It does seem like something needed resetting? Is it a one off, or is it the sign of something worse??

 

[seatcupramad23]

pyro got it spot on .... i wont do any damage for a short run, just sounds so similar to my gf ibiza max out at about 80 but changed the maf n it was perfect again, common on vag tdi's n 1.8t petrols

 

[seatcupramad23]

that sounds weird to b honest, crossed fingers its ok doe

 

[Pyro]

Could just be a dirty or dodgy connection and you just rectified it by unplugging it and plugging it back in

 

[Gordz]

that sounds weird to b honest, crossed fingers its ok doe

Could just be a dirty or dodgy connection and you just rectified it by unplugging it and plugging it back in

Yeah is a bit weird, I hope that's it all it was! Cheers for your advice everyone

 

[chilled82]

I had a similar problem on an old mk4 golf tdi I had, that was also a dodgy connection on the MAF sensor. Waggling it and then pulling it on tighter with a zip tied stopped the problem ever coming back.

 

[Gordz]

I had a similar problem on an old mk4 golf tdi I had, that was also a dodgy connection on the MAF sensor. Waggling it and then pulling it on tighter with a zip tied stopped the problem ever coming back.

Yeah, unplugging and re-connecting the maf sensor worked for me, but still don't understand how that effected the problem, as felt more like the turbo wasn't working! And as far as I'm aware, the maf sensor doesn't control the turbo? Or I maybe I'm completely wrong

Ah well, it's sorted now and fingers crossed no more problems like that!!!

 

[Gordz]

The MAF doesn't control the turbo directly, but the ECU uses MAF readings along with several others to work out how it should control the turbo, so if that's reading wrong it'll confuse the ECU and cause problems.

Ah right ok, that makes more sense then! cheers.

 

[Gordz]

Right, well after thinking this problem was sorted, and the car running fine for a few days, it happened again yesterday.

But this time the car started fine, and then when accelerating hard to join a dual carriageway in 4th gear it suddenly just lost power and the gear change was extremely jerky up to 5th.

I carried along the road stuck at about 70 with just no power when I put my foot down and when came off at the roundabout I quickly turned car on and off, and then it was fine! Before restarting it I had window down as I driving to see if it was the turbo gone, but I could still here it spooling up, it just felt like I was driving through a hurricane or something just holding the car back!

So can't be anything to do with maf sensor this time can it? As never even lifted the bonnet up, it's like it just restarted itself and then was completely fine again!

Any ideas???

 

[Pyro]

Rite my good man go under the bonnet unplug the maf again and have a 10 min drive see how it is spray some wd40 in the sencor conector and make sure it's clean could Aldo clean the maf it's self there's a guid on here for it or maybe invest in a new one also check you wires ect

 

[Pyro]

Sounds like dodgy connections/MAF tho

 

[Gordz]

How should it sound / drive with the maf unplugged? As it's running fine now with the maf sensor in!

I suppose if i've some spare time over weekend, giving the sensor a clean couldn't do any harm either way.

 

[Pyro]

Should drive fine with the sencor out wait till it's being **** the unplug it and drive with it unPluged for a bit and see if it solves it