Question re: turbo vanes limp mode problem

[fakeshemp]

I realize there are about a million threads about this but I'm looking for some advice on what I believe is likely the problem with dirty turbo. Full disclosure - I know about as much about the mechanical side of cars as an 80 year old lady.

I bought my 2003 Leon because having previously owned a Clio 172 a few years ago and loved it I wanted to get back to something with a bit of power without the heavy fuel and tax running costs and a 130bhp TDi seemed a reasonable compromise - thats about the extent of my car savvyness.

Anyway, driving the car home from picking it up last week (yep, didn't even make it home) the Engine Management Light came on and I lost the feel of the turbo. This has been happening intermittently since and it seems to be when really accelerating hard into the higher rev's. The garage I bought it off told me to take it back and they would take a look (doing so after the bank holiday), but in the meantime I've been googling the crap out of it.

My symptoms seem to fit perfectly with the many people who have needed to give their turbo a good clean out and this is going to be the first thing I suggest when I take it back, especially if the code reader indicates a boost error. So here is my question finally (sorry it took so long): If it is the culprit is this something that falls firmly under my current engine and gearbox warranty or are they likely to try and wriggle out of it? Do I have a solid argument for why it should fall under the general engine warranty? I'm not too proud to admit buying, taxing, insuring the car has left me skint and don't want to be caught for a few hundred notes.

Thanks in advance for any replies. Hopefully I can improve my general car know how on these forums. One day I may even be able to afford to run one of them Cupra's!

 

[Bouncerbeater]

I would have thought you are perfectly within your rights to throw it back at them and demand a refund.
The bare minimum to expect is to get home without a problem. Any reasonable garage should sort this without hassle and I'd be pushing for a courtesy car while it's being fixed.

 

[markpile]

It could be anything causing it to go into limp mode first of all I'd go for a refund as you saying your not savvy on cars they will try to squeeze you for something no doubt

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[fakeshemp]

Cheers for the replies.

I'll let 'em have a look at it first as in all honesty it was 1 of only 3 I found in the 130 in my price range (from a trade dealer that is). I missed out on 1 and the third was the other end of Britain.

The car drives fantastic 99% of the time and still has plenty of boost, it's just in that higher rpm range it will sometimes go limp on me. So all in all I'd rather get it sorted than have my money back than have to try to find another or have to go for the same spec in a Golf, which I don't think look as nice.

As long as if it does turn out to be a dirty/knackered turbo or MAF or similar I have a leg to stand on in arguing that it should fall under the engine warranty, I'm happy for them to fix it. That's my main concern. They seem to be pretty reasonable - he agreed to change the cambelt for me before I picked it up as there was no record if it was done at last service.

 

[Bouncerbeater]

Hope it all gets sorted out for you, I would physically check the cambelt to make sure it is a new one.
Not that I'm cynical or anything.


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[Dan FR]

Warranty is irrelevant - you've bought a car with an inherent fault and you are covered by law (Sale of Goods Act etc, regardless of any warranty that they offer you (with all of the clauses that make them pretty much worthless)

Most likely suspect on these car at this age is a turbo full of carbon deposits... The VNT mechanism will be full of soot and either jammed open/closed or is slow to move/react. The only way to correctly fix this is to remove and strip the turbo for cleaning.