VERY low power diagnosis EGR / exhaust / inlet manifold / Cat / other??

[CupraChris1981]

Hi all, bit of a noob here, 05/06 MK1 FR TDI, recently cleaned out my disgusting EGR valve in the hope it would fix the lack of power I was getting along with smokey exhaust and disgusting smell when revving, to no avail, now thinking I may have to remove the manifold and clean all that or failing that an expensive job replacing the cat, I have been advised to remove the exhaust and if the engine gets power back I know the issue is the cat, if not then I should just need to clean out the exhaust manifold, anyone have any advice or run into similar issues or ideas on what else could be causing the complete lack of power (the turbo seems to be working although the whistle is nowhere near as noticeable,) thanks in advance for any help, Chris

 

[Woody_72]

Have you run VAGDPF to see how clogged the DPF might be?

 

[iammooks]

Hi all, bit of a noob here, 05/06 MK1 FR TDI, recently cleaned out my disgusting EGR valve in the hope it would fix the lack of power I was getting along with smokey exhaust and disgusting smell when revving, to no avail, now thinking I may have to remove the manifold and clean all that or failing that an expensive job replacing the cat, I have been advised to remove the exhaust and if the engine gets power back I know the issue is the cat, if not then I should just need to clean out the exhaust manifold, anyone have any advice or run into similar issues or ideas on what else could be causing the complete lack of power (the turbo seems to be working although the whistle is nowhere near as noticeable,) thanks in advance for any help, Chris

I’ve been working my way round the car cleaning everything I can - so far I’ve done the EGR and the turbo, and will be doing the intake manifold over the summer - while also running Wynn’s in the fuel whenever I remember to put it in. I also ran a tank of injector cleaner through back in December, but I don’t think it did a great deal.

With the EGR and turbo, I definitely have more power than I did before, but think I won’t be back up to full trot until I’ve done the manifold.

I’ve noticed a smoky exhaust recently but put it down to the car being left for weeks without having a good run. I was getting much worse smoke before I did the cleans but it’s much better now.

As for the smell, depending on the weather, that could be a sign of one or more of your glow plugs being on the way out. Something to do with unburnt fuel or not burning cleanly, especially in cold weather - but that could also be because the engine as a whole needs cleaning if it’s not breathing like it should. I have a full set of glow plugs waiting to go in, but I’m convinced I’m going to snap them taking them out - they’re the originals.

I’ve not been anywhere near the exhaust yet, but I’m sure I’ll find an excuse soon enough...!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[CupraChris1981]

Have you run VAGDPF to see how clogged the DPF might be?

I just tried to run VAGDPF but although it connected to my OBDLINK LX it gave me a communication error. Here are the error codes I have if that is of any help

 

[CupraChris1981]

I’ve been working my way round the car cleaning everything I can - so far I’ve done the EGR and the turbo, and will be doing the intake manifold over the summer - while also running Wynn’s in the fuel whenever I remember to put it in. I also ran a tank of injector cleaner through back in December, but I don’t think it did a great deal.

With the EGR and turbo, I definitely have more power than I did before, but think I won’t be back up to full trot until I’ve done the manifold.

I’ve noticed a smoky exhaust recently but put it down to the car being left for weeks without having a good run. I was getting much worse smoke before I did the cleans but it’s much better now.

As for the smell, depending on the weather, that could be a sign of one or more of your glow plugs being on the way out. Something to do with unburnt fuel or not burning cleanly, especially in cold weather - but that could also be because the engine as a whole needs cleaning if it’s not breathing like it should. I have a full set of glow plugs waiting to go in, but I’m convinced I’m going to snap them taking them out - they’re the originals.

I’ve not been anywhere near the exhaust yet, but I’m sure I’ll find an excuse soon enough...!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Are you just doing it for maintenance or is your engine significantly lacking for power, my car literally struggles up moderately steep hills now in second gear with my foot down..

 

[iammooks]

Are you just doing it for maintenance or is your engine significantly lacking for power, my car literally struggles up moderately steep hills now in second gear with my foot down..

It started out as something I did after failing the MoT on emissions a couple of years in a row - cleaning the EGR valve was something that was suggested on here that I did, and it does seem to have made a difference. There have also been a few times when the car just didn’t have any power - I’d put my foot down on a flat road and just lost all power. It wasn’t enough to give me an EML but the car just didn’t go.

Cleaning the turbo seems to have solved that - it seems much quicker to spool up and it feels like there’s more torque as well. You might have heard of the ‘Mr Muscle turbo clean’ and that’s basically what I did. It wasn’t as hard as I expected and there are lots of videos on YouTube about it, but having done it recently I’d be happy to offer advice - from your symptoms and the OBD code, it sounds like this could be the main problem.

Other than that, it could be a boost leak, but a clogged turbo sounds more likely. Garages don’t tend to offer that as a service and would prefer you just buy a new turbo, but a can of Mr Muscle costs £5 and the job can be done in an afternoon.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[MoToJoJo]

The reason for this is because this car doesn’t have a DPF from the factory

 

[MoToJoJo]

Right, looked at the error codes and the lack of power you mention is confirmed by the P0299 code as low boost. Could be the N75 valve, could be the wastegate actuator itself, or could be a boost leak somewhere else.

Start with the N75 valve first as it’s the most likely and easiest, then it’s time to look over other stuff.

Oh and the cat isn’t expensive, got mine for £130 and that wasn’t the cheapest by a long shot

 

[Nam-uk]

smashed out the cat on original exhaust when turbo was replaced, it wont though a error also helped turbo spin up, 3rd is better now but is mapped and was before this was done,
also cleaned the egr ages ago but that pic you posted up is not the egr?

 

[CupraChris1981]

It started out as something I did after failing the MoT on emissions a couple of years in a row - cleaning the EGR valve was something that was suggested on here that I did, and it does seem to have made a difference. There have also been a few times when the car just didn’t have any power - I’d put my foot down on a flat road and just lost all power. It wasn’t enough to give me an EML but the car just didn’t go.

Cleaning the turbo seems to have solved that - it seems much quicker to spool up and it feels like there’s more torque as well. You might have heard of the ‘Mr Muscle turbo clean’ and that’s basically what I did. It wasn’t as hard as I expected and there are lots of videos on YouTube about it, but having done it recently I’d be happy to offer advice - from your symptoms and the OBD code, it sounds like this could be the main problem.

Other than that, it could be a boost leak, but a clogged turbo sounds more likely. Garages don’t tend to offer that as a service and would prefer you just buy a new turbo, but a can of Mr Muscle costs £5 and the job can be done in an afternoon.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks I used some similar cleaner to do my EGR valve it worked wonders and came out looking good as new, having seen the state of everything around my EGR valve would not surprise me to have everything else clogged up, will keep updated, once weather clears up a bit I'll get it on stands and start working my way through the advice on here, thanks all

 

[iammooks]

Thanks I used some similar cleaner to do my EGR valve it worked wonders and came out looking good as new, having seen the state of everything around my EGR valve would not surprise me to have everything else clogged up, will keep updated, once weather clears up a bit I'll get it on stands and start working my way through the advice on here, thanks all

The good thing about a lot of this is that it's really just general maintenance for cars this age and with more than 100k miles on the engine. You won't have to do it very often either, so get it all done and get back to enjoying the car. It gives you a better understanding of how the engine works and how to maintain it and you'll feel a difference in performance too, which is always a good thing. I hate it when you do a job that takes an age but you don't really feel any benefit, so when you put your foot down and you can feel the power going down without hesitation, it's a really nice feeling.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CupraChris1981]

smashed out the cat on original exhaust when turbo was replaced, it wont though a error also helped turbo spin up, 3rd is better now but is mapped and was before this was done,
also cleaned the egr ages ago but that pic you posted up is not the egr valve

No didn't post a picture of the valve I posted another picture of the gunk and the pipe leading to it might be taking it off again today. Plan is to get under the car and find any large holes, cracks or loose connections, the fact the car doesn't rev over 2k rpm with foot down and takes a while to get there means some kind of significant damage has been done when the engine mount failed,I just have to locate that I think and I will check the valves and clean things out as and when I take them off, any additional advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

 

[iammooks]

No didn't post a picture of the valve I posted another picture of the gunk and the pipe leading to it might be taking it off again today. Plan is to get under the car and find any large holes, cracks or loose connections, the fact the car doesn't rev over 2k rpm with foot down and takes a while to get there means some kind of significant damage has been done when the engine mount failed,I just have to locate that I think and I will check the valves and clean things out as and when I take them off, any additional advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

Does the car rev over 2,000rpm when it's in neutral? I might be wrong, but if you can rev over 2,000rpm when the engine isn't under load, that would point to either a boost leak or the turbo not spooling up properly.

When I had a boost leak, it was fairly obvious where it was because it smoked when I revved the engine. The other time it was because the pancake pipe popped off - when it's a big boost leak the engine goes a bit mad and the car is juddering like crazy, building a bit of boost and then losing it rapidly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CupraChris1981]

Does the car rev over 2,000rpm when it's in neutral? I might be wrong, but if you can rev over 2,000rpm when the engine isn't under load, that would point to either a boost leak or the turbo not spooling up properly.

When I had a boost leak, it was fairly obvious where it was because it smoked when I revved the engine. The other time it was because the pancake pipe popped off - when it's a big boost leak the engine goes a bit mad and the car is juddering like crazy, building a bit of boost and then losing it rapidly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The car wont rev above 2k in neutral, and a load of smoke comes out the back when starting from cold, there is no juddering there is just no power when driving, can't do steep hills etc. I can't hear the turbo whistle myself it used to be quite obvious, as the engine fell out and the oil pan got smashed which I replaced I imagine some other damage was done and it is a matter of finding where the damage or loose connections are I imagine, the pipes don't stiffen up when revving the engine either like they should do, any thoughts on how to locate the leak without obvious smoke from the engine? Thanks again

 

[Nam-uk]

No didn't post a picture of the valve I posted another picture of the gunk and the pipe leading to it might be taking it off again today. Plan is to get under the car and find any large holes, cracks or loose connections, the fact the car doesn't rev over 2k rpm with foot down and takes a while to get there means some kind of significant damage has been done when the engine mount failed,I just have to locate that I think and I will check the valves and clean things out as and when I take them off, any additional advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

after seeing that pipe i had a look and remember now, mine was never that blocked, looks like your car has seen short journeys and the turbo never been used as they need a blast now and again, might be worth trying a terraclean after you done most of the clean out, even before the front intercooler might be worth cleaning out as that can hold oil as that pipe connecting to the egr comes from there, that's if it is connected as mine was loose when i first got the car checked so there was hardly any flow

 

[mty12345]

Have you scanned it for codes?

 

[CupraChris1981]

Have you scanned it for codes?

 

[CupraChris1981]

after seeing that pipe i had a look and remember now, mine was never that blocked, looks like your car has seen short journeys and the turbo never been used as they need a blast now and again, might be worth trying a terraclean after you done most of the clean out, even before the front intercooler might be worth cleaning out as that can hold oil as that pipe connecting to the egr comes from there, that's if it is connected as mine was loose when i first got the car checked so there was hardly any flow

I know it is all blocked up and needs cleaning but the massive power loss that occurred after the engine mount failed points to something that happened suddenly that is causing the power loss, some kind of damage, crack etc. before cleaning everything out I want to locate what is causing the major power leakage

 

[mty12345]

Either the boost pipes from the turbo to the engine are disconnected, or the n75 control lines to the turbo are disconnected. Follow them all from one end to the other. If the car was poorly maintained enough that the engine literally fell out, then there is probably all manner of issues lurking.

 

[CupraChris1981]

Unfortunately been ill for a few weeks and had covid to boot so not been able to work on the car, just taken the EGR valve out again so I could fit it properly, tried revving it and it went above 2k rpm for the first time (albeit with a lot of smoke) in a long time not sure if that means anything to anyone? I checked what I believe is the n75 (photo?)could not see any dodgy connections