[schimmerb]

This morning while driving up hill in 4th at 50, I felt a sudden subtl loss of power and it stopped accerating. The rest of the drive was like grampa. The rpms would go to 4k but with a lot of time. In nuetral at a stop, reved engine and heard no turbo whine. No indicators on the dash.
Where do I start.

 

[chittychittybangbang]

That is limp mode. http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q/multi/limp-mode-TDI-fix.htm Start here.

There are many possible causes so it's hard to guess. Get error codes first, autozone and the like do free code scans. You'll have codes stored even if the CEL isn't on.

 

[andrewspearns]

Limp mode indeed. Do you drive your car into high RPM's often, or do you drive conservatively at lower RPM's? These cars need to be driven hard to keep the cobwebs clear, and by cobwebs, I mean carbon and soot in the turbo.

There is a lengthy thread over at TDiClub.com about cleaning your turbo with Easy Off Oven Cleaner. I did it yesterday to mine, worked like a charm. Get a brake bleeder vacuum pump from WalMart to use.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=246287&page=8&highlight=chemical

 

[andrewspearns]

Also - if you go into Limp Mode, pull over, turn off the car, and turn it back on. The turbo will start up again.

 

[schimmerb]

So the first day I found a vac line I didn't like and reterminated it. Ran fine to home and to my mech Jason in Port Jervis. He replaced another line he did not like and check to find no codes. Limp came one more time after fueling up 2 days later and the Bill Gates reboot cleared for normal turbo.

I prefer to drive easy but do step into it a couple times a week for traffic reasons. (Bronx is great for traffic) The last tank gave me 52mpg and that helps the 125 mile round trip commute.

I have also noticed lately that when getting to high rpms at full throttle, I hear the turbo spool up, stabilize, then come down and loose power slightly before I shift.

 

[badger_9]

I'm trying to clean mine, Im having trouble figuring out which screws I need to remove. Thanks.