Hello,
I'm new on this forum. English isn't my native language, so excuse me my bad grammar.
Background information:
I'm a happy owner of VW Golf MK4 with 1.9 PD TDI engine (ATD, 101 HP, turbo with variable vanes). I had a frontal accident not so long ago with this car, and the car body was repaired, there was no need to touch the engine.
Problem:
Now the issue is that the car has a very poor fuel economy, and there is a noticeable lag in turbo boost at lower rpm, around 1800. I drive daily shorter distances ~10-15 kilometers in 5th gear within 1800-2000 rpm. No loss of power on higher rpms above 2100. The average fuel consumption was 4.5-5 l/100km, and there was no such big delay in boost.
Now the fuel consumption increased to 6.5-7.5 l/100km. I have a VCDS cable, and I did some diagnostics and logs but I still do not find the root cause and do not have idea what could be the reason.
What was checked until now:
- no failure codes of course.
- vacuum lines, check valve, EGR, N75 valve and actuator check through basic settings (tests). N75 exchanged too, but no change in behavior.
- engine timing is OK, the correction value at the PD injectors are within range.
- the turbo boost is reaching quickly the 2.1 bars in 4-5th gear with full throttle. No sign of air leak. I tried to do some minimal adjustment on the actuator rod, but it does not solve the problem. The vanes are moving smoothly.
- MAF sensor is OK. We also tried to replace it. The spec vs. actual values are close.
One thing I have noticed is that the engine ECU is reducing the duty cycle of the turbo when I accelerate, and later on the duty cycle increasing:
Is the described variation in the N75 duty cycle is nomal? I take a log from another car (1.9 TDI, ALH. 90HP), but there the cycle increasing without reduction...
Does anybody have idea what else could cause such behavior?
Did I miss something? What else could I check?
The full log is available here.
Thank you in advance for your replies.
Best Regards,
Konya
I'm new on this forum. English isn't my native language, so excuse me my bad grammar.
Background information:
I'm a happy owner of VW Golf MK4 with 1.9 PD TDI engine (ATD, 101 HP, turbo with variable vanes). I had a frontal accident not so long ago with this car, and the car body was repaired, there was no need to touch the engine.
Problem:
Now the issue is that the car has a very poor fuel economy, and there is a noticeable lag in turbo boost at lower rpm, around 1800. I drive daily shorter distances ~10-15 kilometers in 5th gear within 1800-2000 rpm. No loss of power on higher rpms above 2100. The average fuel consumption was 4.5-5 l/100km, and there was no such big delay in boost.
Now the fuel consumption increased to 6.5-7.5 l/100km. I have a VCDS cable, and I did some diagnostics and logs but I still do not find the root cause and do not have idea what could be the reason.
What was checked until now:
- no failure codes of course.
- vacuum lines, check valve, EGR, N75 valve and actuator check through basic settings (tests). N75 exchanged too, but no change in behavior.
- engine timing is OK, the correction value at the PD injectors are within range.
- the turbo boost is reaching quickly the 2.1 bars in 4-5th gear with full throttle. No sign of air leak. I tried to do some minimal adjustment on the actuator rod, but it does not solve the problem. The vanes are moving smoothly.
- MAF sensor is OK. We also tried to replace it. The spec vs. actual values are close.
One thing I have noticed is that the engine ECU is reducing the duty cycle of the turbo when I accelerate, and later on the duty cycle increasing:

Is the described variation in the N75 duty cycle is nomal? I take a log from another car (1.9 TDI, ALH. 90HP), but there the cycle increasing without reduction...
Does anybody have idea what else could cause such behavior?
Did I miss something? What else could I check?
The full log is available here.
Thank you in advance for your replies.
Best Regards,
Konya