Audi A3 2.0 TDI

[Luke115]

hi all

been looking around a few days now to get some pointers about my car. garages are not having alot of luck and i think maybe i need some new ideas. its in there currently with them so might have some good news in a bit. apologies its a little long but i thought the more info the better and the only people that are gona bother reading it are genuine i tryin to help and will probably appreciate it. feel free to ask questions and i will do my best to answer.

ive had this car a little while now and spent a lil bit of money trying to make it run properly. wasn the best buy in the world to be honest, but the friend i took along with me obviously doesn know as much as he thought. its a 2.0 tdi sport, umodified as far as i know, 2004 plate on 150k.

i have 2 main problems currently. one to do with (i think) the turbo and another to with my coolant system.

now...coolant first as its more important. just seems to be leaking but cant seem to find where it is going. they said my water pump wasn't working before and i needed to change the cam belt anyway so got them both done.
the garage said it would solve the problem but it didn't. my coolant indicator no longer coninuely flashes but it sometimes overheats and doesn't seem to recognise there is a problem. no warning lights at all.
did a test on the head gasket and its not going there so im at a bit of a loss. it does seem to be when i drive it it goes though.
when i put some water in it yesterday there were bubbles where you top it up that looks like soap bubbles. its the best way i can describe it but i have never seen anything like it before...
this problem has slowly got worse over time bt wasn't happening when i bought the car.

with my turbo, when i reach typically 80-90 mph it seems to cut out. there is no guts in the car and it will rev but the turbo doesn spool and if i went from standstill i probably would not get above 50mph and tht would take a while. if i flick the key off then on again it works fine but if i push it to those speeds it again just cuts out. its impossible to take it past 100 though it is sometimes possible to sit about that and it work but not properly it feels a bit 'shakey'.
this has been something that has always happened but obviously on the test drive i didn't go fast enough to test it.
the turbo i had when i bought the car did disintegrate ver quickly and i put another 1 in that i took from my last audi (same car but 05 plate, 90k on clock) which is unfortuately pretty smashed up. but i know it worked perfect in my other car n there wasnt a problem and it does the same thing as the last did, leading me to believe it is something closely connected with it.
2 things i have been told is air mass flow sensor and egr valve. i have replaced the egr valve bt have not been able to check the sensor as yet. does anyone else think this could be the case or have any other suggestions. my turbo makes a whistling sound which sounds a bit like a police siren in the distance, plenty of people have commented on the sound without realising what it is.
i was readin a different part of this site talking about dump valves and the airmass getting confused by them. i imagine its reasonably obvious if you have one on your car by looking? or it would have at least been noticed when switching the turbos over? just think maybe someone could have tried putting one on incorrectly?


anyway thanks for taking the time to read. please fire away with questions as its easy to miss important info out which i dont realise is important...

Luke

 

[obi_waynne]

Does the car have a particulate filter? Have you had the fault codes read/checked?

Coolant leak sounds strange to me - are there no drips under the car? have you checked all of the coolant hoses/clips?

 

[Luke115]

no it doesn't. i rang up audi for confirmation. they suggested checking all the pipes again, makin sure they are connected ad he said im welcome to pop down and someone can listen to it quickly and tell me what they think.

i haven't been given anything with fault codes on but i assume that each garage would do it automatically? unless i dont exactly understand what they are it seems like those diagnostic machines can save quite a bit of time.

with coolant we have done pressure tests etc and cant find the leak. not sure whether before they just inspected as far as water pump n then thought 'must be that' but thats what they are doing now

 

[T9 man]

Greetings Luke115 and Welcome to TorqueCars My Friend!

 

[Luke115]

Thanks

Got the car back n they said they couldn find any leaks. Someone from audi then had a quick look at the turbo problem n said i had an air leak n tht it could be from a cracked cylinder head. I then told him about the coolant n he seemed pretty certain. Do people agree thtba cracked. Cylinder head could cause a problem with the turbo? I had always feared it was the problem with the coolant to be honest...

 

[pgarner]

Hello and welcome to the site mate

sounds like the engine is going into limp mode and stopping boost. you dont have a diverter or dump valve ont he diesel engine as there is no need for it so no need to look for one

most common cause for this, on the diesels, is the vanes on the turbo sticking and overboosting. doesnt take much for the ECU to throw a hissy fit - i know the 1,8t petrols you were talking less than 2psi over the requested limit and it would cut back.

if the car has over heated then there could well be issues with the head

 

[Luke115]

Ok n so what would be the best solution for this? I assume because i have put in a new turbo the vanes are directly connected to, rather than part of, the turbo? And so would it be common for them to always stick in the same sort of place?

Thanks to those who have given advice so far. It is appreciated

 

[Yugguy]

Garages wouldnt necessarliy automatically hook up to the computer.

If no check lights are displayed but it's still not running right I would be checking if they have been disabled within the ECU. For instance, I can disable the pad wear sensors on my Bora so even if they are all worn down no light is displayed and no error read on VAGCOM.

Check all the turbo pipes, there are a lot all told, from turbo, intercooler, engine, air intake, there's loads.

As for cleaning, there is a product called Innotec, I've not used it but loads of people swear by it. http://www.innotecturboclean.co.uk/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Audi-Innote...stributor/dp/B004LWLICM/ref=pd_sim_sbs_auto_2

I think it's something I'd want the garage to do though as it sounds like a ballache of a job.

 

[pgarner]

No removing the intake pipe to the turbo and WD40 and free the vanes up buy hands, theres a few guides on how to do this on the new.
might not have been enough to chuck up a light as yugguy says but a fault may still have been recorded