Turbo advice

Author
Discussion

awais09

Original Poster:

3 posts

91 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
quotequote all
Hello everyone,

Completely new here so please be patient

Need some advice please .... Last week I was driving down to Leeds, on the motorway the coil light started flashing. No loss of power nothing different the way the car was driving. Stopped at whetherby services. Spotted AA van and asked for guy's help, he made me sign up and announced following an examination of the car that the turbo boost sensor appears to be faulty and it has oil on. Fault code p0299.

He cleaned it and took it for a drive, came back and said we're good to go, possibly replace the sensor and take it to the garage. As soon as I left services noticed there's no turbo but left it thinking that's what the AA guy said.

I was coming back up to Newcastle the following day and had the same problem. Coil started flashing and ofcourse no turbo.... I was scared of driving on the motorway because it was so slow! Called AA, the whole routine as the day before was repeated and I got home driving very carefully and slowly.

Took it to VAG specialist yesterday and the mechanic announced it needs a new turbo *big gulp* £1020..... Including labour. He further elaborated the dye? in actuator has split, the actuator doesn't come separate and can't be repaired so it's gotta be a full turbo unit replacement.

I just paid £58 for the electronic diagnostic and with a very heavy heart got back home.

It is a 1.4 tdi ecomotive 09 reg with 74k miles and has been serviced by main seat dealers upto now.

I took the car to another garage who also diagnosed the actuator had failed. He offered to replace it with a non genuine one at reasonably low price. I've agreed to that.
My question is once the replacement actuator is fitted will the car need remapping? Or does the actuator already come setup to where /how it should perform? I am not sure if the mechanic will have remapping equipment.
I know it's like a life story but thank you for your patience and any advice you could offer.

Regards

Classy6

419 posts

176 months

Thursday 11th August 2016
quotequote all
The diaphragm (Dye) has split within the actuator meaning it'll be a vacuum operated system. If this is the case no remapping necessary. Even electronic actuators rarely need any sort of 'mapping' so to speak, at best just re-adapting to a basic position which 99% of garages will be able to do.

Regardless, if you're paying the garage to fix the vehicle - within that cost should cover all that is required to get your car back on the road.

awais09

Original Poster:

3 posts

91 months

Friday 12th August 2016
quotequote all
Hi classy
Thank you for your reply. I've had the actuator changed. The turbo is working (sort of). Before all this went wrong I could feel the boost from around 1800rpm upto around 2500rpm (rarely accelerated past that). With this replaced one it's working from 2500rpm upto around 3000rpm. The mechanic said its 'setting' / nut position on threads was matched to the one which was removed.
Somehow I'm not convinced by what he said /did
I took the car to another garage yesterday and I've been told to have the turbo replaced and quoted £800 for a new one. He says actuator comes as part of the turbo and shouldn't be changed /adjusted independently.
I'm quite tempted to buy a remanufactured one. Aet turbos offer 24 months warranty on their remanufactured turbos.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
I'm tempted to

Classy6

419 posts

176 months

Monday 15th August 2016
quotequote all
awais09 said:
Hi classy
Thank you for your reply. I've had the actuator changed. The turbo is working (sort of). Before all this went wrong I could feel the boost from around 1800rpm upto around 2500rpm (rarely accelerated past that). With this replaced one it's working from 2500rpm upto around 3000rpm. The mechanic said its 'setting' / nut position on threads was matched to the one which was removed.
Somehow I'm not convinced by what he said /did
I took the car to another garage yesterday and I've been told to have the turbo replaced and quoted £800 for a new one. He says actuator comes as part of the turbo and shouldn't be changed /adjusted independently.
I'm quite tempted to buy a remanufactured one. Aet turbos offer 24 months warranty on their remanufactured turbos.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
I'm tempted to
There is adjustment on the actuator and it's possible the 'set by eye' method has altered the characteristics of the turbo if it's out.

Most regular garages won't have the facility to adjust the actuator to spec and will, as you've found out - tell you to have the turbo & actuator replaced as a unit because this is a easiest most cost effective option for the garage. A new unit is pre-set and bolt on.

Personally if it's not right, I would take it back to the original garage and let them sort it. If this option is not feasible a cheaper [than replacement re-con turbo] and possibly more beneficial option would be to take it to a specialist tuner/mapper dealing with remaps/custom ECU mapping and have them set the actuator up correctly. You could even have the car remapped for more performance/economy.

Not sure where you're located, but there are plenty around. From my VW / VAG days I remember companies like Badger 5 (gloucestershire) and R -Tech (Leicester) were highly rated to carry out this type of work.

awais09

Original Poster:

3 posts

91 months

Monday 15th August 2016
quotequote all
Hello again
I'm I'm North East.
I've spoken to AET turbo, told them the story and he said once the actuator has been changed on this turbo the full unit needs to be tested so it can be calibrated. Machine for this type of work is very expensive and very few places have it (apparently there are only about 4 in the UK and these guys have one) he offered to test my unit for between 200 to 300 plus VAT or I could get a remanufactured one for £377 with 2 years warranty.
I guess I'm just going to have to go down that route. The vag specialists quoted me for a remanufactured unit as well but including labour they were asking for over a grand!
Thanks once again for your advice.