No turbo noise!

[Vetinar1]

Recently I have experienced a dramatic loss of power in gears 1-3, however pulling from 40 in 4th through to 6th still went quite quick. Having heard numerous people complaining about maf sensors I didn't worry too much, not until the rev range where the turbo kicked in started moving up from appx 2000 rpm to 3500.

Then today, I gave it a little bit of a push to overtake and nothing, no real acceleration and no turbo noise.

Needless to say I drove like a little old lady to get myself home. I am now officially panicking and hope to get it to a garage asap.

In the meantime has anyone out there experienced this and if so how bad is it?

Cheers for and all help/info in advance.

*Goes for a stiff drink*

(Early 2001 1.8T Quattro Sport - 48k on the clock and afaik no cam belt change as yet)

**Also**
Forgot to say one thing, on heavy acceleration in 2nd gear there was a slight noise (small knock) when changing into 3rd (foot down on clutch). Heard this a second time and stopped flooring it in 2nd.

 

[jojo]

Have you driven the car since, like is the turbo still not boosting now?, Sounds like your car went into 'limp' mode and stops the turbo from boosting, but still lets your drive it home?!
As for the lack of power prior to losing your turbo, does sound like a MAF sensor problem, so get it checked out as soon as.

 

[Vetinar1]

Thanks, no not driven it since. Too scared, anyone know of a decent independent in Hampshire? Or would that be a false economy, been ripped off by pug dealerships in the past, don't want a repeat. :|

 

[jojo]

I think it would be fine to just start it up and drive it down the road, since you managed to limp it home and look for blue smoke on start up which would be a sign of knackered turbo, at least you will know if it's still working. Might be a good idea to check oil level also before starting up.

 

[ChriS3]

Have you driven the car since, like is the turbo still not boosting now?, Sounds like your car went into 'limp' mode and stops the turbo from boosting, but still lets your drive it home?!
As for the lack of power prior to losing your turbo, does sound like a MAF sensor problem, so get it checked out as soon as.

I was just about to suggest the same thing.


I've found that there's a few common problems on the A3's that feel catastrophic when they first occur, and yet turn out to be cheap and easy to fix. First MAF and coilpack failures were the worst...

 

[Vetinar1]

Oil is fine, no blue smoke. Its times like this I wish I knew something about what goes on under the bonnet.


****************
Just returned from local garage with turbo whistling fine (if still underpowered in gears 1-3), he fiddled a bit under the bonnet and hey presto. He did say something about MAF sensor and that I should get a service and replace the sensor as soon as I can afford it.

 

[jojo]

Good stuff, hope you get it fixed soon!