1.9 TDi (130bhp) EGR problem or vac / boost leak???

[MrG A4]

My 1.9Tdi 130, loses power when accelerating. Which I think is either a vac or boost leak or could be due to recently by-passing the EGR. Are there any simple ways of checking for a vac or boost leak?
Originally I was getting a massive loss of power between 1500-2000rpm followed by a sudden surge of power and some black smoke out of the exhaust. I decided to by-pass my EGR just using a golf tee pushed into the egr vac hose, this seemed to cure the loss of power for a few days until a similar problem started. The loss of power now isn’t as bad as before and it occurs at a higher but broader rev range. I’m not sure if this has come about as a result of by-passing the EGR without blanking it or whether it’s something I’ve done since whilst tinkering with some of the vac hoses.
Before bypassing the EGR the garage where I had the car serviced suggested that the (original) problem may be due to a vac leak and gave me a bit of new hose. After by-passing the EGR I thought I might as well make use of the new hose but I only had enough to replace a couple of hoses, so I tried to find the ones which were least awkward. It was after this that the car started to struggle with power again. I suspect I may have snagged something and caused a vac leak. Or I may have caused a boost leak, since I was flexing the pipe from the MAF sensor to the turbo for better access, whilst renewing some of the vac hoses.

[Widemonkeys]

I had exactly the same issue a couple of weeks ago and I had a tiny hole in one of the braided rubber hoses. Cost me £10 for the hose and couple of hours labour and all is fine now and pulls like a train. It also fixed my hard brake pedal issue aswell.

[MrG A4]

Thanks for the reply! Actually I've noticed recently that the brake pedal is unusually hard just before starting it up, seems ok when driving though. Do you remember which of the hoses it was?

[Widemonkeys]

It was a hose going from the vacume to the engine. I think that's what the garage said. My pedal used to be hard as nails if I braked and came off and braked again it just kept going. Thought it was my servo until the garage said it was all from the same faulty hose. Brakes are excellent now