Wish I new about this site sooner!!!
I have a 2000 (pre facelift) Passat TD1 SEL (115bhp) with an ATJ type engine. Its done 135k miles.
It has been feeling quite gutless for quite some months now..almost got used to it. But its no joke having to change down to third uphill when it should fly up it. There is a bit of turbo boost evident at lower revs - up to 1800rpm but beyond that forget it.
Ive tried researching this on other sites but the offered solutions are so varied that i am totally confused.
Recently i have changed air and fuel filters and the Tandem pump (because seals had gone and it was seeping diesel) - none of these changes has made a difference.
The only obvious thing I can see is that my EGR CONTROL valve is messy / oily. Im referring to the part that sits between intake manifold and what i think must be the intercooler? On the side of the valve is a black 'plunger ' mechanism which appears to operate a flap on the EGR Valve. However this valve doesn't appear to do anything at all when running the engine - even if revved hard it doesn't move at all. It will move freely by hand though so its not stuck.
I just tried putting a length of pipe onto the plunger valve and sucked on it myself (yeah yeah...i love my Passat) ....and the plunger worked fairly easily...therefore im not getting any vacuum to it am i?
I also tried the same trick on the EGR valve on the Turbo and although it took a lot more suck (I really love my passat) it did acually move.
My guess is that because then EGR Control plunger doesnt move, it is restricting air flow into manifold under higher revs? therefore gutless performance?
If i have lost vacuum in the system would I still be able to use brakes as they appear to be ok?
Or could the ECU be doing this to protect the engine against some fault or other and if so, would simply clearing fault codes fix it? I will examine the whole system for obvious damaged / leaking pipes but could there be any other reason ?
Gutless TDi
Moderators: water01, vwnutant, desertstorm