VW Transporter, wastegate for turbo is seized, no power at all. can it be freed up, guy fixing it reckons it's abig job to get to it and if it can't be freed up it will be a waste of time?

sounds like one of the turbo lines has come off that would explane both the loss of power and sound

The wastegate controls the turbo. It is connected to the turbo and usually works on vacuum. If there is no vacuum or the wastegate is b/o the turbo will not work properly. There is an arm that goes from the wastegate to the turbo controlling the amount of exhaust going to spin the turbo. Check to see if this arm is seized or if it moves . Check with the engine running to see if it moves when a friend gives the enging quick gas pedal. Be carefull not to get hurt.

VW RECKON that oil usage around 1/2 litre per 500km is acceptable !!!!!!!! yeah right...i suppose it does lubricate the turbo blades....and the exhaust pipe internally....you could use 20/50 instead of 5/40 that would cut it down,but not do much good to the engines long life..... VW reckon about 150,000m before rebuild.

Perform a diagnostic scan.

how much fluid does the power steering system take

Turbo failure is never normally intermittant so I doubt it is a turbo fault.

The wastegate relys on a signal from the ECU via the MAFS.

Mass Air Flow Sensors are very common to fail on VW TDi and this also fits in with your symptoms.

Kind regards

Lloyd

This could also be Safe mode, the below text may help you.

What Is Safe Mode?

Safe mode is the set of parameters that the car will use if it believes there
is a fault with the engine that could cause irrepairable or long term damage.

How Can I Tell If It Is Safe Mode?

If your car suddenly lost power but before that you didn't notice any problems.
If there isn't vast plumes of smoke coming from the exhaust.
If the oil level is OK. If you had all 3 of those, it is almost certainly safe mode.

What Causes Safe Mode?

Generally it is an excess in expected boost pressure entering the engine.
This excess boost from the turbo tends to happen for 4 reasons.

The boost pressure sensor (MAP sensor) is faulty.
The wastegate is seized shut or slightly open.
The wastegate actuator is faulty.
The air line to the wastegate actuator is damaged or off.

Obviously, if the sensor is faulty, it will tell the ECU lies about the boost pressure.
If the wastegate assembly fails in any way it will fail to open to bypass the turbo.
The turbo will continue to spin up, increasing the boost pressure, causing the fault.

How Can I Fix It?

Initially I would suggest disconnecting the battery for 5 minutes (make sure you know your
radio code before doing this), this will turn safe mode off and your car should run normally
again. Drive home with a bit of care, you may find the car might never do it again. If it does
go into safe mode again, you know you have a real problem and not just a glitch.

Wait for the car to cool down and see if the wastegate arm moves freely.
Use the search function of the site for "wastegate service" to see how
you can possibly free up the wastegate assembly which could be seized.

Check the pipe work to and from everything to rule out leaks.

Try and borrow a MAP sensor to test.

As a last resort, book in with a smart specialist who will diagnose the problem

Hello, I am a Saab technician from upstate new york. It sounds to me that the turbo wastegate rod may be seized to the turbo control valve. The easiest way to try to fix this is to spray penetrating oil on the turbo valve/ wastegate rod and work it back and forth with a pry bar. Many times u can also heat this up with a torch and pray. If those two things don't work than the turbo valve itself is seized into the guide hole machined into the turbo. good luck.

how many miles has it done?is it remapped? we have had the same problem and done the same repair as above and the next stage for us is to remove the turbo and strip it down and clean the veins inside the turbo as these can stick and give a loss of power,this is on a 2002 gti tdi pd with +-130000miles and its remapped.my car is gt tdi 130bhp stock 140000miles no faults

Hi,
It sounds like the turbo boost isn't being controlled properly, but this could be due to several things. Check for splits in the air pipework, and then get the N75 valve checked out - this is the item that opens the wastegate on the turbo, effectively shutting the turbo off. Oh, and check that the wastegate actuating lever isn't seized up...
Hope this helps you a bit. D.