Should i be able to move the VNT actuator rod?

[charliebrown]

Good morning all,

I have a 2000 Bora (115bhp) with 181000 miles on the clock and am detemined to get to 200,000 but it's getting a little stressful!

When i am accelerating and the revs get to just over 2000rpm i get a bit of a grumble and a vibration through the accelertor pedal, twice the car has gone into limp mode. At the moment i cannot get it to a family member who has VAG com as he works away.

I had the car up on stands this morning and removed the two 10mm nuts that hold the vacuum accumulator to the turbo, the vane actuator moved about 1cm but i cannot push the rod back into the accumulator pot (or pull it any further out).

Should i be able to move the rod in and out of the pot by hand?

Cheers in advance,

Dan

[mikeybutch]

I think you should.I have seen the difference which a new actuator makes

[zollaf]

they are very tight and require a lot of force to move them. put a vacuum to it and see what happens. on tickover you can remove and replace the vac pipe to see the full travel of the vnt. working it back and forth like this can free it up a bit as can a really good italian test drive. like holding the revs at 4k rpm in 2nd and 3d gear.

[charliebrown]

Thanks for the replies.
It seems like a relatively cheap and easy thing to replace, just need to get the length of the rod right apparently.
Will get one ordered and change it!

Zollaf, i did try the italian tune up, but kept going into limp mode!