Limp mode/safe mode

[fourringsrus]

Hi all, here is an extremely vague one for you all
My friends sister recently purchased a 2004 A3 2.0 tdi and thats all I can say spec wise at this stage
She bought it from a garage in Bromley Kent just about a week ago and it has gone into limp mode,the garage have told her that it will be ok to drive the 40/50 miles back to them in order that they might deal with the problem.
My mate knowing that I am an Audi nut asked me the following;
1, is it safe to run like this when the fault is "unknown"
2, am I right in suggesting this is a job for VAGCOM
3, as there are a million reasons for the car to go "safe" are there any particularly common faults or common offenders which crop up more than others
4, is this usually down to a dud sensor upsetting the ecu
5, is it really more a case of getting a code read and then asking all of the above with more details or is it question 3
UNFORTUNATELY this is all I have to go on but I hope the Forum can offer some peace of mind
Many thanks in anticipation
Stuart

[csducks]

boost pressure fault i had exactly same fault and explination on mine i would try replacing boost pressure sensor first bout 20 quid nothing compared to a a3 turbo
***************


what happens, is the turbo waste gate - sticks in one position. its not actually a wastegate as such. its the rod which controls variable turbo vane geometry. it allows a huge amount of boost upto a certain rpm or speed - and can give no more - as it is fixed in a specific position due to jamming. this then flags a code on your ecu, and sometimes u may have symptoms such as total lack of power due to the ecu shutting down turbo control completly.

the remedy is - a new turbo assembly afraid.

[csducks]

AParantly AUdi turbos are *****, wish id known about that prior to buying mine, but yeah from what i have been told and what i have gathered there are alot of problems with diesel version not so much VW just Audi which more so annoys me as the engine is the same, but anyway yeah on the VagCom

it shows as "overboost" problem, new turbo cost well recon will cost about 300 ish on ebay, Audi dealer about a grand, if you do need new turbo i suggest ebay, and take to garage will take em about a hour and half to change part, so youll pay about 50 quid for thier time if you have the part already.

maybe more maybe less.

good luck

[fourringsrus]

Many thanks csducks that's something to play with, but presumably this should be sorted by the garage after just one week since purchase
Stuart

[fourringsrus]

Well ducks,apparently she was on her way back to the dealer when the car cured itself so she returned home and called them,they told her to have it sorted properly at a local workshop and have that company deal with them directly for payment.
Well the place that my pal always uses are very good(I've used them myself) and the last I heard was they were stripping the blower.
I am back to work tomorrow so I'll let you know how they are getting on
Many thanks on previous response,he was dead chuffed that I had summoned the Forum
Stuart

[Phatboyruss1]

Hi, my Audi (2.0 Tdi sport) has the same sort of symptoms. I had the codes read by my mechanic friend this morning and there where no codes showing up (it wasn't vag-com though)

Is the boost pressure sensor in one of the pipes by the intercooler?