Just bought a passat - Central locking, limited top speed and noises!

[danielintheuk]

( this is a copy of my post in new members section)

Hi folks

Just thought I`d introduce myself .
Bought my first VW today , its a 1997 Passat , 110 TDI.
Its done 160,000 miles, and a fully stamped up service book.

I`m having a few teething problems which I hope should not be an issue as I have a 3 month warranty.

Rear side door , the central locking works intermittently.

Engine ..seems fine , but sometimes it will not exceed 60 -70 mph, however I have heard its important to check vacuum hoses , so I will do this first , also I hear its good to give the car a good blast down the motorway. So I will try this.

3rd problem is the one i have no idea what it is.... the steering makes a scraping sound when you turn it either direction . Its not the steering wheel , its coming from outside the car, the car has standard wheels so dont think anything should be rubbing, and also the power steering feels fine. Any ideas?


cheers , and please to meet you all.

Dan

[metallicabmw]

I had a problem like you describe with the acceleration on my 2003 TDi PD, turned out to be the MAF ( mass airflow meter ), they tend to wear out after 3 to 4 years and can make the car hesitate on acceleration, or feel sluggish. If it's under warranty i'd get that done.

As for you steering noise, it's hard to say, if it's a screeching noise then the pulley belt is loose or worn out, if it's a scraping noise, maybe the mountings on the power steering rack are loose, and the rack is scraping off the chassis. Is the car tracking ok on the open road, and not pulling to either side? It's hard to say without seeing it.
If it's a groaning noise I'd replace the power steering fluid, for the age of the car, I wonder has this been changed as per the service manual for the car.

The central locking, if it's intermittent sounds like a bad or dirty connection to the unit in the door.

[danielintheuk]

Hi, thanks for reply, only just seen it.

Steering .......The noise has completely disappeared . So no idea what it was.

Central Locking ...... thats being sorted when I take car back this weekend .

Power ..... this is the one that is still puzzling me, I have checked the air filter, and vacuum hoses, all look good, the fuel filter looks like it has been changed recently. The problem is intermittent, but when it happens its really obvious, it feels like its running on 1/2 or 1/4 power, there is no black smoke ,so no unburnt fuel going through. Also when it does this problem and I try to accelerate hard, its still doing 30+ mpg, whereas when running normal it drops to the teens.

I have no clear way of resetting this problem, sometimes if u switch on and off the problem is gone, other times the problem can still be there the next day?



Any more ideas?

The garage is loooking at it this weekend for me, but would rather know a bit about it. knowledge being power and all that.

Cheers.

[Turkster]

sounds like your turbo is failing,

[danielintheuk]

Hi

If it was the turbo, would that not be a constant problem , rather than intermittent. Normally the car pulls very strongly.

If it is the turbo thats at fault, would that log a fault code, if not how would it be diagnosed?

If it is the turbo , is that an expensive part? I`m guessing yes.

Cheers for your help

Dan