Turbo shut down

[CherryB]

Hi all. I am experiencing a problem with the turbo on my tdi 130 sport. It has an irratic tendancy to 'turn the turbo off'. It will pull hard and then there will be no more acceleration, but if switched off and then on again, it returns to normal.
I have given it a full engine service, cleaned out the egr valve assy, checked the turbo spindle for latteral movement and checked all intercooler pipe work. All fine.
On a laptop, the code read was overboosting. Does anyone have any ideas? I am now thinking along the lines of the liittle plastic item on the firewall that operates the turbo boost actuator.'
Last resort seems to look toward a new turbo unit, but i'm not so sure that this is the culprit.
Thanks, Chris.

[zollaf]

you probably have a build up of soot in the turbo that is stopping the vnt ring from turning. there is a vacuum pipe on top of the turbo that lifts a rod going into it. when you start the engine, this rod should lift about 19mm. any less and its blocked. you can use a vacuum pump on the inlet to manually operate it and work it up and down to clear it. if this gives a temporary cure then youve found the fault. the turbo can be stripped and cleaned rather than being replaced, or the use of innotec turbo cleaner can work. theres a good youtube explanation of how the turbo works and how to strip and clean it. also use the search on here.

[CherryB]

Many thanks for the quick response. I shall give the vacuum a try.