Previa Diesel Turbo or not!

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Fri 21 Jul 2006 16:51
Previa Diesel Turbo or not! - Bailey Ranger
I have a 2002 Toyota Previa 2.0 Diesel which has covered 100,000 miles but developed an intermittent flat spot (hesitating) between 3000 and 4000 revs, some 40,000 miles ago. It has also cut out and gone into "get you home mode" several times
Finally the Toyota dealer has decided that this is a Turbo fault and it needs to be changed out (at great cost as it is now out of warranty).
This fault is intermittent, I am not using any oil and not pouring black smoke out of the exhaust, even when the fault is occurring. When the fault is not happening the engine pulls fine and revs cleanly throughout the range. This fault does not appear until the engine is up to temperature and during warm up it revs cleanly. The fault has not got worse over the last 40,000 miles but is annoying.
Given the intermittant description of the fault, is it likely to be the Turbo? Is it worth changing the turbo at the cost of £1500+. What else could it be? The air mass sensor has been suggested but how do you test this item?
Suggestions please!!
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Fri 21 Jul 2006 17:10
Previa Diesel Turbo or not! - Carrow
Could be a shot in the dark, but I worked in a garage where we had a Lucida in, the mechanic diagnosed turbo failure but it turned out to be clogged up with wet leaves!! Totally bizarre I know but I think the turbo is mounted quite low down on these models. Like I said, probably nothing to do with your problem, but thought I'd share it anyway.

You could try Turbo Technics for advice, we have used them before and I think they do a conversion for the 2.2td Lucida's, although whether it's the same unit I don't know. 01604 705050
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Fri 21 Jul 2006 19:59
Previa Diesel Turbo or not! - stuartl
Mass air flow meter sounds a possible cause. A common diesel fault which sets ecu to safe mode. At around 40-80 quid off ebay its a cheaper place to start than a new turbo.........

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Fri 21 Jul 2006 20:04
Previa Diesel Turbo or not! - stuartl
You can test these fairly effectively with spray carb cleaner, I had the very same symptoms on my astra dti and after 50 quid and ten minutes work job done.
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Mon 24 Jul 2006 11:38
Previa Diesel Turbo or not! - Bailey Ranger
Stuart, thanks for the reply.
Would brake cleaner (basically an aerosol degreaser) have the same effect as I have several cans, but no carb cleaner?
John
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Mon 24 Jul 2006 11:39
Previa Diesel Turbo or not! - tr7v8
Would be my guess as well. I'd take it to a diesel specialist rather than this Toyota dealer who sound like they're guessing!
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Mon 24 Jul 2006 11:34
Previa Diesel Turbo or not! - Bailey Ranger
Carrow,
Thanks for the reply, it's definately worth checking out as the car is often parked under trees. This is the D4D 2.0 litre engine, which I believe is somewhat different to the earlier 2.2 turbo diesel. I will try Turbo Technics, thanks for the tip
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Mon 24 Jul 2006 16:09
Previa Diesel Turbo or not! - BB
Sounds like a MAF / Wastegate problem to me. Diesel specialist near to you? If so take it there instead and save yourself ££££'s
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