04 2.0L tdi Turbo problems - placebo
Hi All.

Im new here and hope someone can help me. My A3 2.0L TDI's turbo just shut down while driving. I have to then switch the car off first, then start it again and it will be fine. I had the car tested and it came up with a turbo boost error. Do anyone know what that mean?

The dealer also told me to replace the turbo, is that my only option?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks
Jayson
04 2.0L tdi Turbo problems - Peter D
If the actuator arm sticks due to excess carbon deposits on the nanes then when you eare off the pressure remains high, this is deteced as overboost and the ECU effective shuts the turbo down rather than blowing pipes off or bursting the intercooler. If this is the problem then the turbo can be cleaned. There are turbo cleaner additives but whether they will do the job how is to know. The garage should have used a vacuum puller and exercised the actuator to see if it moved freely. How many miles hes the car done and what make of fuel do you use. Regards Peter
04 2.0L tdi Turbo problems - dieselnut
The vane mechanism jams due to a build up of carbon in a void in the turbo.
Magic cleaning agents won't remove this carbon which will have built up over thousands of miles.
The only cure is to pull the turbo apart & clean out all the carbon.
If you put 'vnt turbo cleaning' into a search engine you will find lots of help & photo's showing what is involved.
It can be a frought job with stuck/seized & inaccesible fastners just to get the turbo off.
04 2.0L tdi Turbo problems - StanTheMan78
To get a simple answer on whether your only option is change the turbo - NO. The dealer would much rather sell you a new turbo which takes no more than an hour to replace - this generates much higher profit than taking apart the whole thing as both gentlemen above rightfully advised you. Thing is finding someone kind enough to do it unless you want to do it yourself...anyone would much rather change to a new turbo...this would also mean less chance of further problems in the future, like worn turbo bushes.

Another problem could be that it's the variable geometry mechanism that is sticking (this applies to the TDI 110 mostly)...you may want to check out that too.