hi peter,like i said in previous message just got the car a few days ago and dont know the history,but looks like it has a new filter,although looks can be deceiving saying as they are nearly all bare metal in looks and it looks spotless even on the top where its black,not even any signs of dust on the top,also the pipe for the rear washer was left off at the bottle end ,probably disturbed when renewing filter,i realise this could have all happened some time ago and for the cost of it im giving it a full service on monday anyway,just didnt want to do all that on monday and be no further forward so i thought id post now in the hope of some alternative answers over the weekend just incase. as ive read there could be a lot of different faults that could cause this,,,,ive never noticed any smoke on acceleration as such or when the power drops apart from on 1st start up in mornings,and although im no mechanic just thought that would be normal for a car with 124000 on the clock as well as being a diesel,what would cause the restriction in the air supply if there is one and where is it likely to be??and ive read that it could be a dodgy fuel pump relay,is that a possibility?? thanks for the quick reply anyway peter and if i dont hear of any further suggestions before monday will let you know how it goes after the service,cheers carl.

Being non turbo most of the grunt will be at low speed, maximum torque will come up at about 2000 rpm and will steadily drop off after that, so you need to keep in a gear that will maintain 2000-2500 rpm. If you are familier with diesels you will know this but if you have been used to a petrol engine the driving style is very different, you need to keep in the highest possible gear all the time, high revs will lead to a lack of pulling power and increased fuel consumption. Turbo models have similiar characteristics but a lot more power.

hi again guys and thanks for all the answers,changed the fuel and air filter today and although i havent give it a test run on the motorway or at any speed i think id be wasting my time as i have air coming through the clear fuel pipe all the time,unlike my old saxo 1.5 diesel this dont seem to have the hand pump to get rid of the air so any suggestions as to the best way to bleed it or is it just a case of slackening the bolts at the injectors and doing it that way,and if so do i do them one at a time or all at once??? if one at a time is there any sequence i should do it in??? ie from number one piston moving along or from the other end where the fuel is first delivered??common sense would tell me the fuel end if its one at a time,or if anyone has a less messy suggestion would be grateful,cheers carl.

thanks for the quick reply john,ok..... took it for a spin down the dual carriageway which is a slight downhill all the way for about 2 mile and managed to get her up to 70 and started doing it again,turned round the roundabout and started heading back home taking it easy as this time im going slightly uphill all the way and did a steady 60 and it never did it once,so thought ok maybe its cleared itself,spun her round and gave it another go this time reaching 75 with foot flat to the floor,(i know these engines are the least powerful of the 1.9 diesel but surely should go faster than that downhill with foot to floor lol?)....anyway this time she started losing power worse than shes ever done and nearly ground to a halt when a puff of white smoke billowed out the back,,so eased right off the gas as was nearly at r/bout anyway,took it steady again and never went above or below 60 all the way back,bearing in mind im going up slight hill also and never did it once??going back to one of peters replys earlier he asked me if it smoked when it did it and i said no,thats the first time its ever smoked and was only for a split second and it does not smoke at all any other time since ive had it (bout a week now) does not lose oil at all either.anyway,...peter stated it could be lack of air or air restriction,if it is an air restriction where is it likey to be??or could the timing on the pump be out? or would that not cause this problem?cheers guys.

thanks for that dieselnut,and big john may correct me but i think he was referring to my question about there being no egg shaped hand pump to get rid of any air in the system and bleed it like i used to have on my old 1.5 saxo,,,anyway..on fitting the fuel filter yesterday i noted that the haynes manual recommended doing away with the old crimp style clamps and fitting worm drive ones,unfortunately i only had one left in my tin at the time so im going to get those done first to eliminate any air getting in there,,checked all hoses at the filter and no breakages there ....one thing i did notice and dont know if this would affect it but when i lifted the control valve out(with pipes still attached) the top part seperated from the small valve inside,after prising the bottom half of it out of the hole i replaced the 2 rubber seals with new ones and on refitting it it was leaking diesel from there,,, so i took it back out incase new seals were different for some reason and put the old ones back on and on refitting it it didnt leak at all,should the two parts have separated in the 1st place and should i get a new one just to make sure,or would that side of the fuel lines not affect it as its for separating any water from the system??one last thing before i go out and do the clamps and eliminate that problem,,,im led to believe via haynes that there is no breather pipe on the diesel tanks therefore eliminating any problems with blockages on the breather,,,can anyone confirm that? cheers carl.

well after glueing the T piece back together again today as i didnt have £22 for a new one from vw and my motor factors didnt sell them, i then fitted radiator hose style clamps to all the fuel hoses and im very happy to report that i took her down the motorway today at 80 mph and she didnt bat an eyelid,,,id like to thank everyone that took the time out to reply even if the answer was in my trusty haynes manual that recommends changing the old crimp style fittings....what is worrying to me is that i have lost count of all the forums ive been on relating to this and even though most posts relate to the TDIs as its a more common engine than mine they could surely have the same problem?or could they?and although lots of people have stated its probably air in the system not once did i read that it could be something as simple as the old style crimp fittings,,,my motor has 124000 miles on the clock and id like to think its gone through at least 10 filters in its time yet it still had the old style fittings on,,,maybe even from when the car was new which wouldnt suprise me,,,,(ive had the car a week by the way so not my doing lol),,,oh and im not slagging people off on here who take time out to answer people free of charge even if it seems that way as they have given me correct answers ie air getting in the system,,,what worries me more than anything and what im trying to get at is that ive also lost count of garages that have fitted new maf sensors for people on these forums and in some cases even new turbos at a huge cost and it hasnt cured the problem,id hate to think this has all taken place for the sake of four clamps??? and im led to believe that even though the maf sensor apparently does not show up on a diagnostic unless its totally naffed its the most common answer from a mechanic or garage as to the solution in the first off,even though im not a mechanic and dont pretend to be i was always taught to start at the cheapest solution and work your way up.....turbo being the last unless obviously trashed,,,and it certainly wouldnt be the maf at anything from £50 to £130 either from what ive learnt on here,,,even if it is a common fault on the golf,anyway,,thanks again to all the guys who replied to me and i will be doing my best to return the favour even with my limited knowledge,,,as the saying goes two heads think better than one and 100s of heads most certainly do,,ive worked on my own motors for the last 30 yrs so im not a total loss lol,, im just not familiar with the diesel engine as this is only my 3rd one,the other 2 were saxos and i never had to lift a finger to fix them as they never went wrong,,just a shame they eat driveshafts lol and are prone to rotting near the wishbones, as does the peugeot 106 but then its virtually the same car in all aspects,,,anyway if i can help i guarantee i will do and cheers again lads,,,,,carl.