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Hi There.

PD100 Polo with some slight problems

I've lowered the car 50mm all the way round, & for some reason intermittently the power steering seems to just not work, then all of a sudden it'll start working again, I've checked & there doesn't appear to be any leaks or anything, so I'm sort of stuck other than changing the pump... Do the polo's suffer with this problem?

Also, on a cold morning sometimes the turbo just doesn't work also! it's mainly when you boot it, but this can't really be helped as were I live you come out of a 30mph street & your straight onto a 60mph road, so you need to boot it to get it up to that speed. has anyone else had any of these problems & could help? also, when the turbo stops working, a simple turning off & on again with the engine gets the turbo working again, I've changed the air mass metre, & the fuel, any other idea's?

Cheers.

The turning on and off resets the ECU and allows boost again - you're in "limp" mode when the turbo doesn't spool. I think it's actually slower than a non-turbo car as it probably restricts other things too, like the fuelling.

When I had this issue it boiled down to a vacuum pipe (the one in question was leading to the turbo) being worn on the exhaust manifold (or turbo recirc pipe). There was a hole in it and it caused odd delayed boosting and eventually limp mode. Hard to spot but got there in the end - have a look down the driver's side of the engine and follow the vacuum pipes to check for small holes / wear.

Regarding power steering, sounds like your belt is slipping. Get it checked out for tension. Does it squeal at times (through water, lights turned on)?

I havn't really heard a squealing at all tbh... & nope, no lights to report, even when it goes into 'limp' mode.... Will have a look at the vacuum pipe later when it isn't BUCKETING it down!

Thanks for the help

Just to add; The car has been vaccume tested with no faults found

i remember when i got into limp mode i started crying thinking i blew up the engine n id only had the car 2 days LOL the cars are sumtimes slower in the morning untill they warm up nicely however sumtimes in the cold they are rapid so it depends on its mood. u shouldnt b going in to limp mode while the car is standard so theres definatly sumthin wrong wit a pipe or sumthing. i only went into limp mode when i was runing one of them cheap tuning chips.

Well after speaking to a good friend mechanic, he seems to think that the car is overboosting! But. other than that he's no idea what's wrong or how to fix it...

What do you mean by vacuum tested? Have you physically looked at all the vacuum pipes? A small hole will cause the same issue and might not come up on a VAG-COM test.

Overboosting is one case where it will go into limp mode, but not the only one. Look for the cheap fixes first - holes in vacuum pipes, turbo inlet pipes cracking, intercooler pipes loose and so on.

yes a vag-com test.... We've checked the pipes & there doesn't appear to be any problems.... I'll have to have another look around