oh joy... another fault

Mine is going in on Weds because the rear door badge came off when I washed it. There is a slight hesitation when accelerating downhill so they are going to look at that too. Nothing to be concerned about.

I've been training mine to go fast too, like Kawolsky. It'll do 108mph which is 10 more than the book says. I'm quite pleased with it actually, but don't tell my old Sportline that if you see it on the road.

BTW I believe the "Thrashing it all the time will fix/prevent DPF and turbo problems" advice that is frequently peddled as the cure for many TDI engine problems is bullshit !

 

Driving flatout wherever possible is only going to produce more soot. More soot is going to clog up the DPF sooner rather than later. Even after a regeneration some soot is left behind (smaller residual particles). Eventually these residual particles will PERMANENTLY block the DPF and it will need to be replaced (or removed with a remap).  Full accelerator from low revs is the worst for soot production (look at any turbo TDI that doesn't have a DPF to see what I'm taliking about).

 

This misconception seems to be partially based on the need to have the revs above 1,800-2,000rpm to allow a regeneration to happen, but simple steady cruising at these revs will allow an effective regen, there is no need to rag your engine to do it.

 

That said, there is a one legitimate reason to use full accelerator from about 1,500rpm every now and then - it exercises the turbos variable vanes (VNT) through their full range of movement.  But this only needs to be done once or twice per drive to be effective.  Some TDIs that are always driven very gently at low revs will allow a build up of soot to jam/stick the vanes in the "low rev/max boost" position, then if they do get a welly properly planted the boost suddenly gets too high at about 2,000rpm and the ECU kills the fun to protect the engine - the dreaded "limp home" mode.  But you don't need to drive like a madman all the time to avoid the problem, just every now and then will do the trick.

 

Sorry to take away your excuses chaps, but being a creative lot I'm sure you'l be able to come up with some other rationalisations for your "testing on private roads/runaways".

Remember you DO need to exercise the turbo vanes every now and then (just not all the time).

apparently mine has a faulty EGR valve....... and.... there's a modified one which they've ordered."KNOWN FAULT" on the GP....... SO RECALL THE VANS YOU'VE SOLD AND REPLACE THE FAULTY ONES!!!

I have a 5 cyl 2.5 TDI and when one of the exhaust sensors failed it was gutless (no torque) until the revs got to 2,000rpm.  IIRC it had some kind of emissions/workshop warning light on constantly.  The sensor was replaced under warranty.  Does your van have any other symptoms ?  ( I can think of other possible causes).