850 TDi No power

[pabarret]

Hi all, new enough to the forum, have been an observer for quite a while, was just looking for some advice. I bought a 96 850 tdi last year just as a fill in while I was looking for a new car, only cost 400 euro but have completely fallen for it, absolutely love it but it has a massive lack of power, my friends 1.6 diesel escort eats it up. No garage that I have gone to has a code reader that can read it and the engine management light has been on since I bought it. could anyone suggest a reason for my complete lack of power and suggest what code reader reads the car. I have removed the connector from the MAF sensor and it makes no differnce. any help would be greatly apreciated.

[Clan]

these were prone to the air mass meter gradualy going off and as there is no feedback froma lambda sensor the managment system couldnt do anything about it , beg , borrow or but a new one to try .... Symptoms are very low torque up to 2000 rpm then it starts to go fairly normaly ... if you dont have these symptoms its probaly not the Air mass meter .
You need to get the code read... maybe pump timing out of it's operating window parameters ...

[Chris_Rogers]

For a code reader:

http://www.ilexa.co.uk/acatalog/volfcr.html

This will not only read codes but display live (running data) and enable you to carry out dynamic fuel pump timing.

[Martin Cox]

I had a similar problem with my V70 TDi shourtly after I'd bought it. It turned out that one of the air hoses associated with the turbo had failed (described as a turbo intake hose on the repair bill). The engine management light came on and the engine although smooth enough, was completely gutless.

Replacing the failed hose and clearing the fault codes restored everything to normal. I think the fix was about £150 at the main dealers in 2004. It's been fine ever since.

Hope this helps

Martin

[Martin Cox]

As I understand it, when the hose failed, most of the air bypassed the MAF which then sends nonsense to the engine management which responds by going into a limp-home mode. It might be worth having a look at pipework between the air filter and the inlet manifold

Martin