Volkswagen Passat juddering and power loss

Car: Volkswagen Passat
Variant: 1.9 tdi 110bhp
Model Year: 2003
Categories: Running Rough, Starting & Power Loss
Just bought a 2003 passat 1.9 tdi 110bhp, when idleing the rev needle moves up and down making the car vibrate and the car hicks on during accelerating, and especially when leveling off to a set speed, also when accelerating a lot of smoke comes from exhaust and can feel power loss at various speeds in various gears, can any one suggest the cause or the problem, it does make any difference if the engine is hot or cold, happens constantly
Posted: May 10, 2009 (15 years ago)
check all air hoses has one split or poped off sounds like torbo boost problem
Posted May 13, 2009 (15 years ago)
replaced the airflow meter which has solved the juddering and smoking problms, now the car runs perfectly fine until it reaches 65 mph when there is a sudden acceleration loss, the car wont accelerate properly again until i switch the ignition off then back on again and acceleration works fine again until it reaches 65 again and the problem starts over, has any one experienced this or any solutions to the problem?
Posted May 16, 2009 (15 years ago)
sounds as though the car is going into "limp home" mode and cycling the ignition resets this. Unfortunately you will need this scanned for faults as there could be several causes. Sounds like overboost in my opinion ie a weak n75 valve or sticky turbo veins
Posted May 20, 2009 (15 years ago)
I had this problem & it took months to fix because nobody knew what was wrong! Loads of thins were changed - the air mass meter and some switches. In the end before I nearly gave in & got a new & expensive turbo fitted, the veins were cleaned and after a few days it never did it again! I now put that diesel cleaner stuff in regularly & try to keep the tank a bit full!
Posted Nov 2, 2009 (15 years ago)
hi, this problem sounds very similar to what im going through with my passat, lots of shddering when accelarating in lower gears and when real put foot down it doesnt want to go anywhere for a while.

just wondering what the final solution was with your car, thanks for any help.
Posted Apr 11, 2011 (13 years ago)

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