Lazy Turbo?

[dalester]

Hi

A mechanic told me a 'might' have a lazy turbo on my 1990 1.6TD....how can I test this / benchmark?

The bus manages on the flat just fine, but is a real dog on any type of incline - much slower than I would expect. In fact, my previous 1966 splitbus was a better hill climber with an Aircooled 1600 twinport....

The engine runs sweetly, is a replacment VW engine, & only has approx 25K miles on it.

Any help appreciated.

[Hacksawbob]

The test would be a rolling road to get a figure and compare it with the expected engine output It would cost a bit of money and not really worth it. Change your air filter recently? those diesels love to breathe! As a seat of the pants experiment you could disconnect the air intake from the turbo and see if it runs better/worse ideally bypass the turbo somehow so you are still getting filtered air into the engine.

[jamesc76]

fit a 1.9 derv lump those 1.6 are sooooo underpowered!

[Sagemagoo]

Dalester - let us know how you get on.

I've got a similar problem but with the addition of some black smoke under load and I also can't hear it spinning anymore.

Looks like I'll have to take it out and have a prod...

[toomanytoys]

Turbo's generally either work or they dont.. (when they dont, they blow blue smoke and eventually let enough oil into tthe engine that it will run by itself..
The wastegate system can become sticky or siezed which reduces pressures.. and hence performance.. (black smoke)
Hose joins can leak and hoses split.. (Black smoke)
What air filter has it got in it and is it clean? (black smoke)
Has a small rodent/bird built a nest in the intake to the filter?? etc etc (back smoke)
Fuel filter blocked, (no smoke, lack of power)