Vauxhall Meriva 1.2 CDTi Turbo problem.

My wife drove this car down to wales yesterday, during the journey she said the car lost power, she was ok on the motorway whilst maintaining her speed, but when she slowed down she struggled to get the car back up to speed. She said the turno stopped working, which usually kicked in at 2k revs. Now obvioulsy my first thought is that the Turbo is the fault, but does anyone else have a vauxhall or a meriva who may have had the similar problem.

Unfortunately she is now out of the country for a week so we wont be sending it to a mechanic until then, so i thought i could do a bit of investigative work to see what the problem may be other than turbo fault.

Ta.

What year, what mileage and what kind of driving is done?

I'm thinking diesel particulate filter or EGR valve, blocked / gummed up or the MAF sensor.

Disconnect the MAF sensor first and see if it runs better.

56 plate, 34k, daily commute to barnsley from sheffield and general round town driving.

thanks for the suggestion, i'll look into that.

56 plate, 34k, daily commute to barnsley from sheffield and general round town driving.

 

thanks for the suggestion, i'll look into that.

Check the turbo pipes for any leaks as well, sounds like the car is going into limp mode and a split pipe can also cause this.

A good thrashing once a month is good for blasting soot out of the egr valve as a preventative measure.

If the turbo goes or the outlet pipe between the turbo and the engine splits/comes off - you'll usually get loss of power but also loads of smoke in the form of un-burnt diesel from the exhaust.

If the turbo goes or the outlet pipe between the turbo and the engine splits/comes off - you'll usually get loss of power but also loads of smoke in the form of un-burnt diesel from the exhaust.

Yeah i read a few things about smoke coming out. there was no smoke at all and there still isnt when the engine is switched on. Does that mean the turbo hasnt broke?

Unfortunately the car is in Wales and i wont be able to look at it until next week. But thanks for the suggestions, it definitely all helps!

Garage responded saying it could need a new DPF filter! They are still not 100% so are having to take to a vauxhall garage because they can't get rid of the error code which says "cold"?? I have no idea what that means and by the sounds of it neither do they. Would the DPF filter cause the problems I'm having?

It could be the DPF if the above items I mentioned have been checked first and are OK.

I'd ask around on a Vauxhall forum to see if the DPF can be removed and cleaned by pressure washing, it can be done on Peugeots.

Your mileage is too low for a DPF replacement, it usually goes around 70,000 miles.

On some cars, the DPF will need 'regenerating' if it doesn't get hot enough every now and then.

Do you do mainly short journeys or does the car get a good blast every now and then?