Passat PD130 - Hesitancy when accelerating

[Rustynuts]

With the egr disconnected you should get a warning light on the dash, do you? What did they do to disconnect it if you don't mind me asking?

[meriafel]

Sorry for the blank post. It suddenly disappeared while editing!

Had the same hesitancy problem with my 52 plate 130PD Sport Estate when I bought it s/h in 2004. Happened only on a trailing throttle when accelerating gently. Dealer checked it out and could find nothing wrong. Another similar car I test drove had the same problem.

Added a post on this sometime in late 2004.

Asked Bromleys the distributors of the TUNIT box if their module would cure it but they assured me it wouldn't. The American Passat sites had a lot of posts at that time with similar but worse problems that were put down to the low cetane rating of their available diesel. (it was mentioned that diesel in South Africa was of a lower cetane than that of the US and causing even more problems of hesitancy in certain situations.)

I recall reading on this US Passat site that many new Passats at US dealerships were awaiting a 'flash' for the ECU to be tried to cure the problem . Since reading these US posts I have always used BP Ultimate Diesel which is expensive especially here in Wales and isn't always easy to find but it has virtually cured the problem.

I believe that the problem is common to this PD 130 engine and until I hear otherwise I'll continue with the BP Ultimate. Shell were supposed to be introducing an equivalent diesel, but I've yet to see any.

[JasXPear]

[ QUOTE ]

With the egr disconnected you should get a warning light on the dash, do you? What did they do to disconnect it if you don't mind me asking?

[/ QUOTE ]

Nah, no warning lights on or anything light that! Not sure what they did to be honest (cos i'm a mechanical numpty) so sorry i cant help much. All the mechanic said was he would try disconnecting the EGR system to see if it improved it and it cured it instantly. The dealer who did mine was Trust VW in Stafford - mebbe give them a call and have a chat with them?. Do a search on the net for disconnecting the EGR - it seems to be a popular mod on most tdi's anyway for improving performance and economy.