haha speaking of power steering pumps, my brothers mercedes e420 has something wrong with his power steering pump and when he turns the steering wheel at low speeds it makes a noise just like in star wars when they were swinging the light sabers around hahah
we are always messing around with it and scaring people :P

 

hmmm. Occassionally I have some white exhaust - not sure if it is a problem or just condensation. I do have a leaky oil line underneath but not sure what it's from/too. It might just need recrimped from the metal line to the rubber hose. Theres a bit of oil on the skid plate right under the line. There's actually 2 lines there. One looks wet and the other looks dry.

I don't think I've lost power -but not positive (some days it seems like less power - other days it seems fine. Maybe I'm getting used to having extra power. It's the first turbo that I've ever driven). The turbo makes a higher pitched whine - but its not an annoying whine like a dentist drill. (previous owner claims he replaced the turbo).

Isnt there some way to use vagcom to test boost?

I havent registered vagcom yet - somethings don't seem to connect/work properly - so I might need a different cable or something. But I can see and reset my engine codes. ABS and other things don't seem to work. Can't connect to auto-tran or awd.

(also thinking about buying a cheap scanner that I can leave in the car - it would be cheaper than vagcom esp. if I can't take advantage of the advanced features in vagcom.)

Sorry to ramble so much - thanks for the input.

Oh - one more ramble - whats a good, inexpensive, easy to install, unobtrusive boost gauge? I need my in dash cupholder.

 

Honestly, you should have a vag. It's a hundred bucks to register it and it is worth every single penny. It will pay for itself, trust me. I bought a cheap ebay cable and it works fine for me. Some have bad luck, some have good luck with um. Even if you have to buy one from ross-tech, it'll be worth it. You can see boost requested compared to boost received. Do a steering column boost gauge. Its easy to install, the pod is inexpensive, and it looks great IMO. I can do a write up if your really need it, but its pretty simple.

 

Inexpensive = DIY vent mount! I bought a VDO gauge and I'm set! Looks stock, I have to show people its there.

 

Stock turbo shouldnt really be audible, a very subtle whine/whistle at the most when your flooring it. You should be able to connect to ABS and auto trans, but not AWD, its pretty much strictly mechanical. You should be able to measure boost since you have an '01 with a vag, google it and you can find which measuring blocks they are, but I do remember the blocks are pretty high up there.

 

Thanks guys, whats a gauge cost - whose do you like? Joe - I'd be interested in seeing your writeup if you feel like doing it (or pointing me to good one).

I've always been a drive and forget kind of guy. changed my oil at 3000 miles but that was about it (and paid someone to do that). Now, I'm using vagcom, checking and resetting error codes, moving coilpacks around, and stuff. And maybe installing instrumentation?? Its interesting and everything - but its a big change for me.

 

So today I went out with a chunk of hose pressed against my ear and came to the conclusion its NOT the motor itself. Autizone didnt have a comp tester, and theres not another close, so I couldnt test it. Anyway, the noise has gotten louder, and now you can tell its coming from under the alternator. If im correct, thats where the water pump is.... do they rattle before they fail? Also I snapped a few pics, cause the coolant looks odd and has swirly crap in it

 

Just to throw it out there, member tware4021 had a knocking rattle in his engine that turned out to be broken and missing crank pulley mount bolts. Of the four, only one was still there - one was broken off and two were missing. It'd be worth looking at it to be sure that's not an issue. He found it in time to fix it with no damage and it's the only time I've heard of it happening, but if it can happen once...

 

According to the online documentation I found, it is measuring block 115.

 

Like some have said it's most likely a loose bolt holding a pulley, bad water pump or bad tensioner for one of the belts. Do a T belt job with a full kit. I'm sure your engine is fine