[Vwdiesel] 01 Golf TDi TURBO issues

[Rolf Pechukas]

>  I forget which pipe it was.  If it was from the intercooler to the 
> intake, sadly most of this is probably coincidental.  Although it's 
> not good, it's not likely you'd suck all that much dirt, certainly sand 
> and rocks, into the engine.  It's a fairly long, uphill path.  If it was 
> the pipe between the turbo and the intercooler, then you may have c
> crap in the intercooler, thus clogging your intake.   Might pull the 
> outlet hose and backflush the intercooler with water or air, or pull 
> it and use a solvent tank.
>     Loren

thanks Loren
it was the union behind the passenger-side headlight between the hard plastic pipe that runs by the belts and pulleys and the 3" flexible tube before that
my understanding is that it's post-turbo, pre-intake
not sure where the intercooler is in that sequence

hard to swallow that such a night-and-day difference could be coincidental
given how trouble-free and well the engine always ran before the alternator job, and how poorly it's been running since, I just can't imagine that SOMETHING didn't happen during the time that intake pipe was disconnected AND the car was being abused by 'driving it hard'
the odds of that seem infinitesimal

thanks
Rolf in MA