Help from Diesel owners (or the technically proficient)

[gtipirelli]

Our family car is a 2003 Passat 1.9 TDi Sport 130bhp that has covered 70k miles and has a full VW dealer service history. We have had the car grom new.

Over the first 6 years of ownership the fuel consumption was excellent and we regularly saw over 60 mpg on average to long journeys and close to 50 mpg pottering around.

Over the last 18-24 months the fuel consumption has dropped considerably and we now struggle to get 50mpg on long motorway runs and 40mpg pottering around.

The car has been recently serviced with no issues.

Has anyone got any idea why this is the case, I read somewhere recently about various pipes on these engines being dodgy. I am assuming there is a leak somewhere that is not showing up under a service.

I cannot comment on whether it is down on power as I drive a remapped Pirelli on a daily basis so everything else seems slow !!!.

The car runs perfectly other than the poor consumption

Any suggestions kindly welcomed. Is there anything obvious I can check myself that is easy to do. I lifted the bonnet yesterday and was greeted with a wall of plastic !!!!

Thanks

[v2brett]

coolant temprature sensor is common on the pd engines mate, iv replaced about 4 for myself and mates.
It can log the fault in vcds but not show any dash lights up, 

[PDT]

Check for slight boost leaks, often you cant hear them but you will se them if you check intercooler joints, EGR valve joints, turbo boost pipes on the turbo etc...

Pop the hose off near the EGR valve and look into the EGR with a torch, if its gunked up then remove the entire inlet manifold (easy to do) and clean it all thoroughly and replace the green seals on the pipes. I have seen them so gunked up that you can only just get your finger through:

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll96/willenium2k4/DSC00667.jpg&imgrefurl=http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/t/322951.aspx&usg=__3ynyy2qX0q5Jj_uoyQJCCIemDKI=&h=768&w=1024&sz=159&hl=en&start=40&zoom=1&tbnid=RaMmETXVt-rgjM:&tbnh=132&tbnw=184&ei=Q55GTar8KYnIhAfvn7XaBg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Degr%2Bbuild%2Bup%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox%26biw%3D1362%26bih%3D583%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=250&oei=K55GTbbWFoywhQfiyq3IAQ&esq=3&page=3&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:16,s:40&tx=115&ty=66

coolant temp sensor faults are common, and can cause poor MPG.

[gtipirelli]

Hi

Where do i find the EGR valve to be able to pop the hose off, do i need to remove the engine cover or can I reach it without removal

Thanks

[PDT]

Theres loads of guides on the web