Sluggish and slightly thirsty.

[Richard]

The car is a 1995 wagon with the 2.4 TIC engine. It's a UK car.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5162/5257554639_8797fb4f0f_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/30854514@N08/5257554639/)
DSC_3524 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/30854514@N08/5257554639/) by RichardB5 (http://www.flickr.com/people/30854514@N08/), on Flickr

I got it from my father a couple of years ago and it has always been slower than I expected and a bit thirsty. It seems to average about 33mpg (that's about 27 mpg in US terms) and it just doesn't seem willing. It also smokes quite a lot, especially when you labour the engine at low RPM. Despite blowing big black puffs of smoke when revved it passed the MOT smoke test quite comfortably.

So far I've given it a service, washed the intercooler externally (the fins were blocked), replaced the leak-off pipes, run some injector cleaner through it, blocked off the EGR and repaired a leak in the inlet manifold. All of these things brought about an improvement but it still isn't quite "right".

It has had new timing belts fitted in the past. I'm wondering if the garage got it wrong, I know VW timing belts aren't straightforward. Is there anything I can do to check this out? I have access to some trade tools, though perhaps not the proper kit, and I have a reasonable amount of mechanical ability.

Is there anything else I can check out? I don't want to break any track records or anything but the figures suggest it should be capable of reasonably brisk performance.

Thanks in advance. I hope I'll be able to offer help on other aspects in return.

[Jason]

A couple things to check:
install a boost gauge and see what kind of boost your getting, black smoke under wide open throttle tells me boost is not up to spec or the pump has been turned up. If so thats not helping your mileage, smoke is fuel and money blowing out of your tail pipe. I would install a set of rebuilt injectors, at 200k miles they are worn out, and probably not opening at the correct pressure. I would also check the injection timing, that being off can cause smoke, poor performance, and bad economy. You'll the pump timing tools (dial indicator and adapter sleve) to do that. It also probably wouldn't hurt to do a compression check, however my old engine with low compression and lots of blow by could still muster 33 US mpg...

Check some of that stuff out and get back to us!

Jason