Blown Turbo - Options?

shlalom

Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2016
Location
Spokane, WA
TDI
2001 Jetta
I've received great, timely advice around this forum in the past and am curious to see what the prevailing opinion here might be on a blown turbo. '01 Jetta
The shop diagnosing my issue left a message with a housemate while I was away tonight saying my problem is a blown turbo, estimates roughly $1,800 for a fix.
I've read that some shops would rebuild the turbo. I'm generally inclined to have complex parts rebuilt and/or replaced usually and just install them myself if a lot of specific fine tuning isn't required. It would seem to me in this case removing a bad turbo and replacing with a reman or rebuilt one wouldn't be too difficult, but I've never had to venture into this area with my car before.
It has a salvage title, originally cost me $2,200 and is also requiring some body work to get it looking respectable again. I don't know if a shop repair verging on 2k is worth it to me at this point, although I could possibly justify a $500 rebuild on the turbo.
Any thoughts? Suggestions? Money is tight right now and this has been my dependable, efficient commuter for about two years now. I hate to let it go over something like this honestly...
 
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bbarbulo

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2003
Location
Windsor, ON, Canada
Fair enough, the repair is doable yourself.

What are the symptoms? Did the turbine touch the housing? Or is the VNT ring stuck? Or the diaphragm in the actuator blown? Or did an oil seal let go? What's the mileage on this car?

Many of these turbos are misdiagnosed and replaced for much smaller issues (like stuck control ring).

If the housing is in good shape, AND the turbo is actually blown... well you have options. Most people will tell you to get a new Garrett turbo. Me; I dunno, I'd either buy a turbo from one of the guys parting out - there are lots of MK4s starting to get scrapped, so used turbos should be available. Now, it's a crap shoot, but if you can do the swap yourself, you might get a few more years out of a used turbo. I wouldn't have an issue with it. Or if I just HAD to have new parts on the cheap, I'd buy a whole center section from rotrax or something. Same risk, you might end up with a crappy one that might last a few years only. rockauto has some center section options. You swap your stock housings onto the new center section and voila! Don't try to rebuild the center section yourself, balancing is an issue. Unless there is some new development I haven't heard about.

There are also new center sections to be had out of china for fairly cheap, I wouldn't even be hesitant to give one of those a try. I mean the garretts started to blow oil all over the intake tract in the first 3-4 years of ownership, so the chinese ones can't be any worse by comparison. Just don't mess up your oil feed line, that's a $100 mistake. Remove the oil feed line together with the turbo, then deal with it off the car. Don't try to loosen it on the car without a cut wrench, the fitting is made stupid-like and it's easier to see if you're at risk of spinning it with the whole thing out of the car.
 

03TDICommuter

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2016
Location
So. Cal
TDI
01' NB, 5spd
A new Mahle VNT15 will cost $699, a new Garret VNT15 is $799. Both from IDparts, and will come with an install kit which is almost all the gaskets you need. I took my turbo apart and cleaned it and found I needed 2 more of the metal EGR gaskets.

To the above prices, add about another $120 for a new oil line and oil return line.

It's definitely within a home mechanic's ability to do this work - keep things clean.

All this said - what was the problem that sent you to the shop?
 

shlalom

Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2016
Location
Spokane, WA
TDI
2001 Jetta
Wow, great advice. Much appreciated. I'll check into those sources.

I'll have more details on how the shop came to their conclusions tomorrow a.m., but I don't doubt that he's calling it right.

For a couple weeks prior to the blowout I'd noticed the turbo making more noise. It didn't sound much different, but more whistley and pronounced than usual.

I live about an hour away from civilization and on one of my night's drives back from the city I got an oil light roughly 10 miles from the house. It came on at an opportune time, right before I turn off on the highway leading back to the house. Once you're on that road because of all the snow we've gotten recently you're locked in. There's nowhere to pull over like any other season. So I pulled over, dumped what oil I had left in and took off.

Immediately acceleration was sluggish/ not very responsive and it was also tending to run away even when I took my foot off the accelerator. The runaway issue didn't last very long tho. Within 30 seconds the oil light had come back on. I'm new to the area and don't really have family/solid social network out here and considering the weather and how late it was I figured the best course was to just limp it back the last 9 miles or so and deal with the damage from there..hoping the residual oil I'd just dropped in would be enough to keep any major damage at bay. This wouldn't be how I operate under normal circumstance...

The next day I started it up, moved it around a little and got lots of black smoke and a steady small trail of oil leaking out from somewhere. I've been bracing myself for the worst considering the 9 or 10 mile drive that night with what turned out to be such a bad leak.

Fortunately it hasn't seized and cranks right up. Considering the newer strained noise the turbo's been making, I wouldn't be surprised if it's been suffering from oil starvation. It's been way overdue for an oil change on top of all this, which I wouldn't be surprised to find out has been the root of all these issues. Oy, maintenance is key.
 

bbarbulo

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2003
Location
Windsor, ON, Canada
oh ok ya, the turbo blew. how sure are we that the engine didn't ingest a bunch of oil, you did say it was running away a bit? meaning it was eating up oil and we all know oil doesn't compress very well. so did anyone check that the rods aren't bent?

usually runaways end in one of two ways, bent rods or a hole in the block.

where is this trail of oil coming from, you said there is a steady small trail of oil?

200k is a little on the low end for a failed turbo, but you did say you slack on the oil changes. and there is little doubt about the failed turbo given what you described, the question now is what is the rest of the damage.

Sorry, Rotomaster is the name I was thinking of. $480 for a new turbo off rockauto, or $315 for a center section. But ebay has center sections (cartridge) for $90-150 and whole turbos for about $300.

I can't picture there being too many people making these, so I suspect these are all the same parts, probably made for Rotomaster and then sold off-brand too.

There was one I saw made in the States (it claims) XS-Power...
 

BobnOH

not-a-mechanic
Joined
May 29, 2004
Location
central Ohio
TDI
New Beetle 2003 manual
Lots of different approaches, if it was me I'd get a Garret 15, new oil lines and do it yourself.
But from what I've read about Frans, I wouldn't hesitate to get one of his units shipped from the Netherlands. Could save you some money.
There must be some good domestic rebuilders, but I don't know of any.
 

shlalom

Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2016
Location
Spokane, WA
TDI
2001 Jetta
I'd be leaning towards going with Frans, wonder how long shipping on that would take?

I just spoke with the shop, their investigation was far from comprehensive. He essentially told me, considering all the issues the car has it wouldn't be worth it to fix. He claims the bottom end could be shot too, bearings etc. due to the loss of oil, although he hasn't pulled it apart to find out. Says it's making a lot of noise, even in spite of how noisy diesels can tend to be. He's more of a generic mechanic that was close by.

Not complaining because it sounds like he wouldn't charge me for making the call on the turbo, understandable. A more thorough diagnosis, etc...opening up the bearings and all that would cost a little bit. He hasn't looked at it closely enough to know about the rods.
 

eddieleephd

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 27, 2012
Location
Battle Ground, Wa
TDI
2002 jetta Wagon
I realize the car exterior is rough, what is the frame and rust condition of the car?
People have already recommended Dutch Autoparts (Frans).
He does used engines as well.

If the body needs a lot of work and there is a lot of rust I would find another.
If there is no rust and just a rough body, I would consider the option of a new engine and turbo.
Pull the components off yours and slap it on a new to you engine and drive.
 

UhOh

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 24, 2014
Location
PNW
TDI
2000 & 2003 Golf GLS (2005 Mercedes E320 CDI)
I'd listen to the shop here.

You might want to have them pop off the valve cover and check the cam and lifters. Low oil pressure (which is what the light indicates) is bad for the top end. If there's signs of problems with the top end then there's also the possibility that there's damage to the bottom end.

Someone close to me (on CraigsList) is selling a decent-looking ALH (complete) for $900.
 

shlalom

Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2016
Location
Spokane, WA
TDI
2001 Jetta
It's spent most of its life in North Carolina, so rust isn't really an issue. The frame's great. Other than a new hood, right-front quarter panel, a grill, and the hood latch that's all it would take to get it back into fair condition.

Eddie to your last point -- If it comes down to it, dropping a new engine and turbo in might not be that bad of an idea. Unfortunately I don't have a great area to work on it right now. No shop where I'm at, so I'd be doing it all outside on gravel. I'm imagining what it would be like to try moving those blocks into and out of place. Having a shop do the replacement for me would push the total repair cost over what would make sense I'm thinking.

@UhOh - Thanks for the input, I'll make sure they check the top end too. Just curious - where is close-by for you? I'm in Spokane, WA.
 

UhOh

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 24, 2014
Location
PNW
TDI
2000 & 2003 Golf GLS (2005 Mercedes E320 CDI)
I'm about 60 miles northeast of Seattle.

User boertje isn't too far from you. He's a stellar guy and a great resource: I was blessed to be able to acquire one of his cars recently (blue Golf with 6spd manual).
 
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