2002 TDI blown severly blown turbo

Car has 211K miles on it, original turbo, hammered down on it from a traffic light and felt as it went into limp mode.....

Then all of a sudden started smoking white extremely bad-shut it down-went to restart and it was locked up. Removed the glow plugs blew all the oil out and put them back in and it ran great just smoked badly.

Shut it back off got it home removed the intercooler hoses and 100% full of oil......

Removed the turbo and found this

I tested the compression and its solid across the board.....

Should I replace the turbo and clean out the intercooler and see how it is?

I dont want to spend the money on a turbo if the rods are bent or heads shot

Then all of a sudden started smoking white extremely bad-shut it down-went to restart and it was locked up. Removed the glow plugs blew all the oil out and put them back in and it ran great just smoked badly.

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If it was locked up and you attempted to start it you MAY have bent rods. However, that compression is ok across the board augurs well for you getting away with that. Generally-speaking attempting to crank a locked engine is a very bad thing, but there are times it's turns out ok.

I think given what you have at this point (compression is all right) I'd be inclined to swap the turbo. You MIGHT get away with just that.

You could try doing a compression test on it. Each cylinder should give close to the same pressure reading.

You'd just need to borrow or rent a compression tester. (Or buy one but diesel ones are a little expensive, so you'd be better off to save that money for your new turbo).

How to do it: http://www.myturbodiesel.com/wiki/how-to-do-compression-test-on-vw-audi-tdi-engine-results/

sorry to hear about the failure...

pretty much same thing happened on my son's Golf except it ran away on him. I felt comfortable with consistent compression (harbor freight compression tool) and timing hadn't moved so went with a turbo. Was VERY careful after getting it all back together but it has been great since - several 50+ mpg tanks... can't argue with that.

If you are certain your compression tests are valid and are producing good results then you might have dodged a bullet. I don't know whether it's possible that you could still have oil in your cylinders and that is affecting compression.

Might be too late, but... Any chance you measured how much oil came out of your IC? The existing crank case oil level plus this amount of oil might indicate if the engine had ingested any significant amount of oil: you'd have to have known what your oil level was prior to this event.

Yes, compression was around 350 each cylinder.

My wife is begging me to buy a new car but I don't know if I can bring myself to doing it.

Ill try to talk her into just swapping the turbo and go from there...

But its starting to rust, no parking brake, due for a timing belt again etc

snapped shaft... YAY, IM NOT THE ONLY ONE... lol.

when i got my first TDI and didnt know any better, i blew up a turbo. snapped shaft, and then i drove it 10 miles, smoking like a banshee to my dads work. Dont do that, its a terrible thing to do - i just didnt know any better...

Im still using that engine in my daily nearly 70k miles later. never even pulled the head.

test compression, thoroughly clean or replace intercooler, replace turbo. motor on.

Man, figure out what needs repairing and then calculate costs. Compare to getting a "new" car (be sure to account for any changes to insurance costs; and, obviously, fuel costs).

Old cars require maintenance. They don't, however, require payments to the bank. I'm looking at dumping $1,500 into the wife's Golf (for full suspension refresh and a new clutch); labor is "free" (mine). Body is just OK. Interior is just OK. But, the car works (over 2 1/2 years of ownership it's averaging 49.5 mpg), and with new suspension and clutch it's good here for a LONG time. If you can keep on top of the maintenance on these things then breakdowns aren't really an issue.

2006powerstroke90 said:

Yes, compression was around 350 each cylinder.

My wife is begging me to buy a new car but I don't know if I can bring myself to doing it.

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350 sounds a bit low to me.
I think I had a mild issue, some funny noise and running rough once.
Mine was 400 on 3 and 380 on #1 (iIrc)

You have to evaluate the cost of what the car needs against what a replacement will cost. (time payments?)

Sounds like you got off easy, clean it up in there, refresh the turbo and oil lines and drive on.
Some place over in the Netherlands, looks pretty good.

The above link for Dutch Auto Parts is a good choice. The "used" turbos they sell have been disassembled an any worn parts replaced. They then reassemble the turbos and balance them before shipping. A good-to-go "used" turbo for $275.00 IIRC. You definitely dodged the bullet this time, most owners aren't that lucky.

ketchupshirt88 said:

snapped shaft... YAY, IM NOT THE ONLY ONE... lol.

smoking like a banshee .

test compression, thoroughly clean or replace intercooler, replace turbo. motor on.

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Lol my son did this exact same thing to his golf, layed into it to give it an Italian tune up and the turbo shaft snapped in half......scared the crap out of the guy tailgating him. Pulled gp's tapped starter, no oil came out . Did a cold comp check and had 390 psi across board stone cold. Removed IC and piping And found shrapnel in the IC, replace turbo and found a deserted road to red line the car to burn off all the oil that went into the cat and muffler ...... made a nice mosquito killer that day.