Mehrl38
Veteran Member
Been sometime now but I am back to the TDI club. Long story short, just bought an 03 ALH 5 speed with 272K on it. At idle or holding steady between 1100-1500 rpm the turbo will "flutter" up and down but once rpms are higher 1800 or more the turbo boots steady and the flutter is gone. I can hear the bearing at while at a stop light as well. This all started last week when I was on my commute home and while cruising 80mph the boost would come in and come out and I could not hold any speed while going up a hill. Reminded me of limp mode but the turbo was still spooling, no black smoke or anything so I crossed out the limp mode. Could not find anything that stuck out, broken or damaged while looking it over. Took the car back out and did not lose boost like it did on my commute home. Still flutters though.
My question is what turbo replacements have anyone went with? I do not plan to go the VNT17 because of the mileage on the car and I do not plan to boost. This is my daily driver for work. It seems like there are countless options out there. The frustration comes from a majority of the kits not referencing the correct OE number (I believe is 03G253014R) and I am not sure of what the difference would be as they still state that it will work/direct replacement for 2003 ALH Jetta TDI. Any info helps!
This is one option that I have found for example.
New Turbo Replacement
My question is what turbo replacements have anyone went with? I do not plan to go the VNT17 because of the mileage on the car and I do not plan to boost. This is my daily driver for work. It seems like there are countless options out there. The frustration comes from a majority of the kits not referencing the correct OE number (I believe is 03G253014R) and I am not sure of what the difference would be as they still state that it will work/direct replacement for 2003 ALH Jetta TDI. Any info helps!
This is one option that I have found for example.
New Turbo Replacement