Turbo Life Expectancy

When did your Turbo Fail


  • Total voters
    113

40X40

Experienced
Joined
Feb 12, 2006
Location
Kansas City area, MO
TDI
2013 Passat SEL Premium
jerry_m said:
My mechanic said my turbo is leaking some oil. Should I start looking for a new turbo?

That is a very mysterious statement. Is the leak external? Or does he mean the turbo is leaking oil into the intake system?

If the turbo is leaking externally, fix the leak. If your intercooler is accumulating oil, keep it drained or you risk a runaway.


Bill
 

hid3

Banned
Joined
Apr 28, 2007
Location
Lithuania, Vilnius
TDI
Golf V 1.9 TDI-PD 105 HP
It is an external leak. I have no idea how to fix it.

There are always a few drops of oil in my intercooler plumbing but never more.
 

NB_TDi

Vendor
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Location
NB, Canada █♣█
TDI
2014 Jetta SE
Oil inside the air system is beyond normal. Hell, I'd be worried if there was no oil in there.


My turbo has 161k on it. It's pulled a trailer all it's life. I have some shaft play right now and it's doing fine.
 

mrcoffee

Active member
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Location
Akron, OH
TDI
Jetta TDI's 04 Jetta 1.9L PD and 05 Passat 2.0L PD
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'][FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']I have a completely stock 2005 Passat TDI 2.0L wagon with a turbo that just failed at 77K miles. No abnormal driving the dealership is telling me that the turbo is bad and I have serviced my car there at regular intervals. I have to drop $1700 so this leaves me pretty frustrated. I am in NE Ohio for 2 years and don't have my normal tools or network of people to do this myself. I have had this car serviced at the dealership since I purchased it because I have been busy with other life stuff. I can't help but feel that the dealer did not do an adequate job of servicing my car. I don’t have teenagers or any one abusing my cars so I am pretty frustrated I don’t expect a turbo to fail at 77k miles that is pretty crazy especially when driving this car as stock not putting any thing strange in it or any other modifications. [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']This is my fourth TDI and the only one that I have had the turbo fail in. I don’t know what to say other than I feel really frustrated. I hate taking this car to the dealer and I hate having to rely on the dealership even more when they are charging so much money and who knows if it will be done correctly. [/FONT]
[/FONT]
 

Lex4TDI4Life

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 22, 2006
Location
NorCal
TDI
2001 Golf-Ute TDI GLS 5spd Manual
Allow me to jinx myself...

Just turned over 200K miles, the last 60K of which with PP520s, the last 30K of which with RC2

-original turbo
-original clutch AND DMF Flywheel :D

Use the right oil and drive her hard once in a while and she will be fine.
 

halocline

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Location
San Antonio
TDI
04 Jetta Wagon
Mine failed at 46K, about a month after the dealer dropped a ceramic glowplug into the engine and ruined a piston and the head. When they rebuilt the engine (VWoA paid) I asked for a new turbo or at least a warranty on the turbo, as I was worried about foreign object damage. VW claimed that "all of the work they did has a 12 month warranty, yet refused to pay when the turbo failed as I suspected it might. Eventually the dealer paid for the turbo (reman) but it was an effort.

The question I now have is, how long do remanufactured turbos last?
 

Roller

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2006
Location
santa fe, nm
TDI
04 Jetta wagon
Mr. Coffee

Are you sure your turbo is bad? Stealerships are renowned for diagnosing low power as blown turbos when 90% of the time something else is wrong with the car.

You should post a new thread with your problems and tell the VW dealer to keep their hands off of your car for now! Folks here can help you figure out if this really is a blown turbo (new ones installed can be had for $1200, too)
 

eddieleephd

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 27, 2012
Location
Battle Ground, Wa
TDI
2002 jetta Wagon
my question for those in the know... would it simply be beneficial to replace the turbo oil supply line, and could this possibly be the issue with the new Rotella formula?

And this VW is new to me so I know nothing of the turbo
 

JWS

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 30, 2005
Location
Muscle Shoals, AL
TDI
'04 Jetta TDI
'04 Jetta BEW

My turbo died a few days ago @ 270K miles...the first major failure for the car.

Putting it in the shop gives me a good excuse to replace the shocks/struts & clutch as well! :D

...At about 200K miles my Jetta started smoking and using some oil. At that point, I started adding a small amount of Lucas Synthetic Oil Stabilizer, which greatly reduced the smoking & oil usage...just curious if the Lucas might have contributed to the turbo failure, or was the turbo already starting to fail at the 200K point? I've read plenty of posts on tdiclub that says not to use oil additives, but it did solve a problem, just concerned that it might have caused another.
 
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Terrific-In-Tahoma

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2012
Location
East-of-Toronto, Ontario, Canada
TDI
'01 ALH Jetta M5 / 05 BEW Jetta Wagon A4
Don't know if it is age or is it modding, or driving like a granny.

I know this thread is over 6 years old, but still with the Original turbo and approximately 200,000 miles on the car (320,000 kms).

I know not to let the engine just hum along at 62 MPH, but to exercise it once in a while with its full range of motion from humming along at 35 MPH and low boost because of flat terrain and tailwinds pushing in the right direction.

But so far (December 2016), there are only 31 people that have taken the vote ( I did because it is approaching 250,000 miles) and it(the turbo) is still hanging in there. 380,000 is not that far away from 400,000 Kms).

But the funny part it, I have not brought the car to a stealership yet for routine maintenance. I have always brought it to independent shops that know how to repair the various parts of the engine , brakes , electric etc.

So, maybe I am lucky, maybe I have learned how to drive these things, and just maybe the EPA can get stuffed as I drive past the gas station with a 20 to 25 year old car in the near future, as I still will be getting 45MPG - 5.0 L/100km.

My mechanic said my turbo is leaking some oil. Should I start looking for a new turbo?
--Get a second 'opinion'. lots of things can leak oil from various parts around the engine. If its leaking to the intake, is it because the copper seal by the thrust bushing is gone, and the oil is leaking from the bearing into the intake port, and then being trapped into the intercooler? or is it leaking into the exhaust side, and getting gummed up with the VNT actuator ring and coming out of the exhaust as unburnt oil?

If you get straight answers to the above questions, then fine, start searching for a new turbo, else see what opinion number two gives you, and go with what you think is best for you. 2K for a new turbo, or a couple of hundred (and a new mechanic) for whatever is the source of the leak in the first place.

Boy it sure is cold in Upper Canuckistan today.
 
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need4speed

Veteran Member
Joined
May 4, 2004
Mine failed sometime in the first 50k miles. Oil leak, wobbly shaft, and chewed-up intake vanes (though I never knew it to have ingested any thing).

Car is presently at 220k, my son has it, and the replacement VNT 17/21 is running like a sewing machine.
 

redbarron55

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2010
Location
Navarre, FL.
TDI
2012 Touareg TDI Executive
I have the belly pans installed on both my 2009 with 250K + and 2013 with 85K.
I have replaced the VNT due to leaking diaphragm on the '09.
I think a lot of complete turbos were replaced when the VNT was not available separately for $300. instead of the whole turbo for more $$$.
It was a fiddly job to replace the actuator, but easier and cheaper than removing the turbo assy.
 

stusgolftdi

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2016
Location
Williams Bay WI
TDI
2011 Golf
I have a 2011 golf tdi with 296000. Runs great, only some electrical issues. Starting to get oil in intercooler. I have a Malone tune an 3 inch down pipe with exhaust. Thinking maybe turbo seals going bad?
 

KAT90

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Location
Mass
TDI
99.5 Jetta
Had over 450K on the OEM turbo & she was still running strong. Did an upgrade to stage 4 tune so I replaced it. I think the reason for my long turbo life is I would RPM the engine over 4K once or twice every day she was on the road.
 

Rob Mayercik

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2001
Location
NJ, U.S.A.
TDI
2002 Jetta GLS, Baltic Green/Beige
The bearings/seals in my '02 finally gave up the ghost last spring around 325,000 miles.

I'm not counting the actuator (which gave up about 120,000 prior to that), as I'm assuming that this poll is more focused on the "rotating assembly", and considers as I do the actuator separately.
 

Mach.81

Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2017
Location
Toronto
TDI
2009 Jetta TDI CBEA
Actuator failed @ 280kms, turbine shaft broke in two @ 310kms..lol
Made a royal mess...replaced with new stock turbo... Since then flashed and full exhaust! Next.. euro CR170, with a few more pounds of boost;)
 

maxmoo

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2011
Location
Lakefield, Ontario, Canada
TDI
2000 golf, 2001 golf, 2000 beetle, 2003 wagon, 2004 golf, 2004 jetta, all diesels
I just picked up a running 03 wagon with 580,000miles on the odometer from the original owner and he claims the turbo and the inj pump were never touched!
 

JB05

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 20, 2005
Location
Il.USA
TDI
Golf,2005,anthracite blue
150K on my BW turbo. Back in October I replaced the internally rusted out actuator and the contaminated N75 as well. I just recently had Malone do the VNT delete.
 

dingels75

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 10, 2008
Location
Virginia
TDI
02' Jetta TDI 365K, 12' Jetta TDI (gone to VW buyback)
I disassembled my 2002 turbo twice, cleaned it, made sure that all parts/vanes were moving freely, put it back together and still had poor performance that felt like what I'll describe as a low level limp mode. At 305k miles I finally broke down and replaced the turbo with a new one and the car ran like a scalded cat again. I'm now at 365k and all is well.
 
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