2006 tdi kerma tdi turbo kit install plus a few questions

mikeyctdi

Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2018
Location
washington
TDI
2006 tdi
So....
I bought a 2006 jetta 1.9 from my neighbor for 500 bucks. He said the turbo was bad as well as the dmf. I said ok, so I brought the car home and first thing that I noticed was the actuator for the turbo was unplugged. Plugged it back in and no more check engine light for the underboost condition. Fast forward a week after some research and I decide to tackle the dmf. I have to make a thread on that at a later date. Anyway, I am in the middle of the turbo swap currently. I went with the kerma tdi hp kit, its a gt1749vnt turbo and the various gaskets that go along with it as well as a oil line. Im new to vw but not cars, however this is only my second turbo car ever so Ill now start the how to considering I have yet to find a good one. Here we go....


First thing make sure you have all the parts the kerma kit doesn't include the turbo return line o rings.
Things you need:
Jack stands, obviously a jack

The set of triple square sockets( for the axle)
27mm axle socket, Large breaker bar
17 mm wrench X2
1/4 in. drive ratchet plus 3 in and a 6 in. extension
a # 10mm,12mm,13mm 1/4in. drive sockets
#6 allen key, # 5 allen as well, get the socket set (you will thank me later)
3/8 in. or 1/2 in. ratchet plus # 16mm & # 18mm socket can also use a wrench but a socket is easier.
A good pair of channel locks or snap ring pliers
rent the o2 sensor removal tool
Bentley manual (yes its a cool 100 dollars, but worth it's weight in gold)
Anti seize (copper and the normal stuff)
A phillips and flat blade screwdriver
#t30 bit that you can put on a socket



That's all I can think of whats on my cart for now so here we go..
So I first pop center cap on passenger side of car as well as the plastic plugs for the nuts on the wheel.
Using breaker bar, and a 36in piece of rigid conduit as leverage snap loose the axle, Mine wasn't difficult considering 3 weeks ago I had both axles off to do the transmission. then break the tire loose.
Jack up and support the car on the sides, Do not do it off the sub frame, Use the lift points. If you do it off the sub frame it'll be in your way later. So to take the axle off, its a method of using a 1/2 3 in extension with the part that goes on the ratchet, insert this where you took off the axle bolt,
enter dead blow hammer, give her a good whack and should snap loose. Now would be a good time to loosen your lower passenger side ball joint. I don't like to use a separator unless I am replacing it. I usually loosen the 18mm bolts on the bottom and then the top bolt and give it a good tap on the side. Comes off easy most times. Take I believe the m6 triple square socket and break loose the axle on the transmission side, there a a total of six bolts. You have to have the car in neutral in order to turn the axle to get to all six. (There are other methods im sure) Anyway get those six off make sure to lock the rotor in place. I use a large screwdriver to lock it against the caliper.

Remove the axle from the car.
Now you have two choices
1. Start on the top
2. Continue on the bottom
I started on the top, right off I pulled the air box, phillips head screwdriver and the #5mm allen key, that bolt is down near the bottom on I believe the battery side of the box towards the front. make sure to disconnect the hoses noting their position.
Thing I forgot to mention, Get plastic bags and a sharpie to organize all hardware. I always write what it came off of and the required tool.
So then remove the air box, as well as the maf wiring harness from the air box, alternatively you can just remove the lid, set it up on windshield and not have to mess with the wiring at all. Then I started to pull the vacuum lines. There are a total of 6 if you have a egr setup. 2 go to the n75 which is your boost pressure bypass valve? One goes to the egr vacuum connection on the egr cooler. one goes to the turbo actuator, one goes to the back of the valve cover( DO NOT pull on this side of it, pull from the other side) don't ask me how I know. And one goes to the air box. check valve is also in that mix. Sits on a little bracket behind the valve cover. There are also two wire connectors associated with this harness. One for the intake flap motor or tb and one for the egr valve. You can't pull the harness just yet. There is a duct on near all those vacuum connections, remove it with the channel locks or snap ring pliers.
There is also a wire connection at the back near the back of engine bay remove that. Rotate and pull the pipe it was connected to out. Its a tight fit and it'll help you remove the large duct all together.
Go to the passenger side now or at least I did at this moment.
Pull the intercooler piping line to the intake, its tricky to move around, I did it as one piece you can also remove it it in two chunks, your call.
A note on the piping connection, There is a little ring around them I found it easiest to pull on them with a small flat blade then take another one and undo one side of the hook on the part im removing you will see what I am talking about. then I pulled the throttle body, Its a t30 3 bolts, pull that. pull the egr now. Same thing 3 bolts. after removal take your harness that you couldn't get to before and move it to the side. reason being is that it's routed underneath the throttle body. So begin to remove the downpipe, I found this to be the most difficult part of the job. So undo the 5mm allen key on the vband clamp from underneath the car. Also there is a clamp on the end of the downpipe that connects to the cat back portion of this. loosen but do not remove. There are 4 bolts that are like a cross member for the exhaust. pull those and remove. There are two nuts I believe that are holding the down pipe to the sub frame. remove those. I think they are all like either a 16mm or an 18mm.
Now that everything is outta the way go to the top and remove the 02 sensor.
Go underneath and hit the downpipe with a rubber mallet. it'll come off the hot side of the turbo. Fandangle it outta the way for now. You now can see 1/4 of the bolts on your turbo. Alright, long post but ill update later tonight. ill await to get told I did that stuff wrong


So now you can remove the heat shield on the top of the motor its a t30 bolt that goes to a bracket pull this. Its somewhat tricky to get out but if you coax it no worries. the other side of it goes to the air box via a accordian hose. There are also two 12mm bolts on the bottom of that shield connected to the left or cold side of the turbo. cant miss them. Next if you are like me then you are also doing the egr delete at the same time. I disconnected the bottom hose to the actuator and dropped it out the bottom of the car. Now you have access to the coupling for the intake pipe. Its two t30 bolts the one that connects to the turbo loosen but don't remove. Pull the one out that sits in another bracket. Now pull the intake inter cooler pipe. What you have to do is remove the bolts that hold it to the head as well as take off a snap ring, it should pull straight down. Moving along, Now working from underneath the car, disconnect the horse shoe shaped pipe that goes from the turbo to the egr cooler. its a total of 4 6mm allen key bolts. The ones on the turbo are easy and should come right out. The ones one the egr are a ***** so be patient they will cooperate. (The access sucks thats all for the bolts one the egr). Ok so now remove the oil return line since your there. The bolt size is a 27mm, same as the axle, you can use a 1 1/16 in. standard. They are the same size.


Alright now its just 8 copper 12mm nuts and the turbo comes out. This part takes a lot of time, access sucks and they are not kind. I went in a zig zag pattern. break them loose and then spin them off. 1/4 in plus a 3 in. extension and a deep 12 seemed to do the trick.
Do not disconnect all the bolts yet. Have to deal with the turbo oil feed line. I used a 2 17mm wrenches and broke that loose and then its just a matter of undoing it. Takes a minute. I'm also replacing it with a new one the kit came with so I didn't car if I bent or kinked it.



Getting the turbo outta the car wasn't that bad, basically pulled it off the studs and then rotated it clockwise so it became some what vertical like the 4 o clock position and lowered it out the bottom. I never removed the cooler or loosened it.


Now you can go back on top and easily remove the intake manifold. It is 6 #6 allen key bolts. I did it cuz I read all the threads on how they get all gummed up and it made me paranoid. Took it to a local cylinder head shop on wendsday and had them clean it. It was 46 dollars for them to clean it and it came out perfect. They are who vw uses down in auburn wa.
Putting the turbo back in isn't bad at all either, just go from the side where the downpipe was and no worries go right back in. You might need a friend for a couple minutes though. Also, make sure and coat all your exhaust studs with copper anti-sieze.
Tightening the nuts is same as removing them. Ill post all torque specs on the parts as I reinsall them. Might also have a few questions for the gurus, please feel free to ask any questions or chime in.
 
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mikeyctdi

Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2018
Location
washington
TDI
2006 tdi
so I have a few questions

!. What vacuum lines go to what as the dude that was helping me in the beginning of the project didnt label anything?
2. Whats the best way/product to lubricate the turbo or basically how do I prime the turbo?
On a side note, The bolts that go to the turbo return line are not allen keys they are t30 and should be installed prior to doing the bottom 27mm bolt so you can better get them aligned also, set the turbo brace bolt, which is a 13mm loose then install the top return t30 bolts
 

mikeyctdi

Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2018
Location
washington
TDI
2006 tdi
I also replaced the oil feed line its a tight fit, best to remove the oil pressure sensor from the housing then release that bolt its a 22mm then pull off the oil feed line to turbo its a 17mm, I cut mine at both ends and that was the easiest way I found to pull it out without removing any cooling/oil/intercooler lines.
 

mikeyctdi

Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2018
Location
washington
TDI
2006 tdi
alright so i finished the end game.


the last bit of this thing is a mother****er, so if you went so far ahead and installed your intake manifold after the turbo, well in my process wont work. You have to install the intake manifold (6 #6 sqaure drive) then you install rurbo.
 
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mikeyctdi

Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2018
Location
washington
TDI
2006 tdi
just a tip
I put the rest of the car back together and it fit nice, couple things to note
1. On the n75 both vacuum lines fit a certain way, there is no messing it up.
2. the egr seloniod is the black/green in the harness so the brown/ yellow is the one that gets plugged into the elephant trunk,

3. there is a vacuum line that you have to plug to discard the egr solenoid completely,
its the middle one of the tee, cant miss it.
4. you really should change the cv axle to transmission bolts(79 ft/lb) m6 bolts (triple square) 6 bolts total on the passenger axle
plus a 90 degree turn.
one time use only
Same with the axle nut. 148 ft/lb plus a 45 degree angle turn for the hex head (6 point)
 
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mikeyctdi

Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2018
Location
washington
TDI
2006 tdi
btw I bought the victor reinz pre lube for the turbo from idparts.com

the car pulls.

this isnt a bad install just a little trick as is not straight forward but ill keep updating the tread as I keep updating the car
 
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