All within 8 minutes: Whine, louder, smoke, oil, no boost

I've owned this 02 since new, 187k mi, stock motor. It's been getting occasional overboost/ limp home. This morning driving kids to school, I noticed a slight whine on accel. It got a little louder when I dropped them off. Pulling onto the expressway it very quickly got much louder and I lost boost, I held off on the throttle and exited immediately. On decel off ramp I got HUGE clouds of blue smoke, I coasted to a side street and shut it down, smoke was everywhere. After parking, i noticed an engine oil leak, i could see around the rear right side some spray on the exhaust. Can the turbo fail and spray oil? gtg, tow truck is here

That's what happens a turbo fails and blows oil out the exhaust. I lost mine last fall and the rear window was covered in a film of oil. Just clean out the intercooler piping put a new turbo on and motor on. There are write ups on turbo replacement on this site.

Yep, time for a turbocharger. They usually last a good long time, but yours for whatever reason did not.

ChicagoDiesel said:

I've owned this 02 since new, 187k mi, stock motor. It's been getting occasional overboost/ limp home. This morning driving kids to school, I noticed a slight whine on accel. It got a little louder when I dropped them off. Pulling onto the expressway it very quickly got much louder and I lost boost, I held off on the throttle and exited immediately. On decel off ramp I got HUGE clouds of blue smoke, I coasted to a side street and shut it down, smoke was everywhere. After parking, i noticed an engine oil leak, i could see around the rear right side some spray on the exhaust. Can the turbo fail and spray oil? gtg, tow truck is here

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Yes.
Don't start this car again until the turbo is inspected, replaced and the intake system drained of oil and shrapnel, if necessary.

It does sound like time to replace the turbo...did you ever let the oil get a bit low: did the low oil pressure light come on when turning possibly? A good source of vnt-15's at a great price is Dutch Auto Parts, they are a registered vendor on this website. Look here:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=434593 look at post #3.

You'll want to pull the glow plugs and check for oil... a common turbo failure mode includes liquid oil being pushing into the intake and then one or more cylinders.

More than a couple tablespoons at the wrong time can bend a rod... so if you find oil you'll next want to run a compression test.

Best to find out all the news *before* investing in a new turbo?!

@Nevada: Crap! I did get a real brief low oil warning for the first time ever less than a week ago! And while taking a sweeper off the interstate.

ChicagoDiesel said:

@Nevada: Crap! I did get a real brief low oil warning for the first time ever less than a week ago! And while taking a sweeper off the interstate.

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Turbos don't like to run without oil.

Sometimes a miracle happens*. The sound that you experienced, however, tends to suggest that you missed out on having a miracle. Popping off the hoses to the turbo will unveil the carnage.

* Daughter drove her wagon with oil light on! Turbo oil feed line blew out: some PO forgot to install the bracket on the line. A "reputable" TDI shop (not a listed vendor on this site) replaced the line (car lives a ways away from me) and verified that the turbo was still OK: I had to specifically instruct them to check the turbo BEFORE they fired the engine back up (one reason why I now ensure the car goes to another place- a mechanic who's also on this site). Silly car has continued to run fine since.