340k miles VNT actuator worn out. Replacement recommendations?

After a few years of getting the occasional limp mode I adjusted the actuator and it kinda helped, but not enough. So I'm in the middle of a significant refurb and decided to open the turbo up and see what's in there. The actuator arm and nozzle ring have worn each other out. everything else is (relatively) fine. Sad that this tiny bit of metal is the only thing wrong with it. But still impressive for 340k miles.
So it appears I'm in the market for a turbo and there's a vast range of brands and prices. Any opinions on what to stay away from? I'm leaning towards a rebuilt Garrett or a new Mahle for about the same price, but don't really know.

Watching, because I might need one in the near future too. I have seen a few on ebay that look promising but haven't read anything about the ones I've looked at.

I replaced mine with a new Garrett VNT-15 after an oil pan shatter destroyed it. I have no complaints after a lot of miles since then. Spools up great still.

I swapped in a low mileage used turbo into my 03 at ~305k miles. VNT internals worn out, but no shaft play or oil usage. If I find a trashed center section with good VNT, I'll make 1 out of 2.

If I were you, I would contact Frans at Dutch Auto Parts. His used turbos are cleaned and balanced and are very inexpensive. His "rebuilt" turbos are new CHRA's in a used exhaust manifold.

Correct me if I'm wrong the worn part in the picture is in the exhaust housing not the turbo. So getting a new turbo wouldn't fix it.

With that amount of wear it should still work right?
Maybe unscrew the stop on the vane lever?

fatmobile said:

Correct me if I'm wrong the worn part in the picture is in the exhaust housing not the turbo.

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It's the VNT (variable geometry turbo) mechanism that controls the blades.
Not completely unique to the VW, but almost. It's an alternative to a wastegate design.

The exhaust drives the air side, or amount of air going in the intake . By controlling the blades it varies the amount of boost.

It IS part of the turbo, so stand corrected.

The wear is so bad that while possible to reweld, machine, yadayada, it could be made to work, but not cost effective.


IMO the OP should get another turbo.

I just Swapped a VNT17 into my 06 Beetle, its amazing. Plug and play, I plan on getting a tune soon. I have 163,000 plus on the motor and replaced the clutch and timing belt at around 95,000 miles, bought the car at auction and it hadn't been shown much love from the original owner. I got all the parts from IDparts for 1150 US and did the work in two days without taking off the intake, it was a pain but I got it done. It's like driving a completely different vehicle. I drive about 700 miles a week and am on the first full tank of fuel, I am using the fuelly app to track mileage and hope to get around 44 mpg, we shall see. It's nice t be able to merge and pass without any drama.

Rrusse11 said:

It's the VNT (variable geometry turbo) mechanism that controls the blades.
Not completely unique to the VW, but almost. It's an alternative to a wastegate design.

The exhaust drives the air side, or amount of air going in the intake . By controlling the blades it varies the amount of boost.

It IS part of the turbo, so stand corrected.

The wear is so bad that while possible to reweld, machine, yadayada, it could be made to work, but not cost effective.


IMO the OP should get another turbo.

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Oh right.
That worn part is actually on the turbo core.
Other end of the actuating lever.
I've built a few VNTs for my rabbits. Even make my own cylinder bearings because the new ones suck. Posted a picture on here somewhere, my first post.
Looks like it's worn so the turbo wouldn't open as much as it could.
Since mine are mechanically controlled; if I backed out the stop screw a little that turbo would still work great on one of my Rabbits, ha.

gforce1108 said:

I swapped in a low mileage used turbo into my 03 at ~305k miles. VNT internals worn out, but no shaft play or oil usage. If I find a trashed center section with good VNT, I'll make 1 out of 2.

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Here is the part # for a new nozzles and ring for the vnt 15. 1102 017 835. I bought some at a local diesel shop. He said they were listed as vnt 17, however they were for the stock vnt 15 Garrett. And they do fit the vnt 15, as I installed one in my turbo.
They are made in the UK and should be shipped reasonably with Royal Mail. Do a search on them. I think I paid $108 from the local shop, then found them in the UK for $65 after checking the number. With exchange and shipping I don't know what it would have been at the time.

jmodge said:

Here is the part # for a new nozzles and ring for the vnt 15. 1102 017 835. I bought some at a local diesel shop. He said they were listed as vnt 17, however they were for the stock vnt 15 Garrett. And they do fit the vnt 15, as I installed one in my turbo.
They are made in the UK and should be shipped reasonably with Royal Mail. Do a search on them. I think I paid $108 from the local shop, then found them in the UK for $65 after checking the number. With exchange and shipping I don't know what it would have been at the time.

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Very cool - One day I'll pull it apart to see what all it needs (and to make sure is actually comes apart!!!).