Dealer says the cylinder head needs to be replaced

No I am absolutely clear, the engine revved to 5K due to momentum of the vehicle and following mini seconds it stalled. As the RPM was going down at around 4000 RPM with the clutch depressed, I did hear what I would describe as if a belt snapped. and I was under impression it was the timing belt, however the belt and all other timing components were fine. So whatever faint noise I heard damaged something internal I guess. The mechanic will do more troubleshooting on Monday so I will know more about what's going on. I will be relaying all of these opinions to him so he is also informed as he looks for clues.

Re: oil in the #2/3 cylinders... Look at the shape of the intake manifold. Look which cylinders are directly in line with the air coming in to the manifold. That's why 2/3 are full of oil.

Certainly we will check turbo and I hope it is not the head but turbo is at fault...

FYI, even if an engine is electrically limited to say 5000 rpm, all bets are off when you do silly things like downshift to the wrong year,

Not trusting the mechanic who seemed to have little knowledge on the TDI's, I have decided to remove the head to see the condition of the pistons, cylinder wall and the cylinder head. I had removed the bearing frame, injectors etc.. the camshafts, they both seemed to look fine and did not find any heat marking or other unusual scuffing on the cam lobes. Also the timing of the camshaft appears to be correct.
What is the most logical way to remove the head? Can it come out with the turbo attached? Or it is easier to remove the turbo then the head?
Thank you for the valuable info you provide.

Why are you taking the head off? As suggested, the turbo is most likely the culprit, check that first.

I haven't taken it yet. Just wanted to see if the timing on the camshaft was ok, and from what I see the timing is correct, wasn't altered. On Thursday night I will check the turbo as suggested.

I was able to remove the charge air pipe from the turbo and it looks like the turbo wheel is destroyed. I took pictures of it but I am unable to post it somehow on this site. Oilhammer and many others were right... I am glad I did not touch the cylinder head. As Oilhammer turbobrick240, Kevinski4Vwscream, gmcjetpilot and many others mentioned the air restriction was the cause of the low compression. I really appreciate the valuable and unique responds, good educated opinions and advices I got from the member of this forum. The dealer on the other hand truly had no clue or did not really care and just took the shortcut and decided that the engine was destroyed.
I also removed the intake manifold but did not see any visible metal particles. In this case what would be the next logical steps to take..Does intercooler need to be taken out and cleaned?
The turbo wheel is completely stuck and I was unable to move it with my fingers. Now I have to look for a turbo. Where is the best place to buy a replacement turbo?

New here http://www.idparts.com/turbocharger-c-29_117.html ...good price.

PM sent.

COMPRESSION TEST MUST BE DONE HOT....
You can expect lower compression cold.

Now wonder what happened first, was it sudden air force strike what caused turbo failure or was it turbo failure and oil ingestion what caused the RPM rise.

Also, if your cylinders had lots of oil in them, I'd suspect some damage is done there too. Oil does not compress well unlike air...

I believe intercooler can NOT be 100% cleaned. I'd suggest getting a replacement, from a salvage yard possibly. If a metal part is stuck somewhere in it and at some time it fees up, it might damage a cylinder or destroy the new turbo again. Anyway, it's your car, you choose the remedy.

tdi54 said:

The dealer on the other hand truly had no clue or did not really care and just took the shortcut and decided that the engine was destroyed.

Click to expand...

Dealer: "First we will replace one expensive part and one stupid expensive part and if that does not fix the problem, we will have to replace everything else forward of the firewall".

5000 rpn is nothing. Mine hits 5400 on a regular basis. Your turbo is toast, clean out the pipes and check the turbo before cranking any more.
Your rings are fine, your head is fine. Your rods might not be. Take it to a competent mechanic.

Henrick said:

I believe intercooler can NOT be 100% cleaned. I'd suggest getting a replacement, from a salvage yard possibly. If a metal part is stuck somewhere in it and at some time it fees up, it might damage a cylinder or destroy the new turbo again. Anyway, it's your car, you choose the remedy.

Click to expand...

Correct, if it ingested turbo pieces, throw the IC away and get a new/used unit.

I replaced an intercooler on a '10 JSW last week because the end tank seals were leaking. 200+K miles on it. A new IC isn't a "waste" of money. They wear out.

Most of the time when I put in a new IC it's because the posts for the core support are broken off from "curb surfing" particularly on Golf models.

Well, finally last Sunday morning I was able to install the turbo--big pain in the neck as the area in the back of the engine is very tight, and dpf has to be partially removed--.
I had cleaned the IC pipes and found 2 pieces of metal from the compressor wheel right after the silencer pipe. The intake manifold looked fine, I cleaned the pipes and intake manifold as much as I can. However, I did not remove or changed the intercooler. There was probably more than a liter of oil stored in the intercooler due to turbo failure.

Since all 4 injectors and fuel lines after the hpfp were removed I had to purge the air via vcsd. It was pretty easy to purge the air. I could hear the noise coming from aux pump. I tried this 4 times 30 second or more each time. Then I attempted to start to car.. on my third try the car started fine and idled without any abnormal sound or vibration in the engine. I took it for short drive and it drove fine. So far I had put 200 miles and thanks god the car is running perfectly fine as it was before.
I thank you again for the correct directions I got from many of you in my attemp to repair the car.

Remove the upper charge air pipe and inspect it. My vote is that you'll continue finding metal shavings in there (they're comming from the dirty intercooler).

I sure hope you cleaned it!!!

Why wouldn't you change it? Its cheaper than a new engine.