I was told "it has a bad turbo"2004 golf BEW

Car has the intake boot off of it at the intake, the previous owner, a mechanic told me it was using big oil wouldn't start unless he removed the intake boot. 226,000 miles on it nice rust free car, manual trans. So these guys tell me it ran fine after the egr delete install. I don't know about the ECU software.They literally had a lot of cars didn't want to mess with the turbo. I removed the turbo the shaft had about an 1/8" of wiggle some fins were abit bent none missing, the waste gate shaft would not move, cleaned the intake really wasn't bad tho, checked all duct work for nasty stuff removed and checked the intercooler. Didn't find any debris did drain about a 1/4 cup of oil from charge cooler. so got the best turbo with 3yr/36,000 warranty Rock auto, Garret stock replacement/direct fit, (used the original turbo part # to cross reference)STANDARD MOTOR PRODUCTS TBC518 new oil and all the filters. The engine cranked normally before disassembly but wouldn't fire. The ambient temp in my shop is 55F. I got everything reinstalled disconnected the pump at the fuel tank to crank the engine until oil was exiting the turbo drain tube. During this process I had to release the key 3 times after cranking for 5-6 seconds the motor was trying to fire, I'm thinking hmm good sign. So I reconnected the pump and the oil drain tube and it fired up ran like 2-3 cylinders noisy like air in fuel lines lots of black smoke wouldn't accelerate, check engine light on , glow plug light flashing let run about 25 seconds. I don't think the boost gauge read anything. The shop smoke was getting thick it wasn't clearing up so I shut it off. Now cranks easy wont hit a lick. Tried cranking like 10 seconds -Nothing. I was a dealership tech in 1984 thru 1990. knowing how these things are I pulled the ECU to visually inspect for issues found none cleaned the mass ground by the ECU. The harness is factory intact no TSB #TSB 201046. Vin # is 9BWFRC1J944031925 manufacture date 03/04. I would like to get it to drive to the dealer if there are any open recalls. My experience is all the old diesels, some of you have I hope a better direction for my focus in my next session with this car I'm away from it until next week. Thanx in advance!

Is the lift pump in the tank working? Do you hear a noise from the back seat when you glow the car?

All the cranking you did at first would not only prime the oil system but also the fuel lines.

If this car was blowing oil out the exhaust system then it will take about a 10 mile drive to burn all that oil out of the exhaust system, leaving a smokescreen you’ll be proud of, for most of those 10 miles.

I hope you didn’t waste your money on the turbo, I think that’s a rebuild and rebuilds are hit and miss.

I couldn't hear the lift pump, I hope its not a rebuild too, I am an engine guy as well but I didn't alot time for that as yet. I haven' t really spent much time with this phase. I didn't see anything that scared me when I disassembled it. I would think metal in oil & filter would indicate overhaul time? these dont really blow up normally at 226k? I feel like it cranks pretty normal.

I would remove the fuel supply line from the fuel filter canister, put the tip inside a plastic container (gatorade bottle?) Have asisstant turn key on. You should have a short squirt of diesel.
It will confirm the lift pump and associated hardware actually runs.

Sounds like its starving for air. Exhaust might be plugged, EGR might be stuck open or the something is blocking the intake path.

A wet air filter will choke an engine.

You should get a VCDS hooked up and pull some codes. The flashing glow plug light means something serious is going on and will record a code. It's not indicating a bad glow plug system, although you could have a problem with that system nevertheless.

I will update this 2/20 gonna work on the feul, possibly the exhaust plugged? the only exhaust on it is the downpipe and that catalyst , the EGR,cooler and piping is deleted. I inspected and blew air through all the intake and intercooler & pipes pretty sure all ok. I aquired a bluepoint scantool tonight which should let me see codes. Thanks everyone! BTW found my car needs recalls, N400brake switch, M600 EGR cooler, 28F6 Glow plugs.

The glow plug recall not being done can lead to hard starts.

Did you check,the snow screen?

I don't think the 2004s have a snowscreen.

Yea I was out there tonite, Lift pump tests OK, it wont start on wd40,no fuel blowing out the glow plug holes. I removed the o2 sensor (to see if that helped in the case of plugged cat) no help.I had a cheapy scanner had 3 codes PO0135, P2564, and PO674. The glow plugs had been changed I think that was old. Pulled valve cover cam etc. looks great engine is fairly clean inside. The glow plug holes blow alot of air out of them when cranked just no fuel mist. need to check fuel pump? ran out of time, isn't this frickin' exciting?

So I reinstalled the O2,installed clear fuel hoses on the return and feed to the tandem pump. I start the engine it seems to run just a bit better however seems like 850 rpm or so on the tach is all I get out of her. I let it run and observed no air in fuel line , seems like there's an adequate fuel supply for these injectors. I let the engine run till I got heat, still no response from throttle, real black and smoky, Had the air filter box open during this run it does have a distinct pulsation in "the hole", no sooty smoke coming out. the brake booster does have vacuum and assist. let run approx. 20 minutes. Shut it down. No restart, it turns over like a gas engine with no spark or fuel very easy crank its different than when you crank it cold and its hitting to start, so I pulled the glow plugs and cranked her there in no fuel spray whatsoever. I pulled the cam cover back off and heeding the advice of another TDI forum that I read this week, I placed rags into the holes in the cylinder head to impead any accidental falling object from ruining my day. I removed all the plugs on the injectors and the main plug at the head to see if anything melted/moved cracked split or whatever. All seems OK, further closely inspected the cam, used magnifier, LED lamp and a long thin screw driver to rotate the lifters in there bores and inspect. the only concerning thing I can see is that the lift areas of all the valve lobes have a sharp edge (no chamfer as described elsewhere), the base circle of the lobe appears normal and I don't see or feel a big difference. I worked on enough 80's model GMs to see wiped cams! HAha. However I kinda feel like if the cam were the whole problem it wouldn't start at all? I plan on purchasing the Rosstech VCDS eventually (in a month) first I have an obligation to purge my bank account to uncle Sam. I can tell already this will get me at least some sympathy speculation/advice. The only other reference material I have is my trusty Bentley"s manual. I can find pin connectors with it and back probe the injector harness to see if the injectors are getting pulsed, not sure if that would be telling or wise?

Though I'm a bit confused, harken back to the OP, car only started with the big pipe (intake boot?) disconnected. That tells us it's starved for air. Bad turbo wouldn't do that unless it or the exhaust is plugged. I'd focus on air restriction first. Double check the EGR delete bits.

Well that’s what the seller told me. However it never started for me with the intake disconnected. I’ve been running the car since reassembly with everything in its normal place except the EGR.( I’ve inspected his block off plates etc.) When I had it apart for turbo I inspected every piece of intake ducts and cleaned the intake. I will disconnect the inter cooler pipes next time I run the engine, blew compressed air thru it but that doesn’t tell a whole lot. I inspected all IC ducts pipes also.

Don't the BEW's have some throttle blades in the intake ports where the manifold split is? Down by the exhaust manifold that is.
cheers,
Douglas

they do, I need to verify the vacuum lines are correctly routed to the waste gate and the intake actuator for those blades , those got gently and thoroughly cleaned when I installed the new turbo. I'm going to put a fuel pressure gauge on it after I trace down the vacuum line routing this weekend.

UPDATE ; found the problem! 10 cogs missing from timing belt! what are the chances valves are not bent? It is amazing that this thing could start and run at all. Thanks everybody!

Engine is likely fine, you will need to pull the head and have it rebuilt though.

I was going to pull the cam, then leak test cylinders, hate wasting time tho. I was wondering about pistons /con rods, I'm not real familiar with this generation of diesel.I was hoping those with damage experience could clue me in a bit. I could most likely just cut to the chase pull the head, do the valves/guide service on the OEM cylinder head, new belt and move on? See I have the opppurtunity to purchase a used 05' BEW from a totaled Jetta auto trans car it was running when it wrecked.

If it were me, I would put in the engine that did not crash...as long as you are sure it has not. Be a shame to put one in that has and is about to do unto itself...

Then keep the missing-belt-teeth one as a spare rebuilder pile.
cheers,
Douglas

I have the cam out, it had jumped 3 teeth on the crank. lifters were interesting. It really needs a camshaft the intake followers are dished a bit as well. what's the general consensus on replacement parts go OEM only? In particular the quality of exhaust valves concerns me, has anyone tried this billet replacement camshaft from Idparts? Thanks again for all the help. I want to turn this car into a reliable daily driver.