Turbo went boom. [pics]

CoyoteStarfish

Veteran Member
Joined
May 25, 2011
Location
Miami, FL
TDI
01 Beetle
So I'm driving along, and I hear an all too familiar POP and loss of power. I immediately shut the engine down and coast into a parking lot expecting a charge pipe blew off somewhere. Not so lucky.
I see oil pouring all over the ground near the rear of the engine, so I play it safe.. call in, wait for a tow.
I get home and start checking around only to find THIS:

The entire compressor housing had sheared off! :eek:
When I reached down to feel how bad the compressor blade had been chewed up - knowing it wouldn't be salvageable anyway - I didn't feel anything at all. The compressor blade was gone.
Any idea what might have caused this? Vehicle details and mods are in my signature... keep in mind the EVRY mod is on a momentary button only activated at WOT. I was nowhere near WOT when this happened.
 

Nutsnbolts

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Nov 1, 2001
Location
Weare, NH
TDI
2000 Jetta, Silver Arrow
That is absolutely amazing. I've got nothing as far as an idea about why that would have happened, though. At first glance, it looks like it took a hit from behind, but I'm not sure what could have done it. Was the nut that holds the turbo outlet pipe to the body (the one between the turbo and the intercooler) still on? If the pipe was hanging free, vibration over time might have fatigued the housing?

-Rich
 

CoyoteStarfish

Veteran Member
Joined
May 25, 2011
Location
Miami, FL
TDI
01 Beetle
I just had to go check.. the pipe was still bolted to the body. Someone else suggested it may have been a casting flaw. There is a hair-line crack that runs from the center out to the outside of the flange. I'm trying to get a better picture right now.
 

Ski in NC

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 7, 2008
Location
Wilmington, NC USA
TDI
2001 Jetta ALH 5sp stock
Seen other photos of the same type failure on this site. Looks like fatigue failure. Boost pressure up high?? High boost puts alot of force on that housing (looks like a piston to the pressurized air) and that will stress it where it failed. Each gear shift is a load cycle, creating a fatigue situation. Maybe some other turbos are beefier there.
 

bloc

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2006
Location
Austin, Tx
TDI
2013 Touareg TDI
Shaft failure > compressor wheel wedging itself between the cartridge & housing? maybe?
 

diesel-dave

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2007
Location
earth
TDI
2003 wagon TDI, 2003 wagon Tdi, 2013 Q7 Tdi
looks like you need a new turbo, My suggestion is to get a vnt 17 this time. they are similar to vnt 15 in price.
 

CoyoteStarfish

Veteran Member
Joined
May 25, 2011
Location
Miami, FL
TDI
01 Beetle
I'm looking at a VNT20 using a cast 8V manifold with a T25 flange. Not sure about clearances on this Beetle, however.. anyone want to chime in?

If that doesn't pan out, I'm also looking at a KP39A [Isn't this essentially a VNT17?] with integrated exhaust manifold.

We wanted to go big power with this Beetle, this was just a little unexpected. But if I have to shell out, I might as well go big.
 

FordGuy100

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2011
Location
Silverton, OR
TDI
2004 Jetta TDI
The same KP39 found on BEW's? if that's the cause many say that are to small andust be upgraded for bigger power.
 

1.9 TDI Awd

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2010
Location
Marquette, Michigan
TDI
2000 TDI Golf 5spd
i would love to know how yours blew aparts/ split. i did get a message from my VWvortex a guy John that had a same issue. i should call him like he offered. just wondering are all of your vacuum lines oem? mine r. have you ever replaced your N75 valve? mines OEM as far as i know, had the TDI a year and never replaced. old owner didnt know much. needed alot of tlc when i bought it. still needs some... anyways i had my EVRY mod on at WOT 2nd gear up hill pull, full running temp after bout 1hr plus driving lightly no evry. just normal cruising, wanted to pull up hill... BOOF. same though of boost pipe, no response. then i saw a bit of white smoke, had to crest the hill as i was on a highway. it started dieseling the oil(rpm and feel gave that away) i shuter down ASAP, in gear as i have PD150 IM and RP. no asv to shut for me as im egr deleted. coulda been the Engine!! glad to upgrade also, just way to unexpected....enough rambling
 

1.9 TDI Awd

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2010
Location
Marquette, Michigan
TDI
2000 TDI Golf 5spd
My Split housing

This is the housing off my VNT15. as you can see pieces of the wheel are lodged into the housing...



then the whole housing, still unable to locate the actual shaft. however the nut is in mint condition threads and all! so confused on that part


seperated form the cast...
and literally all that i found in the housing on the road after blow out. wheel pieces where on my skid plate.





after tearing everything apart, the vanes work flawlessly. the actuator moves(unsure of how much vacuum it takes) and the soot was minimal. just oily as can be!...upgrade i guess!
 

CoyoteStarfish

Veteran Member
Joined
May 25, 2011
Location
Miami, FL
TDI
01 Beetle
I also have the EVRY mod, but mine is a bit different. I have a trigger button under the accelerator which only triggers it at WOT and there is a toggle which arms the trigger mounted just by my hazards. The EVRY was OFF when this happened!
I will admit, I did like to race this little Beetle around town, and with the EVRY it was pretty quick - so I did abuse it on occasion. It has no boost gauge, which is why I stopped using the EVRY in the interest of waiting until I could put a quality pyrometer and boost gauge on it.
I was leaving a McDonald's parking lot with casual acceleration and when I hit second gear.. "BOOF!" describes the sound perfectly. I thought maybe I had blown an intercooler hose but then I saw the white cloud and the engine started accelerating on its own. The first post describes the rest.
The compressor stage had been sheered off completely, leaving the damage pattern on the compressor housing you see above.
This car had OEM everything with no service records, 150k on it, clueless POs and the lady (my friend, owner for 3 years) I bought it from wasn't very well informed by myself as I didn't know much about the TDIs at the time of her ownership either. The only things I DO is that I installed some .216 "prothe" nozzles about 1.5 years ago and that the car had a timing belt and clutch installed a few months prior to my purchase.
 
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1.9 TDI Awd

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2010
Location
Marquette, Michigan
TDI
2000 TDI Golf 5spd
hmm, i wish i new the reason? is it too much overboosting previous to it letting go? just bad turbo, oil seals going out anyways. i wish i knew more about what lead to this catostrophic failure.... have you repaired your setup yet? or are you still turbo less?
 

CoyoteStarfish

Veteran Member
Joined
May 25, 2011
Location
Miami, FL
TDI
01 Beetle
I've got a good used turbo on mine right now, still VNT15 until I get up the parts to do a 17 or 17/22 swap.
I did an EGR/CCV delete while I had it open so I'm in limp mode until I either tune it or go mTDI.
 

Seatman

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 23, 2010
Location
Scotland
TDI
2014 Skoda rapid elegance 1.6 cr tdi
What ever the reason you must get points just for the "shear" beauty of that destruction :D
 

aymen_a22

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2011
Location
Bournemouth, UK
TDI
Seat Leon SE TDi 110hp (ASV Code)
That damage is pretty impressive, you could look on the bright side and head towards an uprated (VNT17) turbo and a set of nozzles followed by a good tune.


I deleted the EGR on my ASV Leon TDI just by cutting the vacuum line and putting a bolt in the vacuum line from the N18 valve to the EGR and I get no limp mode and no codes, it could be worth a try.


I would like to know what caused the compressor to shear off though. Could it possibly be that when using the EVRY mod (along with the nozzles) the overfueling caused the exhaust gas temperatures to increase too much causing any weakness (in a 150k engine) in the turbo to be accelerated and then break?


I would be interested in the EVRY mod but I have heard that using a EGT gauge and a boost gauge are extremely important if you do, just to monitor things.


Keep us updated, the pictures are great!
 
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