5 Blown Turbos

[dana orzel]

Hello,
I am new to the TDI club. I hope that I am not going over an old thread. I have blown 5 turbos or rather had 5 go, the third went as the dealer was testing turbo #2 and the 5th went when the mechanic was test driving turbo #4. The car now sits waiting to go back to the dealer who sold my mechanic the last two turbos and now willnot give them credit on the blown units.
I have 75K miles on the 2001 Golf TDI. I have been running the "approved" Amsoil synthetic oil, K&N air filter. I live at 7Kft. El. and drive over 10 to 11,000 ft passes as I move about in SW Colorado.
Has anyone else had this kind of problem?

 

[acktdi]

Do you have a boost gauge installed? Maybe you have an overboosting issue or lugging the engine. Most people here are very anti K&N, although it's probably not at fault - I'd go back to a stock paper filter.

 

[resinguy]

IIRC, it was determined here years ago that if the turbo actuator rod is not positioned correctly, then high altitude cars will suffer as you have described. try searching old (~2001) threads by mickey and skypup. Is your mechanic familiar with TDIs, or following the Bentley on proper set-up?

 

[Powder Hound]

So how is it that so many turbochargers were DOA? They are such a simple device it is hard to believe that you could see so many failures.

 

[paramedick]

Are you gunning it below 2K RPM? A no-no with the VNT turbo.

 

[tadc]

IIRC, it was determined here years ago that if the turbo actuator rod is not positioned correctly, then high altitude cars will suffer as you have described. try searching old (~2001) threads by mickey and skypup. Is your mechanic familiar with TDIs, or following the Bentley on proper set-up?

I believe the actuator would come pre-set on the new turbos, right? So it's hard to believe all 5 would be badly adjusted from factory.

From what I've read, high-altitude mountain passes are about the worst for turbo overspeed. Do you have a chip or other performance enhancement? Ever check the snow screen?

I'd also ditch the K&N.. it's probably not the CAUSE of the prob, but it probably contributes to the overspeed by reducing intake restriction.

And you're paying DEALER prices for these turbos? Damn.

What's the failure mode of the turbos anyway? All the same? Or are these being swapped without proper diagnosis? Perhaps they are not really failed, or perhaps a bad N75 or something else is causing them to fail.

How long did the various turbos last?

 

[Zero10]

I as well am curious about how these turbos have failed. Were the ones that replaced the original rebuilt, or new? Who provided them all?

 

[JettaJake]

Five?!?!? Man, that's hard to fathom....

 

[meetis]

Maybe i am just stbborn I know tho i woudn't pay for more then 2 turbo's MAX out of my pocket after that its up to the mechanic to find the real problem with the car. I don't know what the problem here is but 5 turbo's blowing tells me its not the turbo. I have a hard time blaming a air intake also i mean seriously as long as large particulates are not getting into the engine there is no problem and god knows how many people probably have a aftermarket air intake on there car if blowing turbos was a common problem associated with aftermarket air intakes i doubt they would be able to sell them. Are there any other mods on the car like a custom ECU? From the factory the ecu should not be over boosting (hell it barely boosts) but a guage never hurts.