Buying a BEW with a blown turbo!

buyingconstant7

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2014
Location
Calgary, Alberta
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI 5spd
I found a 2004 Jetta TDI 5spd with the BEW engine of course. The guy was driving it last week when he was accelerating, he heard a sort-of pop, and saw tons of smoke with no power and limped it home which was 2 blocks away, making sure oil loss would be kept to a minimum. He is selling it to me for $450. Body is in absolutely stunning shape, 0 rust or scratches. Interior is perfect, everything works, even the AC. Winter and summer set of tires are nearly new. I started the car up today from cold(about 35f) and it started great but stuttered a bit when cranking and missed a bit for a couple seconds(I'm thinking bad glowplug...do BEW's set codes for bad glowplugs, or did that start with the BRM?). The engine light is on for a P0401, low EGR flow code. No other lights at all. Think it's a good buy? Forgot to mention, it has 165,000 miles and I can source a turbo from a friend for $500. What do you all think, and if you have any advice, it would be great!
 

fruitcakesa

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Location
Vermont
TDI
04 jetta 5 spd wagon
Even if it does need a turbo, $450 is a steal.
Get it before the next guy beats you to it.
 

JETaah

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Jan 18, 2001
Location
mi 48836
TDI
96 B4V, 1999.5 jettaIV,2005 BEW Beetle
Codes for glow plug issues started back in 1997, if I am not mistaken.
 

Rembrant

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2014
Location
Canada's Ocean Playground
TDI
2013 Golf TDI DSG
Even if it does need a turbo, $450 is a steal.
Get it before the next guy beats you to it.
If the car is indeed as clean as he says and it has only 165k miles on it, then yeah, I'd grab it too. If the car's condition is that good, I'd even spring for a new turbo;).

I never come across these deals. Anytime I come across an old TDI for $450, the owner is often asking too much money for it.
 

KERMA

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Sep 23, 2001
Location
here
TDI
99 beetle and 04 jetta
any TDI with a blown turbo the very first thing to check is the compression.
low compression in cylinders 2 and 3 indicates bent rods from a hydrolock
 

Mike_04GolfTDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 19, 2003
Location
Richmond, BC, Canada
TDI
Mine: 2019 Golf R DSG, Wife's: 2015 Golf Comfortline TDI
Sounds like an awesome deal. Changing a turbo isn't all that difficult, and you'll have a $5000 car when you're done. Certainly worth the effort, even if it takes you all day.

That turbo from your friend for $500 isn't new, is it? Just wondering because I have a turbo from my 2004 Golf and I've been kind of wondering what i would be worth. I replaced it with a VNT-17. (Just because I wanted more power. It was working fine).
 

buyingconstant7

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2014
Location
Calgary, Alberta
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI 5spd
Bought it! Already got a start on it, I looked at some DIY's and I guess I have to remove the passenger side drive shaft. It was quite difficult to get to that oil return line with it in the way so I'll remove that tomorrow and go from there. Took the intercooler off and it probably dumped a good liter of oil on my shop floor. Took the intake piping off going into the turbo and oh my! I can't even feel anything inside....
 

Mike_04GolfTDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 19, 2003
Location
Richmond, BC, Canada
TDI
Mine: 2019 Golf R DSG, Wife's: 2015 Golf Comfortline TDI
It's really easy to get the turbo out from the top.

First take off the plastic ducting that runs behind your intake, then remove the EGR cooler, then remove the intake, then be amazed at how much space there is without all that stuff in the way.

It looks difficult, but once you get into it, it's really not.

Also, this gives you the opportunity to see if the intake needs cleaning.
 

buyingconstant7

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2014
Location
Calgary, Alberta
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI 5spd
I got the plastic intake tube off, but I can't see any practical way of doing it all from the top, I can't get access to anything! I watched ThomasXOVCDS's video of a turbo removal on a BEW and he did everything from the bottom. Looks easy once the axle is out of the way
 

najel

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
Location
Madison Lake, MN
TDI
2002 Golf 5 speed
I got the plastic intake tube off, but I can't see any practical way of doing it all from the top, I can't get access to anything! I watched ThomasXOVCDS's video of a turbo removal on a BEW and he did everything from the bottom. Looks easy once the axle is out of the way
You missed the part about removing the EGR cooler and intake manifold. Once those are gone, there should be lots of room.
 

Franko6

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
May 7, 2005
Location
Sw Missouri
TDI
Jetta, 99, Silver`
One thing is for sure... your turbo is blown. Before you go too far, you need find out if the rods are bent.

First thing, charge up the battery.,
Remove the intake pipe to the Manifold and pull the glow plugs. Unscrew the injector harness plug so it does not fuel the engine. Plug the turbo oil line at the oil filter housing. I believe it is a 12 x 1.5 bolt size. This way, you can avoid dumping more oil into your intake and it doesn't matter if you remove the turbo; it won't make a mess all over the place. Run the engine, no glow plugs. Make sure that you don't have anything in front of the car that you don't want doused with oil. You might blanket what ejects from the gp holes.

Once you get the majority of oil out of the cylinders, test cylinders with a compression tester. The Horrible Freight ones will work, as long as you replace the schrader valve. With as many bicycles as the Chinese have, you'd think they could make a schrader valve...

DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN the 10 x 1.0 gp adapter. Snug is all it needs to be. Attach the test gauge. Check compression for each cylinder.

If you are strangely lucky, which this is a case where that can happen, you will find the cylinder pressures even. Anything between 460psi to 500psi, with no more than 10% deviation is good. Footnote: Compression on a diesel is performed by running the engine until the gauge will go no higher.

If you are very lucky, you will need to replace the turbo and remove the piping from the turbo all the way to the intake manifold (The intake manifold has to come off anyway, so do that and the turbo comes out the top). Make sure any of the exploded turbo blades, which is very likely, are removed from all the piping, manifold and the intercooler is completely washed out.

If the sad event is that you show the most likely #2 or #3 cylinders with lowered compression, the cylinder head comes off and you drop the oil pan. Measure heights of the pistons. Most common example for a 2-hole head gasket: Pisont projection should be .039"-.043". Pull pairs of reciprocating pistons to match weight and length of replacement piston/rod sets.

We are expert at reconditioning cylinder heads and have good used rods, pistons and whatever you might need for assembly. Let us know if we can be any service.

What turbo can you get for $500? We suggest new and Garrett for best bang for the buck. We know there are rebuilders of turbos, but they are unfortunately, few and far between. A takeoff may be as bad as the one you are replacing and poor rebuilds abound. New at that price? Doubtful.
 

buyingconstant7

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2014
Location
Calgary, Alberta
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI 5spd
Did the check, IIRC(I wrote it down, but am at work now), it was 485, 487,490,484. I could seriously not find any practical way of getting the EGR cooler off from the top, so I just took the passenger side axle off, and took the turbo and exhaust manifold out, and then the intake and EGR at once. So much easier. Not even going to bother doing a clean, theres a fine layer of soot , but it's not restricting flow at all, it looks like it's been cleaned before. Old turbo compressor exploded so I found bits in the piping and intercooler as Franko said. My friend replaced his turbo with a brand new one in his BEW. 20,000 miles later, he totalled it and parted it out, saving the turbo, so I'm getting it off him today. So far, a fun project!
 

Mike_04GolfTDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 19, 2003
Location
Richmond, BC, Canada
TDI
Mine: 2019 Golf R DSG, Wife's: 2015 Golf Comfortline TDI
Interesting. I did mine from the top and had absolutely no problem removing the EGR cooler. It's held on by four screws.

Whatever works though... I guess both methods are relatively easy.
 

Franko6

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
May 7, 2005
Location
Sw Missouri
TDI
Jetta, 99, Silver`
BuyingConstant7,

You got lucky. Congrats on a great deal.

Whatever you do, make sure all the debris is out of the piping, intercooler and intake manifold.

If you end up finding that the engine is using an excessive amount of oil, it's probably a scored cylinder wall, which probably wouldn't even show itself in a compression test. But a groove in a cylinder wall is plenty enough to cause oil to sneak by the piston. Under hard acceleration, you might see slight blue smoke. Even then, if you aren't using 1qt in 2500 miles, I'd run it. If it's at 1500, it's a question mark. 1,000 miles, it's time to do something about it.

Maybe you are really lucky. Go find a four-leaf clover...
 

buyingconstant7

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2014
Location
Calgary, Alberta
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI 5spd
BuyingConstant7,

You got lucky. Congrats on a great deal.

Whatever you do, make sure all the debris is out of the piping, intercooler and intake manifold.

If you end up finding that the engine is using an excessive amount of oil, it's probably a scored cylinder wall, which probably wouldn't even show itself in a compression test. But a groove in a cylinder wall is plenty enough to cause oil to sneak by the piston. Under hard acceleration, you might see slight blue smoke. Even then, if you aren't using 1qt in 2500 miles, I'd run it. If it's at 1500, it's a question mark. 1,000 miles, it's time to do something about it.

Maybe you are really lucky. Go find a four-leaf clover...
Can't see any oil loss. No smoke when driving, even under maximum boost at high rpms. What is happening though, is it smokes a lot of blue smoke when it's sat for a few hours. After 5 seconds it goes away and won't come back no matter what. It'll just smoke some more when it's cold again. So I'm guessing valve stem seals? Or turbo seal? I saw the turbo i bought, from my friend in his car, and it never smoked. So it can't be bad all of a sudden. That and it stumbles when it's cold started, for a few seconds. I'm gonna start with a glow plug test for resistance.
 

pdq import repair

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2016
Location
idaho
TDI
09 Jetta
If the turbo had a bearing failure, it is a good idea to pop off the oil pan and check for shrapnel from the bearing washed down the drain tube.
 
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