Leaking Turbo Charger

[axelseaa]

I have an 2005 Passat Wagon TDI and discovered my car had an oil leak and I took it into the dealer to figure out where its coming from. They discovered the source of the leak, and said the oil is leaking into the turbo charger and spraying out the seals.

They quoted around $1,800 to install a new turbo charger, clamps, degrease the engine and do an oil change - does that sound fair? Has anyone else had this issue?

This is the first major thing that has gone wrong since I've bought the car - just looking for a little advice moving forward - thanks!

 

[oilhammer]

I doubt it needs a turbo, it probably just needs some seals on the charge air hoses. Somewhat common, especially at the charge air hose that exits the turbo itself, and in some cases that hose also gets a hole rubbed in it.

There is ALWAYS some oil from the crankcase breather in the charge air tract, and since it is under pressure from the turbo, any leak will push the oil out.

 

[axelseaa]

I doubt it needs a turbo, it probably just needs some seals on the charge air hoses. Somewhat common, especially at the charge air hose that exits the turbo itself, and in some cases that hose also gets a hole rubbed in it.

There is ALWAYS some oil from the crankcase breather in the charge air tract, and since it is under pressure from the turbo, any leak will push the oil out.

Thanks for the info. Do you have any tricks for testing and figuring out what the cause may be without completely disassembling the car?

 

[oilhammer]

Thanks for the info. Do you have any tricks for testing and figuring out what the cause may be without completely disassembling the car?

Just take the charge air hoses off an look.

 

[axelseaa]

Here is the exact verbage from the tech on the slip:

"Found oil in intercooler from intercooler to turbo and from intercooler to intake. Internal turbo seal leaking oil. Recommend Turbo"

He also said they could visibly see the oil leaking I guess - so - ugh. And to top it off, left front axle boot is torn too. Fun times!

 

[oilhammer]

Yeah, I think he is full of it. If your turbo was in fact bad, it would have been belching HUGE clouds of smoke, running away, and possibly hydrolocked the engine.

As I said, I very much doubt you need a new turbo.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

Maybe take your car to JasonTDI to have him look it over for you.

 

[abctdi]

Avoid that dealer/tech in the future. It's quite a jump from normal conditions to internal seal leakage to need new turbo.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

Maybe the seals are leaking.

I say go get a second opinion from a guru.

 

[abctdi]

They might be, but wouldn't it take an in depth inspection of the turbo itself to determine that vs. a casual inspection?

 

[VeeDubTDI]

Yes, hence my recommendation for a second in-person evaluation. A good mechanic who is familiar with TDIs should be able to determine what the problem is fairly quickly - most likely without disassembly of the turbo. Even if a bit of labor is required, it is a better option than throwing parts at it or ignoring a potential problem.

 

[oilhammer]

TDI turbos don't leak oil externally, unless the housing somehow cracked (never seen that before). The oil feed pipe could crack, but that would cause a MASSIVE oil leak, as in, it would empty the crankcase in about 30 seconds, and that typically only happens if someone worked on it in the past and decided the oil pipe attachment brackets were "optional" .

And if the turbo failed and was leaking oil into the charge air tract, as I already stated, the engine would be smoking BAD... like so bad you could not see behind you, and the engine would run away on you (RPMs suddenly skyrocket as the engine consumes the oil).

Some oil spots on your driveway are NOT a failure mode for a TDI turbocharger.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

But it could leak internally, slowly, into the intake, to the point where it started leaking out of a charge air pipe - but not enough for it to ingest a slug of oil into the engine. We're not talking about turbo failure or external leaking... we're talking about the potential for seal degredation inside the turbo - which we have seen before.

Again, get someone else to look at it and give you a second opinion. If it's not the turbo seals, then great - you just saved yourself $1800.

Here's a question: How much oil is actually leaking from the vehicle?

 

[axelseaa]

Thanks everyone for the info - that's more along the lines of what I was thinking. I'll keep you guys posted, and will probably give JasonTDI a call!

 

[axelseaa]

Here's a question: How much oil is actually leaking from the vehicle?

There is a spot on the garage floor - maybe 2 or 3 inches in diameter. But I have not needed to add any additional oil. I have not looked to see if the cover on the underside has any signs of oil on it yet myself.

 

[oilhammer]

But it could leak internally, slowly, into the intake, to the point where it started leaking out of a charge air pipe - but not enough for it to ingest a slug of oil into the engine. We're not talking about turbo failure or external leaking... we're talking about the potential for seal degredation inside the turbo - which we have seen before.

But that's the thing, there is ALWAYS some oil in the charge air tract. So if you had a 'slow' turbo internal oil seal leak, how would you know that from the crankcase oil breather oil that is in there anyways? And don't these turbos, by design, allow for some oil seepage past the internal brearing/bushing/seal anyways?

I've never taken a charge air hose off of a BHW and not had some oil drip out... and I've taken more off that most people. And the only turbochargers I've ever had to replace on them are ones that were starved for oil after the chain broke and the oil pump stopped turning.

But I HAVE replaced more charge air pipe seals than I can count, and they most certainly will allow for a really big oily mess over time under the front of the car. And I have also replaced about 10 of those S-hoses out of the turbo because they rub through on the battery cable lead or they wear the lock tab down through the metal and cause a leak there.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

You wouldn't know that... which is why I said get a second opinion!

 

[JFettig]

Also, those turbos are very easy to install, remove air box, remove 6 exhaust nuts, oil feed line, oil return line, lower support bracket bolt and fish it out. Install with new gaskets and nuts. New turbos aren't that expensive and some were floating around way cheaper not too long ago.

Jon

 

[KCMike]

I just replaced my turbo (153K miles) because it was making a nasty grinding noise as it spooled down. CoolAirVW diagnosed the problem for me. Replaced it rather than have it grenade on me one dark and stormy night. As bad as the turbo was getting, it wasn't leaking oil.

 

[axelseaa]

My car only has 45k miles on it - which probably fuels the argument that its likely not the turbo that needs to be replaced

 

[aja8888]

My car only has 45k miles on it - which probably fuels the argument that its likely not the turbo that needs to be replaced

45K? I can't believe they told you the turbo was going out. Well, maybe I can....it was a dealer tech.

Please go see Jason ans save yourself a pile of dough!

 

[axelseaa]

Got a hold of Jason tonight - going to go see him mid next week!

 

[leicaman]

Got a hold of Jason tonight - going to go see him mid next week!

Jason does know his stuff and he will not BS you. Just don't blow off the appointment and don't be late.

 

[axelseaa]

So - to top it off - today I finally got around to poking around under the hood - and when I had it into the dealer they completely ripped off one of the back plastic mounts from the top engine cover. And they severely cross threaded one of the other ones. Just awesome. They will be hearing from me on monday, and sure as hell better be replacing the cover!

Stay away from the Frank Boucher Dealer in Janesville WI! Something has seriously degraded with their service in the last 6 months.

 

[jasonTDI]

Ughhh..The Mooocher....They were marginal before they were sold 2 years ago and are absolutely 2 steps under a jiffy-lube as far as VW knowledge now. I have some serious horror stories about them.

The BEST is a clients co-worker went there for an oil change. She ALWAYS brought her own Delvac1. Anyway, they were told the oil was in the boot and were to install that oil. They did alright. All 3 gallons......Motor made it 2 blocks before it tossed a rod out the side of the block.

It'll be here today. I'll be the judge of the bad turbo.

 

[oilhammer]

Keep us posted.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

LOL all 3 gallons. That's incredible... and sad.

Anyway, hope the turbo diagnosis goes well! Let us know!

 

[thundershorts]

well i hope their ins company bought them a new engine. it might have been better if there was 4 gal in trunk, it might have overflowed valve cover

 

[MY1STVW]

I have oil dripping from both my turbo hose and my inter-cooler hose.
I guess I need to go see Oilhammer again.
See my photos of my oil leaks in my members album.

 

[JFettig]

what ever happened with this one?


Jon