Dozenspeed
Top Post Dawg
- Joined
- May 1, 2012
(Forum/TDI veterans: Entire synopsis of this whole post is expressed in the last 14 words of boldface print at the bottom. 
)
Hopefully my self-mortifying tale here may be of benefit to someone...because in it I was the dummy mentioned in the title, and this advice may save you much grief.
First, to the new-to-the-turbo/diesel/VW/TDI scene, allow me to espouse the conventional wisdoms of operating a turbo-charged DPF-laden diesel
car meant to ensure the health and longevity of the turbo unit.
When starting a "cold" motor, do not idle without load (driving) for more than a couple minutes. For the first few minutes before the engine comes up to temperature, don't "push it" too hard. (I gradually increase throttle pressure as the temp rises)
When driving with a fully warmed motor, it is a healthy practice to occassionally or routinely give the car strong accellation pulls when/where appropriate, to exercise the turbocharger fully.
When parking the car, idle the car a minute or two as needed to allow the turbocharger to cool down somewhat and allow oil to clear the passages and avoid coking.
Change the oil on schedule! Make sure it stays full!
I myself am very adherent to these practices, but even so, my turbo gave up at 256,624 miles. Now while I'm disappointed, everyone has said that is really good life for the turbo.
I knew what to expect in the event of failure, but had never been through it before, so I'll relay my experience for those in that scenario still.
Now I have driven a car with a dead turbo before, one which by design wasn't as delicate as these VW diesels are. I am no longer in need of any stern lectures of how serious turbo failure is with these cars, thanks, but I'm writing instead to convey that same message to others with the story of my near-engine-death experience! (Again, I'm sooooooorrry!)
So 100 something miles into the night, some 40 or so miles into a new tank of fuel everything is hunky-dorey. I'm waiting at a light jamming some tunes. The light turns, I do a typical pull-away and I hear an odd noise. Stereo off it quickly dawns that it is a turbine whine from MY car...and it sounds painful. I lost nearly all boost, and absolutely babied the thing home 6 miles.
So what I'm telling you is at this point I should have had the car towed to the shop. But I thought I would baby it at 4 in the morning the 14 miles to the shop. About one third of the way there, the horrid whining stopped. From there the power waned further, and by the last mile she was boggin' bad. It was not worth the stress in hindsight. The oil was puking into the intercooler and might have caused a runaway condition. The internal shaft had broke in two. (Probably when it got quiet)
But luckily all seems well. The DPF life may have shortened, not sure yet as I haven't gotten an ash load number since. This event was ~5000 miles ago.
The turbo is an expensive job, even at the guru it ran me $2500 and change, including extra labor to clean out the intercooler. 8-9 hours labor.
So that's it. A lesson for us all.
Again, in summary,
When your turbocharger breaks, you could drive it to the shop like I did. Don't.
)Hopefully my self-mortifying tale here may be of benefit to someone...because in it I was the dummy mentioned in the title, and this advice may save you much grief.
First, to the new-to-the-turbo/diesel/VW/TDI scene, allow me to espouse the conventional wisdoms of operating a turbo-charged DPF-laden diesel
car meant to ensure the health and longevity of the turbo unit.
When starting a "cold" motor, do not idle without load (driving) for more than a couple minutes. For the first few minutes before the engine comes up to temperature, don't "push it" too hard. (I gradually increase throttle pressure as the temp rises)
When driving with a fully warmed motor, it is a healthy practice to occassionally or routinely give the car strong accellation pulls when/where appropriate, to exercise the turbocharger fully.
When parking the car, idle the car a minute or two as needed to allow the turbocharger to cool down somewhat and allow oil to clear the passages and avoid coking.
Change the oil on schedule! Make sure it stays full!
I myself am very adherent to these practices, but even so, my turbo gave up at 256,624 miles. Now while I'm disappointed, everyone has said that is really good life for the turbo.
I knew what to expect in the event of failure, but had never been through it before, so I'll relay my experience for those in that scenario still.
Now I have driven a car with a dead turbo before, one which by design wasn't as delicate as these VW diesels are. I am no longer in need of any stern lectures of how serious turbo failure is with these cars, thanks, but I'm writing instead to convey that same message to others with the story of my near-engine-death experience! (Again, I'm sooooooorrry!)
So 100 something miles into the night, some 40 or so miles into a new tank of fuel everything is hunky-dorey. I'm waiting at a light jamming some tunes. The light turns, I do a typical pull-away and I hear an odd noise. Stereo off it quickly dawns that it is a turbine whine from MY car...and it sounds painful. I lost nearly all boost, and absolutely babied the thing home 6 miles.
So what I'm telling you is at this point I should have had the car towed to the shop. But I thought I would baby it at 4 in the morning the 14 miles to the shop. About one third of the way there, the horrid whining stopped. From there the power waned further, and by the last mile she was boggin' bad. It was not worth the stress in hindsight. The oil was puking into the intercooler and might have caused a runaway condition. The internal shaft had broke in two. (Probably when it got quiet
)But luckily all seems well. The DPF life may have shortened, not sure yet as I haven't gotten an ash load number since. This event was ~5000 miles ago.
The turbo is an expensive job, even at the guru it ran me $2500 and change, including extra labor to clean out the intercooler. 8-9 hours labor.
So that's it. A lesson for us all.
Again, in summary,
When your turbocharger breaks, you could drive it to the shop like I did. Don't.
