TURBO: 2012-2014 Passat turbo failures [discussion thread]

[brads]

My 90 Mazda MX-6 GT has water cooling, it burbles and burps for a while when I shut down the red-hot turbo after running 24psi on 91 Octane. Only turbo glitch I ever had was severing a turboshaft on the fwy dumping all the lube oil that the turboshaft suspends/floats on into the exhaust and having tons of blue smoke coming out the exhaust pipe until I shut it down. I believe the boost blew out one of the turboshaft oil seals causing the shaft to fall onto metal.
Nevertheless it's only a turbo and not a rocket science. $600 bucks max for the turbo + labor. It might damage your cat these days if you lost a shaft like I did and oil dumped into the exhaust.
On the Other hand the new Variable Vane stuff might be more but I can't imagine for a tiny little turbo that it would cost that much more.
My 92 mitsu 3000-GT VR4 had two tiny turbo's that I priced once at $550 each but they were small. My mazda's IHI is also one of the lowest quality turbos out there but it took a beating before she let go and I never had any issues with my mitsu turbo's in 100k miles with the boost turned up.

Unless there's something going on that I don't know about on the Passat, all TDIs have turbos that are air/oil cooled. Intercooling on the Passat is "water" (coolant) but it doesn't continue to circulate after shut down. And the coolant cools the charge air, not the turbo itself, at least not directly.

Rico567, what other cars have water-cooled turbos? I'm curious.

 

[tdiatlast]

Quick update, what was once thought to be a vacuum problem is not thought to be the rod that controls the variable vanes. No one really knows what's going on so they are calling in a "field engineer" to solve the problem.

Who are "they"? Which dealer/location?

 

[AggieFCO]

Oh, Pete Moore VW in Pensacola Fl. Seem like a pretty good group of guys, although haven't heard any other positive or negative feedback. Fingers crossed that they will figure something out today. Apparently my Passat is the first in the country with this problem.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

My 90 Mazda MX-6 GT has water cooling, it burbles and burps for a while when I shut down the red-hot turbo after running 24psi on 91 Octane. Only turbo glitch I ever had was severing a turboshaft on the fwy dumping all the lube oil that the turboshaft suspends/floats on into the exhaust and having tons of blue smoke coming out the exhaust pipe until I shut it down. I believe the boost blew out one of the turboshaft oil seals causing the shaft to fall onto metal.
Nevertheless it's only a turbo and not a rocket science. $600 bucks max for the turbo + labor. It might damage your cat these days if you lost a shaft like I did and oil dumped into the exhaust.
On the Other hand the new Variable Vane stuff might be more but I can't imagine for a tiny little turbo that it would cost that much more.
My 92 mitsu 3000-GT VR4 had two tiny turbo's that I priced once at $550 each but they were small. My mazda's IHI is also one of the lowest quality turbos out there but it took a beating before she let go and I never had any issues with my mitsu turbo's in 100k miles with the boost turned up.

Maybe $600 for a Mazda turbo, but something for your new TDI is going to run you at least double that.

 

[AggieFCO]

Found out today that there is some type of fault in the ECM that is causing the variable vanes not to operate properly. It's a hardware fault, not a software fault. Because the part has to be ordered, I'm not going to get the Passat back till next Tuesday...at least I have a "loaner" Jetta. But I miss my Passat.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

So it wasn't a blown turbo after all.. Interesting.

 

[AggieFCO]

No, but after the lengthy conversation earlier in this thread about cooling times and methods, I'm curious if anyone has taken the time to actually install a turbo timer on this Passat or even if such an item exists for our application.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

Thought about it but got lazy and decided it's easier to just let it cool down manually.

 

[Iviurtimus]

Hey guys, been trolling around reading up on the tdis since I bought one in late October. I have a 2013 se manual and at around 3700 miles I was on I-90 going about 75 when there was a sudden loss of power, glow plug light flashing - I nursed it about a mile to get off. I pulled over, shut it down, made a few calls, and about an hour later I restarted with no lights. I started to drive, maybe 1/4 mile into it, horrible noise when it tried to boost and the coil flashed, check engine light solid. Towed to nearest dealer and they think its a blown turbo. I'm waiting on the "regional vw tech" to confirm, but I wanted to put it out there. The more info the better I figure.

 

[Lightflyer1]

Not to bust your bubble, but they always think it is a blown turbo. Seems like it should be easy enough to check and know for sure without having to have a regional tech to confirm. Good luck and please keep us informed!

 

[kydsid]

No, but after the lengthy conversation earlier in this thread about cooling times and methods, I'm curious if anyone has taken the time to actually install a turbo timer on this Passat or even if such an item exists for our application.

Yes contact a Compustar dealer about an AutoStart. Their pro line has a turbo timer function built in you can program.

 

[PassatDriver]

Mine blew 2 days ago on 2012 Passat SE, 6MT at a tick under 12K miles. Taking off from traffic light, temp gauge @150 after 4 minutes of driving and no power. When i got to 2500 rpm, the glow plug light started flashing and the engine light came on. Limped it to dealer.

Dealer says the turbo is not putting out any boost and have to overnite turbo in. Claims he never saw anything like this. Supposed to be done today, so I will grill them on cause and what happened. They claim it is a defective part.

 

[Lightflyer1]

Well the dealers do have a passion it seems for replacing turbos, even when that isn't really the issue. Lots of stories here on dealer turbo replacements that weren't the issue.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

Unlikely a "blown turbo" and more likely a failed electronic sensor. Dealers often replace the entire turbo even for something as simple as a sensor.

 

[PassatDriver]

If the dealer prefers to spend VAG's money to replace the turbo, or the whole turbo system, that is their call, just as long as it corrects the problem. If it is something as simple as a sensor, or an electronic system fault as others have mentioned and tubo replacement does not fix it, therein lies the problem.

I have been in similar situations where money and replacement parts are thrown at a problem with the hope that ONE of them will fix the issue. It's called the "scatter gun" approach to problem solving.

If the symptons present themselves again, that is when I will be really ticked off.

 

[PassatDriver]

Well, I got my new turbo installed by the dealer on Friday. The service advisor told me several times, the last when I picked the car up, that it was a sensor that had failed. However, when I reviewed my work order from the dealer, it said that they found the shaft broken, it was clanging around in the housing, and that there was oil in the inter-cooler. The advisor had told me no oil anywhere. Why would there be a difference on the paperwork? Do they put that story on the work order in order to get VW to send them a new turbo so they don't have to figure out the real problem. Now i don't know what to believe.

 

[tdiatlast]

A turbo replacement on an extremely young engine is a VERY big deal, both from the manufacturer's perspective, and most importantly, from the customer's perspective. This failure should NOT have occured, and you should expect a very detailed explanation as to WHAT failed, WHY it failed, and more importantly, WHY should you trust that the replacement turbo would not fail?

I can assume from your post that your only discussion was with the SA. In my experience, with ANY shop, this isn't always a good thing. The only time I'll speak exclusively to the SA, or counter person in an indy shop, is if I know the tech that's doing the work.

It is my understanding that any substantial warranty work requires that parts be returned to VWoA for possible examination. The Passat CR TDI is new enough that I would think they'd want to see any turbo failure for themselves. Therefore, your theory that they would falsely fill out a work order doesn't fly.

So, now I'm thinking that the SA didn't have a clue (sadly, not unusual in many shops) and was just keeping it simple.

In any case, I would be suspicious about this repair. I would go back to the dealer, ask the SA AGAIN about the repair, and if he/she balks, ask to speak with the Service Director. I would also request that the tech/techs involved be brought into the conversation.

IMHO, you need more info from the source: the tech that did the work!

Good luck. Gently stand your ground. Keep us posted here, as we're all very interested in the cause of the (possible) turbo failure.

 

[tdiatlast]

So, after reviewing this thread, I believe there are 3 possible turbo failures? Aggie hasn't re-posted, unless I missed it.

Updates, please?

 

[VeeDubTDI]

Ever heard the term "infant mortality" used in the auto industry?

 

[tdiatlast]

You talkin' to me, bro?
I'm only offering that PassatDriver was given conflicting info and should ask that it be clarified. I also suspect that even YOU might be curious as to the cause of his "turbo failure", if that's in fact what occured.
I know you agree, and are just yanking my chain...right...?

 

[VeeDubTDI]

I think he should get to the bottom of the discrepancy between the service manager's claims and what is written on the paperwork.

This failure, whatever its cause, is certainly a statistical outlier and think it's probably well withing a manufacturer's acceptable and expected failure rate.

 

[lundervold]

Blown turbo at 11,000 miles

About two weeks ago I left my house and drove only about 3 km's (approx. 2 miles) when there was a sudden loss of power. At the same time the glow plug light started to flash. I stopped the car and turned off the ignition and waited a couple of minutes before re-starting. On restarting, I noticed the hazard light had come on. On checking the manual, I learned the car had experienced an engine failure and had gone into safe mode allowing me to drive the car home but at a minimal speed. The car was later towed to the dealer and, after checking it out, I was told the turbo needed to be replaced. The car had about 20,000 km's on it. No one at the dealer would speculate as to what caused the turbo to "seize".

This same situation happened to me yesterday except I only got a few hundred feet from the house. Limped it to VW, about 3 miles. Today they said the turbo needs to be replaced. No explination as to what happened.

 

[tdiatlast]

lundeervold: When you can, please update and clarify. "Blown turbo" is a rather vague description, and I, for one, would like to have more detailed information, if/when they give it to you.
TIA...sorry for your inconvenience.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

lundeervold: When you can, please update and clarify. "Blown turbo" is a rather vague description, and I, for one, would like to have more detailed information, if/when they give it to you.
TIA...sorry for your inconvenience.

Ditto.

 

[lundervold]

Turbo system failure

lundeervold: When you can, please update and clarify. "Blown turbo" is a rather vague description, and I, for one, would like to have more detailed information, if/when they give it to you.
TIA...sorry for your inconvenience.

Sorry about that. I should have stated "Turbo system failure" which is not not any more specific but it's all I have at the moment. At that time, VW something had gone wrong with the turbo but they were not specific. The next day (yesterday) VW said they had authorization to replace the turbo.

With 11K miles this does not make much sense but crap happens. But then again, I'm not the only one. 1alfie described my situation to a "T" so I did not repeat it.

I'll update when I get the car back. Meanwhile, driving a 1999 expedition 1.5 hours to work and again back home, not fun at all.

My 2005 Passat TDI at 68K miles did blow, it was in two pieces. Luckily I had an extended warranty as they needed to replace the entire engine. It blew again at 189K miles due to the oil transfer line no longer provided oil to the turbo, meaning it sprung a leak.

2010 JSW TDI never had a turbo problem.

Flying turbo charged aircraft for a living years ago, always allowed a 2 minute spool down period after landing and have carried that over to the TDI's as well. I never had a turbo problem in any of the aircraft I flew.

Edit:
Just got off the phone with the VW dealer (JBertolet, Orwigsburg PA). They have the new turbo in the shop. However, that's all they have. No gaskets etc required to get the replacement done. They have no idea when they will get the parts in the shop! They still have no clue as to why this happened

 

[Mbmaring]

Yes Blown turbo 9,000 miles

Just got off the phone with the dealer and turbo was faulty from factory on the 12 passat tdi and doesn't know when they can get it fixed. 9,000 miles and my wife is very careful driver it she got 170,000 off the 2004 passat without any trouble at all. Sounded like the blizzard is making it hard to find parts?

 

[AggieFCO]

So, after reviewing this thread, I believe there are 3 possible turbo failures? Aggie hasn't re-posted, unless I missed it.

Updates, please?

It was a ECM issue apparently...from the dealer's write up.

"Ran GFF and found code for turbo underboost ran test plan and found malfunction in the under pressure side of turbo. opened technical case with vw and performed pressure test. pressure test good. found intermittent loss of communication with T60 wiring harness. replaced wiring harness."

So from that I suppose all the engine components worked fine including the turbo, but the computer was not receiving accurate information due to the T60 module being busted... Hope that helps. I'm buying a ScanGauge ASAP.

 

[Mbmaring]

Just got off the phone with the VW dealer (JBertolet, Orwigsburg PA). They have the new turbo in the shop. However, that's all they have. No gaskets etc required to get the replacement done. They have no idea when they will get the parts in the shop! They still have no clue as to why this happened

You must have gotten the last turbo in North America they told me there was not one in North Amerca today and didn't know how long it would take to get one. I thought these cars were made in North America?

 

[tdiatlast]

...not the engines...sorry...

 

[tdi90hp]

my sister in law "blew" her turbo at 2800kms on her 2012 JSW with a DSG. poop happens. been perfect ever since.....Whether to let a turbo idle reminds me eerily in similarity to the additive discussion. Guess what I do? Yep...you guessed it....let mine idle one minute at least and 2 minutes off highway when I roll into my driveway....maybe it's a waste of fuel and maybe my Power service is a waste of money but somehow I dont blow turbos and I dont blow HPFPs.....maybe I am lucky....maybe I am anal or old fashioned but I also never miss a maintenance item....or maybe it's working.....but a blown turbo at a young age is surely not because someone did not let it idle down.....everyone has a theory....just sayin.