Turbo Kaput? Should i upgrade?

[MATPOC]

Decided to pull the turbo and clean vanes, but seems I have a bigger problem...

It doesn't spin easily, but still overboosting due to stuck vanes.
I know I can get just the center part for 350, but bolts are rusted and rounded, not sure I can take it apart
Whole new turbo 550-750 reman or new, but for extra 90$ (+$100 for some adapter) I can get VNT17... is it worth it? What are the gains on otherwise stock car.

20210114_235100.mp4

• MATPOC
• Jan 14, 2021

 

[03TDICommuter]

Way too much play. Get a new turbo. A new center section won't take care of the sticky vanes and worn control ring.

 

[Mongler98]

Play seems a little much, its just coked up but if you clean the journal it wont have all the burnt oil holding it center as much.
Just replace it. Not worth the risk.

 

[Nevada_TDI]

Dutch Auto Parts is an approved vendor here at TDIclub:

Dutch Auto Parts, gearbox sets, engines, turbos, injection pumps

Dutch Auto Parts is specialized in TDI parts. We sell quality used, rebuild, and new TDI parts. Auto to manual kits, injection pumps, standard and custom turbos, engines, engine swaps, engine parts, gearboxes, euro headlights etc We have been on the forum for several years now, it’s time to...

forums.tdiclub.com

Look at page 3. His rebuilt turbos have new CRHA-center section in a used manifold. His used turbos are rebuilt and balanced. His prices are very reasonable.

 

[MATPOC]

Dutch Auto Parts is an approved vendor here at TDIclub:

Frans is in Netherlands... I'm in US and currently have a brick of a car sitting in my garage blocking my bikes in.
I did not plan to have this stretch out past couple hour it should have taken to clean the carbon, so I just used my house garage, which is under the house, steep downhill driveway, so I can't really push the car out unless I get someone to hoist it out and then I still have no place to park it unless I tow it to work. Had to scrap my weekend dirt bike pans because of this, looking to have new turbo in before next weekend.

 

[Nevada_TDI]

Yes, Frans is in the Netherlands, but he has shipping sites here in the US, I have ordered parts from him and got them in less than a week. One time I needed to return something and the return address was somewhere in the US.

 

[Andyinchville1]

I heard good things about a 17 / 22 hybrid and I'm thinking of updating to that myself.

They are a little pricey but not so bad if you look at it from just the extra cost over the new stock turbo plus the fact that it'll last for many years .

Kerma has them but they were pushing me on the S7..

I think I'll still go 17 / 22 when I do it but I'm not in a hurry since my turbo is still alive and I'm needing a timing belt and clutch it 6 speed swap first so have to work within the budget.

If you upgrade, please post your findings.

Andrew

 

[Nevada_TDI]

When my vnt-15 bit the dust and I wanted an upgrade, my current turbo for all intents and purposes is a VNT-17 with a 56mm compressor wheel in a VNT-15 cold side so I did not need to buy or make adapters to install it. Turbo Lab of America fixed a used CHRA and did all the machine work for $450.00 without shipping four years ago. I don't know what their current prices are, and I do know they are still open I heard back from Austin two weeks ago. They are very difficult to contact initially as they are really busy, so I would contact them through their FB page.

 

[MATPOC]

Kerma has them but they were pushing me on the S7..

I think I'll still go 17 / 22 when I do it but I'm not in a hurry since my turbo is still alive and I'm needing a timing belt and clutch it 6 speed swap first so have to work within the budget.

If you upgrade, please post your findings.

Andrew

Similar experience with Kerma on S7.

As far as horsepower, I have other toys that are a lot faster than TDI can ever be, my goal is not ultimate performance but just reliable and efficient wagon that is not the slowest thing on the road

 

[Nevada_TDI]

When I see 17/22 I wonder if it is the "new" 17/22 that is a hybrid made from a VNT-17. or a large body old school 17/22. The old school 17/22's are quite rare, so I will presume you mean a 17/22 hybrid using a VNT-17. If you could get your hands on a dead VNT-17 and a cold side from a VNT-15 you could make any hybrid you wanted (within reason) and not have to buy adapter hoses.

 

[rwthomas1]

Can't remember what your plans are, but if staying mild a VNT15 will be fine. IDParts is a short drive away and has remain units for $560. Or try getting hold of Kraftwerke/Chris Hill, for the VNT17, he may have a used piece available.
RT

 

[MATPOC]

Can't remember what your plans are, but if staying mild a VNT15 will be fine. IDParts is a short drive away and has remain units for $560. Or try getting hold of Kraftwerke/Chris Hill, for the VNT17, he may have a used piece available.
RT

I called Kraftwerke mid-week, left my name, number, still waiting for callback.
Took a day off today so I went up to ID and picked up new VNT17, had a nice chat with @IndigoBlueWagon while I was there, very helpful, ended up getting new pressure hose instead of using adaptor and having to cut old hose, also have an idea what I want to do next...
Went home and installed it, not the hardest job, but did take me a little longer than it should have: was almost done when realized that I forgot the washers on exhaust manifold, so I had to pull intake to install those washers. Getting good at it, pulling the turbo only took me 2 hours, no lift, install maybe 3
It's too late to run it now, will start up in the morning.
While I was poking around underneath noticed coolant at the bottom of crank pulley, so looks like water pump is next, serpentine belt tensioner looks trashed, already have new engine mounts, still need to get a new flex pipe.
Also tune, clutch, nozzles... For all the dough I'm dumping in to it, his thing better last me 400k!

 

[Andyinchville1]

Similar experience with Kerma on S7.

As far as horsepower, I have other toys that are a lot faster than TDI can ever be, my goal is not ultimate performance but just reliable and efficient wagon that is not the slowest thing on the road

Hi

The upgrade for me when I get to it is primarily for the added MPGs....

I had read (I think on the kerma site) that the 17 / 22 efficiency map allows it to net more MPGs at highway speeds than the 15 and maybe even the regular 17 ...

Plus since it's based on a 17 it may be beefier and give a potential boost in power with more fuel so It seemed to me maybe the best overall?

FWIW after I added the 3" exhaust without changing anything else (well timing was advanced) my 15 overboosts a fair amount .... since I read a 17 type turbo bnb is a little slower to build boost, maybe with the 3" exhaust it'll work out to perfect? (I mean boost wise and not over boosting).

 

[MATPOC]

I don't know much about TDI, but seems it does not move much volume, none of the conventional wisdom that I learned from gas cars works. Based on that I think 3" exhaust is an overkill.
My 2.5L T5 spins to almost double the RPM and in theory moves twice the volume through K04 turbo, still 2.5" downpipe is sufficient.
Replacing resrictive charge pipes makes huge difference on gas cars yet tiny pancake pipe on ALH is not something that is being considered as #1 performance mod.
I'm learning, slowly, too much noise, too many opinions, with T5 I got lucky and followed advice of a quiet guy with most sorted out car, unlike the rest of the dreamers who think they make 300hp with a cone filter hot air intake he had real and exact number from the dyno, knew what each mod gains...
Here I'm lost, nozzles, tunes, turbo hybrids, and 18 year old car without solid comparison data of nozzles, turbos, tunes

 

[rwthomas1]

I don't know much about TDI, but seems it does not move much volume, none of the conventional wisdom that I learned from gas cars works. Based on that I think 3" exhaust is an overkill.
My 2.5L T5 spins to almost double the RPM and in theory moves twice the volume through K04 turbo, still 2.5" downpipe is sufficient.
Replacing resrictive charge pipes makes huge difference on gas cars yet tiny pancake pipe on ALH is not something that is being considered as #1 performance mod.
I'm learning, slowly, too much noise, too many opinions, with T5 I got lucky and followed advice of a quiet guy with most sorted out car, unlike the rest of the dreamers who think they make 300hp with a cone filter hot air intake he had real and exact number from the dyno, knew what each mod gains...
Here I'm lost, nozzles, tunes, turbo hybrids, and 18 year old car without solid comparison data of nozzles, turbos, tunes

Its a diesel, a small one, so yes, much of the gasser stuff you know isn't a factor. Noise and opinions are on every board. However there is no reason to be "lost". There are many, many successfully upgraded cars here. Figure out what you want to do, performance wise, or reality/budget-wise, and then just pick a recipe. Look at any owners signature, its pretty easy to find one that matches your ideas. Copy that recipe. Don't get too caught up with how much HP it makes on the dyno. Find recipe+buy parts+install parts=drive happy.

RT

 

[MATPOC]

Its a diesel, a small one, so yes, much of the gasser stuff you know isn't a factor. Noise and opinions are on every board. However there is no reason to be "lost". There are many, many successfully upgraded cars here. Figure out what you want to do, performance wise, or reality/budget-wise, and then just pick a recipe. Look at any owners signature, its pretty easy to find one that matches your ideas. Copy that recipe. Don't get too caught up with how much HP it makes on the dyno. Find recipe+buy parts+install parts=drive happy.

RT

I want responsive, efficient, passing power and occasionally towing a bike trailer.
Budget is long been blown to bits, having to replace suspension, brakes, VNT17 and now I have water pump leak, already past $3k in parts and another ~$2k+ needs to be spent.

I'm hoping to have this last few years so I can get my moneys worth, otherwise this has been a giant waste of time and funds

 

[rwthomas1]

I want responsive, efficient, passing power and occasionally towing a bike trailer.
Budget is long been blown to bits, having to replace suspension, brakes, VNT17 and now I have water pump leak, already past $3k in parts and another ~$2k+ needs to be spent.

I'm hoping to have this last few years so I can get my moneys worth, otherwise this has been a giant waste of time and funds

Welcome to owning an old car, and bringing it back to life. I'd say $5K is about right do do that. These cars last a very long time, provided you keep after the maintenance, and are willing to commit to that. Define "get your money's worth". Say you put $7K into it over 4-5yrs. Would that be worth it? A vehicle that will knock out mid-40mpgs, cruise comfortably at 70-80mph, anytime? A vehicle that is paid for, doesn't need trips to the dealer assuming you wrench on it yourself, and is still simple enough to do so? Anyone can go out and buy a Corolla. Dead reliable, make the payments and forget about it. That's not the road we chose. Join us or exit whilst you can. We don't judge. Regarding your recipe, look at my signature. Pretty much what you need. More than what I've done will cost a lot more, and the gains are progressively smaller. Dead reliable and 46.5mpg last tank, and the last 130K on the mods.

RT