Turbo oil seals blow out.

Vince Waldon

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Location
Edmonton AB Canada
TDI
2001 ALH Jetta, 2003 ALH Wagon, 2005 BEW Wagon
Unfortunately the OEM manufacturer does not sell rebuild parts...they consider the turbo disposable if blown. There are of course off-shore aftermarket cartridges available, just need to recognize you'll be spinning the roulette wheel with a precision-balanced part that rotates at 150,000 RPM under extreme heat and can grenade your engine if it lets go. :)
 

STDOUBT

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
Location
Portland, effing Oregon
TDI
dos jettas
What credit cards are for!
A few slightly 'lower-costing' options that I would trust:
FWIW!
 

fatmobile

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2019
Location
north iowa
TDI
an ALH M-TDI in a MK2, a 2000 Jetta, 2003 wagon
g-pop shop will sell you the kit you need.
I don't really like the new bearing, not enough surface area for the shaft to ride on.
One of my first posts on here explains why I make my own.
They are pretty easy to rebuild once you get the exhaust away from the core.
I use an engraver to mark where the nut was and where the compressor sits compared to the shaft.
 

Tdijarhead

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Joined
Nov 10, 2013
Location
Lawrenceville PA
TDI
2003 TDI Jetta Daughters Car, 2001 TDI Beetle, Wife’s car, 2005 Golf TDI Mine, all 5 spds
What is the problem with your current turbo?
 

Tdijarhead

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 10, 2013
Location
Lawrenceville PA
TDI
2003 TDI Jetta Daughters Car, 2001 TDI Beetle, Wife’s car, 2005 Golf TDI Mine, all 5 spds
That's definitely a blown turbo. You will not be able to drive it, the oil will keep blowing past the seals and into your intercooler and exhaust. You could experience a runaway or the engine will just blow all it's oil out and seize.
 

fatmobile

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2019
Location
north iowa
TDI
an ALH M-TDI in a MK2, a 2000 Jetta, 2003 wagon
Pretty simple seal/ring.
I've seen a couple of those carboned up.
I wonder if that is caused by riding it hard and shutting it off before it gets a chance to cool down.
 

Andyinchville1

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2016
Location
Virginia
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI wagon, 5 sp, 226K miles
Hi

From having read here, a blown turbo seal can result in oil dripping out the exhaust , and possibly into the intake tract.

Just curious but could it also cause oil to drip out the road draft tube if so equipped ( aka elephant nose?).

I'm wondering that because I have a big truck with a DT466 engine that has similar situation going on ... oil drip out of the exhaust but also oil dripping from the road draft tube akso... my guess is if it weren't for the road draft tube on the truck dripping oil on the ground it would have gone into the engine intake ( if equipped with a pcv) and caused a runaway ?

On the flip side maybe that's a good reason for a road draft tube on a TDI rather than a closed pcv system? ... i.e. by not having the Road draft tube drip oil onto the ground, the PCv system essentially dumping oil back into the intake setting things up for a run away .

How did you first discover the blown seal?

Thanks
 

TwistedSmoke

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2016
Location
Milford ,Pa
TDI
03 Jetta tdi
i discovered the leak when i heard a different exhaust tone. So i started checking the exhaust to see if one of the clamps came loose but it was all good. I then noticed a black residue coming out the tail pipe and i checked and it smelled like oil. so i checked the oil level and it was low. i then removed the exhaust manifold and checked the exhaust ports for any signs of oil leaking. They were dry that then led me to check the turbo which was coated in oil on the inside on the exhaust side. So thats how i found it.
 

Andyinchville1

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2016
Location
Virginia
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI wagon, 5 sp, 226K miles
i discovered the leak when i heard a different exhaust tone. So i started checking the exhaust to see if one of the clamps came loose but it was all good. I then noticed a black residue coming out the tail pipe and i checked and it smelled like oil. so i checked the oil level and it was low. i then removed the exhaust manifold and checked the exhaust ports for any signs of oil leaking. They were dry that then led me to check the turbo which was coated in oil on the inside on the exhaust side. So thats how i found it.
HI,

Thanks for the info .... I'll have to keep that in mind since my turbo is reaching 400K.

Andrew
 

turbocharged798

Veteran Member
Joined
May 21, 2009
Location
Ellenville, NY
TDI
99.5 black ALH Jetta;09 Gasser Jetta
The biggest problem is not the actual rebuild but the balance. These are assembly balanced and the shaft isn't keyed so is kinda guess when you put it back together if the balance is good enough or not. If its wrong then its going to go boom. Ideally you should send the turbo out to somewhere with a VSR machine and have them check and touch up the balance. Problem is by the time you get done with that and all the time and effort to rebuild it, its really more efficient just to buy a new VNT15 given how cheap they are now.
 

fatmobile

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2019
Location
north iowa
TDI
an ALH M-TDI in a MK2, a 2000 Jetta, 2003 wagon
g-pop shop will let you send the spinning parts to them to be balanced.
But since his hasn't been apart and is already balanced fine.
He can just take it apart and put new parts in it.
Like I said, using an engraver to make a small dot on the nut/shaft junction
and the compressor wheel/shaft
before taking it apart makes it easy to put back together right.
G-pop has been great about letting me know torque specs and stuff too.
 

Nevada_TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 17, 2008
Location
Reno, sort of...
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI
Question: with zero'd balance on the compressor wheel- I think-wouldn't making sure the nut goes back on to the shaft the same place be good? I ask as guys with big diesel turbos swap comp wheels without going in for a re-balance all the time, do they know something we don't?
 

Nero Morg

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 19, 2017
Location
OR
TDI
2014 A6 TDI, 2001 Jetta TDI, 2014 Passat TDI
See that's a interesting hole to go down. On the big holeset turbos the 15L Cummins runs, there was a recall once upon a time where you had to take the compressor wheel off and put it back on for a sector shaft replacement. Directions only said to mark with a sharpie and put back on. And those things can sling upwards of 90k RPMs. Still no boom.

Long story short. It's a gamble. You willing to take it?
 

turbocharged798

Veteran Member
Joined
May 21, 2009
Location
Ellenville, NY
TDI
99.5 black ALH Jetta;09 Gasser Jetta
Question: with zero'd balance on the compressor wheel- I think-wouldn't making sure the nut goes back on to the shaft the same place be good? I ask as guys with big diesel turbos swap comp wheels without going in for a re-balance all the time, do they know something we don't?
Well big turbos are component balanced meaning each part is balanced so when you put the rotating assembly together in theory everything should be balanced no matter how it goes together. With our turbos, just getting the wheel slightly off will have huge effects on balance.
 

Andyinchville1

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2016
Location
Virginia
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI wagon, 5 sp, 226K miles
HI,

Not the cheapest but I hear he 17/22 is good... I plan on upgrading to this after a clutch or 6 speed swap

Andrew
 

Nero Morg

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 19, 2017
Location
OR
TDI
2014 A6 TDI, 2001 Jetta TDI, 2014 Passat TDI
HI,

Not the cheapest but I hear he 17/22 is good... I plan on upgrading to this after a clutch or 6 speed swap

Andrew
17/22 is an old outdated turbo that's prone to boost creep. There's better turbos out there now, but each turbo has its purpose.
 

Nero Morg

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 19, 2017
Location
OR
TDI
2014 A6 TDI, 2001 Jetta TDI, 2014 Passat TDI
Going to provide any info, or simply smugly assert the other poster is wrong?
You know I see you this way on the forums all the time. Maybe you should be nicer. I'm not being smug or assertive. Simply passing on knowledge.

It's not uncommon knowledge that the 17/22 is an old turbo design and is prone to boost creep. They are also becoming increasingly harder to find since it's a hybrid turbo, no one is really making them anymore. There are other alternatives out there like 17/26 that Kerma offers, they even say in the ad that the 17/22 is discontinued

IDparts doesn't even list the 17/22 anymore, and Cascade German lists it, but with a hefty price tag. I called Aaron about it once, and he said they're easily 3-6 months back ordered, because they have to source the parts to build them.


Im not discouraging anyone from getting a 17/22, but due to availability and to reduce downtime, I'd definitely suggest other turbos.
 

TwistedSmoke

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2016
Location
Milford ,Pa
TDI
03 Jetta tdi
yea i was thinking about the 17/26 but the price tag is just to high for the current amout work hours i have. Do to the lovely virus and winter weather.
 

Nevada_TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 17, 2008
Location
Reno, sort of...
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI
Component balancing, that is what I was referring to, thank you for reminding me. I am not being sarcastic. The only reason I asked was, I watched a program on television or youtube and watched someone accessing their turbo, pull off the stock compressor wheel and replace it with different style compressor wheel, tighten it up and put it back in and go. They compared the before and after and it appeared to spool up earlier than the stock one did, so they got the results they were looking for.
Many years ago I built a beast motor and had every component individually balanced, that way if one component bit the dust, I could get the replacement part balanced and not have to tear into the motor.

.
 
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