Turbo - Preventative Maintenance

BigAndy

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2002
Location
Northern BC
TDI
99 A3
the best preventative medicine is not to buy street and toys and turbos from any place in utah.
 
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fastvicar

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2003
Location
Lancaster, PA, USA
TDI
1996 Passat, Indian Red
I have 194,000 miles on my B4. Mine is still hanging in there. My sister's B4V needed to have its replaced at 200,000 miles. I'm going to hold off putting my new one in until after 200,000 if I can. I want the bragging rights.
 

AccountingTroll

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2004
Location
PA
TDI
Passat, 1996, Pearl White 2006 NB, Red
Some one a few years ago did a poll. I think the results were if you get past 130,000 miles, you’re good until 250.

Me, I drive it until it failed, but I'm not sure I'd take that attitude with my wife’s car. I do know from personal experience that you do NOT want to drive for long with a blown turbo. The engine will run away.

YMMV
 

rdkern

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 21, 2004
Location
Humboldt Co CA
TDI
Passat 1997 silver (sold after 11 years), Jetta 2000 atlantic blue
If you're not using oil, if you have no "funny" sounds, and if the power is there - I say don't worry about it. When any of the above start, consider replacing.

If it's always had good oil (5-40 diesel etc) it's probably good for a long time. Just listen / pay attention. Make sure you wife knows to tell you when something is "different".
 

AccountingTroll

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2004
Location
PA
TDI
Passat, 1996, Pearl White 2006 NB, Red
rdkern said:
Make sure you wife knows to tell you when something is "different".

rdkern, are you married??? :) I usally do'nt find out about anything with her car until she's stuck along the highway. "Oh ya hun, it started making a thump, thump sound a few days ago. I thought it could wait until the weekend.":rolleyes:

YMMV, God I hope your's does.
 

rdkern

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 21, 2004
Location
Humboldt Co CA
TDI
Passat 1997 silver (sold after 11 years), Jetta 2000 atlantic blue
Yes, I'm married.

If she's not the type to want to know what's going on with her car, make sure that you tell her to notify you when there's any unusual sounds. It might make a difference (yea, right)
 

rdkern

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 21, 2004
Location
Humboldt Co CA
TDI
Passat 1997 silver (sold after 11 years), Jetta 2000 atlantic blue
If you're going to purchase one, put it on. That way you have a working spare, but an inexpensive one. Use the good stuff whenever possible. No sense having a good one on the shelf and this one go when you're wife is between Rock and HardPlace.
 

P2B

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 11, 2006
Location
Toronto & Muskoka, Canada
TDI
2002 Jetta, 2003 Jetta, 2003 Jetta Wagon
BigAndy said:
I've gotten almost 130,000 miles out of it now
I'd leave it alone. A new turbo is more likely to fail in the next 100K than your tried-and-true original. They tend to die young or outlive the vehicle.

I know of two A3 turbos with 300,000+ KMs and one with almost 450,000 still going strong. Mine only has 230,000 :cool:

Simon
 

oldiesel

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Location
Ortona Florida
TDI
Looking for one
i replaced mine on my A3 at about 210,000 miles.I read alot on this forum and it seems the only time the A3 AHU engine has a catastropic failure is either due to a timing belt and or tensioner failure or a turbocharger failing and destroying the engine,otherwise they seem to run indefinetly.Bleached Bora has good prices and to me it was worth it for the peace of mind.The old one brought $100 on e bay. i hope to keep this car as long as i still need one. My $.02 Don
 

kabatc

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2002
Location
Marietta
TDI
Jetta, '98, black
IMHO if you want to replace a typical non-wear then replace the injectors and at least get some extra kick out of it. I replaced my injectors at 200,000 miles and could really tell the difference, of course they were slightly larger. BTW my turbo no problems, I wish the rest of my car was as good:) .
 

HODEDO51

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2001
Location
Leroy Twp, Ohio, USA
TDI
1998 Jetta TDI / white
voice of experience here!

I have to say I am the voice of experience on this one...just read my turbo post! Knowing what I know now, I would listen intently for strange whining noises emitting from the firewall passanger side floor area, and not think to myself......."probably just a bird wedged in the intake"....and keep on truckin, whistling merrily the whole way. I think my turbo failed completely at about 5000 miles after the unusual noises, at 252,000.
So, moral to the story,.........start paying attention at about 200,000, and if you make it to 225,000 without any sign of trouble, thank your lucky stars, shut it down, and change it!;)
 

mtnwinds

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 23, 2006
Location
Home: Colorado Springs, CO
TDI
'06 Jetta DSG, '06 NB 5 speed
'06 NB with about 33K on it. Apparently the turbo just let loose. First a cloud of black smoke followed by lots of white smoke. Called VW Road Side Assistance and it's at the dealership now. First thing in the morning I'll try to find out what happened. The tow truck driver said, "This altitude ia really hard on turbos." First time I've heard that. Appreciate any thoughts/tips on how to handle this with the dealer. I'm expecting them to handle it under the warranty but you never know.
 

tasdrouille

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2007
Location
Quebec
TDI
2000 A4
P2B said:
I know of two A3 turbos with 300,000+ KMs and one with almost 450,000 still going strong. Mine only has 230,000 :cool:
I'm at 312500 km on the original turbo on my A3. I just replaced all vacuum lines this weekend and installed a boost gauge. Peaking at 18 and settling at 13 psi all the way to 5000 rpm.
 

tdi_lamb

Well-known member
Joined
May 24, 2002
Location
Oshawa, Ontario
TDI
99' A3 Black Jetta TDI
I've got a 99' A3 with 445,000 Km on the original turbo. I've replaced all the vacum lines, N75 and cleaned the intake in the past year after having limp mode issues. Power is back, but the turbo is on the 'to do' list going forward, since it has always consumed a litre or two of oil between changes and the turbo has become a little noisy with age. The good news is that the oil and noise issue hasn't gotten any worse in the last 120,000KM. Knock on wood.:)
 

dzl_nator

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2006
Location
Springfield, MO
TDI
96 Passat TDI
Turbo replacement- symptoms you need to replace

I overhauled my engine at 150K miles and I had my turbo overhauled by a firm in Arizona. The turbo failed at 196,000 miles. The failure was excessive play in the shaft (meaning, they didn't put a new center bearing assembly). When you got on it, the rotor would tilt, the compressor would almost touch the side of the housing and it would whine like a "dying cat". I replaced the original GT-15 with a KKK 03. I can tell no difference between the two.

The symptons of my failure were the "dying cat" whine on hard acceleration, and some surging. Surging feels like you are rocking the accelerator pedal. The car overboosted at the very end. I replaced mine before it flew apart.

Previous to the flubbed 150K turbo rebuild, the car was burning some oil as evidenced by blue smoke. The turbo seals were leaking on the compressor side.
 

dzl_nator

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2006
Location
Springfield, MO
TDI
96 Passat TDI
Turbo replacement- symptoms you need to replace

I overhauled my engine at 180K miles and I had my turbo overhauled by a firm in Arizona. The turbo failed at 196,000 miles. The failure was excessive play in the shaft (meaning, they didn't put a new center bearing assembly). When you got on it, the rotor would tilt, the compressor would almost touch the side of the housing and it would whine like a "dying cat". I replaced the original GT-15 with a KKK 03. I can tell no difference between the two.

The symptons of my failure were the "dying cat" whine on hard acceleration, and some surging. Surging feels like you are rocking the accelerator pedal. The car overboosted at the very end. I replaced mine before it flew apart.

Previous to the flubbed 150K turbo rebuild, the car was burning some oil as evidenced by blue smoke. The turbo seals were leaking on the compressor side.
 
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