tumbleweed
Member
I posted a little while back about going to do this. I finally got the work completed, and I am pretty happy with the results so far. Figured I would share some of the issues I ran into for anyone else who goes through this process.
My stock turbo died on me with a horrible whine. After pulling the old turbo you can see the damage on the impeller here.
I ordered a CR170 hybrid from XMAN, along with a new oil feed line, intake damper upgrade, CR170 air tube inlet, turbo gasket installation kit, and 4 bar MAP sensor. In these next pictures you can see the old turbo and the new one side by side. The gasket kit came with new studs for the turbo but I elected to reuse the old ones instead. I didn't want to take a chance of snapping one of these off. XMAN was awesome at answering my questions before purchase, and shipping was quick. Not to bash another company, but I reached out to Performance TDI with a question about availability of their CR170 hybrid, and they never even responded to me. That made my decision pretty easy.
I worked with Malone to get my tune upgraded from stage 2 to stage 3. Malone has been nothing but exceptional so far in answering all of my questions.
While putting the new oil feed line to the turbo on, I should have pulled the oil pressure switch that sits next to it first. I tried to tighten down the new line with a crows foot on an extension and ended up cracking the connector that goes onto the oil pressure switch. When I finally got everything together I started the vehicle, flashed the new tune, and went for a test drive. The oil pressure light started flashing almost immediately. I ordered a new switch and new connector from idparts and got these replaced. Oil pressure light is now gone.
Starting to test the vehicle I had issues with the intercooler to turbo hose popping off. After thinking I had these tightened down good enough and then popping off again, I decided to order some t-bolt clamps. Here is the clamps before and after being installed.
I've now put almost 500 miles on the car and things are mostly good. If I really get on it and accelerate hard, I've discovered an issue where the RPM's will drop a bit for a second before catching back up. Hard to explain but feels like starved for air. If you let off the throttle, no issues. If you accelerate without acting like a madman, no issues. I have reached out to Malone about this to see what they think. I was recommended to run some live logs with VCDS. The thought is that I might have an EGT issue. I'm currently using the stock intercooler, and fuel rail sensor. I hope to get some live logs soon and see what those show. I also thought it might be the clutch not holding properly under load but I'm not sure. When I purchased this vehicle at 100k miles a few years ago, the clutch was blown. My mechanic put a single mass flywheel clutch in, but I do not know what exact model was installed. I assume it is probably the valeo since I have heard this kit has the least issues? I've read the horror stories about others trying a single mass flywheel but (knock on wood) I haven't had any issues after 50k miles on it.
Lastly, I pulled the intake manifold to have a look at things. There is some carbon buildup but not that bad after 150k miles. I ordered a Passat intake manifold (part number 03L-129-711-AR) that is currently on the way, and I'll be swapping this out to get rid of the swirl flaps in the near future. Here is a picture of the intake manifold right after I pulled it off. Sorry for the upside down picture,
Car is a different animal now. I'm pretty pleased so far.
My stock turbo died on me with a horrible whine. After pulling the old turbo you can see the damage on the impeller here.

I ordered a CR170 hybrid from XMAN, along with a new oil feed line, intake damper upgrade, CR170 air tube inlet, turbo gasket installation kit, and 4 bar MAP sensor. In these next pictures you can see the old turbo and the new one side by side. The gasket kit came with new studs for the turbo but I elected to reuse the old ones instead. I didn't want to take a chance of snapping one of these off. XMAN was awesome at answering my questions before purchase, and shipping was quick. Not to bash another company, but I reached out to Performance TDI with a question about availability of their CR170 hybrid, and they never even responded to me. That made my decision pretty easy.


I worked with Malone to get my tune upgraded from stage 2 to stage 3. Malone has been nothing but exceptional so far in answering all of my questions.
While putting the new oil feed line to the turbo on, I should have pulled the oil pressure switch that sits next to it first. I tried to tighten down the new line with a crows foot on an extension and ended up cracking the connector that goes onto the oil pressure switch. When I finally got everything together I started the vehicle, flashed the new tune, and went for a test drive. The oil pressure light started flashing almost immediately. I ordered a new switch and new connector from idparts and got these replaced. Oil pressure light is now gone.
Starting to test the vehicle I had issues with the intercooler to turbo hose popping off. After thinking I had these tightened down good enough and then popping off again, I decided to order some t-bolt clamps. Here is the clamps before and after being installed.


I've now put almost 500 miles on the car and things are mostly good. If I really get on it and accelerate hard, I've discovered an issue where the RPM's will drop a bit for a second before catching back up. Hard to explain but feels like starved for air. If you let off the throttle, no issues. If you accelerate without acting like a madman, no issues. I have reached out to Malone about this to see what they think. I was recommended to run some live logs with VCDS. The thought is that I might have an EGT issue. I'm currently using the stock intercooler, and fuel rail sensor. I hope to get some live logs soon and see what those show. I also thought it might be the clutch not holding properly under load but I'm not sure. When I purchased this vehicle at 100k miles a few years ago, the clutch was blown. My mechanic put a single mass flywheel clutch in, but I do not know what exact model was installed. I assume it is probably the valeo since I have heard this kit has the least issues? I've read the horror stories about others trying a single mass flywheel but (knock on wood) I haven't had any issues after 50k miles on it.
Lastly, I pulled the intake manifold to have a look at things. There is some carbon buildup but not that bad after 150k miles. I ordered a Passat intake manifold (part number 03L-129-711-AR) that is currently on the way, and I'll be swapping this out to get rid of the swirl flaps in the near future. Here is a picture of the intake manifold right after I pulled it off. Sorry for the upside down picture,

Car is a different animal now. I'm pretty pleased so far.