[calhoun]

I found some of the DYI pages while doing research for replacing my blown turbo (04 TDI.) Very helpful and now I am doing research to see what I need to do while I have the car apart.

I am new to turbos so I am just reading what I can. The basic story is that I recently bought a used 04 TDI. Ran great for 5 months and then it started making a funny sound. Kinda like a whooshing sound whenever I was in the rpm range for the turbo. My wife was entering the freeway gaining speed on the on ramp when she heard the whoosh a lot louder. Then the car had no power and would not go above 55. She drove straight home and now I am trying to figure out what happened.

I took the turbo out this afternoon. Wasn't the best way to spend the afternoon, but its done.

I found oil in the intake hoses, and looks to be some in the intake manifold too. The turbo itself looks like it has some seeping from different areas. I know very little about turbos or how to diagnose failure, so I will do my research and pool my friends.

My uneducated guess is that the bearing seized on the turbo, and that the car went into the limp-mode.

While going through the steps to take out the turbo I found that my EGR pipe that attaches to the EGR cooler was missing a bolt and that the other bolt was loose. The gasket was half falling out and I have soot everywhere. My guess is that the whooshing sound I heard was directly related to this.

I appreciate any help I can get. So far this forum has proven to be very informative. Please post a link if there are similar threads to what I have started.

 

[Fluid]

If the EGR hose blew then much of the exhaust that should be driving the turbo goes out of the leak. Can you guess how much oil the turbo was leaking? A little oil from the oil mist in the intake condensing in the piping is normal. A lot of oil from leaking turbo bearings is not okay. If the bearing seizes the turbo will snap or the shaft will grind. Can you spin it by hand normally?

And of course, you could have popped another intake hose or the vacuum line could have broken. Any ECU codes? If you get a new turbo, it's a borg warner Kp39a The part number is in http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q/tditurbo.htm.

 

[calhoun]

I can post up some pics. In fact I'll go take them now...

 

[calhoun]

Here is what prompted the teardown (as well as the power loss)

Here you can kinda see the EGR Pipe (lower pipe that feeds directly from the exhaust manifold.) The bolt is missing to the right and there is a little gasket showing to the left.

Here are the pipes (tubes?) that connect directly to the turbo.

Bottom of the EGR cooler. This shows all the blow by. It got too hot and melted the hoses to the body, so I'll be getting new hoses.

Very dirty intake manifold. And throttle body.

And here is the turbo. Luckily it still spins by hand. So I'm not sure what was going on.

 

[chittychittybangbang]

Those hoses aren't terribly oily. The crankcase vent puts a mist with oil into the intake which settles. The carbon buildup isn't horrible because there are plenty of examples where it's choked down to a finger diameter. I would clean them all while they're out of the car though. The new ultra low sulfur diesel should greatly reduce the amount of this soot buildup.

The exterior of the turbo can have oil dripping on it from the valve cover or other places. It doesn't look too dirty. If the shaft is wobbly or the wheels have marks indicating contact with the housing or a foreign object, replace the turbo. If there was more than a light dibble of engine oil If not, Id put it back. My best guess is that the sound and power loss is directly related to the EGR pipe blowing. The turbo simply lost power to run.

 

[calhoun]

I agree. I think I went deeper than necessary, but now I know. The turbines spin easily, no crunching or grinding. The fins are all real crisp looking, minus the exhaust soot. Would you recommend any service to the turbo while it is out?

While I have the motor tore down I plan to replace the serpentine and timing belts. Maybe use the money I had set aside for a new turbo to PM the motor.

 

[Fluid]

IMHO, I wouldn't touch it any further. It's easy and cheap to replace the serpentine belt but I wouldn't change the timing belt unless the timing is right and would need replacement soon anyways because you're really not in that area right?

 

[calhoun]

I"ll leave the turbo alone, but the timing belt is necessary. I bought the car in the 100k range and have no documentation on service.

A buddy of mine has the same car and replaced his timing belt. He said it wasn't fun, but doable. The car is primarily used by my wife and I hate the idea of it stranding her. So I plan to buy the kit from Blausport and get it done with.

 

[chittychittybangbang]

I would change it asap. PM sent