Diagnosis please - A3 TDI smoking heavily
Discussion
My wife has a 2006 A3 2.0TDI. Its the 130 bhp (ish) model.
It has run like a (noisy) watch for the 4 years and 30k miles she has had it. It just went in for a service at 82k, a major one, and needed air con fixed and gassed, front pads etc. Bill was a salty £650.
I picked the car up from our local indy and drove it 4 miles / 20 mins home (central London). The car seemed fine. The wife got in it yesterday and drove a few hundred metres and reported that suddenly there was no power and a massive amount of smoke. I told her to leave it and went to have a look. On start up, it was not running smoothly and smoking like a WW1 destroyer. I immediately shut it down.
The car went back to the local indy. I have know the guy for about 10 years. He serviced my Golfs and A3 back in the day and looks after my Mum and sisters' cars. In short I trust him. Dare I say it, I even quite like him.
He has diagnosed a blown turbo seal which has sucked engine oil into the exhaust. Diagnosis: new turbo and steam clean exhaust. £1k+
Does this sound likely? I understand that turbo seals go through a constant heating and cooling cycle and may/will eventually fail. But did it really just go one day and 4 miles after the indy touched it? Having previously run like a swatch?
Thoughts? Thanks
It has run like a (noisy) watch for the 4 years and 30k miles she has had it. It just went in for a service at 82k, a major one, and needed air con fixed and gassed, front pads etc. Bill was a salty £650.
I picked the car up from our local indy and drove it 4 miles / 20 mins home (central London). The car seemed fine. The wife got in it yesterday and drove a few hundred metres and reported that suddenly there was no power and a massive amount of smoke. I told her to leave it and went to have a look. On start up, it was not running smoothly and smoking like a WW1 destroyer. I immediately shut it down.
The car went back to the local indy. I have know the guy for about 10 years. He serviced my Golfs and A3 back in the day and looks after my Mum and sisters' cars. In short I trust him. Dare I say it, I even quite like him.
He has diagnosed a blown turbo seal which has sucked engine oil into the exhaust. Diagnosis: new turbo and steam clean exhaust. £1k+
Does this sound likely? I understand that turbo seals go through a constant heating and cooling cycle and may/will eventually fail. But did it really just go one day and 4 miles after the indy touched it? Having previously run like a swatch?
Thoughts? Thanks
Turbo on my BKD PD140 A3 went at 40k miles. Smoke cloud, and an enormous amount of oil had made it into the exhaust!
Sounds likely that thats what has gone, and as said, fresh oil may have dislodged something, or it was on its last legs and just went.
You can get recon turbos for £400/500, then its just fitting, recommended replacing the oil feed pipes etc with it too however.
Turbos quite easy to get to, its at the lower back of the engine.
I wouldnt pay more then £1k, Unless you uprate with a hybrid turbo and a remap since your replacing the turbo anyway.
Sounds likely that thats what has gone, and as said, fresh oil may have dislodged something, or it was on its last legs and just went.
You can get recon turbos for £400/500, then its just fitting, recommended replacing the oil feed pipes etc with it too however.
Turbos quite easy to get to, its at the lower back of the engine.
I wouldnt pay more then £1k, Unless you uprate with a hybrid turbo and a remap since your replacing the turbo anyway.
Edited by Lazadude on Monday 1st September 09:32
ks was giving it the old "you've been 'ad sunshine" in the pub on saturday and it was niggling me. So I thought I would ask here if it seemed plausible and it would seem that it is eminently so.V8forweekends said:
vorsprung durch technik, good old German reliability again (I drive an Audi, the glove box hinge snapped at the weekend).
Should have lubricated the damper!http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/glovebox-hing...
I should think that for the cost of a replacement turbo, possibly replacing the oil and filter again (might be worth it as a safety measure incase any bits are running around the engine), and removing the exhaust system and cleaning, then the labour (gonna be a few hours in that? hopefully removing parts will be ok, exhaust bolts can be a pain), that is about right for a quote.
Put it this way, you get it done and the turbo lasts at least as long (82k miles). £82 quid per 10,000 miles.
Perhaps the previous servicing of the car before your ownership wasnt quite as it could have been. What service intervals do you currently adhere to?
Put it this way, you get it done and the turbo lasts at least as long (82k miles). £82 quid per 10,000 miles.
Perhaps the previous servicing of the car before your ownership wasnt quite as it could have been. What service intervals do you currently adhere to?
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff