I guess I pushed it too hard. I have a 97 a4 1.8T
auto. My car is chipped (garrett) and has 30K mileage.
Should I upgrade to a bigger turbo (K04)?
Can my auto tranny take it?
Need some help here :(
Thanks.

...make sure you get the upgraded turbo oil line and heat shield from '99 and later models. The smaller oil line may have coked up and contributed to the turbo failure.

Craig,

So is it alright to get the K04 and just upgrade
the oil line and heat shield?
How about the stock manifold?
Thanks again for your help.

....did you have an actual turbo failure? Or are you another victim of the dreaded wastegate-rod failure?

I went to the dealer (Bellavia) this morning
for a 30K maintenance and I'm complaining for lack
of power (boost). Then the bad news came, the
mechanic (john) told me that he thought at first
it was the wastegate but it was ok. The culprit
was a blown turbo (exact word).
Since my warranty expired already, the dealer is
kind enough to shoulder 50% of the cost and labor
of installing a new turbo.
My question is, should I get a bigger turbo (k04)
so that this things will not happen again or
grab the deal and pray that the stock turbo will
not fail me again.
thanks for any info.

;

97 1.8ts had an unshielded oil line on the turbo that needs to be upgraded. Make sure you have the new part.

97 Ko3's where not exactly the same as 98>. Many of them failed. I would consider your self lucky fot get 30,000 miles.

Find out the cost you will pay for a new Turbo. You can get a ko4 through awe-tuning.com for a resonable cost. You will also need a 5bar FPR and a maybe a GIAC chip upgrade. Give Todd or Mike a Call at AWE for more information.

Clark<ul><li><a href="http://www.awe-tuning.com">http://www.awe-tuning.com</a</li></ul>

More details please. The typical symptoms of an actually blown turbo are a lot more than lack of boost. Dealers are notorious for fuzzy thinking and explanations.

And, if indeed you had the coked turbo...tell me you were NOT running synthetic on a chipped car.

I still can drive the car though but stepping
hard on the gas would not produce an acceleration
like what I felt last month where you can feel the sudden surge and the speeddometer would rise
in a steady fashion. Now, even flooring the gas
would give me a slow movement of the speedometer
even though the tach is hitting 4k - 5k rpms.
The dealer is a reputable one here in the Northeast as far as this forum is concern.

Who have Upgraded to GT or larger KKK turbos.
I sold mine of, I know some one who has one sitting at home right now, there should be many others with perfectly working K-03 turbos sitting at home.

especially when oil is involved. Just about every car with a "blown" turbo I have seen had oil everywhere.

Boober

they have a New Turbo in stock for "when it goes"!
Negherbon in Oakland is being pretty cool (now) about my chip.

Rich N.
00'1.8TQMS + $$$'s of other stuff

blowing this turbo too. I guess nothing is safe.

Well I said it before, K-04 is ok to a max HP of 240, and street driving only.
Push it Hard on a track or sustained usuage, It will pop.
Overspinning any turbo to the MAX, will have to have a limited life, ie trying to get more than 240HP out of a K-04.
Who on the forum has a 235+HP K-04 setup, and pushes his car a lot including hard track time has not popped a K-04...
I Beleive the k-04 is widly used on deisel engines, and the TTQ+S3 are the only performance cars with the K-04.
If you want a little more go for only street use with the occasional Spurt down the road, the K-04 will be fine, or if you want Track use, get it tuned for about 230-240HP Max Mark. Then it may Last.

Like, if I'm backing out of the garage and
stop and drive forward, I hear a clanking sound
under the engine and that's it.

get hot, wobble then self destruct. I think I remember reading the info on a release from the APR people?

Are right, some are lacking. But that bearing is bomber with synthetic. I sincerly doubt that the turbo has coked with synthetic, unless you have 0 oil pressure or a chunk of metal in the oil line.

Demand to be there when the take it off. Watch the oil that comes out of the lines and housing. Also look for impact nicks on the impeller.

If you don't mind, if it really is a turbo failure, then it will die ASAP. You will know for a fact when it does. These more subtle symptoms are much likelier a leak in the wastgate hose, or a rod failure. The piston material can fail too, but much more rarely.