Suggestions for Curing 2.7T Turbo Paranoia

[audibull]

Love the forum, but if one reads it long enough, one starts to moderately obsess about keeping one's turbos alive. Side note: I'm also developing a mild case of Tip Paranoia, but let's deal with one condition at a time. Re: taking care of my turbos, I'm running synth, always keep my revs under 3K until the oil temp rises above 150, and always conclude my AR drives with a few minutes of granny driving, followed by a couple of minutes of idling. So, I think I'm taking care of the basics. What I want to know, is what else can I do to keep my turbos happy? I'm strongly considering a turbo timer. Seems like a nice convenience, and it ensures that I will always have a cooldown period. I am not sure if this messes up the factory alarm, though; some posts indicate that this is the case. I'm also not sure if my soon-to-be purchased AWB warranty will be OK with a mod to help keep the turbos alive longer. They should be, but who knows? Anything else I can do? What about a supplemental oil cooler? Finally, if I decide to have mods done to my AR that I can't do myself (I live in a small condo in the city, but do have access to a huge garage), does anyone have a recommendation for a New England tuner who knows ARs and the 2.7T engine really well? Many thanks for any information you can provide.

[xtreetoes]

Keep your filter box clean and replace your filter at least but maybe not more than 30K mi

[paulroad]

A turbo timer would be overkill (imho) You doing just fine with the care you give the car. AWB doesn't inpect the cars prior to or after a policy is issued.

If you are close to Concord NH, the best of the best tuners is right there.

TJM Motorsport
235 Rear South Main Street
Unit 223
Concord, NH 03301

1-866-dahlback
(1-866-324-5222)
Fax: 603-229-0055

Email:
Info@tjmmotorsport.com

Talk to Randy.. he is a former allroad owner and now just what to do.

• click

[roose1310]

I am planning on installing these items on Saturday.

Two mods that go great together (2.7t)
User account number (aid): 14326
Posted by Michael Benno on 2004-07-19 13:30:30
RS6 vented wheel Liner (or DIY venting) plus lower temp sender for coolant after-run system.

I had done two mods recently each is justifiable in it's own right, mostly because they are relatively inexpensive and seem to have pretty decent face value justification.

The first was adding vents to wheel liner to improve airflow through the intercoolers. S4's have them, RS4's have them, RS6's have a whole bunch of them. Sadly A6's and Allroad's don't we just get a bunch of heat soak on our already peuny IC's. I used the wheel liners from an RS6 (had to trim some bits). Did I notice a difference? I did not do any before/after IC temp tests and the butt dyno didn't notice. However, the theory is sound. Plus the liners were about $30ea from the dealer.

The other mod I did was get a lower temp rating switch (~$30) that activates the after-run coolant pump. You can read about it out on the S4 forum. We all know that all turbos suffer from too much heat and hot shutdowns cause koching of the internal bits. The K03's seem to be more susceptible to heat problems. Furthermore most of us have never heard our stock after-run system engage. I used a 19-degree reduction in temp rating and now it comes on regularly after drives in the summer. The sysem activates the radiator fan on the lowest setting and pulls coolant through the turbos (and the rest of the system). Cool Huh? Well yes and no, the fan is pulling outside air into the engine bay and it really has not where to go. Hot air from the back side of the radiator literally soaks the engine bay with very hot air.

Enter the wheel-well vents. Volia! Easy exits for heat. Now I can actually feel a lot of hot air being pushed out of the front wheel wells when the after run system is engaged. Makes me feel a lot better about reducing heat soak in the engine bay. Furthermore the RS6 wheel liners have vents that go all the way to the top well outside of the area of the IC's. At first I thought that this was dumb, why do I need to keep my windshield washer fluid cool? But heat rises, and when that after-run system kicks in you can really feel the hot air blowing out the top of the vents.

Mike Benno
A6 2.7t

Michael Benno
2000 A6-2.7t
(MTM1, Hsports, DIYSS)

[audibull]

[audibull]

I live just outside of Boston, but I work in Lowell, and spend a decent amount of time driving past Concord on my way to the Whites. If Randy is good, and knows ARs to boot, I don't mind driving north for mods.

The lower temp after run switch and the vents mentioned in roose1310's post sound like a perfect alternative to a turbo timer.

Thanks for the info.

[paulroad]

THey also run cars in the Euro Tuner Challenge.. you are in good hands..

Oh.. they are the US importer of Dahback chips and parts..so if you want to really do the car justice..

[RMcQ]

are about all you need (except maybe some luck!) Other than that is is just a crap shoot. There were some manufacturing issues with the turbos so yours are either going to crap the bed early or not somewhat independant of how 'gentle' you are. (assuming some base level of responsibility)

There are more of us pushing or over 100K miles wiht stock turbos on chips than there are turbo replacements. I warm my car up properly and change the oil every 5K miles and do all other proper maintenance but once I'm warmed up I run the hell out of it on a daily basis.