TheBinarySheep

Suspension, I can vouch for fitting a set of Koni FSD's. They don't lower the ride height, retain comfort but remove the wallowing. It depends what outcome you are looking for though. Koni's are great if you want the car to feel a little more sporty but remain fairly stock, but if you want a much firmer ride and lower ride height, then you're going to need shocks and springs. Many replace the rear anti roll bar as well to help reduce body roll. Getting a remap done make a huge difference, the only thing I will say is be careful. The IS38 turbo's are known to cause some problems. Most people don't have any issues, but some (like me) after a remap saw the IS38 turbo failing. If you do get a remap, listen for your turbo making a whine at low RPM as that's a sign it's on it's way to the grave.

Not much of an update, but one nonetheless. Recovery truck finally came today to collect the car, so now it's with the specialist to see what sort of damage we're looking at. It's hard to believe this is day 9 since the car broke.

I think it came with 400 credits so I've not bothered.

Yeh and delivery was next day too.

A proper sporty model

If you look at the bottom of this page, it shows you what is missing in iOS https://obdeleven.com/en/home/139-pro-pack-0758277987813.html I got one last week and I've no problems with it.

It's would be pointless for me to get the car repaired under warranty anyway, as I'd be paranoid about the OEM turbo. Upgrade seems the easiest way to get that worry out of my mind. One that that has dawned on my recently, I've been hearing a whine from the turbo at low RPM. When I've researched it, it meant the turbo was on it's way out. I've never had a turbo go before so I just assumed it was something to do with the remap spooling up the turbo early to reduce lag. I'm kicking myself for not looking into it earlier!

I'm assuming this isn't a dig at me, because I'm in no way not taking responsibility, I'm simply trying to get some ammo to fire back at people who insist that I'm stupid for not removing the map and taking the car back to Skoda. Even firing this argument back, I'm still being told "We'll, it's worth a try, what have you got to lose". For one, I'll lose face and probably feel terrible attempting to walk back into the dealership again if they pick up the modifications. On the flip side of the argument though, manufacturers are quick not to take responsibility as well. Just look at these turbo issues, they've been happening on remapped and stock versions of the EA888 since 2014, the failures have gradually reduced somewhat, but anyone outside of warranty will get turned away for what is in my eyes a fault. Even looking back at our old Mk3 Octavia VRS, we had the common water pump issues 6 month out of warranty and had to fork out the cost to repair ourselves. It's a common fault, but it's just tough. We also had a problem with paint pealing around the spoiler on the boot lid, again, just outside of warranty, Skoda were not interested even though again, plenty of other people were experiencing the same issue. With the IS38 turbo failures, Audi recalled the A3 to have turbo's replaced (at least in the US anyway), but that never happened for VW/Skoda/Seat. They've basically sat back, knowing there was a problem and replaced any that failed under warranty, any that failed outside of warranty, then tough. The fact they released something like 7-8 revisions of the IS38 since 2014 shows they've been making changes to improve reliability. Then you got the likes of Jaguar, where some customers are needing to have their DPF replaced through being blocked, and they're being told by the dealer that they won't cover it because it's down to driving style. I think they've recently admitted that there is an issue now, but still, manufacturers can't expect customers to take responsibility when they don't themselves, it's got to work both ways. In the case of the turbo in my case, I'm sure that even with a stock map, it would have went at some point, the map just brought that date forward. Then don't get me started on tuning companies, who knowing fine well that the IS38 is weak are not informing their customers before undertaking the work. They're still pushing high boost levels and advertising high performance figures to win customers. It is time that they started taking responsibility too, even if it's just giving the customer all the information they need upfront to make an informed decision. Ideally, tuning companies should be telling customers they'll need to have their turbo balanced before remapping, but they won't because that'll add £150-200 onto the cost of the work + labour, and people will just go elsewhere where it's cheaper. In terms of my issues, I've accepted I made the choice (without all the information upfront), it's down to me, and I'll pay the price financially.

Thanks, as I expected. I've got people telling me to take it back to Skoda, and I'm trying to explain to them that I can't, they'll know about the map, but it doesn't matter what I say, I'm being told I'm wrong.

Does anyone know. If I have the specialist return the ECU back to stock, and I take the car to Skoda, will they be able to detect the map? ive done some research, and there mention of a TD1 flag, but apparently this is only done if you take your car to the dealer with a map on it? So if it's stock, I guess all they'll see is a write count?

After loads of research on Littco turbo's, I'm no longer worried. I can't find anything negative only (even though one tuner said I would), and even Celtic Tuning have been posting about tuning them to between 1.85 and 2.0 bar. It does seem like the OEM turbo is a bit of a lottery, with issues from bearing journals, some not being as balanced as others and oil starvation (seen this a couple of times). If anyone is considering a remap on the OEM turbo, I have seen it suggested that you should get the turbo balanced before hand to be on the safe side.

This particular dealer was dead set against any reconditioned turbo whatsoever, not just Littco, the dealer was against TTE as well. Said they'd only do a stage 2 map on an OEM turbo. Maybe it's because they're using a standard REVO map and don't want to adjust it. You are correct, I believe the Littco L38-X has it's vanes clipped to produce more boost and does introduce some lag lower down. Something I'll need to consider as I'm not a fan on having too much lag, but I'm assuming it won't be too much.

Hmm, the coolant check valve? How do you know the same issue won't happen again? Out of interest (and if you don't mind me asking), as a ballpark, how much did it cost you to get back on the road?

Yes, I've seen the discount, problem is, I'm being by the dealer that they won't map with a Littco turbo installed. Unless they meant they won't do stage 2 remap with Littco.

It's not my job I agree, but it would be good to know for example, that on a stage 1 tune you shouldn't be exceeding 1.6 bar boost, or exhaust temps shouldn't be over xxx. Then I ask the tuner if he can run the car on the dyno and show me that those levels are not being exceeded. At the minute, the information I've gathered so far indicates that boost pressure and exhaust temps are two of the main causes of a turbo to fail after a remap, so if I can get some re-assurance that output values are within certain limits, I'll be happier. I could take the car to another tuner for advice, but I know they'll pick faults all over with the map even if there isn't anything wrong with it.

I've been to the specialist this morning. He's going to ring me on Tuesday next week and let me know when someone will collect the car (probably towards the end of next week). He's agreed first steps are to check the engine over and take it from there. I passed on some of the conflicting information I've been getting about Littco. He's told me he's worked with Dan for 2 years now and has installed roughly 12 of his turbos without issue. I've lost a lot of sleep over the last couples of nights, and last night, I woke up and had this gut feeling that I wanted the car to go back to the original specialist because I want the car close to me. I don't want to send the car to a specialist 30 mile away where they can fob me off and ignore my calls, and be someone I've never met or spoke to. With the original specialist, he's round the corner so it's a 5 minute walk to physically go and speak to someone. While I have questions about the remap, maybe it's fine, maybe it's not, I don't know, I am confident that the specialist is perfectly capable of fixing the turbo. He's also suggested getting the car on the rolling road again at the end for comparison. The guy himself, while I've only spoken to him a few times, seems a nice guy, and while I have absolutely no idea whether or not the bad stories I'm hearing are true, I'm not inclined to believe everything the other tuner has been telling simply because there things they are saying that don't add up. Also, their remap prices are a fair chunk more than the tuner I went to, so maybe they're miffed about that are trying to damage his reputation. At the minute, I have no reason publicly slag off the specialist as I simply have no evidence at all that they've done anything wrong. It would be very easy to go public, name names when there could be absolutely nothing wrong with the map he's put on and it was simply down to an imbalanced turbo or something. In the meantime, I'm going to try and do some research and get an understanding of the maps on these cars, and once the car is fixed, and I'm to ask if he can take me though some of the key aspects of the map just so I can come away with some confidence. So if anyone knows someone, or knows about remaps themselves that can tell me what I'm looking for then that would be great. Essentially, what parts of the map would cause the turbo to fail, is it boost pressure, exhaust temps etc, and if I can see the car on the rolling road and I can see that certain parameters are within certain limits, then it'll give me some confidence at least. There's also things like overspool protection and thermal limits, what should those be set at so I can get him to confirm that those limits are not being exceeded. I'm not daft, I'm a software dev/engineer, so I shouldn't have an issue building up a decent understanding of ECU tuning so that I can ask the tuner the right questions.

At the minute, no one has done anything. The car is still at my home while I decide who I want to do the repair. I think I'm going to ask the original tuner to collect the car tomorrow, take it back to his workshop to first check the engine over to make sure it's ok before we continue with any work. Once we know the engine is (hopefully) ok, then I might just get a littco turbo fitted to get the car back on the road. Once we're up and running I'll need to decide what I'm doing with the map. I may just ask the tuner to revert back to stock for now, I don't know. I might be nuts letting them work in the car, I don't know, but it's literally a 5 minute walk from my home, and they access to all the VAG systems and work on these cars every day. There's two parts to the business you see, there's the VAG specialist, and then the remapping place next door.

Someone on another forum has mentioned noises from the car, and it's just occurred to me that the guy that transported the car home last night tried to start it to see if it would drive onto his trailer. It turned over, but then made a quick screech noise. I've been out to check oil and water levels, and there's no oil in the engine at all, which is understandable given the turbo failure....but.... I am really hoping this doesn't mean that the engine will be buggered as well! Knowing my luck it'll be seized.

Response from the REVO dealer. Essentially says, he wouldn't entertain a used or reconditioned turbo on the EA888 engine. Stock turbo is easily good for 400hp and says they've done loads of stage 2 tunes on the IS38 without issue. Said the key thing with the tune is thermal and overspool protection, which he says a lot of custom tuners "don't do". He says if I can get an OEM turbo for £999 then go for that. Also suggested as an option, fitting a downpipe and get a low boost stage 2 map so it doesn't need an intercooler upgrade. It seems no one has the same opinion when it comes to the turbo itself, some say Littco, some say no.

The REVO dealer I've contacted is a VAG specialist too, so from that I'm assuming they'll provide services to repair the car as well.

I agree. Out of interest, do you know is the L380X turbo from Littco from £750 a complete turbo, or an exchange/rebuilt? I'm just concerned that if it is a rebuild of your OEM turbo, how that works if your housing is no good?

The issue is I'm getting so much conflicting information. I've got one tuner saying the the turbo housing will be knackered, so it's going to need a full new turbo rather than a rebuilt, which is why I've been looking at new turbo's. I've spoke to another North East tuner who I found recommended in a post on here, and they've suggested a littco turbo and said they've had no issues with them. So I have @newbie69, my original tuner and a second tuner telling me they're ok, and 1 tuner telling me they're not. I've fired off an enquiry to the closest REVO dealer to see what they suggest. It's 30 mile away, but hopefully with the REVO brand behind them, they know what they are talking about.

i think you might be right. I've found a Skoda Dealer selling OEM brand new IS38 turbo's for £999 instead of £1,500. So I've rang the garage(tuner) up and asked, if I pay them, will they order the turbo from the Skoda dealer as it'll save me money, and they've expressed that it's not something they would do, and said that if a dealer is selling the part below RRP then there's something fishy about it. I'm so bloody confused at the minute. I don't know if I should just order the turbo myself and have a garage that I trust fit it, and have them check over the engine and the downpipe to make sure I don't need anything else. This garage is around the corner from the original tuner, so I can take the car straight there to have the map put back to stock, and then find somewhere else reputable to put a new map on it.

Turbo I'd be going for is just the TTE IS38RACE. Basically an OEM turbo with uprated bearings and some extra balancing I think. It's about the same price as a stock turbo, so it doesn't make sense not to fit one. The next one up is the TTE IS475, but that's £1,000 more expensive and unnecessary. The IS38RACE is good for 400hp and more

Update. Having spoke to another tuner, they've recommended against the littco turbo, apparently they're made with cheap chinese parts and don't have a good rep. Suggested options for an OEM turbo for £1500, or a TTE Race Turbo for a little more. They've also suggested that I get a new down pipe and cat as well, they're saying it's probably knackered after all the oil that has gone through it, and it's possible that bits from the turbo may have broke it as well. Cost wise, I'm looking at somewhere in the region of £3,500 for a TTE turbo, down pipe/sport cat and a new remap. This tuner is also saying that 1.6 bar boost pressure it too much, and that's the reason why people are seeing their turbo's going. I thought this was pretty much the standard boost pressure for stage 1, but they're saying it's not. 1.4 bar is what they're suggesting for stage 1.