Blown turbo?

[antnee]

My dad was driving home earlier (standard fabia VRs 06 plate), he slowed down and stopped while a lorry was pulling in to a layby, went to pull off and nothing, the engine then cut out.

It would turn over fine, but not fire. When Mr AA man came out, he took one of the boost pipes off and smoke came out. with that pipe off it would start up, but not rev. The AA man said there was oil underneath too.

This sound like the turbo has blown?

[Stormchaser]

Oh dear certainly seems like it.

[SimonK24]

Another one! Oh dear I feel sorry for you dude, this happened to me last week also. The symptoms you give are exactly what my car was giving at the time, however there were no oil traces from my car. Atleast youve got the car nearby - mines in a different country still at the moment.

How about the PD150 turbo route? thats the one im taking, give Turbo Dynamics, or Turbo Technics a call and discuss it.

All the best, Si.

[T. Spark]

Ohhh hense the txt this morning which I completly forgot about and didnt txt back, sorry fella.

Basically, its very rare, how long is the car out of warrenty? Id be tempted to kick off to Skoda UK and see what they can do.

If not, Tom. still has his for sale I believe? Or Ash, straight swop and cheap too

[antnee]

Car has done 94k, is 3years 6months old. Is actually the 2nd turbo, as the first turbo was replaced after about 2k miles as the seals weren't in correctly so it leaked oil.

[T. Spark]

So 92k on a turbo, not sure how far Skoda will take it, id just purchase Tom/Ashs turbo and bolt it on yaself, take all the intercooler off and give it a good clean... be cheaper than a stealer at 1k+

[StigDude]

It happened to me last year, I had to have my beautiful black pearl to the nearest pirate bay (VAG dealer). They had to replace the turbo & clean the oil that had spread into the system. They charged me more that 2000€ that's almost 2k quid!!! :shiner:

I wrote a letter complaining to Skoda, since the car had around 21k miles and the warranty had expired only 3 months earlier. It paid out, as they were instructed not to charge me. Those goons charged me anyway and only after I mentioned the letter did they look it up. They had to give my money back... :rkick:

In your case, perhaps you could call for the 2nd turbo's warranty, they told me the my new turbo would have its own warranty. But being 3 years old, I guess it's gone too.

In that case perhaps you'd better follow Spark's tip.

Good luck!

[antnee]

Update, turbo has blown apart, its is likely that bits have gone into the IC but they don't know yet :thumbdwn: Skoda UK may be paying for it, so the dealers aren't ordering any parts until they know how the bills getting paid :thumbdwn::eek:

And it also looks like they can't give him a courtesy car either for some reason

[geordie_21]

I'm seeing alot of these posts lately, does anyone know the expected life of the vRS (I think) KKK Turbo?

[SimonK24]

Ive been told 75,000 miles, but of course thats a design life. So actual life will depend on many things! Luck may also enter the equation!

My cars done 52,000 miles and has been maintained highly, and I look after my car / let the turbo cool down etc, as much as I possibly can to avoid things going wrong! And yet the Turbo still decided that enough was enough and went 'POP' - Grrrr

[MoggyTech]

In theory the turbo is a no contact device with the shaft running in a shell bearing like a crankshaft. It's usually metal fatigue that kills them, or more often an oil seal fails and you get lack of shaft lube, and bang. The VNT has another problem area, the variable vanes can stick, caused by excessive soot build up, and depending if they jam open or closed, you get constant over or under boost, and the ECU sticks the car into limp mode.

Despite what some people will say, the KKK turbo is a good design and could last 200,000 miles or more, it's down to luck really. The failure rate, considering the number of cars that use the KKK turbo is actually quite low.

You can keep the inlet side of the turbo clean, by doing the PCV elephant hose mod, but the exhaust side is always going to get sooted up, so the cleaner the engine runs the better. Over fueling (some remaps) cause excessive exhaust smoke, and the turbo soots up quickly.

Luck aside, to have long turbo life, change oil and filter every 6000 miles, change air filter every 10,000 miles or 12 months. Give the VNT a good workout at least once a week by changing gear at 3,500 RPM

Keep £1,500 spare just in case

[Taylorrr]

Shouldnt you always change gear at3.5/4k? :P

Mine went at 28k on a special edition, warranty covered it fortunately.

[red-devil]

My KKK went at 78K

[StigDude]

There should be a mod that allowed us to take the key and close the car, but letting the engine run 30 to 60 seconds, just to let the turbo cool off.

High bhp Subarus do that. You leave the car and the engine shuts down by itself

[SimonK24]

Yes there maybe (considering how many Fabia's there are out there) a low rate of failure on the KKK turbos, but are they not copied from Garrett who originally designed this type of turbo? There just seems to be more and more threads of failures of these recently, and for that reason I will be spending my hard earned on a Garrett - which 'hopefully' should fair better than these KKK items!

[R1chard]

IF my lovely turbo decides it doesnt want to work anymore I will be spending my pennies on a stage 2 turbo dynamics turbo

[MoggyTech]

IF my lovely turbo decides it doesnt want to work anymore I will be spending my pennies on a stage 2 turbo dynamics turbo

That's the spirit No point worrying about the darn thing, if it goes bang it goes bang, and will cost to get it fixed. Too many owners worry about things that might last for ages. No consolation to those that have had a turbo let go, but then that's life.

[thewilfmeister]

Bad times!!! hope everything gets sorted soon!

[Stormchaser]

Hope goes well.

These damn turbos so unpredictable.

[Mr Wobblytickle]

Give the VNT a good workout at least once a week by changing gear at 3,500 RPM

Looks a bit like somethings I found

and

.

[MoggyTech]

Looks a bit like somethings I found

and

.

Yup that's the VNT in action, less lag, more to go wrong

[Mr Wobblytickle]

Shouldnt you always change gear at3.5/4k? :P

:iagree:

[Mr Wobblytickle]

Yup that's the VNT in action, less lag, more to go wrong

Joy.

I'm just out of the extended warranty that came with my 04-plate Furbatron.

Haven't renewed it as the car has covered only 20,000, meticulously serviced, miles.

So, what should I be more concerned about as regards turbo longevity - age (oil seals etc) or use (wear and tear, soot etc)?

And ditto for the PAS.

Hmmm, perhaps I should renew...

[MoggyTech]

Joy.

I'm just out of the extended warranty that came with my 04-plate Furbatron.

Haven't renewed it as the car has covered only 20,000, meticulously serviced, miles.

So, what should I be more concerned about as regards turbo longevity - age (oil seals etc) or use (wear and tear, soot etc)?

And ditto for the PAS.

Hmmm, perhaps I should renew...

Always a tough call with extended warranty. Buy it, you wont need it, don't buy it, sods law comes in to play. Really not sure what route I will go down. Still got 10 months Skoda warranty left. Best after market warranty I could find, is warranty direct, which even covers wear and tear. £370 a year if you use one of their franchise dealers. They also told me, they could do a better price, as I don't need hotel accommodation cover, or courtesy car.

Anyway, the turbo on the VRS is used in the 150Kw Audi, so should be fine if driven hard from time to time. PAS I wouldn't worry about, failures of the pump or rack quite rare, and the steering angle sensor was changed late 03 I think, and is much more reliable now.

I think the big factor is oil and filter changes, and never use an engine flush. Oil and filter change every 5000 miles would be my route, if I don't take an extended warranty out.

As for turbo failure type, VNT sticking is the most common, and a decent mechanic can strip and clean the VNT in half a day. Oil seal failure is usually catastrophic, and can even cause a runaway engine if the leak is severe. Turbine blade failure or shaft failure quite rare. If the exhaust side goes, damage is usually restricted to CAT and IC. If the inlet side goes, bits can get into the combustion chambers, and that's really expensive to fix.

[SimonK24]

Would a sticking VNT cause the engine not to run? There was no smoke or oil traces out of the exhaust, or under the car itself for that matter. Im still waiting for the car to be returned home, its probably still in Adenau at the garage knowing my luck.