Is 132k a good innings for the turbo???

The car still runs but based on the horrible noise and lack of boost i think the turbo has lunched itself........ ended up being towed 60miles home at the weekend..... i wasn't best pleased but fair play to the AA we only had to wait 40mins to be picked up from the M5.

Currently awaiting full diagnosis but i'm guessing turbo bearings.

Given the car is serviced on the dot every 10k, oil kept topped up and the car is not abused i'm a bit disapointed that it has gone at only 132k. I know some people see to go through them like sweets but with good maintenance and sensible driving i was hoping for more, am i being unrealistic for a standard car?

The options all look pretty expensive.... given the mileage on the car upgrading to a PD150 or hybrid turbo aren't an option as within days the clutch would go (still on original) and to be honest for a work car its fast enough and i can't really justify the costs of doing it properly with new clutch, turbo and remap - i'd rather spend the money on the other toys.

Has anyone had experience of having turbos repaired? Midland Turbos have been suggested - any experience?

I guess once it is in bits and the fault diagnosed we will know a bit more but at the moment i'm thinking a repair job rather than new. New seem to be around £700 on exchange, i'm hoping a repair will be significantly less than £500 all in.

Anyone have any suggestions for Midlands companies for the repairs? Costs??

For reference i have run the car on Millers Powersport 4 for the last 50k miles and it has run Millers Fully Synthetic oil (so not VW 505 01 spec) for 72k miles. I don't think either of these brought a premature end to the turbo but it does make you wonder.....

Any advice welcome.

Cheers,

Rich

You would like to say that it is/was a good innings ... Although as you state some carry on much longer .. But i think 132k is not bad ...

Plus Longevity can be affected by many things .. Not just service intervals .. Lots of stop start journeys will shorten the lifespan Etc. So many other factors could be a cause !! Something may of got sucked in & or come loose & become embedded in the Turbo causing the Failure .. It has been known ......

Trouble is also.. depending on the type of failure, The Turbo may not be the only item that needs replacing .. if The impeller Vanes have broken up & travelled around the Cars internals .. Well, you can imagine ....

Dean

Edited 11 May, 201016 yr by dfullb

100 miles off 135k. Original clutch and turbo. Remapped to 175bhp/290lb/ft for +/- 100k miles.

I'd accept a decent innings if my turbo went pop soon.

130k miles isn't an unreasonable lifespan for a turbo at all, though obviously it's money you'd rather not have to spend.

Not a cheap part to go wrong :( I'm always worried of mine going despite looking after the car to the best of my ability with servicing and warming and cooling the car when appropriate etc. I'd be happy if I got over the 100k marker with standard clutch and turbo

considering mine went at about 69k and its treated nicely! not ragged, warmed and cooled down etc yeah yours did well

whatever you do make sure you shop around. i wanted mine done asap and for the same price i payed for everything replaced back to standard ( although garrett turbo instead of KKK)

if i had taken my time, looked about and done research i could have got pd150 turbo, seat sport FMIC, egr delete and samco/stainless piping for about the same price. :'(

gutted much?!

Edited 11 May, 201016 yr by benh199

Look for a Garret PD130 as a replacement, this should last longer

After a 2 second google, it says idle your car after a drive before switching off to help maintain life of turbo.. but it doesnt say why or for how long.. could someone explain..? Thanks

Its mainly for petrol turbos as they get alot hotter so this helps to cool them down and get cooler oil through them? What I was told anyway!

I guess 132k is fairly good innings. You'd hope they'd go on for longer, but that's a decent mileage compared to other ones that have gone pop on here.

Did it give you any warning signs before i.e. was it getting noisey?

Mine's on 112k now and whistles / wines when the engine's cold, but once it heats up it sounds normal. I might just replace it soon out of preventive maintenance, but who's got a spare £700 lying around for such a thing?!

Mine went at 125ish, i think thats pretty good tbh. Yeah its not cheap, but its going to go at some point. It doesnt have to cost a fortune, i got a 60,000 mile turbo for £150, and a local indi to fit for £120. Tho I got carried away, and now have a spare turbo, which i`ll flog when i get my hybrid next month.

Matt

I guess 132k is fairly good innings. You'd hope they'd go on for longer, but that's a decent mileage compared to other ones that have gone pop on here.

Did it give you any warning signs before i.e. was it getting noisey?

Mine's on 112k now and whistles / wines when the engine's cold, but once it heats up it sounds normal. I might just replace it soon out of preventive maintenance, but who's got a spare £700 lying around for such a thing?!

I can't honestly say it gave any signs it was about to go pop.

In hindsight it maybe smoked a little more when laboured recently but given the mileage and coupled with the fact it used very little oil (less than 1ltr in 10k) i wasn't overly concerned.

Noise wise it hadn't changed - generally very quiet with a little whistle under full load (hot and cold).

I'm interested to try and find out what went wrong and why - don't really want to be changing it again any time soon. If it is just wear and tear in the bearings fine but if it is oil starvation or impellar damage we need to find the cause.

Just before the failure we had been cruising on the M-way for probably 2hrs at around 70mph with 2 bikes on the roof so the turbo would have been working well but historically this has never been an issue. I've driven to ski resorts with a roof box and scotland with the bikes for 8hr+ journeys with the increased load.

My mechanic hasn't been able to look at it yet but will update the thread when i get a report.

Edited 12 May, 201016 yr by Ruxpin

I'm interested to try and find out what went wrong and why

At that mileage id say it was just wear and tear. mine actually sized, and the fan blades shattered. Make sure the oil feed pipe is renewed when the new one is put on, just to make sure there is oil running to it ok

Matt

i picked up a new pd150 turbo from ebay for £350. Just keep your eyes peeled.

For reference i have run the car on Millers Powersport 4 for the last 50k miles and it has run Millers Fully Synthetic oil (so not VW 505 01 spec) for 72k miles. I don't think either of these brought a premature end to the turbo but it does make you wonder.....

Any advice welcome.

Cheers,

Rich

If you are not running vw 505.01 5w40 or vw 507(assuming it states backward compatible with 505.01) 5w30 then you are using the wrong oil

If you are not running vw 505.01 5w40 or vw 507(assuming it states backward compatible with 505.01) 5w30 then you are using the wrong oil

Yes it is the "wrong" oil according to VW/Skoda as it hasn't been put through VW's expensive certification process to get the 505.01 stamp of approval.

However, I believe Millers only put their semi synthetic oil through the certification process due to cost implications on the end product. That's why the fully synthetic oil (a better oil) is only slightly more expensive than the semi synthetic - hence why i have run on fully synthetic since the end of warranty

It's a personal choice, some people will just go by the book and follow what skoda say, i looked into it a bit and decided to go with the fully synthetic oil. Like i said i doubt it had anything to do with the turbo going but if anything comes up in the repair i will let you know.

Fairly good mileage for a standard replacement.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SKODA-FABIA-VRS-130-PD-KKK-TURBO-BREAKING-SPARES-/320526694103?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item4aa0e136d7#ht_500wt_1182

Fairly good mileage for a standard replacement.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SKODA-FABIA-VRS-130-PD-KKK-TURBO-BREAKING-SPARES-/320526694103?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item4aa0e136d7#ht_500wt_1182

thanks for the link, definitely an option to consider.

A bit of an update. The turbo is off, it's a KKK. Interestingly given the mileage the bearings seem good I'm told, must be that good oil....

The compressor wheel isn't in such good shape though.... A chunk is missing from one of the blades which explains the awful noise and lack of boost.

It's probably going to go to midland turbos for a refurb but the above might be a better option. Decisions decisions

When I see the broken turbo I'll try and get some gory photos

No gory picks of the damaged compressor wheel unfortunately.

In the end i went for a refurbed turbo from Midland Turbos - £415, so a lot cheaper than a new exchange item from eurocar parts etc or a dealer.

The car is now up and running although i'll be taking it steady for a few miles and do an oil change in 500miles.

Interestingly the new turbo is near silent in operation. The old one used to whistle when initially loaded so there may have been a problem for a while which steadily got worse.

At some point once the turbo bedded in i'll run some performance numbers to see if there has been any change.

Glad it's all sorted. Hate this thread though. Making me think about getting a warranty again. Fnarrr.

Now that the new turbo has a few miles on it i ran some performance figures to check all was ok:

0-60 (Softish launches to not trash the transmission - the clutch has done 134k and i don't want to be changing it for a while!)

Old Turbo 9.5s

New Turbo 8.59s

50-65 (single gear)

Old Turbo 3.57s

New Turbo 3.23s

The figures show it pulls better throughout the rev range. Quite suprised by the difference.

For a PD engine 132k is horribly low milage for a turbo to go. but unfortunately for some strange reason yours has done so;

- get a new turbo = £700 mark (exchange)

- why not get your turbo you have re conditioned? £300 mark

i would get the turbo reconditioned matey as is easy done and it doesnt cost the earth.

didnt your oil seals go first in your turbo? thats usually the case before anything else really

Note; i need to read all pages of threads before posting!

you mentioned your car has been mapped; if that is the case surely it should be hitting 0 - 60 in at about 7.5 mark?

Edited 26 May, 201016 yr by Gouldy

you mentioned your car has been mapped; if that is the case surely it should be hitting 0 - 60 in at about 7.5 mark?

I've not had it remapped (I aquired the car at 20k) and given the performance i would guess it is totally standard - certainly seems on a par with claimed figures

im hoping with oil changes every 6 months mine may last forever lol

however ive got a warranty with turbo cover if it does ever go, £15 a month FTW

im hoping with oil changes every 6 months mine may last forever lol

however ive got a warranty with turbo cover if it does ever go, £15 a month FTW

£15 A month how long for? your cover payments will be more than the turbo all depending on the payment period