The Turbo failure thread - how many miles till booom!

[Mounty]

Mine went pop at some traffics lights! Loads of power lost (went into limp mode), **** loads of black smoke and a horrible mechanical noise from the turbo (like a motor is spinning but can't grip anything).

Went pop at 85k miles. Had been remapped about 10k ago by Awesome GTI.

Now I have the police siren noise on my new standard Garrett PD130 turbo. So, here's another £600-700 I've got to pay out!! :(

Definitely not bothering with another turbo charged car after this. I'll stay to being a petrol head.

[Mounty]

Mine went pop at some traffics lights! Loads of power lost (went into limp mode), **** loads of black smoke and a horrible mechanical noise from the turbo (like a motor is spinning but can't grip anything).

Went pop at 85k miles. Had been remapped about 10k ago by Awesome GTI.

Now I have the police siren noise on my new standard Garrett PD130 turbo. So, here's another £600-700 I've got to pay out!! :(

Definitely not bothering with another turbo charged car after this. I'll stay to being a petrol head.

[Fabiasteve]

Mines just let go on me 82k miles. Police siren noise like a cog spinning with no grip and hardly any power. Dammit just before Xmas!!

[coiner]

So how much is it for a standard turbo replacement inc. parts and labour?

[hutchysrs50]

Well a good set of results on the poll. So going off the results it does seem quite rare for turbo's to Fail under 110k miles apart from between 70 - 80k miles which is just as common!

110k is good going really but 70k isnt... Can it be a coincidence that turbo's are just as likely to fail at 70k than 110k? Its almost half its life in comparison...

You'll always get the low mileage turbo fails anyway... Somebody has to get that one off poor quality turbo, as well as servicing and other parts failing and in turn killing the turbo.

Over all, judgeing from the comments the police siren noise doesnt seem to be anything to worry about, some people have even reported to having that noise when a brand new replacment turbo has been fitted.

Also a common noise is the "Motor spinning but has no grip noise" before the turbo completely fails

Edited 24 November, 2012 by hutchysrs50

[bonesetter]

Mine went in the first year of the car's life, and again at 42K

[Hudson1]

Just out of interest are we talking about mainly VRS's here ? I have a 1.9TDI Elegance, its an 06 with 43k on the clock, all is fine for now..... had it remapped to about the same as a stock VRS.

[hutchysrs50]

All tdi's really as any can fail but i asume 90% of the votes are for vrs's.

[Mounty]

judgeing from the comments the police siren noise doesnt seem to be anything to worry about, some people have even reported to having that noise when a brand new replacment turbo has been fitted.

Just had a diagnostic test on my new turbo by Awesome GTI, as I was worried about this dreaded 'Police Siren' noise. They confirmed nothing is wrong with the turbo

As part of the diagnostic test, they put an endoscope into the turbo and there were no signs of wear, damage or imbalance. That was the news I was hoping for!

They also checked all sensors for readings - all seems okay (no leaks or boost issues). The turbo noise is normal apparently!!

Edited 27 November, 2012 by Mounty

[Ryy.P]

always nice to know mounty ^

[Rhys_RS]

My standard KKK turbo has just let go at 73k miles and has now been replaced by a PD150 Garret turbo. Fitting a seat sport intercooler soon followed by a Shark custom remap

[bonesetter]

Just had a diagnostic test on my new turbo by Awesome GTI, as I was worried about this dreaded 'Police Siren' noise. They confirmed nothing is wrong with the turbo

As part of the diagnostic test, they put an endoscope into the turbo and there were no signs of wear, damage or imbalance. That was the news I was hoping for!

They also checked all sensors for readings - all seems okay (no leaks or boost issues). The turbo noise is normal apparently!!

Was the siren sound explained?

[Mounty]

Was the siren sound explained?

Awesome said it's just the turbo spooling up to provide boost, so it's quite a normal noise. They also said some are louder than others, dependant on the type of turbo fitted.

Edited 27 November, 2012 by Mounty

[hutchysrs50]

I thought that was the case but nice to have it confirmed.

[Mounty]

It's definitely good to have it confirmed, as I've been going crazy by reading all the threads on here!

As it's been at the hight of conversation recently on Briskoda, it'll hopefully help put peoples mind to rest.

[Ryy.P]

i'm having the cold weather can be also a cause of this? cos obviously when peoples warm up they dont get it? mines like it, but it's only came on since the weather started to turn colder!

[Mounty]

i'm having the cold weather can be also a cause of this? cos obviously when peoples warm up they dont get it? mines like it, but it's only came on since the weather started to turn colder!

Totally agree with that statement.

[jamwatn]

< 105k Still going strong..loud whistle on boost sometimes..still yet to diagnose!!

[hutchysrs50]

Just noticed a few more votes have been made, so its more like for the turbo to fail between 70,000 - 80,000 than any other mileage!

a slight flaw in the voting could be alot of them votes are from the 1.4 tdi and other tdi models not the pd 130 vrs models.

still abit shocking though.... must be a reason for all the turbo failures at that miles than any other!!

[mdfabia1969]

119,000 power loss ,then clouds of smoke in rear mirror ran like it was on three cylinders limped home stripped it down 2litres of oil missing from engine it was in inter cooler pipes etc.turbo shaft ,blades all mashed up .that's about it

[bonesetter]

Oh dear, hard luck

 

All that oil needs to come out, but I suppose you know that already

 

Best of luck

[stevobeavo]

Mine went a around 125k. Standard KKK on standard power. Pulled out of the petrol station and it just went, wasn't ragging it.

Mine over boosted from where the intercooler shrould rubbed though the cooling slates. My second hand one showed the same just not as bad. Some thing you guys might want to check.

[Mwhippet]

Have most of the cars with lower milage failure been remaped and who by a bad map will soon kill a healthy turbo ... Need to get a proper map put on mine by a respectable company don't trust the one that's on ....

[bonesetter]

Mine - which went first of all int he first year of its life, and then secondly after 45K had NOT been mapped

[Jonny5ive]

Mine went pop at c.120k miles, 90k of which it was mapped.

After Hybrid I sold it with 153k on the clock and I understand its still going strong.