Any type of mechanic should know that fault within seconds.

Ok you caught me I'm no kind of mechanic!

So this mornign after a nights rest it turned over half caught and then died.

Would then turn over but no hint of catching.

Mech due at 5 this evening. Fingers crossed.

Have you checked the timing yet ?

When you get it on vag com if it says cam sensor out of range it's most likely the timing is out

N y other half lupo died recently on her way home from work. She called me and I went out but had to get it recovered of the carriage way. When the recovery truck came it was lifted to the next village then dropped there at my request. I'm a mechanic but I couldnt get to recover it myself as our truck was out. So speaking to the guy he said I'll get a torch and we can see if it's something silly. He tried to start it but it was high pitched but blowing. He came and said to me it's the starter. I would start with that. I then asked him what did we do to get it on the Beavertail , his reply put it in gear and turned the ignition key. I said right and that did what. Moved the car using the starter. Hmmm yeah but I still think it's the starter not working. Most if these roadside recovery don't have a clue on what problems are as they are only shown how to lift them to a place of safety or garage.

I went out the next day in the light and lifted it back the 20miles and had a look the timing belt had stripped some teeth which untimed the engine with a big bang hence the high pitch turning if the engine and the blowing with the pistons moving a air up and down with no compression.

Start at the very start.

Does it have power to turn the starter.

If the engine turns but does not fire does it sound ok.

Then check for fuel up it the engine.

If you have fuel power and it's turning . Check it's timed. If its timed your looking towards an electrical / sensor fault.

I would imagine it's still timed as it should throw up a misfire fault if it wasn't. And when running would be lumpy. For a tooth or so out

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

Ok you caught me I'm no kind of mechanic!

Haha sorry, wasnt having ago! Just backing up what you first said about the recovery guy.

Keep us updated.

this happens to mine every couple of days mine is a loose wire bad connection on fuse for the fuel injection pump put a live feed to the injection pump see if this starts it

Preliminary diagnosis is a ceased turbo.

Did nothing different until we popped off a boost pipe and turned it over at which point it started.

Admittedly sounding like crap and i'll now recognise a popped boost pipe if it happens in future but it did start.

Shall approach in the light tomorrow to try to get under and in behind the engine to get at the turbo props to see if it turns. If if is a turbo issue luckily I have one in the garage "just in case".

Dip stick is also showing a low oil level which is the only other concern.

Either I've been complacent and not checked it so the turbo didn't get enough oil hence it ceasing, or it's spat all the oil into the cat which'll need replacing/removing too, or finally it was just low

Of course it may have just been that my number came up in the random KKK turbo blow up lottery and it's not related to anything else.

We'll see tomorrow

Sounds like an issue i had a few years ago when my turbo went pop as well. Lost all power as i was going for an overtake on the A303 (dual carriageway part) and had to crawl into a lay-by. Car wouldn't start and when the AA man removed something (no idea what it was as i was sat in the car waiting to try to start it when he asked), it sounded like a tractor. Car was recovered all the way to the Skoda garage in Exeter and was told it was turbo and possibly cat. Thankfully turned out just to be the turbo, though that was expensive enough on it's own. :(

Hope yours isn't this and you get it sorted out.

That sounds like the exact experience John.

As I say luckily enough I banked a turbo "just in case" so the part is £130 rather than a new one which is £600+

Also spoke to unit18 about labour cost to fit said banked turbo and was quoted £300 so I've hopefully got a rough idea of the costs involved.

Shall know more tomorrow

Secretly your pleased so you can go hybrid fingers crossed for you Cliff

Only other thing i did forget to mention was a fault came up when the AA bloke checked, something along the lines of excess fuel in the pipe and not enough air mix or something. It might have been the other way around. Wish i could remember, sorry.

No idea if that was related to the turbo going but it was something he picked up on at the time.

I think if it'd have been the red car baz yeah I'd have found some excuse to get darkside involved

Mrs Pasty's sensible standard for insurance purposes will however have a like-for-like replacement

I mentioned the no fault codes to my tame mech and he said that if it is a ceased turbo there'd no fault codes cos there'd be nothing electrically wrong. Mechanically issues are more difficult to track down.

The fact it ran without th eboost fpipe attached which essentially was bypassing the turbo is a pretty good indicator though...

It certainly sounds like the issues I had at the Ring' Cliff. When it went it just stalled the engine, though I didn't have any limp mode issues beforehand. No smoke, fault codes or anything, just a car that would crank over and over, I didn't get to remove the boost pipe as the car was recovered to a local garage for me by the RAC.

By removing the boost pipe it sounds like the turbo to me, the inducer wheel on mine had completely jammed in the turbo housing, thus just the cranking over and over without firing.

Good job you have a spare turbo! Make sure you get every single boost pipe off and the intercooler cleaned properly, I reckon debris from my first turbo failure was still in the pipework, which possibly helped cause issues with the second turbo failure :'(

Best of luck getting it fixed though!

Thanks si.

The limp mode thing is still unconfirmed in my mind.

It was all a blur at the time and I remember thinking "loss of power = just like Combe = limp mode = turn it off and on again" i just can't be sure it actually happened.

The turbo purchase was cover for the red car never in zillion years did I think I'd need it for the black one.

But then I guess it's been a zillion years since I pulled the dipstick to check the oil level, which may or may not have been a contributing factor in this whole escapade.

Complacency and/or a sense of invincibility are not good things in car ownership.

Both can be ended incredibly easily and incredibly quickly.

Smugness is also all too eager to disappear.

I've read all the horror stories on here for years and thought "I dunno wot all the fuss is about. Mines's never ever spent a day off the road."

Me and my big mouth......

I know what you mean! I never would have expected to have gone through two turbo's! I absolutely pamper my car, always serviced, yes it's remapped and I do use all of the power available (also use all of the steering lock too, never know when you may need that! ) but I'd like to think I've got a good amount of mechanical sympathy, and yet it's cost me over £2k in metal snails. Mate's turbo cars get thrashed to death from cold, and go on and on..........

"I dunno wot all the fuss is about. Mines's never ever spent a day off the road."

That's what I've been thinking 3 years I've had mine, ok non vRS but 1.9TDi PD. I think I'll be checking the dipstick more than once a month from now on! Really hope you get this sorted, Cliff.

I think if it'd have been the red car baz yeah I'd have found some excuse to get darkside involved

Mrs Pasty's sensible standard for insurance purposes will however have a like-for-like replacement

Swap them over from black to red, your car has miraculously got issues but hers is running fine. Bosh, upgrade on its way!

On a serious note, when my turbo sized the engine would run with the oil cap off.

An afternoon of work later and the car is currently airbox-less, manifold-less, boost pipe-less, and turbo-less.

Once we'd removed all the blocking parts to get access to check the insides of the turbo we found it was indeed fecked.

For those who don't know the impellor of your turbo looks like this (as my new second hand one does)

The turbo that came off the the black car looked like this

I think that might just be a little bit knackered

It appears to have sheared itself in half and then sucked the bits into a nice little clump in the housing.

Shall call the dealer tomorrow to order new gaskets, nuts and filters ready for fitment of the replacement later in the week.

One thing that did raise eyebrows was the date stamped on the exhaust manifold attached to the turbo was 45-06.

45th week of 2006. lovely. Except the car is a 54 plate.

The removed gaskets also looked pretty new, and there's a bent bolt on the turbo itself; so as far as we can tell the car had already had a new turbo before we bought it at 38,000 miles.

All speculation of course and it'll be back on the road before Christmas but we may have bought a turbo eater :S

Oh bugger, all the best getting it fixed up and back on the road. Does sound like it's had another turbo then.

Any diagnosis as to what will have caused the turbo to fail like that?

Are you going to change the oil and filter and clean all your boost pipes and SMIC out too. Just to ensure no particles have got in?

Either i lost the kkk turbo lottery or the low oil level meant it wasn't lubed properly jammed and subsequently tore itself in two.

No real way of knowing.

The oil and filter will be changed and all pipes and the intercooler will be flushed as best as possible.

Dahm! Hope it ain't off the road too long Cliff.

Great pictures! lucky it hasnt damaged any of the engine like a few people have reported!

It's funny you mention low oil, how low we talking?

I thought my turbo was going for a while, it was very noisy. I then topped up the oil - It had used just 150ml in 9000 miles and now the turbo is much quieter.

Also, speak to tech1e aka Ross about fitting your new turbo. I suspect he will give you a lot of change from £300!

Joe

Hope you get it sorted soon Cliff.

+1 on speaking to Ross aka Tech1e about it !

Hope you get it sorted soon fella

Good job you had one in the garage

Think that's what I better get saving for :/