What are your plans for the car?

 

If you're 100% keeping it standard then just plump for the straight replacement. If you're going to mod then you surely might as well upgrade...  It's cheap enough to do so at the minute!

I just want to be able to run it to 150k. Have toyed with remapping it in the past, but I think I'm over it now.

 

Turns out that Halfords price from earlier wasn't serious: fully fitted it's now £950ish (depends on exactly what they see when they take the old one off, apparently).

Oh dear, figured it was too good to be true, suggest you get Halfords to do you an accurate quote based on actually inspecting the turbo impeller, if it hasn't broken up then it just needs a new one fitting otherwise it's an intercooler as well.

Which the VAG bloke says he has factored into his quotes, so I think they are worst case.

Are you handy with the spanners at all?

 

Buy a second hand turbo, all the necessary gaskets, new oil feed and return. Take the original turbo off and remove the standard intercooler and all pipework - this should all be cleaned just incase there's any bits of the old turbo in them! The inlet manifold should also be cleaned.

 

Drop a bit of fresh oil into the new turbo to ensure it's lubricated before it runs. Then just bolt everything back up, service the car then away you go.

 

It's quite an easy job really - just takes a bit of time to do things properly.

 

Second hand turbo - £200

Oil feed and return - £50

Oil and filter - £35

Gaskets - £20

 

That's a quick guesstimate, but won't be much more than £300! Or buy an Xman PD170 based hybrid for £350-400 (however much they are...), but you'd need a new map as well (£250-300).

i got a turbo off a 06 plate 36k full history mint condition if you wanna make me an offer

Right. Local VAG garage says £1200 for a Garrett with 1 year warranty, or £1400 for a VW part with 2 years. Halfords reckon they can do it for around £500.

Big difference!

Is this just a quote, or has the local VAG garage done the diagnostic and confirmed the bad news?

I had one do that on an Octavia, a year of travelling 2 miles a day did not do it any good.  The turbo seals went, it ran on its own oil, hydraulicked the engine and snapped the turbo shaft.  It was not a pleasant experience.

All the numbers I've had are just quotes. Halfords are the only people who've seen the car, and they don't seem absolutely sure about the extent of the damage. 

 

I think I probably could fit one myself, but realistically I'm sure it would take me ages and I don't have the time.

All the numbers I've had are just quotes. Halfords are the only people who've seen the car, and they don't seem absolutely sure about the extent of the damage.

I think I probably could fit one myself, but realistically I'm sure it would take me ages and I don't have the time.

I would take it to a VAG specialist or dealer to confirm the diagnosis.

I think that's what I'm going to do, and I'm leaning towards getting the VAG place to do the work. Would really rather not spend over a grand on an eight year-old car, but I need to run it for 3 or 4 more years and I assume a VAG garage has done this more often than a Halfords centre. The garage said they'd included extra labour in their quotes to cover the rotor having fallen to bits, so if it hasn't it will come up a bit cheaper. 

 

I assume a Garrett turbo would be fine? The other option was a VW part for £200 more.

Changing the turbo is not exactly a challenging job, there are people on here who can't read, write or even think but they can change a turbo perfectly well 

I'm sure it's very doable. I had a friend who rebuilt an S3 engine once and I was surprised how straightforward it seemed.