Had to limp home, dead Turbo

obi_waynne

obi_waynne

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A3 1.4 TFSI 150 COD
My engine made a loud pop noise, after 3 hours of constant 70mph. Then I lost loads of power, the car struggled to do 50mph up hills!

I'm guessing the turbo has blown, hopefully it's just a hose but it was annoying having to limp home for 3 hours with no power at all! :(
 
German engineering - best in the wo...

Ah.

;b/

Seriously - sorry to hear of it. Are you covered under warranty?

My mate's 2014 Merc C200 diesel has just blown a turbo, he had to do the limp-home journey. It's a lease car though so it's just been chucked back to the Merc dealer and he's quite happy cos the only loan car they had available was an E300 diesel.
 
Three hours at 70mph should be nothing at all with regards to load. I would think it more likely a hose has popped off, possibly on the intercooler. Fingers are crossed for you Obi that it's something silly and NOT the turbo.
 
I had a look but can't see that far into the engine without removing the air intake pipes and it's raining and I'm busy. Off to the garage.

It was a pop noise, there was no loss of oil or smoke in the engine bay so I'm hoping it's the cheaper option.

If it's the turbo I'll get a stronger one, the Chocolate VAG turbos seem rubbish from what I'm reading online.
 
Looking like a hose, the garage are stacked out though and can't fit me in until Tuesday at the latest. Looks like I'm going to have to hire a Corsa for the weekend! Oh boy, it's fun isn't it! £14 per day isn't bad though.
 
That's a relief all round. 3 hours at 70mph is nothing unusual at all. Not as if you were towing a 3 ton trailer up a Swiss mountain pass for 3 hours. Even then I'd not expect a turbocharger to fail. Goods and public service vehicles don't seem to have turbo failures.
 
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Ouch! Not cool my friend. I hate it when something suddenly goes wrong, you instantly fear the worst.
 
Even without a throttle the system still produces boost. There will always be excess boost that needs disposing of when changing gear. That's the reason recirc valves are used more often than not by manufacturers.
If there was no way of getting rid of the excess boost then it would go back into the turbo when changing gear. Which gives you the flutter noise rally cars generally have.
 
RobBentley said:
Sorry - what I was talking about was throttle plates and Diesels in response to their being no throttle.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have come across some diesels which use throttle plates for some operating situations. Some use swirl flaps too, and I know that the BMW 530d et al have a plate that splits cylinders 1,2 & 3 from 4,5, & 6 at low revs.

I'm still thrown here by TN69's post. If the engine has no throttle plate then the air simply flows through the cylinders, get's compressed and then out again on the exhaust stroke.

Am I getting confused between dump valves and wastegates? Wastegates are on the exhaust side, dump valves are on the air side, yes??
 
Think of it this way. If you boot a diesel turbo and then change gear, you hear the turbo flutter. Which is air passing back through the compressor wheel.
Yes most of it goes through the cylinders and out the exhaust but there will always still be excess.
 
obi_waynne said:
Looking like a hose, the garage are stacked out though and can't fit me in until Tuesday at the latest. Looks like I'm going to have to hire a Corsa for the weekend! Oh boy, it's fun isn't it! £14 per day isn't bad though.
Click to expand...
I recently hired an insignia fron enterprise and it was £65 from a Friday to a Monday. There doing some sort of offer.
 
turbonutter69 said:
Think of it this way. If you boot a diesel turbo and then change gear, you hear the turbo flutter. Which is air passing back through the compressor wheel.
Yes most of it goes through the cylinders and out the exhaust but there will always still be excess.
Click to expand...

All I hear is the turbo spool down. If no fuel is being injected then the exhaust gas volume drops to exactly that of the itake gas volume. Therefore no boost pressure will be developed!! What is forcing air back through the compressor wheel? There is no throttle plate to close off the intake manifold downstream of the turbo. All that happens when you lift off in a diesel car is that the fuelling is cut.

EDIT: OK TN69 - think I am starting to see what you're getting at. Lifting off the go pedal and dipping the clutch causes the engine speed to drop rapidly, thus leaving a slug of compressed air that the engine can't draw in?? So lifting off slightly before dipping the clutch or keeping the go pedal down slightly to sustain revs during a gearchange would be kinder to the turbo??
 
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I know how you feel Wayne I had a split turbo hose on Saturday max speed 44mph.
Being done today.
Thanks to the guys at Demings in Basingstoke for squeezing it in|B
 
My usual guys are totally stacked out until Wednesday, so I'll have to wait! :-( I've hire a Fiesta to get us by but it's a real pain being without your car isn't it.
 
All fixed, it was just an intercooler pipe that had popped off! Hopefully it should hold now, I'm giving the car loads of revs and using the race map to see if it will go again. If not the engine covers will go back on and I'll be in business!
 
That's good news, if it does pop off again then you can either change the clamp for a Mikalor clamp down version or have the ends of the metal pipework funnelled over to make it harder for the flexipipe to come off under pressure.
 
It looked like the metal lip on the intercooler had worn down a bit! :( Not sure how that happened. I'll look into the Mikalor clamps
 
A little more interesting to drive than explain, the Torque is maxed out as is the fuelling and boost (still within safe parameters but only just). The car feels pretty quick but is just starting to get smoky on full acceleration and at higher RPM. Fuel economy is about 10% lower than the performance map for a like to like run but the payoff is loads more acceleration and power.
 
If you use the race map all the time is there any material difference in driving characteristics if you use right boot as a linear device rather than a switched mode device?? D
 
Linear!?!? What's that then! The accelerator is just a switch - surely!

I wouldn't expect the components to last long if I was always in full race mode, unless I drove it carefully most of the time!
 
That's kind of what I meant. Leave it in race mode and drive gently. Then if you do need a quick blast of power to overtake you only have to plant your right foot rather than stop car; switch off; load race map; restart car; drive off again and spend three-quarters of an hour getting back to the position you were in in the first instance .....
 
It's popped off again! It happened at WOT at low RPM! What gives? This makes no sense!

Time to get a new pipe I think, the built in clips seem to be rubbish.

It is a built in hard plastic pipe so the clip is incorporated into the end which rules out silicone pipes and fancy clamps! :(

Really starting to hate on Audi now!
 
obi_waynne said:
It's popped off again! It happened at WOT at low RPM! What gives? This makes no sense!

Time to get a new pipe I think, the built in clips seem to be rubbish.

It is a built in hard plastic pipe so the clip is incorporated into the end which rules out silicone pipes and fancy clamps! :(

Really starting to hate on Audi now!
Click to expand...

I'll solve it for you........... by removing all your boost ;)
 
Can the guys at the garage look at making something more permanent for you or modifying what is there?
 
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