# Blown turbo. Now what?



## Craigbec (Dec 8, 2008)

This car will be the death of my bank account. 2000 2.7T was boosting fine and I was actually admiring the sound of the turbos spool up and it went PSSHHH!! And the cloud of smoke behind the car was incredible. Smoke everywhere. No power, and no more turbo spool. So... Oil is coming out of the exhaust. Here is my question. Obviously a blew a turbo, right? Assuming I fix this car, what are the chances that my cats will be bad. I sent 4 quarts of oil through them. Question 2 is does anyone know if turbos can be changed with out pulling the motor? Thanks everyone.


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## GLS-S4 (Jun 6, 2005)

May I suggest some more investigation simply for positive confirmation of diagnosis. An engine pull is in order to replace the turbo's and related bits, although someone here once stated they pulled one head with engine in car to replace one turbo. Either way it's a ton of work so you want to be sure before pulling the trigger on turbo's.

Perhaps try a pressure test of the intake system with ~5PSI air to verify no intake leaks. You mentioned no boost at all which suggests an intake leak and not a turbo failure, as even if one turbo failed there should still be some boost from the 2nd turbo. Another quick test for intake leak is temporarily disconnect the MAF wire connector to see if engine runs mostly normal on default values, as engine will run badly on MAF measured values assuming an intake leak is present.

I would also thoroughly inspect the engine bay for oil or coolant leakage, especially in the area of exhaust mani's and downpipes. For example a PCV failure can cause oil blow outs onto hot exhaust, etc.

If you are replacing the turbo's then one suggestion is to also replace the turbo oil feed lines. These lines can become coked with burnt oil reducing throughput which can cause an old turbo to fail and a new replacement turbo to fail quite prematurely. The turbo's in these cars are quite resilient, but infrequent oil changes using cheap oil combined with hard driving by a previous owner is a great recipe for coked lines and recurring turbo failure.


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## Craigbec (Dec 8, 2008)

Hey, thanks for the reply. I have pulled the motor and found the turbo spindle in the exhaust, just before the precat. The thing came apart. The other turbos intake side blades were chewed up like a stone went through it. Unrelated damage I would think. Thanks for the advice. Now I am cleaning the engine and engine bay. No new oil there, just layers of old oil sludge. I'll probably put a new clutch in while the motor is out, as I have no idea when it was done. Old one felt okay, but I may sell soon after I fix and would imagine for the $325 it will cost, it will make this car more marketable. New turbos will be ordered soon. :laugh:


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## Craigbec (Dec 8, 2008)

So I have two more questions for anyone that may be able to help. First is, is it normal to feel slight pulsating in clutch pedal while idling? Either with my foot just resting or pressing in the clutch there was certainly some pulsating. Time to replace the flywheel with my clutch job? Next question is if the center muffler is necessary. I am currently just about out of disposable money and it rusted off of its hangers and began to drag. Is there any reason I can't just straight pipe it to the rear mufflers? And if I can, maybe a pair of somewhat aggressive sounding mufflers are in order. For under a hundred each I can put my choice of flow master, borla or whatever.


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## GLS-S4 (Jun 6, 2005)

Wow and very sorry to hear that - a fodded and a popped pair of turbos! The question is what passed through the fodded turbo meaning hopefully debris did not damage anything else such as bent valve etc. Maybe compression test the fodded bank to be sure?

Pedal pulse is not normal. I know it's extra bucks but usually by the time a clutch is needed then a replacement flywheel should go in along with the clutch kit. I've seen a failed dual mass flywheel with more than 1/4" play between the two halves during a clutch install and it rattled like crazy, and the owner whined about being sure if the flywheel really has to be replaced!?! How are the engine mounts, meaning has pink fluid filled oil leaked out the mount bottom drain holes or no?

Personally I would have a replacement flywheel on hand when doing the clutch kit and install if needed otherwise return it afterwards. More often than not the new flywheel will be needed. It should be fairly obvious once you remove the old clutch as a failed dual mass outer plate will be notably wobbly and quite likely heat scored.


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## Craigbec (Dec 8, 2008)

I am about to sound lame because I am going to ask before I google it.... how do I do a compression test? What tools do I need...? So something definitely went through the fodded turbo but no debris was found before the precat screen. Perhaps it was something combustible and burned up, like a piece of plastic and hit the turbo spooling at 100K rpm. I did figure on replacing the flywheel, ECS has a single mass for $200, and there is way more than a quarter inch of play, more like 1/2"+ and it was pretty burned up. And of course the rear main seal should be replaced because its right there. Also, is the center muffler necessary? I see on the cat back performance kits that a new one is always supplied but I don't have a grand for that right now and this one is filled with motor oil and has holes in it. Can I just cut it out and straight pipe it to the rear mufflers? Thanks!

So having no previous knowledge on how to do large repair jobs, this doesn't really seem to be too hard, probably because I don't need the car. if I did need it, I would have some serious problems. Lots of back yard mechanics I talk to say "I wont own/work on German cars" "too hard, too complex, over engineered" ect. And I thought, why do they say that? Then I opened the hood to my sis-in-laws Prizm (yea I know:screwy:.) and thought.... "I can reach every single bolt on this car right now" Oh. that's why they say that. :facepalm:


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