DIY Turbo removal/refitting

[Westy]

Ok people I need some tips and tricks.

As most you know from my "late night mechanic" escapades I'm not afraid to tackle anything mechanical and I'm starting to get a bit more confident with every job I do. This time though, it's a biggy!

My turbo needs refurbing and I am looking to save myself in the region of £300 in labour costs by removing and refitting the turbo myself. I have access to ELSAwin and some other workshop manuals so I have step by step instructions for doing this job.

I would like to hear from those of you that have done this job yourself and would like to know of any "best practice" ways to do this job. Also what other parts (apart from gaskets) are worth replacing while the turbo is off the car?

I look forward to hearing your advice.

 

[NHN]

Mate I did this in height of summer 40 odd degrees in Italy on my 2.0 tdi on axle stands, so you would walk it lmfao, elsawin is the bible so you will have no issues, soak any fixings in wd40 a while before undoing incase they're siezed given age of car, dont be overly forceful & take your time, patients needed, dont panic & of course every safety precaution in place.

Renew gaskets of course & any fixings like nuts, oil return pipes if fitted just check flow is ok through & no damage, if ok then reuse, otherwise good luck.

 

[Westy]

Thanks Nigel.

I'm guessing that an oil change is also recomended for a recon'd turbo? Also is there any running in needed?

 

[NHN]

100% oil/filter change mate, yeah always advisable to take it easy at 1st mate as I did, but then once it was proved as 100% then she boosted up nicely, even better once I got this custom map on, flies like ***** of a shovel lol.

Make sure you prime the oil feed mate, I did this to make sure oil is being fed properly, get someone to blip the start to check oil is circulating fine, also check the return pipe is also circulting oil, call me anal but hey cost of fixing would be fairly hefty against an hour of your time checking it properly.

 

[Westy]

I dont want to get this wrong so I'll check it for hours as long as it's correct. Once it's run in I'll be fitting my FMIC and a B5 TIP and Jetex filter then it'll be back to Bill's for him to tweak the Revo mapping. Looking forward to it now.

Thanks again.

 

[beachbuggy]

From experience the only sane and non knuckle f***in way to remove the turbo is too remove the head! It may seem a lot of hassle but unless you have mini hands it's ****** awkward and painful to get the turbo off!

you do need a new HG and bolts but it's worth it. Also a new cambelt for £18 is a good bet.

 

[Westy]

From experience the only sane and non knuckle f***in way to remove the turbo is too remove the head! It may seem a lot of hassle but unless you have mini hands it's ****** awkward and painful to get the turbo off!

you do need a new HG and bolts but it's worth it. Also a new cambelt for £18 is a good bet.

Hell will freeze over before I even consider taking the head off. I'll go for the knuckle f**king approach

 

[Turboman-a3]

When I swapped my ko3 to a ko3s it was a bitch and my only advice is do not try and get around taking the manifold off but as u will end up doing it anyway lol

 

[Jacko4130]

I have just removed mine, I cant see how you can do it without taking the head off, Unless like me you had the gearbox off and subframe off. I worked from the under side and all was good.

Good luck...

 

[Westy]

hmmm, Dean from 4rings has told me that they drop the sub frame to get the turbo out too.

Unfortunately I think ElsaWin assumes that you already have the engine out of the car!

 

[Jacko4130]

Its a quick easy way of getting plenty of working room without removing the head. Has worked for me.

 

[S3 D2HTY]

I change my turbo and downpipe with out having to drop the sub frame or take head off. Aint that bad off a job if you know where all the bolts are IMO. Yes it is alot easier with head off but cheaper not to.

The only problem i had with mine was the oil line on bottom of turbo youve got no chance of getting the 2 bolts out, in the end i just took the oil feed pipe of the sump and it came out with turbo.

Other tip is to undo the turbo hanger bolt before you remove all the bolts through the manifold otherwise youll find the hanger will move up and down when trying to undo the bolt grrrr!

Thats my advice. Good luck

 

[Westy]

I think I might just fork out the extra cash and get 4rings to do it when they service the car and have a hassle free life

Thanks for all your suggestions guys.