Advise needed! Have to change my turbo...

[Tricki]

During some work on my 2002 S3 AMK, the guy at the work shop discovered play in the turbo, according to him severe play. They advised me to get a "new" refurbished turbo and they come up with a price for the turbo of £1300 + labour.

So I'm thinking, is there any other way to come about this? Can I refurb it myself? Should I go for a turbo upgrade? Is there any good deals to be had online or somewhere in the UK for replacement turbos (I'm located in Norway)?

Please advise and comment, I want to get it sorted asap, but not get ruined....

 

[s3dave]

Beachbuggy on here will sort you out... pm him..

 

[Tricki]

Got a quote: £2400 total for new turbo and labour.... Must be possible to get something else than standard for that money....

 

[Yohan87]

Norwegian prices for you...

As Dave said, Beachbuggy (Dan) on here should be able to help you out.

 

[Arrkon]

As above, Speak to Dan (BeachBuggy). For that price you should easily be able to upgrade...

 

[Tricki]

I made a call to another dude, known for his skill with Audi turbo tuning, and he said that the K04 has floating bearings and there is some play in it from new. The bearing is self-centralising when the turbo spins up. From what I told him he thought my turbo is perfectly fine! He said that if it was worn, the impeller will scrape the housing and I would see white smoke from the exhaust. So, in his opinion it was BS what the workshop told me.... He also said the K04 is very reliable, and although my car has done 100k miles, it should be fine.

Any opinions on this? Is he correct that there is play from new? is 100K miles nothing for the K04?

 

[beachbuggy]

True, side play isn't a big issue its the in/out play that you gotta watch, if there is any then it's on its way out sooner or later, it compounds and gets worse very quickly.. More so if running high boost spikey pikey maps that thrust the internals back and forth as you makes boost, the hammering wears the thrust bearing out very quickly.

 

[Tricki]

True, side play isn't a big issue its the in/out play that you gotta watch, if there is any then it's on its way out sooner or later, it compounds and gets worse very quickly.. More so if running high boost spikey pikey maps that thrust the internals back and forth as you makes boost, the hammering wears the thrust bearing out very quickly.

Ok, this is what I've got, in and out play.... So no good then.

What options am I looking at if I go for upgrade? Apart form the turbo what do I need? Downpipe I guess, but the rods on the AMK should be ok for about 300 bhp, right? I 've already got the Forge TIP fitted, that's when the play in the turbo was discovered....

Anything else?

 

[Tricki]

Ok, so I got a few options, a kind offer by beachbuggy to sort me out with new internals (well, not me, but the turbo), or buy a complete unit. So if I go for a complete unit, where to get one?

 

[s3dave]

Turbo dynamics..etc

But it should be a No brainer ..... take Dans offer up....

 

[Prawn]

turbo new price is FAR too high, places like backdaft are doing brand new OEM ko4's for about £500 these days.

 

[Tricki]

Turbo dynamics..etc

But it should be a No brainer ..... take Dans offer up....

Well, I like to cover my options first, but so far Dan is on top of the list.

Having said that, anyone got experience with the Frankenturbo kits?

FrankenTurbo | F23 Hybrid K04 turbo for Audi TT225, S3 & MkIV cars