High Mileage Turbo Advice

[Martin82]

Hello everyone im new to the site. To cut a long story short im selling my current car (Starlet GT Turbo) and wanting to buy my 1st S3. Around my neck of the woods (Blackpool), pickings are rather slim but ive found one in hyde with 132,000 miles on it (51 plate) with full service history, sav nav, leather, sun roof, and another one in huddesfield which has 134,000 on it (x plate i think) with full service history not as much kit, but had a recent turbo change, both are priced at £3,9995 in dealers and both have their plus points kit wise/turbo replacement. Can anyone offer me advice on the turbo front as ive not run a car turbo charged car with that many miles on it, i know the usual things to listen/check for turbo wise im just wary is all and unsure how long turbos will last. The one with turbo swap is tempting but equally the other one with all the kit is as well. Any advice welcome and thanks in advance.

 

[colicabcadam]

it ALL depends on the previous owners - if a car is warmed up correctly, cooled down correctly and the oil is changed regularly the turbo will last as long as the car

a 10,000 mile old turbo can be in a worse condition than that of a 200,000 mile turbo, it totally depends on how it's been treated

 

[camscockle20vT]

Im my exsperiance milage dosent mean a fat lot, are both the cars remapped? If so then its a hard one, id always go for the standard example and add to it, as i find a remaped car has usually took a thrashing. And 130k+ is Fine in these 1.8t, if its made it that far then it means its probly been well maintained. Good luck on your decision dude.

 

[Westy]

Im my exsperiance milage dosent mean a fat lot, are both the cars remapped? If so then its a hard one, id always go for the standard example and add to it, as i find a remaped car has usually took a thrashing. And 130k+ is Fine in these 1.8t, if its made it that far then it means its probly been well maintained. Good luck on your decision dude.

I agree with this. I bought my 51 plate S3 on 107K miles and it was ok until I got it remapped with a crappy generic map. The map was running very lean which meant that the turbo ended up getting so hot it had 3 massive cracks in it. I only discovered the damage when the turbo charger was sent off for a refurb and I ended up forking out for a new one! Not cheap.

I would sway towards the car that's had the new turbo but I would also want to know if the reason that car needed a new turbo was for similar reasons to mine?

 

[Martin82]

Thanks for replies folks. As far as im aware both cars are standard, no mention of remaps being done on either car (although i will be checking the historys, asking the dealers etc) I did wonder if the car with the replacement turbo had been done as it had been thrashed.

 

[Westy]

Thanks for replies folks. As far as im aware both cars are standard, no mention of remaps being done on either car (although i will be checking the historys, asking the dealers etc) I did wonder if the car with the replacement turbo had been done as it had been thrashed.

On a standard car it will take a fair amount of thrashing to ruin the turbo.

Usual turbo failures are from either the seals going or from the oil pickup pipe from the sump to the turbo blocking and causing the turbo to run dry.

Ask the question as to why that car had to have a new blower fitted.

 

[camscockle20vT]

On a standard car it will take a fair amount of thrashing to ruin the turbo.

Usual turbo failures are from either the seals going or from the oil pickup pipe from the sump to the turbo blocking and causing the turbo to run dry.

Ask the question as to why that car had to have a new blower fitted.

Hi westy, off topic question, but would a cracked exhaust mani cause a 1.8t to stall/lumpy idle? Iv got a fault reading for the pre cat lamba but been told its due to the cracked mani?

Sorry to taint your thread martin. Good luck on your buy and id suggest doing abit of travelling to find the right one as there are some lovely standard examples for some rock bottom prices about now.

 

[Westy]

Hi westy, off topic question, but would a cracked exhaust mani cause a 1.8t to stall/lumpy idle? Iv got a fault reading for the pre cat lamba but been told its due to the cracked mani?

Sorry to taint your thread martin. Good luck on your buy and id suggest doing abit of travelling to find the right one as there are some lovely standard examples for some rock bottom prices about now.

A cracked mani shouldn't cause any idling issues at all. Mine was checked when the new turbo was fitted but somehow it wasn't cracked which is quite rare as a lot of them tend to get hair line cracks at this age. If you can get hold of VCDS there are some lambda sensor tests you can do to determine where the problem is but I would expect your idle issue to be caused by something else.

Anyway here is a few pics of my turbo after it had been ******:

 

[Gops]

My cars done 157K and still pulls hard! But has been looked after throughout its life regardless of expense.

 

[Westy]

My cars done 157K and still pulls hard! But has been looked after throughout its life regardless of expense.

I bet if you sent it off for a refurb it would feel even better

 

[camscockle20vT]

Oooh that has more cracks than vaneesa felts deck chair dude, iv changed all my pcv pipes and still have a stalling issue, its intermitten and seems to change with the weather, i need to change my temp sensor, also i removed my coldside relocation kit and put it back to standard as it was saying leak from intercooler to throttle body and it goes into limp mode when upto temp, i unplug the maf and it goes out of limp mode but still stalls? Im well and truely boggled lol

 

[Westy]

Oooh that has more cracks than vaneesa felts deck chair dude, iv changed all my pcv pipes and still have a stalling issue, its intermitten and seems to change with the weather, i need to change my temp sensor, also i removed my coldside relocation kit and put it back to standard as it was saying leak from intercooler to throttle body and it goes into limp mode when upto temp, i unplug the maf and it goes out of limp mode but still stalls? Im well and truely boggled lol

I've had idle issues in the past and tried all the following things before I fixed the issue by replacing all 4 coil packs:

- Clean and re-align Throttle Body
- Change Temp sensor
- Clean Injectors
- Clean Fuel Pressure Regulator

The coilpacks weren't causing any running issues on boost like normal or bringing up any errors in VCDS but the car would stall on cold mornings.

 

[Gops]

I bet if you sent it off for a refurb it would feel even better

Lol i was actually thinking about this earlier if im honest.. Wasn't too sure of costs and who would be the best to do it.. But it is on my wishlist (which is bigger than the list santa gets during xmas)!

 

[Westy]

I know that Bill uses CR turbos but I used Turbo Dynamics for mine. Look them up on the net. Both reputable companies and will only charge a couple hundred quid for a standard refurb.

The expensive part is getting someone to remove and refit the turbo I you don't want to tackle it yourself.

 

[Jacko4130]

I removed mine at 142k i belive, Sent it to Midland turbo on a exchange basis

 

[16Klappe]

My cars done 157K and still pulls hard! But has been looked after throughout its life regardless of expense.

This, but with another 40K miles.

 

[Dan-Jnr]

I would check the paperwork for the turbo, make sure its not a snide ebay copy.

 

[Martin82]

Thanks to everyone for advice and thoughts appreciated, oh and those pics are horrifying Westy but certainly a reminder of how things can go wrong!

Im angling more towards the one without the turbo replacement BUT as both are close to each other i'll be giving them both a look, plus any others which come up in the meantime.