Turbo failure?

Ricky Burrows

Ricky Burrows

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I would like some advice please people I think my turbo has decided to die.

So i was accelerating under boost about 4500rpm and climbing when suddenly it felt like it lost power, tried putting the power on again and it just felt like it had lost alot of boost then i looked in the mirror and i seen a lot of smoke blackish grey, i was on the motorway so i pulled over and smoke was under the bonnet very oily almost petrol smell while driving sometimes a stronger smell than other times, i tried to drive it and see what more i could figure out/probably break and it sounds very rattly around 1-2000 rpm then it would clear slightly but would not boost so the revs basically wouldnt climb past 3500rpm (im assuming it went into limp home mode) as thats when the turbo should be waking up.

I got home the low oil light come on so i the popped bonnet again and theres oil everywhere id say turbo height down just covered everything and I’m assuming its the gearbox which looks like its landed on mostly.

Engine light was already on due to a stuck open mapped thermostat, other than oil saying low no other lights come on.

The rattly noise from 1-2000rpm sounds similar (just alot louder now) to a sound i had recently that started about 2 weeks ago but the rattly noise went when revving it just over a 1000rpm it was only slightly rattly on tickover before, not sure if thats linked?
 
Well that is not good Ricky, any previous problems with the oil lamp on ?
Not sure it is the turbo with that petrol smell.
Does the car idle ok or lumpy and have you had the cam chain/tensioner replaced ?
 
Was just about to say cam chain tensioner.

this Does not sound good at all mate. Did you have any oil pressure warnings?
 
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No previous oil lights on at all and on idle it don’t seem bad at all apart from the rattly noise that appears when you pull off between 1 & 2000rpm.

As for cam chain tensioner I'm not sure when it was replaced i would of assumed they done it with the engine rebuild which was about 15k miles ago.

Its more of a burning oil smell Rob must be because oil is everywhere under the turbo which has more than likely landed on the exhaust there was more smoke coming from the turbo area than anywhere else, which im guessing is oil on a hot surface? Not sure if its blown a seal or cracked the turbo housing possibly? Either way theres a flipping lot of oil fell out.
 
Best get in there with some engine cleaner when it is cold and get it cleaned up then checkout the oil lines to the turbo to start with and go from there.
hope its not too serious.
 
Ok so ive found this very worrying! It has no bolts in and the plug is not plugged in?

F8064392 7E80 4932 9946 FEBB43F80205

0EE2382D 49EE 46B6 A6E1 BC49D318B16C

84E35F84 F48C 472D B48A 6C9F14373C1E

E7C0EECE E661 44E5 970D D4554F0D95BF


So first question what is that part? Second is it possible that whatever has happened its strong enough to push all the bolts out and unplug the sensor or is someone playing a sick joke on me?

Also I checked the dipstick and its covered top to bottom in a brownish dirty looking substance.
 
That's your high pressure fuel pump. I can't possibly explain how it's found itself in that state, but oil will be pouring out of there.
 
That's not good at all.
That's the HPFP and it should not be hanging out or even loose.
Check the cam follower for damage now, also that the bolts were not brokenand left in the head. i'm amazed you didn't have any other engine problems with that unplugged.
 
I would suspect its been removed before and not refitted properly and the bolts left hand tight, well if that plug was removed it would not have just fallen off the HPFP has been removed before.
 
Just Rob. said:
That's not good at all.
That's the HPFP and it should not be hanging out or even loose.
Check the cam follower for damage now, also that the bolts were not brokenand left in the head. i'm amazed you didn't have any other engine problems with that unplugged.
Click to expand...

That'd be my fear now. Hopefully under torqued and have worked loose rather than over torqued and stripped or snapped!
 
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The sudden loss of power is almost certainly down to this , you would have lost fuel nearly all fuel pressure as the plunger will have been only moving a fraction .
 
Just Rob. said:
The sudden loss of power is almost certainly down to this , you would have lost fuel nearly all fuel pressure as the plunger will have been only moving a fraction .
Click to expand...

Doubt it'd move at all, would have been running on tank-pump pressure.
 
The unplugged sender is the low fuel pressure sensor, that would have pinged up .
 
Thanks for the replies people its beyond my capability of fixing so I've took it to Audi technik i can confirm the bolts have been sheared completely off and that will explain the fuel smell and oil then, before this point apart from a slightly rattly sound on idle for the last couple of weeks its all out of the blue, I'm expecting the worse to be honest i gather ill need a new hpfp and cam follower to start then? And possibly no further engine damage has occurred, oh dear this year is really not been a good one car aside everyone has there problems in life by my god this year is already testing my mental state thats for sure.
 
The owner of the company that the car is now at did say he's never seen that happen before, never a good thing to hear...
 
You may not need a new HPFP Ricky as the bolts go through the casting, unless damage has occurred around the o ring seat or area.
 
These things are sent to test us Ricky, hopefully they will be able to drill out the stubs and then make good any thread damage ,
Best of luck chap.
 
Thank you Rob much appreciated, do you think i should be worried about the dipstick being dirty? Or could any other potential engine damage be caused because of this?
 
Just baffled how its got to this state and what could cause it to make the bolts shear off its also bent some tubing due to it being pushed off.
 
the bolts had probably been overtightened and stripped threads and make it weak, there steel bolts going in to aluminium threads. potentially fixable just helicoiling the aluminium mounting.
 
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Ricky Burrows said:
Thank you Rob much appreciated, do you think i should be worried about the dipstick being dirty? Or could any other potential engine damage be caused because of this?
Click to expand...
Hopefully the damage would have been restricted to a small area , the hpfp and pipework/ cam follower and the valve cover mounting threads, but that's not to say all parts will need replacing, until its been stripped down you wont know.

The cam follower may be ok as its only a sliding fit and with all that oil it wont have been metal to metal, they are not expensive anyway so worth fitting a new one.
HPFP may be ok as it quite litterly pushed itself out of the aperture, but be guided by your guys on it really.
it maybe possible the cam lobe has been damaged , unlikely but possible.

the worse bit will be dealing with the broken bolt heads and it may end up a new valve cover being required.
sludgy oil is not uncommon , with the oem pcv .

Not really sure the petrol smell can be attributed to this as that part of the fuel system wasn't damaged or leaking, unless you have a pipe fracture or split.
Given how the pump has come off , it is very possible the muppets that refitted the pump never refitted the fuel line properly either.

I'd say it was very rare indeed to have all three bolt snap under 99.9% of the time , unless they were overtightened to the point where they were just overstressed and with heat and vibration just snapped.
 
Are the bolts holes empty or the bolts heads still in situ?
 
The bottom bolt is still in tack just about but the two on the top are snapped inside the casing, hopefully it is just case of re threading the bolts i cant imagine a casing being cheap to buy and fit, as for the cam follower i was actually going it replace it this month along with a full service that would of just been a part of my annual service to be fair so its a shame this has happened now as i more than likely would of caught it in time doing it at the start of the month not the end like i planned.
 
Just had a look at the vis hpfp complete unit with a cam follower and its £562.96 is this a good price? Ideally looking at a complete unit not just internals.

When something breaks replace it with something better i say even if it has potentially ruined my life temporarily....
 
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I went for the complete VIS unit. Happy with the service and the item.
 
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this is the offending cover , the cam chain and tensioner live in there aswell, it will need to be removed either way to drill out the bolts or replace it, hopefully the first one as the second option is going to be costly.

I've done mine but if they have the cover off etc maybe prudent to get the chain and tensioner changed at the same time.
just a thought as it will save you more expense further down the line.

14147612627_1c2d4fd5e7_z.jpg
 
If you were confident with doing it you'll save yourself a lot of pennies Ricky.
 
Flipping hell thats expensive! Yeah will make sense to do the cam chain and tensioner at the same time i can see this being a very expensive fix, borderline thinking is it worth it to be honest.

Have to see what they diagnose and go from there i think.

Thanks for looking into it Rob gives me an idea what i could be facing.
 
I know its allways less than ideal to know how much these bits cost before hand but sometimes it lessen's the blow when the garage tell you.
I think that approx , on a worse case repair bill with new pump/cover /sundry bits and labour (without doing any other work such as cam chain etc) ,
£1500.00 , maybe more , but if you don't need to replace the pump or the cover it will be a lot lower.

did they give you any indication on repair cost Ricky.

The cost of repairing the cover on a time/labour cost basis maybe only marginally less than the cost of replacing it.

I'd drill them out, wack in a helicoil job done.
 
Last edited:
Just Rob. said:
I know its allways less than ideal to know how much these bits cost before hand but sometimes it lessen's the blow when the garage tell you.
I think that approx , on a worse case repair bill with new pump/cover /sundry bits and labour (without doing any other work such as cam chain etc) ,
£1500.00 , maybe more , but if you don't need to replace the pump or the cover it will be a lot lower.

did they give you any indication on repair cost Ricky.

The cost of repairing the cover on a time/labour cost basis maybe only marginally less than the cost of replacing it.

I'd drill them out, wack in a helicoil job done.
Click to expand...
Yeah id rather know before hand with idea on price like you lessons the blow a bit, nope no idea on price i just turned up out the blue and said theres the keys help me haha, i did ask for them to price it up separately so i got price of parts and labour so i can determine what to upgrade or ect if i go down that route.

If its not cracked id definitely have it drilled out rather than replacing, i cant see it costing anywhere near the amount of a new one.
 
Does the fuel pump piston still move in and out or has it seized?

that is **** luck, hopefully it’s minimal damage done
 
neilA4 said:
Does the fuel pump piston still move in and out or has it seized?

that is **** luck, hopefully it’s minimal damage done
Click to expand...
Im not sure Neil i took the car to the garage straight away so hopefully i get an idea what damage has been done in the week.
 
Sidrick said:
Any news, Ricky?
Click to expand...
Rang them today and they haven’t looked at it yet, I did just drop it down out the blue and there fully booked this week there hoping to get it looked at in between jobs this week, fingers crossed hate waiting around.
 
Quick update..well there is no update thats whats ******* annoying Audi technik have rang me today and said its going to be about 2-3 hours to strip it down and it will be stuck on a ramp until its sorted so they cant get me booked in un till 9th, even though the cars been there since Saturday its took until now, Thursday! To tell me they need to strip it down, well done lads amazing work figuring that out nice one you plums :icon thumright:

So ill be getting the keys after work and taking it somewhere else, I understand i dropped it in on them out of the blue but at the same time there trying to act like main dealer well flipping help me out then, atleast tell me its the 9th a few days ago! I’ve wasted nearly a week which someone else could of already diagnosed it and ordered the bits by now.

If i didn't need them for there fancy diagnostics kit i could easily see myself losing it with yet another pain in the *** garage.

As a side note ive rang before asking for a diagnostic and the dopey woman always says im looking at a week, i mean come on who takes a week to book in a 30 minute diagnostic :wtf:

why are you testing me god just why!
 
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