s3 with no boost

[VRStu]

Is the company you bought it from an authorised re-seller of APR products? Might be worth phoning Jim Cotton at Awesome as they are the UK agent for APR.

To get it to TDC ideally you want two people. I would remove the two upper securing bolts on the cambelt cover, pull it open as far as you can and with a torch shine in and look for the mark on the tooth. It looks exactly as it does in the picture - It's almost like a little saw cut on the outside edge of the tooth.

To move the cam you'll want to have the car in gear and with your assistant, roll the car forward until the marks align.

The bottom part of the picture is the lower marks on the bottom end of the engine.

 

[RobinA3]

Another way of finding A1 TDC is to take the plug out and use a stick or rod to see when the piston comes to its highest point.

 

[kaz219]

I suggest you just wait it out till monday and take the car back to psi...

Every business should be open as usual from monday....

 

[VRStu]

Any news on this?

 

[s3]

car has been taken back to psi and im awaiting a phone call to tell me what the problem is. hopefully it wont be nothing serious and just a fuel pump issue, keep you all informed...

thanks for all the help

 

[s3]

just an update as to whats happened so far..

car was towed in to garage that did all the custom code remapping, exhaust, fuel pump etc.....

its been there since monday afternoon and i stil havn't heard anything so i decided to pop down and have a chat with them...

they say that the issues ive been experiencing is due to turbo problems!...
i still find this hard to believe as there is no noise, smoke or oil consumption issues from the turbo area...

what they have said is that they are unable to remove any inlet hoses as such to see what state the impellor is in to conclude if it is a turbo problem...but what they did do was remove the down pipe and look at things from the exhaust side and reported back that the impellor had no play whatsoever but also wasnt moving..i.e it has seized up due to what they think was oil starvation...

next thing is how as this happened as the car was serviced(by them) with all genuine bits and oil etc as i supplied the parts only a week before i had it remapped, exhaust etc etc....

so im still in the dark as to what to do, how much, who pays etc etc

the car stilll has 2 yrs manufacturers warrenty remaining and im at the point now as to have the ecu flashed back to std, have old exhaust re-fitted and fuel pump re-fitted and take the car bck to audi...

has anybody heard of this before and does anybody know where i will stand with audi snd if the worst comes to the worst and i have to pay, are the garage somehow responsible for any contribution towards the costs..

thanks for looking

andy

 

[VRStu]

Did you confirm it was an APR fuel pump?

 

[s3]

yeah its an apr fuel pump, i managed to confirm that i a now have the reciept for this, im still not convinced its the turbo mind, does anybody know what kind of power/boost is within the limits of the k04?

as far as i know with the c/c phase 2, fuel pump, milltek d/pipe+system, green panel filter and forge dv i was running around 340bhp, although this was only estimated, now i believe that other maps with a similar set-ups can achieve around 360bhp so is the k04 on my car within limits?

i find it very strange how a turbo can just apparantly seize solid, and as it hasnt blown makes me think otherwise, although if this was the case then it would explain why the pump became noisy whilst it was trying to boost...

very confused on this

what do you think guys?

thanks

 

[kaz219]

doesnt your car have to be serviced by audi to be covered under the audi warranty ?

Have you asked them to put the standard fuel pump on and see if the car runs?

 

[DiscoPanda]

doesnt your car have to be serviced by audi to be covered under the audi warranty ?

No. As long as the garage is VAT-registered and uses approved parts, ANY garage can service the car and keep the warranty intact. Although I'm sure none of that stuff is approved Hence is all being returned to standard if he took it back to Audi.

 

[s3]

as previos post says, i believe the law changed to allow this as customers were being ripped off by increasing stealer labour rate charges etc....

i have mentioned the fuel pump numerous times but i believe the exhaust is now off and turbo being removed for inspection..

im still confused how a car which was serviced and remapped can develop turbo failure within 6 weeks....oil starvation? and if so how?

these are the few questions i have...not a happy bunny

 

[jonnyc]

Sorry to hear about that!

Up to you but I would get a second opinion on the turbo, there a lot of money, so you need to be sure thats what it is..

But if the turbo is seized solid then there would be no smoke etc etc, and also zero boost.. So sounds like thats what it could be..

If so, first I have heard of a K04 failure!!

Good luck with sorting it out, hope you get it resolved soon!

Jonny

 

[RobinA3]

Andy did you have a look at the turbo shaft yourself and try to spin it or did they just tell you that and that was it?

If it is a turbo seizure then the best thing to do is get the car back to standard and take it back to Audi without a doubt!

Never seen a turbo seizure at work before, usually when they fail either the turbine or compressor side of the shaft breaks off.

 

[Iggu]

does anybody know what kind of power/boost is within the limits of the k04?

I'm getting over 340bhp from mine and Vagcom shows boost running at very close to 1.5 bar throughout - sometimes "spiking" to over 1.7 - and have never had a single problem or issue. They are made of strong stuff these K04s.
Having said that Jonnyc makes a convincing case - there is no reason why it couldn't be the turbo as your garage is saying.
I'd get it back to standard and get it into Audi as this will cost you less than buying a new turbo yourself.
Good luck mate.

 

[PaulAr]

This is a nightmare scenario for us that choose to `tweak` our cars, but certainly not insummountable in this case.

I agree with Iggu and others, get the car back to standard and get it to AUDI for diagnosis and repair, whatever the problem may be.
The dealers wont go digging and indeed dont really care whether there has been any fiddling gone on. AUDI will foot the bill, the dealer keeps his Techs busy, you get your car fixed, job done, wallet intact(ish).

You could try and negotiate a goodwill arrangement with your tuner to take the car back to std and then re-instate the aftermarket bits and map FOC, or at least at a heavily discounted rate, after the warranty work has been completed.
I reckon you have a good case.


Good luck, fingers crossed.:icon_thumright:

Cheers
Paul

 

[s3]

no i didnt see it or have a chance to have a look myself. i did contemplate checking the turbo whilst it was sat in my driveway, it was easy to remove the inlet pipe on my old golf 1.8t and check but these 2.otfsi's seem notoriously difficult to work on and if i was to have a look it would mean removing the downpipe to look from the exhaust side...

im in a bit of a predicament on how i want to go about this as if the turbo has failed due to too much power, and as i like the new map and power output then maybe i go down the route of a larger turbo to cope with the demands or i get it rebuilt dependant on cost or replaced via audi...

if anybody knows the limits the new K04 turbos can perform to i.e max bhp or boost pressures then id appreciate that bit of info..and i can see if im performing within them limits..

one thing that has also got me thinking is what was said to me earlier...
as i said earlier about the service is that i supplied all the genuine bita etc... i did get oil but i did not give the garage the oil as i said that they can supply it and i would keep my bottle for topping us as and when etc... the oil i got was quantum stuff, now when the garage said that they believed oil starvation was the culprit for the seized turbo(if it is seized), they said the oil was rather black???? now they serviced it 7 weeks ago?

so could the garage possibly be at fault for wrong oil or maybe not changing it?

anybody shed some light on where i can go on this?

many thanks

 

[s3]

this is a nightmare scenario, i have already been down the route of remapping my pride and joy as i did with my old golf 1.8t.. jbs did the work on this and boost was spiked to the limits with the tiny k03s it had on and was at 1.4 bar and i had no problems with this turbo, and it had covered almost 90k before the remap so i have no doubt as to the reliability of the kkk group....

just bewildered as to how its happened, no warning, no reason to and why so soon..

and no fault codes shown via vag com as robin a3 will confirm...

very strange

 

[VRStu]

If you are contemplating taking it back to Audi then I wouldn't let them take the turbo off as if this is the cause of the problem it will be immediately obvious. I would have it returned to stock and see if it's still the same.

 

[kaz219]

one thing that has also got me thinking is what was said to me earlier...
as i said earlier about the service is that i supplied all the genuine bita etc... i did get oil but i did not give the garage the oil as i said that they can supply it and i would keep my bottle for topping us as and when etc... the oil i got was quantum stuff, now when the garage said that they believed oil starvation was the culprit for the seized turbo(if it is seized), they said the oil was rather black???? now they serviced it 7 weeks ago?

so could the garage possibly be at fault for wrong oil or maybe not changing it?

Thats a really good point - use that against them as they've said "oil starvation is the case" and theyve said "the oil was black" ... Yet they just serviced it?

The garage could have not changed the oil or forgotten so go through the company that done the mods first...

Try to get them to change the turbo as this will be cheaper than stripping the mods and going Audi...

Worst case to strip and map to standard and Audi should cover it providing they dont see the map (or any remains of it) or the other mods..

 

[VRStu]

IMHO your pi$$ing in the wind mate. How an earth do you think you'll prove that they didn't carry out the operations you asked them to do? You've got circa £1100 at stake for the parts alone, if it is the turbo, before you add on any labour, they ain't gonna roll over and take that.

Harsh lesson I'm afraid - If you want to play you gotta be prepared to pay.

 

[RobinA3]

Andy as i said put everything back to standard and take the car to Audi and the warranty will cover it.

If its the turbo which is dead then it could always be a faulty turbo which could have failed later on in life without the mods you have done.

 

[RobinA3]

Also it doesn't take long for oil to go black, even if you drain all the oil out for 1 few hours and fill it with new oil it will go black pretty much after a few miles.

 

[s3]

thanks for the posts, been extremly busy working out the area etc...

an update to things at the mo...

i was at the point in telling the garage to return the car back to stock and then have the car recovered to audi....only i got there too late and the turbo has now been removed and being sent to a specialist....as to say im extremly pi$$ed off as im having a major communication problem with the garage as they are not informing me of what's goinng on etc etc etc...anyhows there is an arrangement for the labour which is FOC as a good will gesture which i cant say fairer than that really.

when i asked about the turbo they said no play in the shaft,both wheels look fine but the shaft isnt spinning freely so possibly an internal problem which is hopefully goin get sorted soon... i keep you informed as to what the outlook is..

as for what i was saying about the black oil issue, i was merely looking at possibilities of failure, not the fact i want to get the work done FOC, and as this is rare from what i can gather, i believe if i did take it to audi and the cause of failure was oil starvation like suggested, then i would presume they would look into how this was caused, as no point in replacing a part if you dont know what caused the failure in the first place... and as my car was seviced by a non dealer garage then who is it to suggest that they wouldnt look into it further and test the oil etc etc.. if they wanted to recoup some costs....

pi$$ing in the wind i know but just my thoughts as to what, who, when and why this has happened...

thanks for the help so far
very much appreciated

andy

 

[RobinA3]

Andy any more news on the car yet?

 

[s3]

Hi, just wanted say thanks for all the replies and help that has been posted as regards to this matter...

I picked the s3 up yesterday from psi, exactly 1 month since the car broke down and im more than happy to have her back.

The conclusion of what went wrong was due not with the remap or the extra power it was pushing but somthing that occured during the construction of the car...

As of the last post i sent, the turbo was removed and sent away for inspection, as the garage said that there was no play in the shaft and the turbine spun freely but started to tighted up whilst it was spinning freely, which was thought was due to the shaft seizing.Oil starvation was thoght to be the contributor.

As of a week and half ago the turbo was opened up and it was shafted... the shaft was split in half and there was a small hole within the internal heat shield im told which was the cause of the shrieking noise i could hear...

The odd thing was that this had nothing to do with oil starvation, or overboosting?

when psi removed the turbo and manifold. the gasket between the manifold and the block was twisted at the end between cylinder 3+4 and there was a clear fracture between the ports, in fact there was a clear piece of the gasket missing. Andy @ PSI showed me the gasket and the block which was all carboned up where the split was in thye gasket, and this was an obvious sign that it was fitted like that from the factory.

So in essence the gasket had finally blown completely between the ports of cylinders 3+4 and the blowback of pressure had stalled the impellor and this stalling along with the high temperature had fractured the shaft which eventually split causing total failure..nice

So as of now the turbo has been rebuilt and ive gone down the hybrid route for better flow and extra top end boost, and to be fair the difference is very noticable... boost comes in alot quick and really pulls to the redline and past... there has been a few more tweaks with the map and now power should be around the 350/360bhp mark, hopefully if anybody can point me to an accurate rolling road around stafforshire i can veirify this.

thenks all for the help, even tho im £1100 lighter

 

[kaz219]

Glad to hear the S3s back on road and the cars all sorted!

And 350+ BHP - not much on the road that will keep up with you