TDI 140 sport Turbo problems - Some advice

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Hi all new to the forum

Done a search but cant seem to find waht im looking for (not sure if i worded it wrong)

Viewed a 140 TDI sport yesterday and going for a test drive on monday :)

Been speaking to a few mates who are more familar with Audi's and Diesels in general and have been told that the 140's are known to have Turbo problems. Speaking with a guy at work who has got a 140 TDI hes told me about his and that its on its way out and when i go for a test drive to listen out and if i can hear the turbo spooling rather loudly this is a sign that turbo is going

Is this right or can you lend any advice what to listen out for or what gears to use to really see how it pulls etc? the car itself has FSH and only 60k on the clock is a 53 plate

Sorry if this has been covered alot :p
 
Depends how the turbo is been used in the past, what kind of oil its used and if its been serviced regulary. I have a tdi 2004 and the turbo hasnt been changed since and has done 100k but still running good.
i was to remap it few days ago but wasnt able to because the turbo was sticky and over boosted so now need to clean it to go ahead with remapping etc
 
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Thanks for the reply, well its got a main dealer service history, or so ive been told will be going through that on monday to see what has had done etc
 
if you are taking it for a test drive, try it with 3rd gear and rev up to red see if you can hear anything or if it goes to limp mode, but then wud be too fast i hope they let u :)
 
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DiKapo said:
if you are taking for a test drive try it with 3rd gear and rev up to red see if you can hear anything or if it goes to limp mode, but then wud be to fast i hope they let u :)
Click to expand...
hahah well there is a dual carraige way near the garage so ill see if its cool with them to have a quick blast down there to see how it goes ;)
 
make sure that on tick over with the air con of that it dont shake on idle . common fault
if it does shake dip clutch it it stops then flywheel - clutch needs replacing not cheap
 
so ain con off, if its shaky and it stops when the clutch is dipped bit of a no no, well fingers crossed its all ok, but thought i best see what thigns go wrong etc before i potentially buy it last thing i need is a big list of things to replce before i even buy!
 
just means its £500.00 for parts for a new clutch and flywheel
 
'Just' £500 :) with my mk2 all ive done for the last 18 mths is replace and fix things ideally looking for a haslle free bit of motoring

From all the research ive been doing im actually now got a bit of doubt in my mind, obv will see what the car is lke when I drive it but just seem to be finding thread after thread of problems with cracked heads (this car would fall in that cat with the age) fans not stopping etc etc

Are they really that bad?
 
Put it in a high gear (5-6) at say 30mph and put your foot to the floor.make sure it pulls ok without any major smoke,noises,vibrations,clutch slip.It should just keep pulling without any problems.

If you want to knock em down a bit check the rear wiper works as 99% dont and the motors around £100 plus fitting.Rear springs are know to crack also.Apart from that just check normal stuff as you would on any other car and what people have already posted up
 
Hi Mate
i looked at a few 140's before i bought mine last year.
as people have already mentioned look out for the shaky idle issue (happens alot when the engine is warm and especially if you are on a hill). if you dip the clutch and the shake stops then its a flywheel, if it continues to shake then it could be injectors. if no shake then your good.
try to turn the radio down when driving and listen out for a 'siren' noise... its a sign of a failing turbo. my turbo (touch wood) is still good even though the car is at 130k and it has a nice little noise when changing gears like a kind of small dump valve which as far as i know most 140's do.
other things to check in general are things like burnt out oil, low coolant level (known cracked head issue) or even the DIS for average MPG on the 2nd computer (1st computer shows average for current journey, 2nd computer shows total driving since last reset) this will let you know if the last owner 'ragged' the car around or drove it nicely.

DiKapo said:
i was to remap it few days ago but wasnt able to because the turbo was sticky and over boosted so now need to clean it to go ahead with remapping etc
Click to expand...

i want to remap my 140 but i wanted to clean out the turbo anyway... how are you going to get yours cleaned? im useless with mechanics but great with electrics so this is something i would need to get someone else to do for me.
 
itwasntme187 said:
Hi Mate
other things to check in general are things like burnt out oil, low coolant level (known cracked head issue) or even the DIS for average MPG on the 2nd computer (1st computer shows average for current journey, 2nd computer shows total driving since last reset) this will let you know if the last owner 'ragged' the car around or drove it nicely.
Click to expand...

cheers for the reply dude :) so what sort of reading would suggest the car has been ragged? im guessing i can access the computer via teh right stalk to scroll through the read out,
 
audi upgrades
yes the reset button on the right stalk when pressed (not hold) will switch it over to the 2nd computer (look out for the numbers in the corner to tell you which computer is shown), then just use the button on the end of the stalk to scroll through to see other readings.

My 2.0 140 does 50 - 55mpg easily on motorways and about 45mpg on towns so anything from 40mpg is still good. if its anywhere in the 30mpg range i would say the car has been driven pretty hard. other guys here with 140s will probably agree with me on that.
 
Nice one well I will certainly check out the mpg when I'm on the drive and see what reading it gives. A guy I work with has a 140 and he also said to listen out for the turbo as his is going and is quite loud apparently

I do hope that its not a lemon its just this whole cylinder head problem that's bothering me tbh as I can imagine its not a cheap fix if it hasn't been done already or if it needs to be :s
 
my coolant went low a few months back as the coolant light came on before a service, so i topped it up with water. 2 weeks after the service it came on again so i took it back to check for leaks... but the mechanic couldnt find any so it looked like a head issue. This time i topped it up with water and a bottle of K-Seal and since i have had no coolant loss at all :)
 
itwasntme187 said:
Hi Mate


i want to remap my 140 but i wanted to clean out the turbo anyway... how are you going to get yours cleaned? im useless with mechanics but great with electrics so this is something i would need to get someone else to do for me.
Click to expand...

Hi mate,

I went to r-tech they told me my turbo overboosted in 5th gear over 100mph and said the turbo is sticky and they could clean it for me for £250 but i find that too expensive so back in London found a garage that can do that for £120 . Ive been told by few turbo specialist that if you clean the turbo you will have more boosts.
 
as far as i know you remove turbo and clean in out with special fluid i my m8 owns a garage and was going to do mine when mine overboosted but i went for a recon turbo due to milage.

but just to remove and get it reconed or get a hybird
 
Hi guys,
I am now looking into getting my turbo cleaned as i finally got paid on friday...
Dikapo, did you get your turbo serviced at your small garage and then remapped by r-tech?
can you pm me the details of your garage, i can't seem to find anyone that can or will service/clean my turbo :(
 
Turbo cleaning in situ is a load of cobblers.
The only way to clean it properly is turbo off.on the bench. Crack it open and use something like brake cleaner and a stiff brush.
I tried cleaning in situ. when I eventually gave in and took it off the car it was still full of baked on carbon.
Yes it was a BKD engine on the A3 tdi.
To test for sticky vanes and over boost you need a wide open throttle run from low revs to the limiter or near in 3rd gear. this means a quiet road is needed - you need to do this as it takes a good 8-10 seconds on full throttle to over boost into limp home mode.
The dump valve hiss sound is ok. Any police siren sound is bad as it's an indication of a turbine out of balance.
 
My trusting mechanic said that it would need to be taken off too. but he does not do this sort of job :(
I dont have any limp mode issues, but i can still do the test. Sticky vains sounds more like my issue...
I have a slight hiss like a dump valve when i lift my foot off the accelerator and change gears but no siren noises.

how long did the turbo clean take you mate? how much of an improvement did you notice after?
 
It's quite a long winded job getting the turbo off the a3 as it's only accessible from underneath and behind the engine. The actual cleaning bit won't take long unless the the exhaust housing to turbo core join is rusted up shock it can be as it's cast iron to cast iron.
The good thing about taking apart is that you can inspect the turbines. I can't give you a before and after cleaning as I had to get a new one when I saw the state of the exhaust turbine.
You would be better getting a diagnostic done with vcds to look for over boost codes and taking it for a Italian style drive periodically on a warm engine to burn the low revs soot off.
Turbo off just to clean when not going into limp home is a bit drastic cost wise unless your doing it or a mechanic owes you a very big favour.
 
the thing is the car has just got past 130k and i was thinking of getting it remapped. also sometimes it feels like the car takes that 1 second too long to get up to speed in the lower revs. now i know the remap will sort out the flat spots but i didnt want to jump into the map and then burn out the turbo, hence getting it cleaned first.
 
if it was me i'd have it recon or hybrid at that milage
 
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jameshughes1974 said:
Turbo cleaning in situ is a load of cobblers.
The only way to clean it properly is turbo off.on the bench. Crack it open and use something like brake cleaner and a stiff brush.
I tried cleaning in situ. when I eventually gave in and took it off the car it was still full of baked on carbon.
Yes it was a BKD engine on the A3 tdi.
To test for sticky vanes and over boost you need a wide open throttle run from low revs to the limiter or near in 3rd gear. this means a quiet road is needed - you need to do this as it takes a good 8-10 seconds on full throttle to over boost into limp home mode.
The dump valve hiss sound is ok. Any police siren sound is bad as it's an indication of a turbine out of balance.
Click to expand...

Sorry but I totally disagree, I was having fairly predictable Limp issues with my turbo, over 3k in 3rd gear would put the car into limp mode, every time.

Did the sticky Vain test and turned out this was the problem, bought a turbo cleaning kit, and did as was told to do in the guide flying around on a few sites, and the turbo now works perfectly, no sticking no issues what so ever. Just to note the cleaning was done while it was still attached to the car, as the kit was designed to do, the only thing that needed to be removed was the exhaust from the turbo itself, (1 bolt and a bit of leverage, not too hard).

Don't get me wrong the job took the best part of a day and was very fiddly due to access, but with patience and a bit of knowledge it was done and I now have a perfectly functioning turbo again.
 
evilbane said:
Sorry but I totally disagree, I was having fairly predictable Limp issues with my turbo, over 3k in 3rd gear would put the car into limp mode, every time.

Did the sticky Vain test and turned out this was the problem, bought a turbo cleaning kit, and did as was told to do in the guide flying around on a few sites, and the turbo now works perfectly, no sticking no issues what so ever. Just to note the cleaning was done while it was still attached to the car, as the kit was designed to do, the only thing that needed to be removed was the exhaust from the turbo itself, (1 bolt and a bit of leverage, not too hard).

Don't get me wrong the job took the best part of a day and was very fiddly due to access, but with patience and a bit of knowledge it was done and I now have a perfectly functioning turbo again.
Click to expand...

I wish I could find someone to do this for me, I would even pay for their time! Hybrid turbo is just too pricey for me right now... Tbh the car is driving fine, I just want to clean it out for peace of mind.
 
You were lucky!
I have taken a few apart and there is no way just sitting them in a cleaning solution did or ever was going to do it.
The other thing you need to watch for is the cleaning solution eating the bearing but even I would admit that sounds a bit far fetched.
My advice is that you take it for a hard drive on a warm engine from time to time to keep the soot from building up.
look at pictures of blocked up egr valves. its the same carbon based muck in your turbo.
The fluid may take the top skin off but it will take repeated washes to truly clean a turbo out.
You must have caught yours early on but if a car has been doing it a while there will be a big build up.
 
If your car is driving fine dont take your turbo off or put anything in it!
Remember that saying if its not broken dont fix it!
Just take it for a hard high rev drive on a warm engine from time to time and you should be ok.
The bags of low rev tourque in these cars means we dont rev them that much.
I did a vcds log to work once. my average rpm for the journey was 1500RPM - just right for filling the vnt full of soot.
but taking it for a hard drive will increase the exhaust gas temps which burns the soot.
 
jameshughes1974 said:
You were lucky!
I have taken a few apart and there is no way just sitting them in a cleaning solution did or ever was going to do it.
The other thing you need to watch for is the cleaning solution eating the bearing but even I would admit that sounds a bit far fetched.
My advice is that you take it for a hard drive on a warm engine from time to time to keep the soot from building up.
look at pictures of blocked up egr valves. its the same carbon based muck in your turbo.
The fluid may take the top skin off but it will take repeated washes to truly clean a turbo out.
You must have caught yours early on but if a car has been doing it a while there will be a big build up.
Click to expand...

The cleaning liquid that came out after was extremely sooty, a very dark black colour, so it removed a lot of what's in there, but time will tell I guess as to if it has worked properly.
 
jameshughes1974 said:
If your car is driving fine dont take your turbo off or put anything in it!
Remember that saying if its not broken dont fix it!
Just take it for a hard high rev drive on a warm engine from time to time and you should be ok.
The bags of low rev tourque in these cars means we dont rev them that much.
I did a vcds log to work once. my average rpm for the journey was 1500RPM - just right for filling the vnt full of soot.
but taking it for a hard drive will increase the exhaust gas temps which burns the soot.
Click to expand...

you know that saying has been going around in my head for the past couple days...
but yh i just got home after booting the car around the A406! :)
it cracks me up to see the reaction of some drivers when you are about to plow them out the way! :ninja:
 
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