Turbo issues

[rkde]

Hi

I have a 1999 1.8t its a daily driver just a cheap run around back and forth to work but its so slow and I know the turbo is on its way out but maybe its always been pooh...

When it boosts the car feels like a NA 1.8 engine and struggles to pass transit vans on the slip road to the motorway the turbo screams loud and some days it just smokes. Now I don't need telling that the turbo seals have gone I can figure that out. What I do need to know is where can I get a turbo from, is it worth having it rebuilt? getting a new one, is ebay worth a shot? any links?

Is there anyone around Solihull that would take me out in their 1.8t to show me how it should act?

I am not after performance really but our 1.2 8v clio keeps up with it! and my other 2 cars are sub 5 second cars to 60mph.

Any help on where to find a turbo would be excellent, I don't want to spend too much and will do the work myself so changing tips would be good too. Keep in mind the car does about 300 miles a week.

Cheers for the help, I really don't know much about this car mostly because its as I say my cheap run around

Richard

[golf-sib]

To check the seal, try and take the inlet pipes of the turbo or the inlet pipe to the IC, check for oil. Spoke to a few turbo specialist, apparently the seals are not 100% tight, so small leaks through are natral, but if its leaking big amount with a build up on the inlet pipes on the turbo and IC for example then you got a problem.

I was in the same boat as you mate. Problem is second hand K03/k03s turbos are priced at £100+ with 90k+ miles on them. Its stupid as you'll buy it and have it break in a few 1000miles on the seals. So shame on people for trying to sell you high priced crap. What I did was kept an eye on ebay.de . Got hold of a k03+cat+oil line+manifold+downpipe for £179 with delivery and banking fees, the turbo had only done 25k miles. Chances are if your turbo has been smoking for a while, your cat might have gone too.

As for a rebuild. I did get a few quotes, overhual rebuild which includes the seals usually starts at £195 from turbodynamics:
http://www.turbodynamics.co.uk/

Other companies also exsists I can't think but there are 2 more big companies that I contacted but non of them gave me a direct price. So it's your choice where you head, depends if you can pick up a bargain like I did or whether you pay abit more and go for a rebuild. Advantage with a rebuild is if you have the k03 turbo you can get the compressor uprated, not sure on this price. I can't imagine it being more than another £50-100 for the compressor to be changed, or even go hybrid which I think is £600 for the entire rebuild. Best bet is give them a bell.

Hope this helps

[rkde]

Cheers,

I did think about looking for a second hand unit but in all honisty I did non know what I am looking for, I read the section here about the turbos so I know what number to look for but I am confused. Do all Ko3 models fit then?

I have seen Ko3-029 on ebay at OK prices that are new, are they OK?

Anyone selling a good turbo? let me know

Not to worried about the CAT I can lay my hands on a new cat quite easy. When I stop at traffic lights and the engine oil gets hotter clouds of oil smoke pour from the car, I would be quite happy to leave it but its not fair on other motorists. Some cold mornings the turbo is louder than the sterio and you just can't drown it out, infact the amount of people who turn and look to see what is coming down the road is un-real.

Do you acutally feel the car boost? or does the turbo just help a little bit and when does the turbo run out of steam?

Last question - ebay has second hand turbo units for lets say circa £100 but shows new units for £200 are the new units the real thing? if not does it matter? or would I be better to get a second hand one and a rebuild kit?

[MaXXeH]

i got a k03 that has done 61k  £95 inc del.    turbo is sound

[golf-sib]

You can feel the boost best in 2nd gear as you hit over 2.5k revs you start to feel it pull more and just want to keep going.

As for turbos, you have a k03 not a k03s, easiest way to if its a genuine KKK turbo is it will have a blue tag with the part number on the side, no blue tag avoid at all costs as it will be made from chocolate, some fakes use a deep navy and black tag, avoid them too. As you said you have seen allot of cheap new unit on eBay for £200, they don't have the tags or have different colored tags as they are replica's and avoid at all costs. The tag should look like this:


As for turbos anything that ends in -011 to -049 is a ko3, whilst k03s are:
k03-052
k03-053
k03-058

Only difference for the k03s is the TIP fixtures slightly different at the bottom, but if you uprate the TIP with a silicone version (such as forge, or demon) it will fit with no issues on the AGU.

Like you said, cats are not much of an issue and you can pick them easily off eBay.

As for the to rebuild or 2nd hand turbo business that's your choice? But how many miles has your turbo done? If it's like mine and only 89k 2nd hand can be hard to contemplate as you will be buying a unit with similar mileage that's due to go out soon like yours just did, it's a lottery. It also depends how long you plan to keep the car, if only like 20k more miles then 2nd hand might be the best option. Otherwise head for the rebuild route or try and find a turbo 2nd hand with less miles on it such as 50k, 60k and so on....

I got mine from ebay.de, was abit hard to sort out payment information as it was my first time with dealing with overseas banking, plus the language barrier, but after 3 days it was all sorted and payed for, here's some turbos on ebay.de incase you want to give them a go:

k03: http://cgi.ebay.de/Audi-A3-VW-Golf-1-8T-Motor-K03-Turbolader-AGU-ARZ_W0QQitemZ220554756180QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAutoteile_Zubeh%C3%B6r?hash=item335a168054

k03s: http://cgi.ebay.de/Turbolader-Golf-GTI-Audi-1-8-Turbo-180PS-AUQ-AJQ-K03-TT_W0QQitemZ130364782348QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAutoteile_Zubeh%C3%B6r?hash=item1e5a58b70c

It's all your choice, I'd personally base my evaluation on how many miles your turbo has done whether 2nd hand is really cheaper or whether you got for a rebuild. There's also Max's offer their.

[GARY2304]

if you decide to go for a rebuild then i would get the std bearig replaced with a 360 degree thrust or a roller bearing for faster spool up .
it all depends on how deep your pockets are.