Suspected turbo gone at 53k

[pgtips2009]

Hi all

I was wondering if anyone can help at all please.

Yesterday my wife's 2.0 Tdi s-line Q5 flashed up a warning on the dash ' low oil pressure ' I think it requested that the engine was stopped immediately. So basically within 100metres she pulled over & turned the engine off. Breakdown recovery couldn't do anything so the car was transported to our audi dealership on a flatbed trailer.

Today they called to say that it's looking like the turbo has gone & if I'm honest I'm been pretty shocked that they've come to this conclusion. There was no whining noises, no smoke, no reduction in power & certainly nothing else untoward.

The car has only done 53000 & is 4years old. Is it me or does this seem a but too convenient that a high expense part has failed apparently with no symptoms?? I was under the impression that a turbo is good for 100k. This car has always been serviced at audi dealerships.

does anyone have any advice before I visit them tomorrow as at this moment in time I'm not willing to accept this.

many thanks.

[Dalski]

Make sure you instruct the garage you want the old parts that are replaced, 53k seems low mileage for a turbo failure.

[shabazmo]

You must say to the garage that you expect the turbo to last much longer and suspect that the turbo is flawed and not of merchantable quality, irrespective of waranty. You expect Audi to pay for its replacement for both parts and labour. they will speak to audi and probably offer you parts ony costs. but you need to hold out for the total amount. Have you had the car since new, or bought it from an audi dealer.

[The Glove]

Hi,

The exact same thing happen to my wife's car in Nov last year. Its and A4 cab, 1.8T petrol so different car/engine but exactly the same scenario as you discribe, including transported to garage.

The fault was diagnosed as the Oil Pump which we had replaced.

Hope this helps

[Joshg1803]

Hi All

I have slightly different symptoms, but could do with some advice either way. I had the "glow plug" engine management light come on in my 2010 A3 2.0 TDI (170) Quattro while overtaking up a hill on Monday evening. After dropping down to 4th initially (which should do the job comfortably) i noticed a lack of power and had to drop to 3rd at much higher revs to get the job done (still comfortably below the red line). Moments later this light cam on and flashed for the remaining mile or so of my journey and power seemed short.

When I parked up and turned ignition off and back on again, the light went and has not returned, but I have noticed a definite loss of power at low rev's which leads me to believe that I have either Turbo Failure or the ERG valve issue I've read so much about. I would have expected some sort of ongoing warning if the failure was a serious one, but not return of the light, only this very obvious power shortage at low revs (seems to improve greatly at about 3k)

I've booked in to Audi dealer, but soonest they can see me is Wednesday (still 5 days away) and need the car for work, so am currently driving quite conservatively to avoid any further issues. Car has 72K on the clock, Full dealer service history and a recent cam-belt change - have only had it for 2 months so fear the worst after shelling out a decent amount for it due to high spec, can anyone offer some advice on what the issue may be to ease my mind, or an idea of what Audi will charge me to replace turbo if it's as bad as I suspect?

[Scott K]

If you bought it from a dealer you may have some come back. Best to get it scanned for faults rather than guessing. When the engine management light comes on, the car goes into limp mode and protects itself which is why you had no power. Turbo may be ok if you are getting power above 3000rpm-if there was an issue it should sound worse with speed.

[Joshg1803]

Thanks Scott

I bought it privately unfortunately, so this one's all coming out of my own pocket - aside from the lack of low end power, i haven't noticed any other symptoms, no new noises, no judders, just the dip in low rev acceleration which as you can imagine takes a lot of the fun out of driving