Damaged Turbo???

**Zorro3** · 20-01-2007,09:18 PM

I recently had a problem with my 2000 passat 1.8 turbo. Driving the car a short distance a huge cloud of white smoke poured from the exhaust with an oily smell. When I checked the oil level it was three quarters of a quart over the line (The last oil change was 1500 miles ago from an independent mechanic) The turbo intake hose had some oil coating the inside of it as well. This happened once two days ago, and the smoke/smell has not recurred, since then the car appears to drive normally. Does this mean the turbo has to be replaced?

**devonutopia** · 20-01-2007,09:31 PM

You WILL know when the turbo packs in. It lets you know in a pretty dramatic manner, so if its fine now it should be OK. You probably had a hose pop off or something? That would give the white smoke and loss of power too.

**Zorro3** · 20-01-2007,10:18 PM

The intake hose was not loose..it was fastened tightly. For some reason the engine check light never came on either. Doesn't oil coating the intake hose indicate damaged turbo seals? Is there equipment that diagnoses this problem? I was told that the turbo seals would certainly be damaged from that incident but there are no signs of it since the seals will leak oil when driving at high RPM or under acceleration. I don't want to spend money on an unnecessary repair, but I don't want the turbo to fail and damage other expensive parts of the engine. What is the catastrophic failure you are are talking about and am I safe to wait until it gets that critical?

**devonutopia** · 20-01-2007,10:31 PM

The catastrphic failure I'm talking about is when your turbo blows, and bits of the compressor go through your turbo pipework, and into the engine, and get munched on, and the engine dies after eating metal. however, it sounds like your turbo is OK and the problem lies somewhere else. However, not being much of a techie when it comes to petrol turbos, I'll let someone else have a go at diagnosis.

**calum** · 22-01-2007,05:43 PM

Two words "OIL COOLER",I had this on my car not long after I bought it,common failure and relatively inexpensive to fix . You will need to change and flush both the coolant and the oil systems!The problem will come and go depending on how you are driving it,if you drive it hard it will get worse.Good luck with this ,Calum

p.s. the turbo intake hose will always have some oil coating in it,this is normal for a turbo car,try taking the bottom hose off the intercooler,I bet there is loads of oil in there,again this is normal.

**Huweth** · 22-01-2007,06:20 PM

Not sure about the petrol engines, but on diesels, the turbo seal can leak oil into the pipework, which then collects in the oil cooler. This is normal, and would normally get flushed through and burned harmlessly in the engine evertime you 'floor it'. If the oil builds up too much (by driving too gently for months/years, or sitting in a traffic jam at idle for ages), it can get sucked through in big enough amounts to make the engine 'runaway'. It revs up uncontrolably, until it blows up! Obviously this can happen with diesels (diesel is also an oil), but not with petrols. Still, it can't be good for the engine to be burning oil.
As calum suggests, drain and flush the intercooler. Easy to do, just make sure you dry it properly! Once you've done that, make sure you rev up towards the redline once a day to keep the oil cooler as oil free as possible.

**gresty** · 22-01-2007,06:44 PM

If you havn't already done this.........well have a look at the turbo vanes and free play in tha turbo shaft. Take the intake pipe off of the turbo and lift the shaft up and down and side to side. If there is more than 1 to 2mm off play you turbo is on the way out. The bearings inside the turbo rely on oil pressure to take this play out when the engine is running. Also check to see if the vanes of the turbo have been catching the outer body, if this has happened then it is absolutely buggered. Recon units vary from £290 upto £350+. Hope this has been a little help.

P.S It really doesn't help if the oil level was way over the fill mark. Turbo'd engines wont like that so drain the oil off until the oil level is between the two marks on you dip-stick. That could well be the main problem

**calum** · 22-01-2007,07:40 PM

I'm sorry Huweth but I can't see the part (or remember writing )where I recommend flushing out the intercooler,what i said was to "flush the coolant and oil systems".I feel that the last two posts only serve to "muddy" the waters of what is a simple diagnosis ,please disregard these,it's the oil cooler.To re-iterate "it's NOT the turbo".Calum

**Huweth** · 22-01-2007,09:22 PM

Originally Posted by calum

I'm sorry Huweth but I can't see the part (or remember writing )where I recommend flushing out the intercooler,

Apologies.

I read 'intercooler', 'oil', and 'coolant' and my brain instantly went into thinking about the oil build-up that is known to occur in the intercooler.

**Zorro3** · 23-01-2007,01:02 AM

Thanks for the tips on the turbo inspection. I will be doing an oil and coolant flush in the near future.

It may not be that serious

I drained some of the oil and it was not that much overfilled - maybe one third quart.

A VW tech has said he believes its just a case of the oxygen sensor malfunctioning and too rich a fuel mixture since the car has been working perfectly since the incident occurred.