blown turbo please help

[garcia.23]

Hey guys I just got bad news about my 98 a4 1.8t. The turbo is blown and has to be replaced...they quoted me 2,300 dollars for parts a labor. They said the turbo was 1100 dollars and the other parts would be around 500...sounds like they may be blowing smoke up my ***. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Alan02]

Cant comment on price,only to say that the Intercooler may need flushing/checking for debris inside it (depending on the nature of the failure),and all the hoses removed and inspected and also the oil pipes to/from turbo renewed.

[Pete@ECSTuning]

Wow that is WAY to much. We carry replacement K03 turbos from 595 and up. Heck, for 695 we can get you a Ko4 drop in turbo upgrade. Labor would be an aditional cost but if you subtract out parts from your quote, 700 for a full turbo install seems a little high.

Click here for replacement Turbos and Turbo install kits.

[garcia.23]

Wow that is WAY to much. We carry replacement K03 turbos from 595 and up. Heck, for 695 we can get you a Ko4 drop in turbo upgrade. Labor would be an aditional cost but if you subtract out parts from your quote, 700 for a full turbo install seems a little high.

Click here for replacement Turbos and Turbo install kits.

Hey thanks for replying! Yeah i thought that the quote they gave me seemed quite steep. I have already relocated the car to a different shop that quoted me 1675 for parts and labor which seems much more reasonable...So about that K04 upgrade does it come with the oil and coolant lines or just the hardware to mount the turbo?

[Pete@ECSTuning]

A Ko4 kit from us comes with all the mounting hardware. Since it is a drop in replacement you re-use your existing feed lines. Quite simply, if you've blown a Ko3 there is no reason not to go with a ko4. You can run one of our Ko4 kits without special programming and still see good power gains. Then, if you can afford chip tuning later down the line, you can get a Ko4 program and extract even more power out of the beast. What is awesome about the step up to ko4 is that you can use it now for good gains and tune it later for maximum gains

[garcia.23]

Yeah I checked up on your website and saw that it didn't come with the oil or coolant lines. Isn't it a good idea to replace the oil lines though when replacing the turbo just incase the reason the turbo blew was a lack of oil caused by a clogged line? What else should I get to prevent another blown turbo down the line. And will the extra power made by the new turbo put additional stress on the engine and if so what other parts might I want to buy to compensate?

[Pete@ECSTuning]

In the interest of selling you more...
This is about everything you could replace while doing a new turbo.

In the interest of saving you more, I would remove your oil lines, clean them and reinstall them. You are correct, it is a good idea to check the lines for sludge build up, but sludge can be cleaned, it doesn't always have to be replaced!

[Crasher]

One word of caution, you should ask WHY your turbo failed, it is rare for them to fail spontaneously and turbo failure is often an early warning sign of oil starvation. The 1.8T in line engine has suffered terrible problems with sludge formation in the sump and this has especially been a problem in the USA. If you fit a new turbo and this fails due to oil starvation, it is unlikely that anyone will warranty the work and you will have to start all over again and possible need a new engine as well.

[garcia.23]

Yeah I don't want to have problems in the near future so I'm doing all the research I can to prevent it. I think I'm going to purchase new oil lines when I decide which turbo I'm going to go with. I called and asked the shop that my car is at now and they said they won't warranty the work if a different turbo other than stock is put on the car because of the extra power it will put out...so now I have to decide if it's worth the risk. Any suggestions?

[Crasher]

Unless you want serious extra power I would stick with a standard replacement turbo and have a remap done for a mild extra power.