Hello,

First time user - hoping someone can help. I have a 1999 A4 1.8 Turbo with just barely 100K miles. Great car but the turbo needs to be replaced. I'm in Orange County CA. The mechanic in Costa Mesa, who is well regarded among all the Audi drivers at my work, says this will cost $3,000. He also says the engine was not damaged by being driven a short way after the turbo let go.

I bought the car about 6 months ago from the original owner. It had 80,000 miles on it and had been cared for by the same mechanic.

I really like this car and I want to keep it. Is $3,000 a reasonable charge to replace the turbo? I would very much appreciate any advice or opinions or guidance anyone can give me.

Thank you very much.

 

holy **** man! is it a turbo upgrade?

 

BUMP. Instead of starting a new thread, I thought it would be best to bump this, as I am in a similar position.

I have a 1999 A4 1.8T wagon, approx. 135,000 miles, and the mechanic who has been working on it (who I like) said the turbo was shot, and it would be around $1500 to replace. Is that a reasonable price? I am in Westchester County, New York. Thanks for any help/advice.

 

Its about a 3 hour job and NEW turbo off ebay $250.00 if its a local garage $1500.00 not to bad since they have to make some profitt unless you can do yourself

 

Thanks, JAB.

 

Warning: as anyone here will tell you: do NOT get a chinese ebay turbo. They just don't work, and you will be back to square one in NO TIME.

IMO: have your current turbo refurbished. This gives you a like new turbo (all wear parts replaced) for a lot less than new. If done by quality shop, excellent bang for the buck. For $200 more, i had mine custom modified to a K03/K04 hybrid.

Email Nick at TurboConcepts (that's were I went and NEVER looked back): turboconcepts@charter.net

If you need your car, he probably can built you one and charge for your core (refund when you did the swap).

May as well change the downpipe ($180 or so) while you are at it for not much more work and money.

 

Thanks, VTraudt. I will ask my mechanic if he would do a refurb; I know he's not crazy about putting refurbed parts in, but I prefer to not sink a ton of $$ into this car, so if I can go that route, I certainly will. I wish I had more knowledge about Audi engines so I was at least comfortable taking the turbo out, but I don't, so I'll leave it to the pros!

 

Bluefish, you may want to give your fellow forum buddies in your area a shout out to see if someone would give you a hand with the turbo install. For someone who is familiar with the task, its not a big thing.