I have a 99 A4 1.8t avant with 115k miles, and I think it needs a new turbo. The power seems low, esp at low RPM, and the turbo glows hot after driving for an hour or so. I have had the car since new and have changed the oil (with synthetic) regularly, btw, and have not really abused it too badly.

My question is, does anyone have experience with the $300 K03 turbos that folks are selling on ebay? Are these any worse than the Borg-Warners? They sure are a lot cheaper than the stock (~1400 bucks from dealer, 750 from some aftermarket places).

I am not looking for an upgrade, just a stock-level replacement. Thanks in advance.

 

You dont want a ebay turbo, they are not near the quality as a KKK turbo. They dont even balance the turbo before they sell it to you and spinning over 100,000rpms, you need to be balanced.

Youcan find nice used turbos on here and over at vwvortex.com and also at audizine.com. A used turbo will cost you $100-175 depending on how many miles on them.

But before you go opening up your wallet, you should start seeing if that is your problem. You should look for boost and vaccum leaks. Also having a compression test would be a good idea also. If both of those check out, your turbo could be dying or have a bad wastegate.

BTW, the turbo always glows when they are worked a good amount, its no big deal.

 

Thanks for the info. I'll look into the boost and vacuum lines. It runs OK, just seems a little off from before. I just had my mechanic repair a leak in the cam seals, and it seems to have more of a dead spot between 1000 and 2000 rpm after I got it back. Maybe it is just my imagination, I don't know. I brought it back to him and he suggested the turbo might be bad, thaat's how I came down this path. It also has a little occasional roughness at idle, just a little rumble from time to time (esp when it is nice and hot, like a drive in traffic after a drive on the freeway). I don't recall it doing this before either.

 

see if he did the valve cover gasket when he was in there. Could be a leak in the cover or something. From the sounds of it, he did or didnt do something to your car. He should atleast look it over for you since it started after his services