Hey, whats up. Im new to the forum. my name is kris, and im from connecticut. I just purchased a 2000 Audi A4 1.8t. I got it for 5k, with 100k miles on it from a private seller from craigslist. All books and records from day 1. One owner too...So far im happy with it.. no problems what so ever. I have done a few maintnance things. like bleed the brakes and new fluid. And just 3 oil changes sence ive gotten it.. One night i was driving home, And i had to add washer fluid.. Well i wasnt doing 65, i had the cruise set for 85. When i pulled into the gas station i opened the hood and saw the turbo GLOWING this hot.. i managed to grab a few pics.. everytime i come home after being out with the car.. and driving slightly aggressive.. Nothing crazy or racing, the turbo gets this hot.. Im rather new with turbo cars.. its my 1st audi and 1st car with a turbo.. can anyone lend any help? Oh ive replaced the fuel filter too, K&n air filter. But no mods. and from what ive seen with the car.. it has no mods done to it either.. Sorry for the poor quality its with my cell phone.. normal color is bright... orange... road cone color

 

Welcome to AudiForums Kris.


This is very normal for a K03/K04 right after pushing full boost for a short period of time. The turbo is so small, EGT's get up to 1500 F so the metal gets so hot you can just see right thru it.

 

If you are driving fast, just be sure to let the engine idle for a few minutes after you drive to let the turbo return to a cooler state before you shut down the engine. Otherwise it'll produce excessive heat build up that could damage the turbo.

 

ditto

 

The heat build up will coke the oil and the buildup will choke the turbo of cooling/lubing capacity, thus dead turbo eventually. Cool down is a must after hard driving.

 

Which happens in the time it takes to slow down and park the car. Doesn't take more then a minute or two for the turbo to cool down. I dont know anyone that drives the car really hard and then just shuts the car off without slowing down first, but if they did they would most likely be dead from hitting something or being hit.

 

Has anybody put a hightemp thermocouple on a ko3 to see how hot it gets and fast it cools down. Because I have heard a lot of contradictory info on cool down periods.

I imagine that if it gets as hot as people claim, then it will stay hot for more than the time it takes to stop your car. But I guess it is a matter of what exactly is "too hot" to turn off the car. Also, I have heard that you can damage the oil by letting it sit on a hot turbo without circulating. Any truth to this?

 

When the engine is running the EGT's drop pretty quickly and that in turn causes the turbo to cool down too.

 

yea but when you say cool down, it is still really hot.

it is a matter of the cooling rate and cooling time vs the "safe temerature", none of which i know

 

If you really want to cool down the exhaust quickly just engine brake to slow down. The EGT's will drop very quickly because their is no fuel being sprayed into the motor which means there is no exhaust at all, just fresh air being pumped thru the manifold/turbo/exhaust.