New to forum. New to audi. Owned this 00 2.7T for about a month. 6 sp with 149,xxx. A little background that led to this problem: I discovered the turbo intake hose (the one that joins the diverted air into the intake...wide diameter short hose with a thin Y that comes off) had a tear just behind the clamp where it meets the Dv. It was throwing P1557 which is positive deviation. I figured the pressure loss was due to this. The car would boost into about third gear after start up then the ecu would dump it entirely until the engine restarted again. My car ran on limp mode like this for about two weeks until I had found the part and replaced. Cleared code...boost returned.

Now..two days later. Driving into work this morning I noticed it once again dumps the boost in 4th gear at about 3500, but now it feels like its running at about half the power it was the previous week. Limped into work. Parked. Four hours later went to lunch...attempted to see if anything had changed. Car has absolutely no power and it started pumping thick whiteish/blueish smoke out the drivers side exhaust. Immediately turned around and parked.

What I found: The smoke is making it all the way through the system out the exhaust. Nothing underneath or in engine compartment and only on the drivers side. It comes out mostly when the car is in gear and accelerating. At idle very little. It comes out when revved in neutral. Absolutely no power. No engine lights.There was no indication that the turbos were working at all...but there were no sounds or movements in the car. Just 35% power and a **** load of smoke.

I opened the hoses at the throttle body boot and at the diverters and found what I've been told is an expected and normal amount of oil (pinky nail). I've blown a head gasket on a Yota pickup before and noticed it pumped thick cloud like steam out when it was revved in idle. This is thick but not extremely dense smoke. Turbo seals?

I had it towed home. And now here I am, joining Audi forums. Thanks in advance for any input.

 

Sounds like blown turbo seals. It sounds like you are dumping oil from the turbo straight into the hot side of the turbo and out the tailpipe. It could also be coolant but then I would think that it would be white steam and you would smell the coolant. If the oil seal blew out then the turbo on that side probably is not spinning which is why you have no power.

DISCLAIMER: I have never blown a turbo myself. I had a 1995 S6 with 149,xxx miles when I sold it and the turbo was still going strong.

Good Luck.

 

It's definitely oil.

Assuming this means a turbo replacement. Any ideas on where to go from here?

Also...how do I tell the difference between a valve stem seal leak and a turbo seal leak?

 

Well, the valve stem seals are not under pressure, so oil leaking through them tends to pool in the cylinders and make smoke just on startup. Also, under boost the positive pressure would blow air up the seals, so again no oil smoke. The turbo seals, on the other hand, are under whatever oil pressure there is from the oil pump, which goes up rapidly as the RPMs increase. Lots of smoke = lots of oil = turbo seal.
If it is just a seal (no bearing damage yet) it's possible to rebuild the turbo core and put new seals in. If the bearings are shot, though, probably best to replace the turbos, and they do need to be replaced in pairs to insure the same boost from both sides.
Jim

 

Ah. This would be consistent with my problem. If it was the valve stems there would be smoke collecting under the hood correct? There is no smoke visible when the car is started and during the initial idle. It isn't until rpms are applied that smoke is evident. At 149K, wouldn't is be a good idea to just go ahead and replace both? Could you point in the direction of my next step? Thanks a bunch man.

 

I blew a couple turbos on my Miata and they all were fine at idle but smoked like hell on hard accel. Though they still made decent power; I find it strange that yours is so far down. Both turbos should be replaced; one turbo working more than the other will lead to more problems. And if one blew the other probably isn't far behind. It's the smart thing to do.

 

Should I even consider just trying to replace the turbo seals? Is it one gasket or several seals?

What about just taking the hit and upgrading to KO4s?

 

Since the lion's share of the cost of working on the turbos is pulling the engine out, if you've been thinking of upgrading, this is a good excuse. If you're doing the work yourself and money is tight, you can find someone to rebuild the K03s for a lot less than new K04s...
Jim

 

I've been living under the fear of losing a turbo for 50k miles since one started leaking. I have 206k on the odo. I looked into it and rebuilding is a job for pros since they have to be exactly balanced. Buying replacement turbos, pulling the engine, etc is about a $3k job if you can find a qualified indie shop. Going to just K04s probably is not worth it unless you do some other upgrades, and when I looked into the minimum effort it was about a $5-6k. I was thinking about doing it, but given the age of my A6 and some other minor issues, I am going to keep my fingers crossed and hope the oem turbos hold for another 2-3 years. PS - Mine has been chipped since 80k, which puts extra strain on the turbos. PPS-Just replaced cats and still get CEL; now also have failing SIAU ($700) and probably due for shocks and a new battery (all original!!). I suspect I'll put the obligatory grand into it this fall since it is my primary winter driver and I take 4-6 long winter trips with it.

 

So the engine is coming out no matter what huh?

Can the turbos be turned off...and the oil being pumped to them restricted...so that it can still be driven in limp mode?

****.