I'm considering a 2001 2.7T with 113k miles. (Like I'm not spending enough on my current A6). Who has a high mileage 2.7T that is running original turbos? How many miles? Trying to get an idea how long they should last with reasonable care and use. I have 94k on my A6 now.

There is nothing I have read that says they need to be replaced or have a specific servicelife, but everyone knows they are expensive to replace. So I'mtrying to determine if they can go 150-200kor if they tend to fail at n miles.

Help me with the facts.

 

do you work on cars? can you replace a spark plug? how do you view an engine? can you make thing?????? and that's your answer

 

Dave, that's kind of a cranky response that doesn't answermy question. If I wanted to be bitched at I'd ask my wife about my Audi and if I want sarcasm, I have two teenagers.

Yes - I used to work on my cars all the time including rebuilding engines in a 72 TR6 and a 48 Chevy pickup. I offroaded and raced aCJ7 for 5 years and learned a lot about suspensions and drive trains...the hard way. I still do the basic tuneup on my wife's Villager. I just don't have time, tools, or expertise to work on the Audi. I found a very reasonable and honest local garage and bring it to them. (They work on foreign cars and the owner has a heavily modded S4.)

I'm trying to get some empirical evidence from owners that turbos can last a long time, or conversely, they tend to wear out and fail at 120k. Going from 34k to 120k with my current A6 and having to spend $3k to replace the turbos is a maintenance fact of life. Going from 113k to 120k on a car means I negotiate price very differently.

So 2.7T owners with high mileage - how many miles and how have the turbos held up??

 

01 2.7T completely stock and i have some where between 135k and 140k miles, and she is running pefectly. I would expect my car to run beyond 175k.

 

PP


the turbos will fail. as for the exact mileage that is always very hard to tell. I have well over 100K on my stock turbos even with a chip and running the boost hard they still seem fine. I am seening more high mileage stock turbo A6's out there. I would say that over 100k miles you should just be very ready for them to go. you are in the danger zone but there is no reason why you can't get into the high 100's with the stock turbos. I would sugest getting dp's for the car. that will bring down the high temps that get traped in the exhaust housing and leads to cracked exhaust housing and blown seals. 2 of the three things that typicly go wrong on the ko3's. not only will they extend the life of the turbo but they add performance to the car.

sorry about not having a difinitive answer on the milage. I have herd of people with stock cars with 85k blowing the turbos and then I just met a local fellow that has 174k on stock turbos. so it seems to be a hit or miss

 

i guess im a "hit" then lol

 

I thought I knew most of the abbreviations but what is "dp"? I put in Bailey diverter valves and a Samco TBB when I had the car chipped.

PS - My ball and chain nixed the A4.

 

Down Pipe

 

Getting Dp's on the car will definitely increase the life of the turbos. There is a top of heat build up that gets trapped in the exhaust housing. Piggies are a cheap way to go. It is a little ins that comes with a performance increase

 

Every time I've seen the assertion that turbos will "eventually fail" posted on an Audi forum, the concept has been trashed by any number of people posting mileages WELL beyond 100k and still going strong.

If a 2.7T is treated well, you can expect the turbos to last as long as the car. They key to that sentence is the "well treated" clause. This means following the "rules of good turbo ownership" (i.e., gentle warm up and cool down: keep the rpm under 3k until after oil temp gets over 175 and drive easily for the last few miles before you shut it down. No need to sit in the driveway with it idling -- just use common sense), checking to be sure that your hoses (particulary the throttle body boot and f-hose) don't have any leaks, and keeping good diverter valves in there. Do this and your turbos should last as long as your engine.

The problem with buying a high-mileage turbo engine used, is that you don't necessarily know how the previous owner treated it. THAT is where you run the risk. Turbos are not nessarily a failure prone part. If they were, there would not be as many successful turbo engines out there.