no my car is a 3,000 usd piece of crap 1999 aeb audi a4 quatro 5spd with 237,000 miles on clock and a light lifter tick / no ac ... i love my car though i re did my bumper by hand paid for new exhaust system to be welded on keep it waxed and clean put new stereo in i fixed the engines sludge issue with 3 seafoam treatments full synthetic 1,000 mile oil changes now i have mobile one's best oil in it with the facy oil filter to get any remaining carb build up i mean im cheap but not that cheap i get depressed with this car its a freaking hopless cause in my eyes i want to extend its life a ressurect it i want to do alot i would pay for a garret or a frankenturbo but im a broke ... end point is my cars getting what its gonna get i think its good that im putting a new turbo to replace one that has 237,000 miles !!!

 

I don't quite believe being cheap with certain things makes him a bad Audi owner. I'm cheap with things I can get away with... OP I picked up my A4 for 3k USD with 108k miles original owner. Only needed a new battery, still runs great a year later at 117k. People are always saying Audis are so expensive etc etc. but all that really matters is preventive maintenance. What's so expensive? Oil change: 30$, T-Belt: 200$, Spark Plugs: 8$

 

Just you wait


OP, don't take their harsher criticism too negatively. Consider that these guys have worked on and owned cars for years. Some of them are engineers and some work with turbos for a living. They understand the entire engine inside and out, even the parts in their trunk. They're trying to save you and anyone else following in your footsteps from wasting money and time, and potentially from destroying your engine.

This topic has been beaten to death time and time again. Consider that they have no stake here and really don't care what you do to your car--it's yours. Then consider that they're not a stealership and will gladly help you save money when possible and if you're close to them, will help with repairs at a discounted price while giving you beer.

You're better off saving your money for when something breaks, because you can bet it will be expensive when it does.

 

I don't understand what you mean by just you wait. I love my B5 but it's a 15 year old entry level luxury, not an R8...

 

I'm having a hard time following your posts, but you will not gain 25 "instant" hp by installing a Chinese K04.

The 1.8T, like almost all turbocharged engines, requires electronic engine management to control things like N75 duty cycle, injector pulse, timing, air/fuel ratio, etc. Slapping a larger turbo on your car without changing anything else will do exactly nothing for you.

As for the lack of evidence you keep claiming, here are some threads from Audizine:

Well, im buying the ebay chinese k04 turbos, wish me luck (fingers crossed)

Any personal experience with CxRacing turbo's?

eBay Turbo??? Good/Bad Idea

finally happened, turbo is done for.... next step

the Commie-K04 Thread: info on knock-off K04's

Ebay T3/T4 Turbo...

Here are some threads from this forum for you to read:

https://www.audiforums.com/forum/b5-...elp-me-193943/

https://www.audiforums.com/forum/b5-...estion-192133/

Here's a search for threads tagged with the word "Chinese", and one for threads tagged with the word "ebay" since you clearly have trouble doing your own research.

chinese - AudiForums.com - Threads Tagged with chinese
ebay - AudiForums.com - Threads Tagged with ebay

The problem is that you will actually have to read these threads in order to gain any information from them. And for the love of ****, will you please read the FAQ and the Turbo upgrade info threads in my last post? If you're worried about the mileage on your current turbo, which is a legitimate concern, think about buying a used OEM turbo with lower miles instead of the Chinese K04. JM2C.

 

Obviously it's not an R8; no need to bring that up.

You've had it one year and haven't had to replace anything major, right? I genuinely hope you don't have to replace anything major for a while, but even the small bills will add up.

Best of luck, OP

 

CCA4 nailed everything I could've said on the topic and he's correct on every point. The Chinese turbo/eBay turbo topic has been beaten to a bloody pulp on virtually every owner board out there. A Cliff Notes recap of my opinions on the subject based on 20 years of wrenching and modding, just under 7 of which are on Audi's cars:

Chinese turbos WILL fail and will not take long. The benefit of the R&D done by the known brands isn't simply figuring out what pieces to bolt together, but also what to make them out of and how to balance and set them up. Simply cranking out physical clones of thoses rarely takes the other factors into account. Recouping the R&D costs and making a profit is why the genuine ones cost more. There's nothing wrong with that.

Regardless of what you have been told elsewhere, as stated and restated above, bolting on a K04 (clone or otherwise) will give you a power gain of zip-point-**** without increasing fueling, tweaking timing and mixtures, and improving breathing and intercooling. Do it right and it'll make more power than a K03 with corresponding mods.

Staring that your spelling is terrible and for the rest of the forum to deal with it will quickly result in people going "oh that guy again" when they open a post, at which point they'll close the post and move on. People won't take the time to try and decipher the verbiage. If you want responses and insight, especially from those who know which end of the wrench goes on the bolt, take the time to write properly or turn on the spellcheck feature.

Hopefully this will help you not only wade through this turbo question but will also help your time here be productive and beneficial. We're all about investigating new ideas and products but Chinese turbos are the answer to a question that's been handled a million or more times already.

 

He means, because its just that. A 15 year old luxury car. 15 years ago these cars were the "pinnacle" of brokeswagen technology. (dont get me wrong I love audi and miss mine terribly). But, as with all components in a car they degrade with age. The problem with these cars, or any european cars for that matter, is that the "fancy, high end luxury" parts you speak of tend to break more often and are more expensive. The focus with them was "latest and greatest gadget", not "lets make this part function for the whole life of the car". Just look at the MMI nightmare the A8 went through and thats their flagship car... You ever done a price comparison and labor inquiry to do a timing job on say, a 2.8 A4 as opposed to a civic? Thats not really a big deal if you know how to turn a wrench, but a lot of people dont and rely on mechanics/dealerships to fix the car for them.

Not every repair on your A4 is expensive either, but historically speaking with aging european cars the repairs are generally a lot more often and they will absolutely nickle and dime you to death. Its not hard to maintain them, but you need to keep up with it and be ready to open up your pockets.

And yes, some parts are just astronomically expensive.

I think thats what he meant.