I took this apart and maybe 1/8 - 1/4 cup of oil ran out. The hose connects the front air pipe that is part of the lock carrier to the intercooler.

I also eliminated oil from the PCV system. The pipe from the "t" hose at back of the engine to the hose from air cleaner to turbo is dry.

The car has 163,000 miles.

So, multi part question:

1. Do I have the dreaded turbo oil seal leak problem? If not, what do I have?

2. If a turbo, is it worth it to fix? A turbo is available for $400. The work looks doable but irritating due to lots of steps and stuff to remove.

3. Would a junk yard turbo do the trick? I think not in this case.

The car has other problems and I'm wondering if I'm chasing good money and time after bad?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

John

 

If the car is at 163k miles without ever having that piece removed it is completely normal to have some oil in it. This comes from the pcv system (even though it is "dry" in 163k miles alot of oil vapor comes through it). Now if you told me you removed that piece 1-2000 miles ago and it had that much oil now then you should be worried

 

I agree. I just had mine off a couple of weeks ago during a coolant issue repair and I got maybe 2 teaspoons out of mine. Same mileage, 163,000, so no big worry. Plus it's all old, black, thick oil rather than new stuff being pushed past seals.

 

Great, thanks for the advice.

The bad news is I will now have to do all those other things it needs!

John

 

That's half the fun of owning an Audi.