I think mine might have taken a dump.

Strange, since I allow it a good 2 minutes before driving to warm up and 3 minutes after any spirited driving to cool down.

98 A4 1.8t, stock K03

 

The turbo will make noise, scraping, sometimes grinding, most always during boost... I had one go out in my old Supra...

SMo'

 

So, a sound like a metal fan scraping metal is not a good sound? [:@]

I had that happen, but only when starting the car up and hitting 3200 RPM's. After a little bit of driving it went away.

 

Without the turbo you car will have no power whatsoever. It will accelerate exreamly slowly.

 

I dont know at what point the turbo spools in an Audi but in a supra is is about 3,000 RPM's before it starts spooling really well (in first gear giving it a good amount of throttle)... It sounds like the turbo, most likely the bearings.

Once again, I dont know how the audi turbo is setup but in my supra I was also able to tell the turbo was bad when I took off the inlet pipe and noticed the turbo shaft had play. If it rocks up and down the bearings are going bad. If it rocks back and forth the seals and bearings could be going bad. If your using up oil or gettin' smoke out of the engine when you slow to a stop while in gear its most likely the turbo. Or if you get some smoke right when you first start it up, its the seals.

But the sound the turbo makes when spooling up is a dead give away. If the turbo is dieing, you will want to fix or replace the turbo. Metal shavings going into the intake are bad for the engine, especially when a blade chunks or snaps off completely.

SMo'

 

Most times it will make an audible grinding noise and your car will smoke out the exhaust.

 

best way to check is to take off the exhaust side and intake side and feel the impellar shaft for play. You can listen for symptoms but i always end up second guessing what i heard. If the impeller can move excessively it is bad if there is within 1-3mm of play your fine. also while there look for excessive oil on the intake side. To save some time pop off only the intake side first as this could be done fairly easy and check impeller play and excessive oil there, if your not sure then go exhaust side.

 

Make sure you check for side to side play rather than pushing on the impeller shaft. I know people that have overlooked shaft play by doing it wrong.

 

if you do need a new turbo i can get it to you for 800 plus shipping for a brand new OEM, but there is a bunch of other little things you should do when replacing a turbo.

 

What makes you think the Turbo is going?
loss of power, dentist drill noise on boost?

NEED MORE INFO.

It could be something as simple as a bad DV, or a boost leak.

Usually, when the turbo is gone, there isn't much question about it.