The passenger side turbo in my '00 A6 2.7t has blown a seal or something. I'm quite the noob when it comes to repairs on an Audi. I've worked on older cars and have generally done most of the work on all of my past vehicles, but the Audi seems to be quite the complicated little bugger. There's oil around the turbo and there are small drip marks on the ground. When I started to drive away, a lot of smoke was coming out of the exhaust, so of course I was like "that's not right", turned her around and jumped in the wifey's car instead. This just happen 2 mornings ago when I was warming up the car to take my kids to go see Santa. The engine still runs smooth and there's no noise coming from the turbo itself. I put the car up on ramps and looked underneath. Again, the drivers side is dry and the passenger side is wet with oil around the turbo.
I've always used Valvoline conventional oil in all of my cars and I take care of them quite well. But, hearing over the years that synthetic is better to use in a turbo charged car, about 2 months ago or so I put Castrol Syntec in the Audi after completely draining the engine. When I went underneath to look at the turbo, I see that the oil filter also has some oil "wetness" around it too. I know that synthetics tend to find any bad seals or worn seals from age, it's just a more viscous/thinner oil than conventional oil. I'm wondering if putting the synthetic in is what has caused the turbo to blow a seal. My car has nearly 90k miles on it, maybe it's a coincidence too.
So...I hear you have to drop the engine in order to get at the turbos..please don't confirm that, lol. I'm kidding of course, tell me the truth ppl. Is this something I can do in my garage with the many assortment of tools that I have or is this something for a shop to do? Again, the turbo isn't making any noise, can it just be rebuilt? THIS SUCKS!! What are my options guys? I live in the metro area of Minneapolis, MN if any local guys are willing to help me or steer me to a reputable shop to do the repair.
Any and all suggestions will be much appreciated!!!