I'm completely new to the whole turbo scene cause I'm used to working with V8's with nitrous, so I hope this doesn't seem like a dumb question. But, one of my friends said that the turbo that comes on the 1.8T starts to loose power after like 60k miles. Is there any truth to this? Is there any general rule of thumb for when turbos wear out? And if I were to replace my stock turbo on my '02 A4 1.8T Quattro with a K03s how much of a difference would I notice?

 

Turbos depend on how they are run and cared for. If you run a turbo out of its effiency or shut the car off while its hot, your slowingly killing the turbo. Stock turbos can last 100k, even 150k miles if cared for. So if you let the car idle for 20-30 secs after you drive it and dont run it out past 20-22psi, you wont have any problems.

 

I just jumped on this website trying to learn how long a turbo should last. I have the factory installed turbo in my A4. It gets normal wear and tear - I have a feeling you guys might be discussing racing. My use is trying to and from work etc. Anyway, my turbo went at 80,000 miles. I have a feeling this is not normal. This was two weeks after the dealership had done other work to my car. Please help- I think I'm getting screwed! The only thing I know to do is contact Audi customer service. Do you guys have other advice for me. Please help.

 

80k is within the "normal" range for a turbo dying.. like said, the turbo's life is directly related to how it was cared for.. your car doesn't have to be raced 24/7 for the turbo to be abused..

the previous owner(s) probably didn't care for it well enough..

general rule of thumb, is to let your engine warm up(oil temp 150 degree's minimum) before you push your turbo into boost. and let the car idle for 20-40 seconds before you shut it off... but never run your car extremely hard right before shut down. always give it time to cool..

and there could be something fishy going on with the dealer. but i hate to say it, there is virtually no way to prove any foul play. you're more than likely just going to have to live with the fact that it might have happened

 

On the other hand, I have a biturbo s4, with two k03s, and 117k on the car. Most importantly, don't shut it off after driving hard, and I always let the engine get to 170 degrees before going past 3k rpm.
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