I have a 2001 S4 automatic transmission with 87,000 miles on it. Has had five previous owners and has a Borla Exhaust. I just picked the car up a week ago and everything sounded fine and ran great. I have intentions of chipping the car with a GIAC but...

I believe I hear the turbo lady arriving quickly. I hear a police siren/ electric toothbrush (obviously louder than normal) coming from what appears to be the passenger side. It definitely is not a dentist drill. I know that its not blown yet but want to be prepared. So therefore...

I want to get my geese in a line so I know my options fully when the turbo lady does come.
I can:
1. Rebuild K03
2. Get K03 Hybrids
3. Get K04.

This is my daily driver, and I dont need 375+ HP (plus I hear that the auto tranny can't take stage 3 due to torque and other things) I was going to be satisfied with a chip. I dont really want to go stage 3, and spend all the money on everything else i would need to get to stage 3. I don't have 5k to spend on the solution. I would very much like to spend less than 3,000, I also can not do the work myself as I am currently incapable of doing the work (mechanically challenged) therefore I will be paying for labor. Thoughts on what I should do?

 

i read somewhere the average turbo replacement is around 6000 for parts and labor. someone correct me if im wrong, but the reason its so spendy is you have to replace both turbos at the same time and unless you have tiny hands you have to pull the engine to get to the turbos. my car is covered under warranty up to 3000 dollars for engine work and i just got the bad news that my turbos are leaking and will need to be replaced soon so im in a similar boat you're in and yes i just bought my car about a month ago too lol. if you can, crawl under your car and pull the lower intercooler hoses and check for oil. if its dry you have a couple months to go to save up. oh the head aches

 

bottlecap: Thanks for the reply, I know that I will need to replace both turbos.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

 

turbo replacement with labor more like 4000. about 2200 for turbos, 400 pipes and hardware, and around 12-1800 for labor.

if you rebuild k03s, then you are only looking at about 500 for both rebuilt and balanced, then the labor charge to swap them....

 

Blue_S4: do you have recommendations for places that can rebuild them? I have already called blousch and I asked very nicely and politely but they wont rebuild them, gpopshop wont touch my S4 K03's.

I have been calling up a number of spots and a few are saying that I need the whole kit in order to put the K04 in, include downpipes, piggies, Intake, MAF, fuel pump, injectors, pretty much the whole nine yards (yet all of them say it will be awful for the automatic transmission, pushing that much torque). Is it true that I need all of that or do I just need the K04, inlets and gaskets?

Thanks for everyone's help

 

there are plenty of guys running stage 3 tips, especially over on the zine. im not too familiar with their setups though i know some have not touched the transmission with upgraded torque converters etc and have had no problems. its partly in how you drive it, not constantly going WOT, etc.

 

the most economic solution is just to rebuild them, not all shop do that but it wont be nearly as expensive as a brand new k03 set. Also, if you want to go stage 3 with a tip you can, but theres a catch. You have to get a torque converter upgrade (700-1000 depending on who you send it to.) but if you dont have that cash and you still want more speed you could go stage 3-. this might shed a bit more light "For the S4 that just blew its turbos, factory K04s is the way to go for both price and power. Any GIAC dealer can sell you the stage 3 "minus" software, aimed at people who can't afford a full stage 3 kit yet. All you need is a Bosch 5bar FPR and the turbos, which you can get from companies like AWE, Torque Factory and Evolution Motorsports. It works with the stock intake, injectors and exhaust. The setup will run about $3800 and will work on Tiptronic cars. Expect around 290whp."

gl

 

Go stage 3-

K03s are garbage no matter how you look at it, period.

Sorry to be so blunt, but if your going to pull the motor just to rebuild them,
you might as well just spend a little more for peace of mind when you increase the boost.

Plus a 5 bar FPR is fairly inexpensive and you already planned on buying GIAC software.

 

but if money is a big factor...rebuild them yourself.

 

yea if you dont want much power but you need to replace turbos id just go with K04's regardless. you can get k04s inlets and gaskets and just run it like that with very minimal other work. k04s are way more reliable and if you did decided to go stage 3 later youd have em.