New guy here, thought you pros might give some insight on this situation.
my 2001 S4 Tiptronic has 190k on it and have been running on the GIAC chip for the last 150k
My mechanic is telling me for the past 5 years that the turbo is leaking oil and couple of times last year the intercooler hoes got pulled off and causing the car to get stuck on the high way. I was told that I need new engine mounts so I ordered it from ECS tuning and I got those RS4 mounts that suppose to hold it better. Now, IF I want to get to the turbo problem, how much money are we talking about here? What are my options? My shop told me that if I was going to replace the turbos might as well go with the KO4s rather than rebuilding the same ones.
My question is that is it worth doing it or just leave it alone? the car runs OK now but don't want to get stuck on the road again.
Thanks
K

 

well, that isn't really an easy question to answer. if the turbos need to be replaced you are looking at $5K-$7K, as a rough estimate. There is no reason not to upgrade to the K04 turbos. You will have to have your GIAC program adjusted to take advantage of the increase in boost, but even if you don't, it isn't going to hurt anything. the reason the shop is telling you to upgrade is that replacing the turbos is a time consuming and costly process. The K04 turbos give you more future options. if you simply go with OEM K03 turbos now, if you ever decide you want to upgrade, you need to go through the whole turbo replacement process again. the only reason not to do it is if you are concerned about the added costs. if you are worried about the added costs, you should probably sell the car and not invest a few thousand into getting it fixed.

keep in mind that the costs are not really because of parts. it is all labor because getting at the turbos involves pulling the engine out of the front of the car

good luck

have fun

 

Thanks for the response, I had no idea it cost so much to replace the turbos. For that money I can get a car with lot less mileage than mine although mine exterior and interior is in pristine condition. Now my question is that if my turbo has been leaking oil for the past 5 years (apx. 75k miles) it should be fine keep driving it this way right? the only reason I ask this now is because I just took out the car after a storing it for the summer and noticed that the engine bay area has white smoke coming out of it when I first start the car and let it run for about 10 minutes. it's coming from the left side of the engine when looking at from the front. It does not smell like something burning, just white smoke.

 

Thats a nice color combo. White on black looks great. Post some pics if you get a chance.

Everything 02A6 is saying is completely true. Unless you have a good chunk of extra cash, or are doing the labor yourself, upgrading turbos might not be the route you want to go.

Technically you can run the k04's by themselves without any supporting mods. However, you will not be taking advantage of the new turbos at all and suffer from severe turbo lag. From there you can slowly upgrade everything(and i mean EVERYTHING!) else around the turbos. Once you add more boost to a 10+ year old car with over 100k miles almost everything needs to be upgraded or replaced.

Youre fine driving on the leaky turbo. The smoke is from oil burning off from the leaking turbo most likely. Remove the GIAC chip and go back to stock to make the turbo last a little longer. When smoke starts coming out the exhaust and a loud drilling sound comes from the turbo you should stop driving on it.