I took this apart today.

I daily drive a 99.5 Jetta TDI which currently has 334,000. I drive for a living and put 8,000 miles a month on the Jetta.

I was running my Saturday route when the turbo went. This route consists of me driving 680 miles throughout west Texas delivering autotraders.

On this particular day, machismo happened to be with me. As we were leaving Aspermont,TX, a howling noise occurred. Neither of us were sure what the problem was. I immediately thought it might be the turbo, but my limited experience with turbos made me skeptical. Valvetrain? Bent valve? Wastegate? Leak? We looked at the exhaust tip and little bit of white smoke was coming out. We figured ok, it's probably a valve, we can finish the trip. After just a few miles, the smoke went from white to gray to dark gray. We drove 35 miles to Guthrie,TX and by that time, we were smokescreening! I checked the oil at my stop, and we had used 2 quarts! We added oil and went to take off and the TDI showed symptons of what tdiclub calls "runaway turbo". We drove 4 miles and used 3 quarts! At that point we parked the car and called in reinforcements.

Below are pics and video of the turbo damage after 303,000 miles:

 

Here is a vid of the shaft play:

 

lol.....I liked the video of the shaft play.

I heard that delivering those magazines and what not can bring in some good dough. Whats the deal on that, how does it work? If you don't mind my asking that is.

Vash-

 

Just get a rebuild kit and she'll be good to go.

 

wooooooowwwww @ the vid!

 

That's awesome, the turbo's don't normally last that long, you must have gotten a good one.

 

heh heh, thanks. It was pretty hardcore.

In regards to the magazines: I do autotrader, automart, payload, and homes.com. All are under Dominion Enterprises. The routes are in my friends name and I do the work. He takes out money for himself and fuel, then pays me the rest. The money is always better when the mileage is higher. City routes don't pay as much, but don't take as long either. My routes are pretty long.

Yeah, i think it has to do with the fact that the car is diesel. The damaged turbo is a Garrett VNT 15 and the new replacement turbo is a Garrett GT17.

 

looks like the exhaust mani and turbine housing are 1 cast piece? that's pretty cool.

 

Good god. What is up with the "shaft play"? Was it acting up before it decided to take a dump, or did it just fail all at once? Thats more play than I have seen before, if you can even call it play. I bet that 1 piece manifold/turbo setup makes a fix costly (if that is what it is, looks that way).

 

How is it I always seem to be mixed up with stuff like this? That was one hell of weird day Wags....the one time I decide to take a ride along, and the car became the worst mesquito killer I have ever seen in an instant.
We were getting some boost issues, but nothing major. Then shut the car off, drop off some mags, get in, and the car over revs on its own and next thing you know.....stuck out in the middle of nowhere. Poured over a quart of oil out the tailpipe in two miles.
But you do have admit, that little High School girl made the wait, that much more tolerable.

 

When do high school girls NOT make anything more tolerable?

 

I guess you haven't been away from high school girls long enough. Cute and sweet is one thing. Annoying, lippy, dumb and obnoxious are another. Unfortunately there are a whole lot of the latter.


300k on a turbo is pretty impressive. The diesel box trucks do that pretty much all the time though. My 94 Isuzu NPR had 300k and terrible maintenance but the turbo was still spooling great.

 

those variable vanes?

 

It was more like a joystick.
The turbo just went suddenly. The car had been going into limp mode off and on, but only at the beginning of my route where there was significant hill climbing and elevation change. This was the only time it would go into limp mode. A lot of things can cause limp mode on these diesels.
limp mode. 3 quarts in 4 miles. 5 hour wait. She didn't know how to have a conversation.
Something about diesels......

Click the "Garrett VNT15" link I posted in post #7, if you haven't.

 

next time I have to pick you up in the middle of nowhere, it will be in a turbo miata.

You should just use my trailer and drive your track car on the routes, lol

 

I never said they didnt have to keep their dumb mouthes closed.

 

makes the shaft play on my t25 look like a joke

 

And that goes to all the kids that says VWs are unreliable junk.

 

well I'm glad to see their turbo's hold up...couldn't say the same for their electrical system