crackeoto

Hi All,
So I've been battling with the little things on my allroad that I had pretty much rehab'd when I bought it at 54k miles...but now I have to replace the turbos at 75k (the left one's the problem).

I'm not seeing any blue smoke out the back, but I have the dentist drill sound under boost and the car just doesn't have the power it should at an APR stage 1 with other supporting mods.


Since the engine is coming out, I was wondering if I could get some advice on the things to change.

Mandatory (afaik):
- replace both with borg warner ko3's (don't have the inclination to do the extra $5k in costs to upgrade to stage 3)
- return and supply oil lines (want them clean)
- 2 new fancy diverter valves
- hoses (I'm sure all the rubber is crap in there)
(I already have an upgraded throttle body boot)

Should do?
- Return and Supply coolant lines
- wastegate lines and frequency control valve
- MAF
- bi-pipe
- y pipe upgrade

Do I have all the mandatory things correct? The parts cost for the "should do" seems to be about $1800, but it feels like it would be a total rehab of the turbo environment.

With what I've already invested, I'm basically going to keep this car until the engine blows.

Here's what I did when I bought it in April 2012:

- apr stage 1 chipped (wow...torque)
- h-sport front and rear sway bars (what a difference)
- AWE drive train stabilizer (great)
- APR diverter valve
- Achtuning silicon throttle body boot
- Clutch (replaced with RS4 clutch kit and new flywheel)
- left and right engine mounts
- Achtuning snub mount
- full front control arm kits (Febi)
- stoptech OE size sport brake upgrade (rotors, steel brake lines, performance pads, stoptech fluid) - great upgrade over OE, but I have single piston calipers, so anything helped
- Replace output shaft seal on transmission
- replace valve cover gaskets and cam chain tensioner seal and coolant temp sensor
- replace timing belt, water pump, thermostat, acc belt, acc belt tensioner, cam seals
- new battery
- flush cooling system and replace reservoir
- replace fuel filter (still had original filter)
- replace rear calipers
- replace torn/rusted flex joints on cat pipes
- replace heater core hoses (to fix leak...expensive hose)

I appreciate your help.

crono35

I've been looking at turbo replacement as well, even though mine are working fine.

For the cost of getting new K03 turbos, why not get frankenturbos instead? With the inlets they're only $1799 right now. Scroll products also make a hybrid k03/k04 that supposedly flows 30% more than a k03, with some good reviews. Both options should work fine with your stage 1 chip, and you'll have the potential for higher numbers in the future as well.

G0to60

I would do any of the coolant and oil lines that you can't reach with the engine in place. I have a persistant coolant leak from the left coolant return (I think) hose. The only real way to replace that is to pull the engine so it would be a bummer if one of those hoses started to leak after you did all that work.

I'm in a similar boat. I'm probably going to pull my motor to replace various hoses and lines back there (stupid coolant line) but I'm going back a forth on the turbos. They sound and feel fine right now but I'm close to 200k miles so that's my hitch.

Also, you may want to look at gutting the pre-cats while everything is out and maybe look into the O2 sensors.

thejulex

don't get k03s, they will not last on APR tune.

Get either genuine K04s or Frankenturbos. YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO FULL BORE ON STAGE 3 with upgraded turbos!

ECU will properly modulate the new turbos once it learns they respond too quick. You might get few throttle cuts initially but if you last through that, they ECU will eventually learn that the new turbos require less duty cycle for wastegates and the car will drive nice without straining the turbos as K04/frankens can do much more than what APR will ask them to do.

cheers.

crackeoto

thank you all so much. I appreciate the input. I'm headed down to talk to the guys at the local tuning joint about parts. Wish me luck.