Expected turbo life chipped vs. stock? Anyone have an estimate?
04-18-2001, 10:07 AM
#2
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Estimate, sure, the right one for you, who knows!
Hiya,
This question pops up on the boards here on average once a month.
Here are the cold hard facts:
On the 1.8T the turbo will be the first thing to go, on average. German motors are over-engineered, and you are probably looking at about 200-250k of engine life before overhaul. The turbo does some high abuse work, some of them spinning at 11,000 rpm plus at temperatures approaching 1000 degrees. Obviously, a place for failure to occur. The good news is a replacement is only in the neighborhood of $800.00 (about double a clutch replacement).
My estimate is this, if you drive a chipped turbo the same as you drive the non-chipped (i.e. only flooring it for passing, on-ramps, some occasional spirited driving) you are probably only cutting life maybe 10%. So if the OEM chip gives the turbo a life of 150K, figure 135k..
If you suddenly become a lead foot with the chip, expect the turbo life to decrease accordingly. If you abuse it (hot shut downs, prolonged runs at high boost) it could go at 25k or 100k, all a roll of the dice.
What does all this babbling mean? There is no free lunch. If you ask any part to do more than it was designed (or a greater percentage of maximum specifications) the life of that part will decrease. Period.
Again, these numbers are pretty meaningless unless you ask yourself how you are going to car for the car!
The current iteration of "chipped" A4s is nearing 3-4 years old now, and there should be some high-mileage chip users/abusers out there to poll for how many miles they have accumulated.
Cheers!
Michael
This question pops up on the boards here on average once a month.
Here are the cold hard facts:
On the 1.8T the turbo will be the first thing to go, on average. German motors are over-engineered, and you are probably looking at about 200-250k of engine life before overhaul. The turbo does some high abuse work, some of them spinning at 11,000 rpm plus at temperatures approaching 1000 degrees. Obviously, a place for failure to occur. The good news is a replacement is only in the neighborhood of $800.00 (about double a clutch replacement).
My estimate is this, if you drive a chipped turbo the same as you drive the non-chipped (i.e. only flooring it for passing, on-ramps, some occasional spirited driving) you are probably only cutting life maybe 10%. So if the OEM chip gives the turbo a life of 150K, figure 135k..
If you suddenly become a lead foot with the chip, expect the turbo life to decrease accordingly. If you abuse it (hot shut downs, prolonged runs at high boost) it could go at 25k or 100k, all a roll of the dice.
What does all this babbling mean? There is no free lunch. If you ask any part to do more than it was designed (or a greater percentage of maximum specifications) the life of that part will decrease. Period.
Again, these numbers are pretty meaningless unless you ask yourself how you are going to car for the car!
The current iteration of "chipped" A4s is nearing 3-4 years old now, and there should be some high-mileage chip users/abusers out there to poll for how many miles they have accumulated.
Cheers!
Michael
04-18-2001, 04:54 PM
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I put 70K of severe chipped abuse on a K03 and it was almost perfect when pulled...
...although it did have a stress crack on the lip between the turbine wheel and wastegate (no biggie). I now have 45K on a hybrid K04 turbo that I beat the snot out of every day.
By the way, the rpms in a turbo will exceed 110,000 and the temps can easily reach 1000C (>1800F).
Mike O.
By the way, the rpms in a turbo will exceed 110,000 and the temps can easily reach 1000C (>1800F).
Mike O.
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04-18-2001, 08:03 PM
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REMOVE THE CAT! Your turbo will live forever!
Seriously, by removing the cat, you are lower the temperature between 250 - 300 degrees, if you know what the problem is with the KKK series, it's heat! If that doen't keep the temperature down, you'll need new injector, etc. I forgot what the max. temperature should be, but I believe it's around 1600 for a good life span, ask Gary @ PES