ftcaudi

Today took my car in for check engine light. I have 67000 miles on my 2013 A5. was told the whole turbo has to be replaced at a cost of $3000. Today in mail I received recall notice on coolant pump. Could the coolant pump have caused the turbo issues? Any guidance appreciated. Thanks!

Warhead

Just as a heads up this is the Q5 forum area, not A5.

Also, what were the symptoms that lead you to take the car in? just an MIL? what reason did they provide that they have to replace your turbo and take 3000$ from you?

ftcaudi

Thanks for letting me know I'm on wrong forum. Actually so upset by this I didn't realize.
I had no symptoms other than the check engine light came on. I have never been late on oil changes, always took to the dealership for service. I had no loss of power, no bad emission discharge. Not sure how to proceed. I know nothing about cars but suddenly tonight find myself looking all over to find what causes turbo failure.

MurrayA4

ftcaudi this situation calls for a second opinion.Audis typically don't eat turbos @67k particularly given your attention to maintenance.I smell a rat !

Warhead

did they indicate what the CEL was for? It sounds like when they plugged it in it told them to "charge customer 3k"

ftcaudi

No, they didn't tell me. I was too stunned to ask any relevant questions. I will do so this morning. Thank you!

simplesez

This isn't the 1990s when turbos died at low mileage. There has to be a damn good reason to die at 67,000 miles.

Redd

Turbos die from a couple of things:
1- Overheating
2- Poor lubrication (oil quality, quantity, or temperature, or clogs from oil problems)
3-Contaminants, like grit getting past oil filters
4-Manufacturing defects
5-Enemy action.

The aux cooling pump is supposed to cool some things down, I'm not sure exactly what. I suspect that it MUST also effect cooling down the oil in the turbine assembly, and if you don't cool that down it breaks down as in #1,2 above.

Whatever is cooling the turbine assembly...the aux cooling pump recall is because "crud" may be forming in the cooling system and clogging, jamming, or impeding cooling. That larger issue suggests that whatever is clogging the aux cooling pumps, is certainly a possible cause of turbine cooling failure, and turbine failure.

I'd have a long hard talk with the dealer and with AoA before I opened my wallet on that one. And see if other folks have had similar issues.

Cputz

SO, the same thing just happened to me! They did tell me the after run coolant pump destroyed the turbocharger. Did you end up replacing the turbo or just the coolant pump?! I need to order both, definitely not having the dealership do the work.

S4'ed

The whole point of the afterun coolant pump is too cool down the turbo bearing center-section, after shut-down, to prolong the life of the turbo bearings.