TDI 150 Blown turbo? - Urgent Advise required

wakaday · Apr 8, 2005

My TDI 150 2002 , 28K miles with upsolute chip has started to blow out huge clouds of white choking smoke. The smoke is pumping out at idle , on boost and on the over run - just about everywhere. The car seems to produce normal power / performance and boost levels. I'm suspecting a turbo bearing failure, but I've noticed that the water level has dropped below the min level. The oil is normal black, and the water looks pink / clean - no 'cream'. I thought the VNT-17 was an air cooled turbo? As the water level has dropped I'm wandering if the the head gasket has blown, or head cracked? I can't realy take it back on the road as it's just too smokey, so it's grounded until I can figure out what's wrong?

Any advise appreciated.

aidan · Apr 8, 2005

Turbo will have oil feed and return, no water goes to it i'm afraid so thats not the source of the problem. What does your temperature gauge show?

edit - 'problem' refers to the water loss, smoke as mentioned below may well be turbo related

mgf255 · Apr 8, 2005

water loss with no external leaks showing is usually the first indicator of haed gasket failure.Head gaskets can fail between the cylinder and water jacket without mixing oil and water so "no cream" is never concrete proof one way or the other.You need to get your cooling system pressure tested and a combustion detection test done to confirm.Sometimes this model of turbo can become glogged with soot inside the exhaust housing but if it was this you would certainly notice a big drop in performance.

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Reflex TDI · Apr 8, 2005

Oh dear. I had a blown turbo on the PD130 through seal failure and it all happened very quickly - a lot of rattling, total loss of power and then bang! Lots of white smoke and all the engine oil chucked out of the exhaust.

So like the experts say, its probably the other? PM Weeloon; he the man.

micky 32 · Apr 8, 2005

what does the smoke smell like?

wakaday · Apr 8, 2005

The smoke has a nasty smell, bit like burning rubber, sticks in your throat.

I think I will take it for a run early morning or late night when traffic is light and check water loss and temperature. The smoke has appeared in a matter of miles so I have n't had time to monitor temp and water loss.

I think it will need to go to a stealer for compression test & cooling pressure tests to find the root cuase of this one. Unfortunately it's not under warranty.

tkpeters · Apr 8, 2005

Same as 'Reflex TDI' happened to me with the Galaxy @ 30,000 but I carried on driving to get off the motorway by which time it had dumped all the engine oil out the exhaust & melted no.4 piston.

So I ended up with a complete new engine under warranty which took a bit of sorting as Ford only wanted to replace the damaged parts as they had to get them from VW

wakaday · Apr 9, 2005

I'm hoping this ones a new head gasket, but it may be more to it when its stripped down. I'm thinking of doing the work myself, but I don't know the head bolt torque or have the special sockets for the head bolts. Does anyone have this info?

If I go to a stealer it's ?70 PH, 2-3 days work - say ?1000 and that seems a lot of money for a head job and it may be a lot more?

Can anyone reccommend a TDI specialist how could fix it?

BORA_TOM · Apr 9, 2005

http://WWW.THEDERVDOCTOR.CO.UK might be able to help

micky 32 · Apr 9, 2005

if it smells awful like rubber its oil, it sounds like the turbo.

mgf255 · Apr 9, 2005

wakaday have you got any breakdown cover ? If so give them a call and they can usually do a cooling system check and give an informed opinion of if it`s oil or steam smoke.

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cheshire cat · Apr 10, 2005

does it have a water cooler for the EGR they have been known to fail, I don't know about 150 golfs

wakaday · Apr 10, 2005

The EGR is a very good point. I don't think it's the turbo because the performance & boost are normal. I don't think it's a cracked head or block or broken ring because it starts ok ie no loss of compression. So it must be head gasket or EGR. It used about a 1 litre of water in about 5 miles. A blown head gasket on a TDI 150 at this mileage is very rare, the turbos normally go 1st.

Does any one know if the EGR pipe has a water cooling jacket on it (Engine code ARL)?

PS Haynes have manual which covers Golf 4 including latter years.

sgt.banjo · Apr 10, 2005

Quote: posted by wakaday on 09/04/2005 11:45:24

say ?1000 and that seems a lot of money for a head job and it may be a lot more?

Hmmmm.

Sarge

wakaday · Apr 11, 2005

My TDI 150 does n't have a water cooled EGR so that's one simple possibility out. I've booked it into a local independant garage, so I'll let you know how I get on.

wakaday · Apr 13, 2005

I've found the problem!

The car does have an EGR cooler on it and it has failed resulting in the cooling water being dumped down the exhaust manifold. A new EGr cooler is ?200 and 7~10 days delivery. So I've by passed the water connections and sealed them off with blanking plates. My EGR has been disconnected from new anyway.

Reflex TDI · Apr 13, 2005

What a relief! [^]

Big Pimp · Apr 14, 2005

Quote: posted by wakaday on 13/04/2005 14:28:31

I've found the problem!

The car does have an EGR cooler on it and it has failed resulting in the cooling water being dumped down the exhaust manifold. A new EGr cooler is ?200 and 7~10 days delivery. So I've by passed the water connections and sealed them off with blanking plates. My EGR has been disconnected from new anyway.

i've had a similar problem with my PD 130 - how did you block your EGR valve off - any how to's as i want to do this, as the EGR valve is pointless anyway!

thanks!

micky 32 · Apr 14, 2005

the PD130s never had a egr cooler, it was an added piece on the 150, probably due to slightly higher egts

cheshire cat · Apr 15, 2005

wow, steam powered!!! how green is that? the replacement is a bit pricy, any chance of a pic of the offending article? cheers Nic

TDI 150 Blown turbo? - Urgent Advise required

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