Big Sky Euro

Aight, just an update guys. Grant came by the office and I took the car up and down the street. YIKES.

It's not running well...AT ALL. His gauge reads around 15lbs of boost, but it's making no power and the car sounds like it's choking. You can hear the turbo spin and then sputter like the poor thing is sick. Finally? It BILLOWS and BILLOWS and BILLOWS white/black smoke after the turbo winds up.

My vote: bad MAF and bad turbo. He's got some pretty bad oil leaks around the valve cover gasket too.

Sounds messed up, and going downhill fast. Sounds like you need an expert here - something is not right. Did you check for shaft play on the turbo? Did you scan the car for more codes and look at the measuring blocks in address 32? Any leaks in the intake system? We need to pressure test the intake system too. Go back to stock airbox etc. STAT, so we can get a baseline for performance with his OE stuff.

Grant, what about your mechanic guy? I could work on it, but you would need to leave it at my house for a while, like a week or more.

I have not personally checked for shaft play on the turbo - next chance i get i will do that. I have not had your VAG COM so no i have not scanned it. I have not found any leaks in the intake system and I have looked. I am going to stock airbox on monday when i get some time. And My mechanic guy looked at it for a bit and he did not feel it was the turbo. He felt like the MAF was dirty and it was causing the car to overfuel which was putting fuel in the oil which was raising the oil level so that it had no where to go except into the turbo. So that is why it was smoking.
He cleaned the maf, and its still doing it and running slow as hell. He said he could look at it on tuesday. But the problem is, he works all day at Honda, and can only work on my car as time allows. I might take it to Vallie Automotive. I need to get this fixed. I Would LOVE to have you work on it mike, but I really dont think I could do a week without it. I wish, On a side note, What was those parts you had said were squeaking? I need to fix them, its driving me nuts.
I am tempted to sell this car and buy yours.

We would need to get all the tools out for the problems you are having, and we cant speculate on the problem(s). You have something going on that may not be hard to fix but will take time to diagnose. Unfortunatly parts are the cheap part of the equation and labor is spendy esp. if you take it to a non VAG shop - more than likely they will shogun parts and labor until the problem is fixed and that could cost you.

If you want to take it to a shop take it to Randy's Bug Works in Worden or Metric Wrench. Either way you are looking at some serious shop time, which = $$$, but they are pretty exclusive euro shops so they have experience. Or if you want me to take a look I can. Either way, you will need to find a different mode of transport.

Dubber wrote: Vallie Automotive.

Didn't his NAPA parts already cause you problems? And wasn't he 200 more for the timing belt? If you feel like you have to, I guess but, I think I would try to do it by myself first. Buy a Bentley Manual and go for it Use the Vortex and other web resources if you get stuck. You can always send an SOS the Dubsquad
You Can Do It!!

Ok. I need to make a trip to bozeman for two days to help my dad move. I am interested in having my car looked at while i am there. Does the bozeman dealership have any space for me today??
Would anyone up in bozeman be able to help out somehow?? Stoney? Brandon??
Please call me at 697-8662 as i will be driving and not looking at a computer =) Thanks

im going to denver tonight for VW training, so ill be out of town. sorry the dealer may or may not be able to get you in on such notice

Alright. Updates - fun fun updates.
I took my car to bozeman. They were lucky enough to have room for me the same day i called them. I had them look at it wednesday night/thursday morning. When i went to pick the car up they really had no advice for me as to what was wrong. They said my engines knock sensors had kicked on at some point in time but that they were not active codes. turbo to them looked ok, though they only checked the outside for some reason. Engine has no major leaks of any kind. Compression test of the cylinders was good, held 11.7bar. Vacuum hoses are good. Maf tested good. Their recommendation was to reflash the car to stock. They figured it must be the chip that was causing the problems. Speaking of problems i probably should update everyone on what the car has been doing.

When its fairly warm, and if you push the turbo a bit. make it hold 8-10 pounds for maybe 4-5 seconds, the car will begin to pour out a bluish white smoke. It is so much smoke you literally can not see out the back window. I was driving in traffic the other day and i started off, there was so much smoke that those cars behind me stopped because they could not see. When this smoke is coming out the turbo with cease boosting almost entirely. It goes to maybe 1 psi or 2. Its as if its trying, but just can't do anything.
Also - The car is going through oil like fuel. I have put maybe 4 quarts of oil in a month of driving which is about 1500 miles. As you can tell i am not driving it much. The black smoke issue is pretty much gone, though sometimes it does run a bit rich, nothing to freak out about though. Much better after i cleaned the MAF.

So. After paying Montana Import Group 100.35 to look at my car and have them tell me that they can not figure out why my car is exhibiting those symptoms.. i was a little miffed. They told me to come back if there was a CEL that popped up, they were concerned the Knock sensors were going to act up again.

So, as i was leaving to drop my dad off, sure enough the symptoms are still there and in full blast. but, this time, my CEL flashed. It immediately stopped when the smoke decided to quit pouring out, but i decided to pull back around and go to Montana Import Group. When i was entering the parking lot, the car exhibited the same symptoms. There was so much smoke apparently a couple of people inside thought there was a fire and they came running out of the building. I laughed a bit at that =) So they had the tech who had been working on the car come out and check the codes. He said he heard about the white smoke and said that when they were looking at it they were not able to get it to do that. He also said that the car is seriously under boosting, even though all of the lines look good. The tech then told me that based upon what he saw, and the symptoms of the car, that it is sure to be the turbo leaking internally. - Now, He did say that for some reason the manager rushed the inspection or something similar, and that he never did check for shaft play on the turbo. All in all, i was pretty disappointed with the shop's quality of work. It was the most expensive car wash i've ever had.

So - here is where i am at.
I had called dana motors a while ago, to have them look at the car. the tech asked me what was wrong over the phone halfway through telling him, he mentioned immediately, Your turbo is bad. Absolutely sure of it.
Many, many people that I have talked to have also told me that the turbo is bad as well.
Well, I am going on that idea now. I have about 1500 dollars total - give or a take a bit, to replace my turbo on my car.
I recently purchased a pedal bike, so getting to and from work is not a problem anymore.

This now brings me to my current dilemma. Sorry for the novel at this point =)
What turbo to get?
I would like to get the K04. From what i understand, the K04 is essentially the K03, with a little bit more power, a little bit more sustained power as well, and a larger powerband. In my mind, I feel the K04 would have an easier time sustaining the type of boost my car sees. Since the MAIN purpose of my car is a daily driver, and reliability is crucial. ( i really can't have it keep breaking like this.) I figure, the K04 would be a good mix of fun driving conditions and reliability.

I have found a K04 sold by CTS turbos for 750. I have another source for one for about a 1000.
I have also found a K03 for about 650.

I Have heard that i would need to reflash my ECU for the K04, maybe get new injectors, possibly colder plugs, and for sure install my FMIC. Also - i have heard i may need a bigger down pipe.

So- what gives? what should i do?

is the K04 a waste of money?
I dont want a ton of power, but ~200 whp would be nice. I don't want to get into a bigger turbo than the K04. I love how it bolts straight on, nothing needed. I dont want to mess with rods, or kits or anything above 1500 including labor. And with the budget, i could probably push it to 1800 if needed.

So, if you've gotten to this point in the story. What are your recommendations!? I need to get my car fixed and running properly.

Can you do the labor yourself?

Really? You want a reliable car, then put it back to stock.