Focus 1.6tdci - dreaded Turbo problem MAYBE

thedonscork

Gazzmonkey wrote: »

Well since we are sharing tales of woe,

I bought a 2008 B8 A4 2.0TDI last December and imported it from the UK, so I have it for little over 5 months.

The Issue's I've experienced since then are;

now fixed
Dual mass flywheel, clutch, release bearing, front wheel bearings.

not yet fixed
steering angle sensor, warped rear brake disc, fan inside dash making whistle noise, mild vibration when steering left or right at low speed.

and as of this morning a drivers side headlight fault!

Should've stayed Japanese.

That is of no surprise to me, German cars in my experience are the biggest let down and totally overated by the media and others and just living off a false reputation and brand marketing. As said before I will never buy German again and the reliability index proves it year on year.

The main common issues everyone seems to have with vw/audi are cv joints, cv boots, ball joints, injector faults and the dreaded clutch fly wheel. BMW are no better particularly the 2.0d.

quietsailor

Panic over folks :-o So apparently 2mm ish of movement isn't a broken turbo! I've had a mechanic plus 2 people I know are good mechanically look at it and they can't hear the noise at all. The mechanic is happy with the turbo :-o so I guess I'm paranoid!

Now the only problem is that the bug to get something new (to me) and weird is there now. I moved to a new office and work and found out today I'm surrounded by gear heads - the stuff they sent onto me was amazing. it's been suggested to buy a van for work and something nice for the weekends.
VW Golf V5s (i had to google it), 4motions, Corrados, Sciroccos links have all been sent my way.
BMW Sytners (go on Google it) M5 Nurburgrings.
Oddball Saabs - 900i Aeros.

That's just the highlights :-(


So thank you all for your replies. Even the ones that had nothing to do with the topic it was entertaining at least

Isopon

I have encountered this problem many time and have had a 50/50 success rate. If metal filings from the turbo made there way into the cylinders its game over. But the secret with these engines is to service them every 5k using proper oil. Let me explain in detail what cause's these engines to fail. They are a generally dirty engine. The injector seals start to fail which in turn causes a carbon build up over time the carbon mixs with the oil making a sludge. This sludge makes its way around the block. And starts to block the oil passages. NOW here is the important part. In the oil feed pipe to the turbo there is a small gauze which acts as a filter. This becomes blocked with sludge. Starving the turbo of oil and the end result is turbo failure. What you do is remove the feed pipe and discard the gauze completly. Lots of people change the turbo but not the feed pipe and it happens again. So hope this helps

quietsailor

Isopon wrote: »

I have encountered this problem many time and have had a 50/50 success rate. If metal filings from the turbo made there way into the cylinders its game over. But the secret with these engines is to service them every 5k using proper oil. Let me explain in detail what cause's these engines to fail. They are a generally dirty engine. The injector seals start to fail which in turn causes a carbon build up over time the carbon mixs with the oil making a sludge. This sludge makes its way around the block. And starts to block the oil passages. NOW here is the important part. In the oil feed pipe to the turbo there is a small gauze which acts as a filter. This becomes blocked with sludge. Starving the turbo of oil and the end result is turbo failure. What you do is remove the feed pipe and discard the gauze completly. Lots of people change the turbo but not the feed pipe and it happens again. So hope this helps

I bounced across a reference to re-routing the oil feed to a proper external filter and then onto the turbo using flexi-pipes and a proper wire mesh filter. Unfortunately this was in the midst of panic googling and I never saved a link. Has anyone ever came across this for the Focus?

kala85

How much does it cost to sort out the turbo

dieselbug

quietsailor wrote: »

I bounced across a reference to re-routing the oil feed to a proper external filter and then onto the turbo using flexi-pipes and a proper wire mesh filter. Unfortunately this was in the midst of panic googling and I never saved a link. Has anyone ever came across this for the Focus?

On the last post of this thread (linked below) I posted an ebay link for a filter system for this engines turbo oil feed. I just checked and it's no longer active, although I believe the guy is still supplying it. I can probably put you in touch with him if you need.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056915287

quietsailor

Sorry folks, I've been away for the weekend and didn't see the posts until now;

@Kala85 - I was quoted €600 for a new turbo and roughly €480 for a reconditioned one, you'd need a new oil pipe and from reading the online forums you need to drop the dump to clean it to be very sure the new turbo won't be damaged by a contaminated sump.
The mechanic I spoke to gave a ballpark figure of €1200-€1400 for the whole lot including parts but looking on Ebay it should be cheaper

@Dieselbug; thank you for the link, that's what I was looking for exactly

quietsailor

Hello Folks,

Just to round off what happened with this (my) car - after a few more months driving I brought the car into the mechanic - same fella I mentioned above - for an oil & filter change and said that the noise had gotten more noticeable. I mentioned that my brother had reminded me that an exhaust bracket of some sort had needed to be welded earlier in the cars life and could he look around the engine bay while he was under there

Result!! there was loose heat shielding in the bay and it was resonating at 2,000rpm. Noise gone :cool: