I've blown my turbo

[Dr G]

Just an hour after boasting how reliable my car is to a work colleague, he passes me on the motorway while stood on the hard shoulder in a cloud of smoke.

I was accelerating to get on the M40, not even hard acceleration, when there was an odd noise followed by lots of smoke from the rear of the car. The car had lost a lot of power and I pulled over onto the hard shoulder. Luckily I'd renewed my Skoda Assist breakdown cover only 2 weeks ago and they arrived within 30 minutes. I was hoping that the intercooler pipe had popped off, but it looks like it's my turbo. So I arrived home yesterday night on a flatbed truck.

I'm getting the car transported to APS in Brackley on Monday, I hope they can sort it out. The car is out of warranty and has 83k on the clock, so I suppose I'm looking at a massive bill. Gutted doesn't describe how I feel. I always take real care of the car, letting it warm up and cool down, oil changes every 10k etc. It spends most of its time cruising on the motorway, so it doesn't even get revved that much. I've had no warning lights or odd sounds, and he car had its 80k service just over a month ago with no faults detected.

I suppose I'll never know whether this is down to having the car remapped. I thought the car would be able to take it. I have also done the 'cage mod' with the dielectric grease and use Millers Sport 4, but I presume that these wouldn't have been the cause?

So it looks like I've joined the (not so exclusive) club. Now I've got to figure out how I'm going to get to work next week!!

[jasc1988]

It will be the remap at fault.

I was talking to a Skoda mechanic and he's seen a few remapped Fabia's with blown turbo's

[devonutopia]

Probably just a boost hose has popped off. It seems the clips can handle stock turbo pressures, but not the 1.6bar (ish) that a remapped fabia pushes.

Don't panic until it's looked at. It sounds like the much more common popped boost hose to me.

[Wardy]

Can you define the 'odd noise' ?

I'm going with a popped pipe too, until confirmed otherwise

Steve

[clidgevrs]

sorry to hear that mate i hope you get it sorted soon i am quick woried about blowing crap up and dont want a big bill so i think i will take things easy from now and utilise the remap just for overtaking purposes lol

[Orta]

Does the happen often to remapped vRSs? I'm running one and am terrified now! How much does a replace one cost?

[Wardy]

Now and again

Depends which part of system has popped and whether it can simply be clipped back together again. When it happened on mine, it was because the metal clips on a piece of pipe down near the SMIC had worn down, so could no longer keep a proper grip.

I wouldn't worry unduly, especially on a lower mileage vRS.

Steve

[sharkrider]

not another one! hope for your sake its just a popped hose..... who remapped your car? lets see if we can find a pattern

[markyvrs]

Unlucky mate.

Hopefully it's just one of the pipes and not the actual turbo itself.

Just out of interest, if you self diagnose it at the roadside, can you fix it yourself/point AA man in the right direction there and then?

[bradfordfabia]

How much does a new turbo cost??.

[clidgevrs]

i heard over 1500 i think

[bradfordfabia]

Originally Posted by clidgevrs

i heard over 1500 i think

Is that 1500 dollars or pounds

Can you still drive without the turbo??

[Decron]

Originally Posted by bradfordfabia

Is that 1500 dollars or pounds

Can you still drive without the turbo??

Pounds and yes thats how much it will cost from the dealer with a new intercooler (As these usually end up full of swarf)

You can drive without the Turbo for short distances but you wouldn't want to for long.

[WW_VRS]

Skoda charges a fortune & I would not buy it new from them. For that kinda money you can get a stage 2 hybrid and have spare cash left.

If the turbo is gone, I still have an OEM turbo here and as I wont be using it, you can buy it off me cheap if that is required.

I know APS and those guys are excellent, and most likely it's just a pipe blown off. If you are interested in a turbo, I am in Abingdon, working from office on Monday, in Perivale on Wednesday at client, but drop me a PM with contact number if you might want the turbo.

[ric04vrs]

Originally Posted by Decron

Pounds and yes thats how much it will cost from the dealer with a new intercooler (As these usually end up full of swarf)

You can drive without the Turbo for short distances but you wouldn't want to for long.

it depends on what has gone on the turbo , if the seals/shaft has gone , i would not run the engine at all , as the turbo is being fed oil at high pressure , which is then going straight out passed the seals into the exhaust or intake , eventually you will run out of oil

[Dr G]

Got the car into APS this morning, it is the turbo that's gone. Apparently the shaft has snapped (sounds painful). They told me that they are seeing more of this as the 1.9 engines get more miles on them, an Audi had turned up at the weekend with the same problem. APS reckon that the turbos usually go between 80-120k miles and suspect that the oil feed is at fault, with the turbo being starved of oil. They also advised against upgrading the turbo, which surprised me, but I'll go with their recommendation.

They working on it now and it should be fixed by Wednesday. Skoda assist have given me an Octavia Classic Estate to use, which is rather long and slow. The mrs is expecting later this year, so I'm hoping it doesn't give her any ideas about getting a more practical car!

Thanks for the advice and offers chaps. Look after those turbos.

[WW_VRS]

You getting it done under warranty then? Just means I'll put the turbo up for sale here, I want to get rid as it is just taking up space and I can do with the cash