So I'm on a work assignment, orginally from Idaho, in Canada and while driving from Edmonton to Calgary (reading of -11F degrees on display) I noticed the exhaust pipes puffing smoke. First stop light in Calgary the Allroad is surrounded by smoke. Ofcourse, instead of pulling over I convince myself that the car can make it two more blocks to where I'm staying.
Well, took my Allroad into a European Car garage today and was told that both turbos were blown, diverter valves are shot, and Cam Shaft seals are leaking (I think there was something else as well but I was in shock). Also, blowing the turbos apparently drained the vehicle of its oil..great...

So ultimately the question is does anyone have advise on new turbo purchases? Where, what kind? I've seen an EBAY store selling new K04's for around $2K. Which seems reasonable compared to my estimate of over $3K for factory turbos. Any concerns with these?
K03/04'S HYBRIDS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST (350whp)!!!!

K04-05'S UPGRADE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST (400WHP!!)!!!.

RS4 AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST (440hp)!!!

Hopefully I can get some good advise. I'm not sure what else would need to be thought of.
Thanks in advance

 

STEP BACK FROM THE e-bay; I went through this back in December, there are issues with poorly manufactured (counterfeit?) Turbos that are lasting for a few months / thousand miles. This is not an area you want to cut corners on. Yea the Turbos are cheaper, BUT the labor stays the same, and if your like me this is a painfuly expensive experience that I have no desire to go through again. I have been through two sets of K03s. The first set (passenger side) popped @ 30K (covered by warranty). The second set (again passenger side) popped at 82K (I get to eat this one) so there was no way I was going to go back with K03s. Look for a REPUTABLE dealer to buy your Turbos from (Vast, AWE, APR, Stasis, JHM, etc.).The turbo kit was not all that bad, around the 2K (USD) region. Labor charges will most likely be equal to OR MORE than the parts. If you buy poor quality Turbos and they die, there is a great chance YOU will have to eat the labor charge plus the price of the Turbos for the replacement again. I would have walked away and got something else, if it weren't for the fact that I could not get another vehicle with similiar capabilities, comfort, safety, etc. for the price. (Hope to get mine back today, it is week 4 now)

Here is the prize we found laying on top of the passenger side pre-cat


I feel your pain, weigh your options carefully, and don't skimp on something that could cost you much more than a few extra dollars down the road. Best wishes for for a resonably priced and speedy recovery.

 

Thanks for the reply quattro0001! I appreciate the advise. I was also looking at the turbo kit on AWE's site. Looks like that kit needs new down pipes and exhaust system though. Man, this is going to get costly...
I'll look into the other companies you laid out as well.
Thanks again.

 

I am working this in stages (no pun intended) to get me back on the road. Yes it is unruly expensive, I had the piggie conversion done to my existing down pipes (much cheaper) to help out with exhaust flow. I am having the shop limit the boost for now until I can get a muffler change (probably Supertrapps because they are tunable). and I would like to change over to the AWE intercoolers when time and money permit. After that I will have them custom tune the car for what it is. If you do go K04 route, you will have to buy new inlets, I used the aftermarket 034 units and Raudel over Reisu Motorsports says he has had good luck with them (again cheaper than the OEM RS4 units)

 

Thanks again.. quick question for you, Is your Allroad an automatic or stick? I just spoke to the shop and they were hesitant to put the Stage III on an automatic. I like your thoughts on the "stage" process. Right now I'm looking at $10K for standard turbos, a boost program, diverter valves, transmission reprogram, and misc such as oil pan, seals, etc. OR closer to $16K for a stage III and 450hp. Sick to the stomache feeling.......

 

Mine is an 01ar with Tip, From what I understand; have them limit the engine RPMs to 6800 on the ECU program, anything more will freak out the Tip. Next Get a Tip Chip to firm up shifts. I have not had any other real problems with my Tip so at this point I am leaving it alone other than the Tip Chip and a good quality trans cooler. I moved to K04s for reliability as the main reason, not to try and make a Hot Rod (all though a boost in power does not hurt my feeling either). I am limiting my system to try and protect the Tip since in this application it is the weak link. Some have gone with the Stage III minus (K04 turbo kit, with out doing the "fueling" kit) to get similiar results. Make sure they modify the down pipes (eliminate pre-cats) would suggust that you do something to help with heat. I had the factory OEM manifolds ceramic coated. and I wrapped the down pipes with header wrap down to the flex joints, and also wrapped the Turbo inlet pipes because of the proximity to the exhaust manifolds. I also had some leaks, after-run coolant pump, cam seals, valve cover gaskets, also found that my APR snub mount was wiped out, not quite sure why considering you can't launch a Tip. upon further inspection we also found that the motor mounts were torn but not leaking (we had to roll back the boot on the mount to see the damage, so they were replaced also (so if you see that your snub is damaged, make sure they check your motor mounts). Yes these same modifications can be done so that you can tweak the programing to wring out the maximum power output, but I am not in the mood to spend 6-9K to have the transmission rebuilt, and there is no guarantee that it will last.

I am trying to maximize the longevity and dependability of the car (the allroad is not an ideal race car, but can still be fun), this is the reason for most modifications other than the Turbos for me. I am trying to minimize under hood heat, smooth out and reduce airflow restrictions and things of the like. I want her as quiet as possible and as dependable as possible.

 

Excellent. Thanks quattro. I'm going to bring up the 6800 limit.

 

In cold weather, weird things happen. I had the same last year. I was idiot and didnt let cool down after i drove it. That night, all that oil in turbo left sat there and then seals let some oil through. Next day it smoked like a chimney. I got oil change and car runs fine afterwards. My seals are eventually going bad but sometimes its not the turbos. 10k miles later and my turbos are fine. No smoke but a drip of oil every now and again. Good luck .

 

I just had mine changed. I went with factory.

 

I'm ending up with factory turbos, new timing belt, seals, hoses, ect..list was too long to type here. I added a GIAC performance chip and a transmission chip for super shifting. The car should finally be done on TuesdaY (ofcourse they told me it would be done two Fridays ago so I'll wait and see). Hopefully its money well spent.