Hello everyone. Before I begin, I am new to posting to this forum, although I regularly visit the site. I have searched for this specific issue with my turbo, so please dont tell me to just search for it.

I have a 2001 A4 1.8T. I bought it about 2 years ago, and put a boost gauge about a year ago. It was not boosting at all, going to about 1 or 2psi max. When I took it to a shop, they said my turbo was shot, and needed replacing. I feel like they didnt look into it much, and were just trying to get me to hand them some money.

Recently, I replaced the breather hose which had a huge gash on it, and I feel like the car has a little more kick now (could be my biased imagination). It now boosts around 3 or 4psi at WOT.

One thing I noticed for the first time was that my turbo was glowing after doing some runs yesterday. It got red hot. I understand this is normal, but would this happen if the turbo wasn't working?

Today I am going to do a boost leak test when I get home, and see if there are any other leaks. If not, I will rule that out and perhaps look into the wastegate. Is there a way to test that without removing the turbo?

Thanks for your help!

 

If it's glowing, it's working, and probably more than 3 or 4 psi. I think you are losing boost somewhere. Let us know what happens with your test. The wastegate is a pain to get to with the turbo installed, but if it were the problem you would likely have 0 boost.