Ooopppsss

[Nige_RS4]

Fittting K04s is going to cost 4250+VAT and the standard turbos are £1680 +VAT from Vag Parts.....

Jeff, K04s are actually cheaper than K03s - see this page. . Furthermore, as far as I'm aware, no additonal work/parts are a must, i.e. DP's, re-map etc... everything fits (although you do need the intake hoses.) This is the most cost-effective way to go KO4 - do a trawl through the Audiworld archives for K04 conversions !
[img]images/graemlins/thumbs.gif[/img]

[jeffw]

The most cost effective is to get the Warrenty Company to pay !

[Nige_RS4]

Agreed, but do you have a limit on a single claim ? My non-Audi warranty has a £1k limit which will just about cover the labour element, but not the parts - scary stuff [img]images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]!

[jeffw]

I think single claim limit is 21K so no problem there

[wazza]

I think single claim limit is 21K so no problem there

new car then? [img]images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[B5DOM]

Jeff, which warranty do you have?

[Dippy]

This is my 3rd turbo car and I have never (up till now) had a turbo failure even from my 944 Turbo which was modified by AmD and had done 160K miles when I sold it.

That's a good point, and it brings me to ask how old your car is. AFAIK pre 2001 S4s were prone to turbo problems such that in later models the oil line bores were increased. I have seen the AoA technical bulletin about this but don't know the situation in Europe. Unfortunately the people I have asked (including Audi techs) don't seem to know anything about increased risk of turbo failure in earlier S4s.

Regarding Joshie's comments, let me put what I wrote into context. The expected life of anything is based on a statistical analysis of failures of a given sample. To attribute failure to any specific cause requires large enough samples of failures with and without the cause.

Now for S4 turbo failures, or in fact for all car turbo failures, the samples of related cases is simply not large enough to provide conclusive data. Thus we have to resort to theory.

Now I know enough to say that increasing the boost must reduce expected turbo life by a certain amount. However I certainly cannot provide any figures. Joshie might say it is negligible, and I say it must be significant. Neither of us can be proved right.

It comes down to personal risk analysis which we all do evey day. If you are driving and decide to overtake a car, you are accepting the risk of increasing danger to yourself and other road users. If you speed you are accepting the risk that you will be caught.

And if you chip your car you must accept the risk of early turbo failure.

[DavidT]

Jeff,

Fingers crossed for your warranty claim, it sounds fairly clear cut if their terms cover turbo's ?

Do you think the boost leaks have had an adverse affect on the turbo's ?

[jeffw]

The car is a Nov '99 so that would pre-date any turbo updates for 2001 model year.

I also had a period where the TBB was split so that would/could have a bearing on this incident.

[DavidT]

Audi should fit boost gauges.

I share a track only Renault 21 Turbo with some friends and the first thing they did was fit a decent boost gauge which I thought was a bit max power at the time, but it has highlighted pipe problems twice since.

I've had a pipe go on my S4 as well (the one that joins the intercoolers to the inlet manifold). The ECU was busy logging problems, including overboost - I assume when the split had closed up momentarily - but no errors on the screen, so nothing to tell me there was a fault ! A boost gauge would have told me to slow immediately to save the turbo's.

I reckon I will buy and fit one now, even before I start to do engine mods.

[jeffw]

Having had a car with a boost guage which actually allowed me to shut the engine down after a wastgate failure and save the turbo (944 Turbo) and having had 2 cars without (Impreza & S4) I must admit that I'll be fitting a boost guage in the near future as well.

[RobK]

Jeff, I know how you're feeling as I had the turbo failure experience twice. I have read an awful lot about S4 turbo failures and I'm convinced there is an inherent fault with either the design of the system or the manufacture of the turbo itself.

Over on Audiworld there was a spate of turbo failures a couple of years ago. They did a survey and there was a fairly even split between chipped and non-chipped cars that had failures. I argued about this with the service manager at my dealer but didn't get anywhere.

It's a shame because I'd like to get another S4 but don't think I could take the risk of having a turbo blow out of warranty.

[wazza]

It's a shame because I'd like to get another S4

Hmmmmm. I wonder where you can get another Nogaro one from.... [img]images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]
(with new turbos)

[RobK]

Well actually I was just looking at a nice example at Cooks Audi (see attachment!)

[jeffw]

OK....Story Update

Tonbridge Audi have identified that the Offside turbo is knackered.....

3rd Party Warranty company have got out of paying because I was late by 1000 miles getting the car serviced... [img]images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

22.5 hours to fit the new turbos at £77 per hour +VAT = Lots


Set of KO4s new from Turbo Dynamics (special price !) £1400 +VAT....

Question is do the K04 fit straight one without and other parts being required ?