[kit_dennis]

My friend's 8 year old Polo 1.6GT TDI had its coil lamp warning light come on one day. He took it to the service station. The error code was for Fuel drain. They kept the car under observation for one day. The next day the error was gone. Nevertheless they did extensive diagnosis to find out the exact issue.

Even though they could not find the root cause they found another issue. The turbo fan blades were bent. The technician said it is ok for now but it could fail at any time. My friend is not a rash driver. And in his 8 years he has driven only about 51k kms mostly within Bangalore city.

Replacement is an expensive affair costing more than a lakh.
What do you suggest my friend should do?

[ChoosetoCruze]

Originally Posted by kit_dennis

The turbo fan blades were bent. The technician said it is ok for now but it could fail at any time.

What do you suggest my friend should do?

My first question is - is it verified that this image is indeed from this particular car?

I find it hard to believe that the owner didn’t complain of any unusual sounds/vibrations from a turbo spooling with that kind of damage.

And why go open up the turbo for a fuel issue? I smell something fishy here.

Now, if the owner did complain of sluggish acceleration/lack of power/unusual vibrations, then this makes sense.

Has this claim been verified with eyeballs or just via chat?

Turbine blades don’t just bend out of the blue. Was any foreign object debris found inside the turbo housing/plumbing?

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by kit_dennis

Even though they could not find the root cause they found another issue. The turbo fan blades were bent. The technician said it is ok for now but it could fail at any time. My friend is not a rash driver. And in his 8 years he has driven only about 51k kms mostly within Bangalore city.

Replacement is an expensive affair costing more than a lakh.
What do you suggest my friend should do?

If it is only city usage, the car must be a bit sluggish to drive and also the sounds during acceleration should be a lot different. IMHO vibrations also should be higher due to bent blades. Was any such case experienced?

I think you can search for reputed places that repair turbo's rather than buying a new one. If not scout your local used parts area, you may be lucky to find a replacement turbo unit.

[srini1785]

Just wanted to know which side of the supercharger blade is bent?. The exhaust end or the charger end?. From the photos looks like it has suffered catastrophic structural damage. I wonder how a car can be OK to drive after such a failure.

Even though they could not find the root cause they found another issue. The turbo fan blades were bent. The technician said it is ok for now but it could fail at any time.

[kit_dennis]

My first question is - is it verified that this image is indeed from this particular car?

My friend has not seen the turbo fans in person. But the information was given by his trusted mechanic.

I find it hard to believe that the owner didn’t complain of any unusual sounds/vibrations from a turbo spooling with that kind of damage.

If it is only city usage, the car must be a bit sluggish to drive and also the sounds during acceleration should be a lot different. IMHO vibrations also should be higher due to bent blades. Was any such case experienced?

Except for a bit higher turbo sound in higher speeds, he is not facing any issues like lack of pickup or vibrations. So its very surpising for him as well.

Was any foreign object debris found inside the turbo housing/plumbing?

No foreign object/debris found.

Just wanted to know which side of the supercharger blade is bent?. The exhaust end or the charger end?

i have asked him to check with the mechanic.


The diagnosis was done at ppm Volkswagen, Nagavara. Any suggestions on from where to take a second opinion is much appreciated.

[SH1N1G4MI]

It seems like something sizeable went in the intake to cause that. Was the car ever run without a filter?
If the offending object was relatively large maybe you can fish it out of the intercooler, otherwise it might have gone in the engine and caused some internal damage.
The way things are the car really shouldn't be driven. The shaft is unbalanced and is going to develop some play, it'll make contact with the housing and throw metal shards into the engine.

[kit_dennis]

Just wanted to know which side of the supercharger blade is bent?. The exhaust end or the charger end?

Its the exhaust end. The mechanic also said that it must have happened recently. And above 2k rpm, he can hear the turbo whistle noise more.

Was the car ever run without a filter?

No. And its a stock car without any mods.

The way things are the car really shouldn't be driven. The shaft is unbalanced and is going to develop some play, it'll make contact with the housing and throw metal shards into the engine.

Is it that scary? Isnt there any easy solution to this?

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by kit_dennis

The diagnosis was done at ppm Volkswagen, Nagavara. Any suggestions on from where to take a second opinion is much appreciated.

Go to a service center that's as centrally located in the city as possible, maybe VW Apple Auto Whitefield, they have good reviews.

I think something is amiss here, of course I can't say for sure till I check in person, alternatively there is a good independent garage in Indiranagar near ESI hospital, not sure of the name though I can search it out if you need, but do go to Apple Auto first. Turbo fan bend/distortion if true will be catastrophic if it gives way during a drive, so do get it sorted at the earliest.

[Jeroen]

In all honesty, I am surprised this thing isn’t given more problems to your friend.

So I agree with ChoosetoCruze question, are we sure this is an image from your friends cars.

These turbo’s spin at very high RPM and with damage like this, it will rip itself apart very quickly. It must vibrate a lot as well.

There are only two reason why the inlet turbine blade can get damaged. Something got sucked into the inlet or bearing problems. With bearing problem the turbine blades would also cause damage to the housing, which as far as I can tell from this image isn’t the case here. So my money is on something being sucked in there. Don’t think anything big. Its actually quite small bits that can cause this damage, due to high RPMs of the turbine.

So you really need to take everything from the air inlet to the turbo inlet apart and check the inside. I have seen cases where a rubber hose became brittle and bit of rubber made it into the turbo. Or a simple washer could do!

Good luck

Jeroen

[SH1N1G4MI]

Originally Posted by kit_dennis

Its the exhaust end.

That photo shows the intake side. You really should get it looked at by someone else.

And I think I may know one possible source of the damage. It may have come from inside the air filter itself. My car uses the same filter and after every service, I look inside the used filter and I see these chunks of excess glue in there. I've always wondered about the chance of one of those pieces coming loose.

[docsinghal]

I forwarded this post to Azaan and he says he has seen such damage in cars where the filter had gotten blocked and some debris had traveled into the turbocharger.

[saur95]

That does look like significant damage, and D-BHPian Jeroen mentioned earlier, you only need a small object to cause it considering extremely high turbo RPMs.

Get it looked at by Bay6 Motorworks. They've done turbo rebuilds from what I've seen and might help your friend avoid an expensive new turbo.

[itwasntme]

This is the originally launched 1.6 TDI which VAG plonked into every Vento & Rapid, till the 1.5 replaced it. Chances are you will be able to find a used one pretty easily, and at reasonable rates too. While you await further diagnoses from VW Service, I think you can parallely get a trusted person to start combing through used part stores.

[kit_dennis]

Go to a service center that's as centrally located in the city as possible, maybe VW Apple Auto Whitefield, they have good reviews.

Get it looked at by Bay6 Motorworks. They've done turbo rebuilds from what I've seen and might help your friend avoid an expensive new turbo.

Thankyou for your suggestions. He could not take it last weekend, but is planning to do so in this week.

So you really need to take everything from the air inlet to the turbo inlet apart and check the inside. I have seen cases where a rubber hose became brittle and bit of rubber made it into the turbo.

And I think I may know one possible source of the damage. It may have come from inside the air filter itself.

I forwarded this post to Azaan and he says he has seen such damage in cars where the filter had gotten blocked and some debris had traveled into the turbocharger.

These information surely helps. Thankyou!

[vigsom]

Originally Posted by kit_dennis

The turbo fan blades were bent. What do you suggest my friend should do?

I agree with views expressed by @ChoosetoCruze. The turbine blades would have seen pitting OR full damage and not bends like what you see. Since I haven't seen the exhaust side of a turbo ever, I can suggest the following:

1. Rather than speculating, the best way forward would be for your friend to inspect the turbine side (exhaust end) of another Polo 1.6TDi to know if this is actually a failure.

2.If it is indeed a failure, an overhaul would be the way to go. There are enough aftermarket agencies that do turbo overhauls for a fraction of cost of new.

OR

Just maintain status quo and let the car run. The fact that the car performs well is enough proof that the turbo is doing its duty. The fuel issue has no relation to this turbo issue.