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Help… Turbo issues 2018 Golf R

Jemmerson

New member
Location
Ontario canada
Car(s)
2018 Golf R, 2012 GT
Running into issues blowing up multiple turbo’s on my 2018 R, 70,000Km onto my 4th turbo. First turbo was replaced at Vw under warranty about a year ago at 58,xxx km. About 4 weeks ago i tuned the car with integrated engineering’s stage 2 high torque tune with crackles on. About 6 days later i was doing a 2nd gear pull and lost all power, looked in my mirror and saw a huge cloud of white smoke. I knew from previous experience with my gti that it was most likely the turbo. Got the car towed home, pulled my downpipe off the turbo and surely enough the exhaust turbine was completely missing, removed my exhaust and found it in there. Removed all my boost pipes and intercooler, cleaned everything out to get any debris out, Got a used turbo, installed it myself, did a oil changed, drove 100km, checked my oil filter (looked clean) replaced and did another oil change, drove another 100km and did the same thing once more to be safe. Now 2 weeks later (about 1000-1200km later) was passing a car in 3rd gear and as soon as i hit 5500rpm i lost all power, looked in my mirror and had a huge cloud of white smoke again. Got the car towed home and same thing, the shaft snapped and spit the exhaust turbine out. I do not believe its from over boosting because i pay attention to my factory boost gauge almost everytime i am doing pulls and its very consistent at topping out at 40psi (with pressure of atmosphere). I am going to do a oil pressure test in the engine this weekend and if that checks out i will make a fitting to test directly at the turbo, but any other advice?? It seems like it must be an intermediate issue considering the turbo lasted over 1000km. If the turbo was not getting oil to begin with i would think it would have blown up right away.
 

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Jemmerson

New member
Location
Ontario canada
Car(s)
2018 Golf R, 2012 GT
Running into issues blowing up multiple turbo’s on my 2018 R, 70,000Km onto my 4th turbo. First turbo was replaced at Vw under warranty about a year ago at 58,xxx km. About 4 weeks ago i tuned the car with integrated engineering’s stage 2 high torque tune with crackles on. About 6 days later i was doing a 2nd gear pull and lost all power, looked in my mirror and saw a huge cloud of white smoke. I knew from previous experience with my gti that it was most likely the turbo. Got the car towed home, pulled my downpipe off the turbo and surely enough the exhaust turbine was completely missing, removed my exhaust and found it in there. Removed all my boost pipes and intercooler, cleaned everything out to get any debris out, Got a used turbo, installed it myself, did a oil changed, drove 100km, checked my oil filter (looked clean) replaced and did another oil change, drove another 100km and did the same thing once more to be safe. Now 2 weeks later (about 1000-1200km later) was passing a car in 3rd gear and as soon as i hit 5500rpm i lost all power, looked in my mirror and had a huge cloud of white smoke again. Got the car towed home and same thing, the shaft snapped and spit the exhaust turbine out. I do not believe its from over boosting because i pay attention to my factory boost gauge almost everytime i am doing pulls and its very consistent at topping out at 40psi (with pressure of atmosphere). I am going to do a oil pressure test in the engine this weekend and if that checks out i will make a fitting to test directly at the turbo, but any other advice?? It seems like it must be an intermediate issue considering the turbo lasted over 1000km. If the turbo was not getting oil to begin with i would think it would have blown up right away.
Forgot to mention, after blowing up the 2nd turbo, i was wondering if the crackles had something to do with it since they were pretty aggressive so i turned them off before installing the 3rd.
 

Jemmerson

New member
Location
Ontario canada
Car(s)
2018 Golf R, 2012 GT
Fuck around with shitty numbers chasing tuners and this is what happens.
Why do you say that? I could be wrong but i am feeling like its a oil pressure issue. I dont see how the tune could cause this unless i was over boosting a tone which ive been paying close attention too and have not seen happening. But please correct me or inform if i am wrong.
 

Diggs24

Autocross Champion
Location
de plains! de plains!
Car(s)
2015 GTI
IS38s don’t like low rpm surge due to too much boost and dont like high rpm shaft speed due to too much boost. Most tuning companies don’t give a shit and the consumer suffers with replacing blown turbos. Plenty of aftermarket turbos and better tuning companies these days to be stuck with IHI and IE garbage.
 

scrllock

Autocross Champion
Location
MI
Why do you say that? I could be wrong but i am feeling like its a oil pressure issue. I dont see how the tune could cause this unless i was over boosting a tone which ive been paying close attention too and have not seen happening. But please correct me or inform if i am wrong.
what diggs said. they get swept under the rug but IS38 failures on OTS tunes are not rare.

the market demands big numbers and tuners are happy to give them out, knowing a likely result is the consumer ends up buying one of the upgraded turbos they offer to fix the issue they caused.
 

scrllock

Autocross Champion
Location
MI
also just in case there is some user error, make sure you're priming the next turbo well. toss some high-zinc oil down the oil feed with a syringe and prime the oil by unplugging the hpfp, lpfp fuse, and coilpacks and turning the motor over a few times. you can drastically shorten the life of that bearing if the turbo runs in dry. also make sure your intake is clean and sealed up.

IE stage 2 runs 22-23psi at red line though, not surprised an IS38 with unknown history died quick.
 

Giuseppe Busso

Go Kart Champion
Location
Greece
Car(s)
Seat Leon mk3 1.8 FR
Running into issues blowing up multiple turbo’s on my 2018 R, 70,000Km onto my 4th turbo. First turbo was replaced at Vw under warranty about a year ago at 58,xxx km. About 4 weeks ago i tuned the car with integrated engineering’s stage 2 high torque tune with crackles on. About 6 days later i was doing a 2nd gear pull and lost all power, looked in my mirror and saw a huge cloud of white smoke. I knew from previous experience with my gti that it was most likely the turbo. Got the car towed home, pulled my downpipe off the turbo and surely enough the exhaust turbine was completely missing, removed my exhaust and found it in there. Removed all my boost pipes and intercooler, cleaned everything out to get any debris out, Got a used turbo, installed it myself, did a oil changed, drove 100km, checked my oil filter (looked clean) replaced and did another oil change, drove another 100km and did the same thing once more to be safe. Now 2 weeks later (about 1000-1200km later) was passing a car in 3rd gear and as soon as i hit 5500rpm i lost all power, looked in my mirror and had a huge cloud of white smoke again. Got the car towed home and same thing, the shaft snapped and spit the exhaust turbine out. I do not believe its from over boosting because i pay attention to my factory boost gauge almost everytime i am doing pulls and its very consistent at topping out at 40psi (with pressure of atmosphere). I am going to do a oil pressure test in the engine this weekend and if that checks out i will make a fitting to test directly at the turbo, but any other advice?? It seems like it must be an intermediate issue considering the turbo lasted over 1000km. If the turbo was not getting oil to begin with i would think it would have blown up right away.

What was your boost levels starting from overboost till 6800-6900rpm?
 

Giuseppe Busso

Go Kart Champion
Location
Greece
Car(s)
Seat Leon mk3 1.8 FR
IS38s don’t like low rpm surge due to too much boost and dont like high rpm shaft speed due to too much boost. Most tuning companies don’t give a shit and the consumer suffers with replacing blown turbos. Plenty of aftermarket turbos and better tuning companies these days to be stuck with IHI and IE garbage.
Hello Diggs, with "much boost" what boost do you mean?
 

Arronleeds

Ready to race!
Location
Leeds
question, were the oil feed and return pipes changed and was the sump dropped too? seems like things werent done properly and poor mapping.
 

Jemmerson

New member
Location
Ontario canada
Car(s)
2018 Golf R, 2012 GT
question, were the oil feed and return pipes changed and was the sump dropped too? seems like things werent done properly and poor mapping.
No, i flushed oil down the 2 lines but i did not completely replace lines or drop the sump. I know that is my bad, will definitely be doing that this time.
 
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