TWO Blown turbo's with less than 13k miles!

[Jamie007]

I'm sorry to hear about your experience, but like I said in my other post, something doesn't sound right...it seems that their is user error somewhere. I don't believe it's on your end but you have to deal with it all unfortunately and yes I can see why you'd never want to deal with a VW again but it could've easily happened on a another make, tuned or not.

IF it really is a district manager coming to see the car, then I imagine this person is directly from VWOA... which means your car has gained a lot of attention from head office

I'm famous! Great!... I hope they don't read these forums...

 

[Tsi7]

I'm famous! Great!... I hope they don't read these forums...

When someone from corporate has to come see the car (be it a field engineer or district service manager or something of that ranking) it could mean that it's beyond the dealership to make a call on the diagnosis or repair. This usually only happens if the car is under warranty though...so by the sounds of it the dealer still assumes the car is under warranty, otherwise why would someone at corporate waste their time to see a car if there is no chance the repair cost may come out of VW's pocket

This is just my assumption of course, I could be completely wrong but that's what it sounds like

 

[Jamie007]

When someone from corporate has to come see the car (be it a field engineer or district service manager or something of that ranking) it could mean that it's beyond the dealership to make a call on the diagnosis or repair. This usually only happens if the car is under warranty though...so by the sounds of it the dealer still assumes the car is under warranty, otherwise why would someone at corporate waste their time to see a car if there is no chance the repair cost may come out of VW's pocket

This is just my assumption of course, I could be completely wrong but that's what it sounds like

Amen! Makes sense, and I hope you are right!

And everyone... I'm sorry I said not to mod.. I just don't think it's for me anymore, with this particular car.

 

[TheGreekFreak]

If you're gonna end up paying someone to fix it, don't drop whatever it is VW charges for a new IS20 (maybe $1300?). Go with a Boss kit and make the expensive fix even more expensive but way more badass. Either that, or start looking to get your hands on a used IS20/IS38 right away.

Regardless, given the history of turbo failures on this platform, I don't think its a bad idea to have a good backup turbo on hand in the event a turbo goes kaboom. You being away from home really complicates things but for the rest of us, I think its a good lesson. You can find a used IS20 for like $400-500 and and IS38 for a few hundred more. If you don't need it down the road, its an easy sell.

I would be pissed if I had to drop $1500 + labor on one of these shitty turbos if mine blew. Upgrade or backup used unit would be my choices. If it happens on a road trip, I'd have someone express ship the backup to a local indie shop to throw it in.

A bit paranoid? Sure, but its cheap insurance policy imo. All assuming you're either modded beyond return or out of the warranty period.

Best of luck OP, hope VW covers it and you get back home in a reasonable time frame.

 

[The Fed]

VW doesn't bother sending a field rep out on a flagged car. I think this story has run it's course. I would need to see all of this drama in person to believe it.

 

[Wrath And Tears]

VW doesn't bother sending a field rep out on a flagged car. I think this story has run it's course. I would need to see all of this drama in person to believe it.

Lets see:
1. Customer buys new car from dealership
2. Dealerships performance shop sells customer a tune, which voids the warranty, without informing customer (very illegal).
3. Turbo blows
4. Customer takes car to dealership.
5. Dealership scans tuned car and it gets flagged TD1
6. VWoA denies repair
7. Customer complains to dealership performance shop
8. Since the performance shop fucked up, they footed the bill for the repair
9. According to customer, performance shop paid the dealership to perform the repairs.
10. Because it is not a VWoA warranty repair, dealership doesn't have to use a new turbo, so they use one that has been sitting, likely taken off a car during a warranty turbo replacement (what I mean is they known put on a turbo that could possibly fail)
11. New turbo fails
12. Customer takes to dealerhship
13. Dealership contacts VWoA and finds out the history and issues with the car
14. VWoA gets concerned about the turbo failure. Even if they won't be covering it due to the TD1 and non-warranty repair, they are interested in why the turbo failed
15. They send out a Quality Control Technician to see why the turbo failed. If it was due to installation issues or what have you, then they don't care. But if it was something else, they still want to know.

It all makes sense to me, but I have far more experience in dealing with VWoA and dealerships than most at this point. I made sure that VWoA has been involved with my car from the start, and the QCT has been out to work on my car and inspect things 5 times already, soon to be a 6th. Mainly due to the windshield. I think VWoA is much more interested in a failed turbo, than a windshield.

I just don't see why OP would lie to us. Yes he hasn't exactly worded things correctly, but a lot of that has to do with his own confusion. VWoA and the dealerships like to be very confusing, and contradict each other, and even though they "just talked", still don't have any idea what's going on.

 

[marc5800]

I feel like something doesn’t add up

Either the shop that installed the "new" turbo or user error that we don’t know

I’ve asked this question on FB regarding the IS20 reliability and around 30 replies came back saying they beat the shit out of the car and the OEM unit is still fine. Some with very high mileage...


I truly think this is an isolated case


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[bobyjane1234]

That is a horror story no one should have to experience

 

[Jamie007]

Lets see:
1. Customer buys new car from dealership
2. Dealerships performance shop sells customer a tune, which voids the warranty, without informing customer (very illegal).
3. Turbo blows
4. Customer takes car to dealership.
5. Dealership scans tuned car and it gets flagged TD1
6. VWoA denies repair
7. Customer complains to dealership performance shop
8. Since the performance shop fucked up, they footed the bill for the repair
9. According to customer, performance shop paid the dealership to perform the repairs.
10. Because it is not a VWoA warranty repair, dealership doesn't have to use a new turbo, so they use one that has been sitting, likely taken off a car during a warranty turbo replacement (what I mean is they known put on a turbo that could possibly fail)
11. New turbo fails
12. Customer takes to dealerhship
13. Dealership contacts VWoA and finds out the history and issues with the car
14. VWoA gets concerned about the turbo failure. Even if they won't be covering it due to the TD1 and non-warranty repair, they are interested in why the turbo failed
15. They send out a Quality Control Technician to see why the turbo failed. If it was due to installation issues or what have you, then they don't care. But if it was something else, they still want to know.

It all makes sense to me, but I have far more experience in dealing with VWoA and dealerships than most at this point. I made sure that VWoA has been involved with my car from the start, and the QCT has been out to work on my car and inspect things 5 times already, soon to be a 6th. Mainly due to the windshield. I think VWoA is much more interested in a failed turbo, than a windshield.

I just don't see why OP would lie to us. Yes he hasn't exactly worded things correctly, but a lot of that has to do with his own confusion. VWoA and the dealerships like to be very confusing, and contradict each other, and even though they "just talked", still don't have any idea what's going on.

100% what happened. Well said. Thank you.

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[Jamie007]

And if they don't cover it, DEFINITELY getting an IS38, screw the IS20!

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[GTI Jake]

I still can’t get past the OP owning all those modded Subaru without blowing one up lol

Edit: the 2011/12ish and newer are the ones everyone and their brother blow up. I didn’t realize he had pre cylinder 4 ringland disaster cars


If it were me I’d be home working already, but I fly for free. Worst case I would’ve rented a car and came back for the gti (I’d be swapping the turbo in a parking lot lol)

 

[GTI Jake]

And if they don't cover it, DEFINITELY getting an IS38, screw the IS20!

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This. They come up used all the time

 

[marc5800]

This. They come up used all the time

Although the IS38 can also easily fail like the IS20 ...


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[Diggs24]

Get something bigger.

 

[Jamie007]

quick update

I still can’t get past the OP owning all those modded Subaru without blowing one up lol

Edit: the 2011/12ish and newer are the ones everyone and their brother blow up. I didn’t realize he had pre cylinder 4 ringland disaster cars


If it were me I’d be home working already, but I fly for free. Worst case I would’ve rented a car and came back for the gti (I’d be swapping the turbo in a parking lot lol)

I'm just speaking from experience.. The EJ25 was very good to me!

I can't see spending hundreds, maybe over $1000, to fly home on short notice, and rent a car. Then fly back 1000 miles, to turn around and drive home 1000 miles, that just sounds nutty to me... I just hate that they are leaving me hanging, no timeline... But I do start a new job in 9 days, so I just might have to fly back. Hurry up VW!!!

Quick update - I spoke with the dealership again, and they insisted my car still has the APR tune on it. They said it's there on my ECU, but it's turned off. That the dealership who made it stock again, might have did something wrong... I told them, throw in a new turbo, take it for a drive, and you will see it's not tuned... They said they were contacted by the district rep, but they still didn't know when he will be looking at the car.