So ya, blew my turbo today. Options

**616_S4** · 06-29-2016 05:36 PM

Just blew my turbo coming home from work when I rev matched to downshift I heard a pop and then saw all the smoke behind my car. I had no intentions of upgrading nor did I want to drop the cash for it, but now im stuck. Right now I am leaning towards F21's and just running my current fueling and what not on it. i have a newer stage 2 clutch and just had all the valves and timing belt done, stage 2 giac and xs twin 2. Please help!

**Bordom** · 06-29-2016 05:51 PM

Put k03s back in as your most cost effective solution. You don't wanna drop money, but you want to put in F21's and then have your clutch slip or something more catastrophic happen?

Doesn't make sense unless you were gonna replace all of that, which you've already done.

**DieselElectric** · 06-29-2016 05:58 PM

If you go f21's, it will just be harder to not spend more money to take full advantage of them. The difference from k03's to maxed out k04 Frame turbos is huge. It's a temptation that is not easily resisted.

**rguil** · 06-29-2016 06:02 PM

I have a set of K03s for sale with 130k miles on them with minimal shaft play to get you down the road. Pm for a price. I'm basically giving them away. lol Just would like to get them out of my garage.

**Trb1** · 06-29-2016 06:11 PM

F21s with borgwarner wastegates and wastegate pressure or stage 3- will make it fast and more reliable than any k03 car. Then the opportunity for upgrade can happen down the road. F21s are too ridiculously cheap to not buy them.

**616_S4** · 06-29-2016 06:19 PM

Originally Posted by Bordom

Put k03s back in as your most cost effective solution. You don't wanna drop money, but you want to put in F21's and then have your clutch slip or something more catastrophic happen?

Doesn't make sense unless you were gonna replace all of that, which you've already done.

I mean nobody likes to drop money, but I just figure why go back to what i had after going through all that work to pull the motor and not upgrade to something more reliable.

**vavJETTAw36** · 06-29-2016 06:45 PM

You can run stock fueling but you will not be able to run WOT often since you will run lean. Nice way to blow a motor.

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**MikeyB3** · 06-29-2016 06:50 PM

Originally Posted by Trb1

F21s with borgwarner wastegates and wastegate pressure or stage 3- will make it fast and more reliable than any k03 car. Then the opportunity for upgrade can happen down the road. F21s are too ridiculously cheap to not buy them.

I agree.

Dont put K03s back in, it's a fools errand.

**FlyboyS4** · 06-29-2016 07:19 PM

OP, I've got a pair of rebuilt K03's with 360 deg thrust washers and about 300 miles on them since the rebuild. Shoot me a PM if you are interested in going that route. $500 plus shipping.

Originally Posted by Trb1

F21s with borgwarner wastegates and wastegate pressure or stage 3- will make it fast and more reliable than any k03 car.

There are chipped K03 cars with more than 300k miles, it's a bit premature to suggest F21's will be more reliable than those.

**Zba** · 06-29-2016 07:28 PM

Originally Posted by 616_S4

I mean nobody likes to drop money, but I just figure why go back to what i had after going through all that work to pull the motor and not upgrade to something more reliable.

lol @ Franks being more reliable than OE K03s

**redline380** · 06-29-2016 07:31 PM

Since when does getting big turbos mean reliability?

Here I've been under the impression that modifying your car beyond the manufacturer's OE would reduce reliability.

Real answer- why not just BW k04's on conservative tune if reliability is desired?

**reverse.rake** · 06-29-2016 08:04 PM

Originally Posted by Zba

lol @ Franks being more reliable than OE K03s

Lol yea exactly there's no comparison in reliability between the two, bw k04 be found for 1800$ brand new.. I know what I'm going with when I need new turbos.

**616_S4** · 06-29-2016 08:23 PM

well i mean reliable as in ill be running stage 3 minus, if im going to pull the engine im gonna put in something different than what came out, and it gives me options for the future.

**Trb1** · 06-29-2016 08:49 PM

Originally Posted by Zba

lol @ Franks being more reliable than OE K03s

Sometimes this forum makes me scream.

You have a set of turbos with inlets for $1800 with a 2 year warranty that isn't voided if you install the turbos yourself. Plus if you're a dumb ass and blow them up you can pick up new Chras for $250 a pop. You run a larger turbo at lower boost for the same horsepower it's going to be more reliable.

**Trb1** · 06-29-2016 08:57 PM

Originally Posted by reverse.rake

Lol yea exactly there's no comparison in reliability between the two, bw k04 be found for 1800$ brand new.. I know what I'm going with when I need new turbos.

Where can you find a set of OE Borgwarner k04s with inlets for $1800?

**Zba** · 06-29-2016 09:00 PM

Frankenturbos have not been proven reliable. I'm not saying they are unreliable but once sets start breaking the 100k mile mark THEN we can use the word reliable.

A two year warranty and cheap CHRAs do not mean the turbos are reliable. Do I really need to paste the definition of reliable?

**Trb1** · 06-29-2016 09:12 PM

Originally Posted by Zba

Frankenturbos have not been proven reliable. I'm not saying they are unreliable but once sets start breaking the 100k mile mark THEN we can use the word reliable.

A two year warranty and cheap CHRAs do not mean the turbos are reliable. Do I really need to paste the definition of reliable?

You're right. But Id rather spend $1800 on a guarantee like that than a set of used turbos or rebuilt turbos off of a forum member with no warranty.

The last k03 set I swapped into a car had only 55k on them. That set didn't last long with stage 2 boost levels.

Look, I'm no frankenturbo fanboy. But when did it become the fad to put shotty stock components back into a car after the boost has been ramped up. It's the recipe to do it twice.

**Zba** · 06-29-2016 09:16 PM

Originally Posted by Trb1

You're right. But Id rather spend $1800 on a guarantee like that than a set of used turbos or rebuilt turbos off of a forum member with no warranty.

The last k03 set I swapped into a car had only 55k on them. That set didn't last long with stage 2 boost levels.

Look, I'm no frankenturbo fanboy. But when did it become the fad to put shotty stock components back into a car after the boost has been ramped up. It's the recipe to do it twice.

I should also add that I am in no way comparing a USED set of K03s to a new set of anything lol. I wouldn't install used non-rebuilt turbo regardless of what they were.

**FlyboyS4** · 06-29-2016 10:00 PM

Originally Posted by Trb1

You're right. But Id rather spend $1800 on a guarantee like that than a set of used turbos or rebuilt turbos off of a forum member with no warranty.

The last k03 set I swapped into a car had only 55k on them. That set didn't last long with stage 2 boost levels.

Look, I'm no frankenturbo fanboy. But when did it become the fad to put shotty stock components back into a car after the boost has been ramped up. It's the recipe to do it twice.

I'll assume you meant to type shoddy. K03's are not a shoddy product, thousands upon thousands of Audi's with 2.7T engines have used them. FrankenTurbo is on the 3rd version of a product available for the 2.7T, it will be a long time before proof is in that they are more reliable than K03's. That was my point, nothing more.

Whether or not the OP should purchase F21's or K03's (rebuilt or otherwise) is a different question and introduces a number of other considerations, but that's changing the subject.

**Doug@FrankenTurbo** · 06-30-2016 01:13 AM

OP -- seems to me the matter comes down to money. If you have less than $1000 to spend, get a set of good, used K03s. If you have more than that, then drop me a line for the sales pitch.

...and by the way: thousands of turbos in service in our eighth year of operation. Millions of miles. I think that's sufficient demonstration of reliability for any objective judge.

dh

**f4m0u5** · 06-30-2016 03:37 AM

Id go with f21s...... my turbos blew last week and im in the middle of upgrading to f21s as we speak

**jpurre** · 06-30-2016 07:26 AM

F21 FTW.

I too was once in this situation. Blew a turbo and had to replace. What to do?? I said to myself "I'll get the F21's and run them with stage 1 tune." Nothing doing. Here I am almost 3 years later of driving with stage 3. It is a slippery slope, but it's a fun slope. I've got like 20k miles on my F21's and no hickups.

**MacDaddy** · 06-30-2016 02:05 PM

dont listen to the guys trying to reinvent the wheel, putting in bigger turbos with a stage 1 flash is whats known as stage 3- and people did it all the time back in the day along with a higher pressure FPR (5 bar instead of 4 iirc) do that and call it a day, it will also make your car easier to sell and for more money since it will have new turbos and just need a stage 3 specific flash to be actual stage 3.

Id also change the fuel pump at this time for peace of mind if not done so already.

**88ninety9** · 06-30-2016 03:49 PM

Originally Posted by Doug@FrankenTurbo

OP -- seems to me the matter comes down to money. If you have less than $1000 to spend, get a set of good, used K03s. If you have more than that, then drop me a line for the sales pitch.

...and by the way: thousands of turbos in service in our eighth year of operation. Millions of miles. I think that's sufficient demonstration of reliability for any objective judge.

dh

Can you elaborate? What's the highest mileage f21's in service w/o turbo issues? Lots of turbos sold with mid miles doesn't prove anything, except you've sold lots of turbos....

**FlyboyS4** · 06-30-2016 06:04 PM

Originally Posted by Doug@FrankenTurbo

...and by the way: thousands of turbos in service in our eighth year of operation. Millions of miles. I think that's sufficient demonstration of reliability for any objective judge.

dh

I disagree (surprise). The F21MF has been available for a relatively short time. Using a different design, that will lead to parts undergoing different levels of loading from the predecessors, prevents one from using the previous models as a basis to judge reliability of the latest version. The F21MF will have to demonstrate reliability on its own.