4.0TT Blown Turbo Poll

[s4nicetry]

I wanted to create a more basic poll to find out how many owners of the 4.0TT have had to replace their turbos yet. It would be good to get a better grasp on just how many owners have had this issue or not. I've included model years of 13' - 16', marked with a "Yes" (blown turbos) or "No" (still original). Then below please post your model and year if not visible and appox what mileage they blew or what mileage you are currently at on the stockers still.

I'll go first, I'm just shy of 50,000 miles and still on my stockers, hopefully for a long time to come yet, but I won't be holding my breath.


PLEASE POST YOUR MILEAGE! - It can be very helpful in knowing how long / short the lifespan has been on these turbos. Any other info you want to share as well that could be helpful. (Driving style, climate, tracking the car, oil change info, etc.)

Lastly for anyone that has blown their turbos please go here and report your cars failure. With enough complaints the NHTSA can force Audi's hand at making them recall these cars, especially if the failure presents a danger like breaking down in the middle of the highway or something similar.

NHTSA: https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/

[JGood]

I have about a month on EPL stage 1, 45k, stock turbos

[pez81]

2016 s6 Apr stage 2, tuned since 2000miles with 31000 miles on now. So far turbos holding up.

NO

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[Dasquade]

2013 s6...stage 1 -> unknown start km (maybe 40.000km)...stage 2 -> +-75000km..currently 83.400km.

No visual damage on cold and warm side of the turbines. Stock oil seperator. Soft coolant leakage on both turbo's but not reoaired yet as i'm confused if a good or bad thing.

[s4nicetry]

2013 s6...stage 1 -> unknown start km (maybe 40.000km)...stage 2 -> +-75000km..currently 83.400km.

No visual damage on cold and warm side of the turbines. Stock oil seperator. Soft coolant leakage on both turbo's but not reoaired yet as i'm confused if a good or bad thing.

I'm still on my stock separator as well, did you notice much additional oil build up in your driver side turbo from the separator when checking? I couldn't see how repairing your coolant leak to the turbos could possibly be bad.

[digdah]

I somehow feel like I just jinxed myself. 2013 w/APR Stage 2 on stock turbos currently ~48k miles.

NO

[Dasquade]

I'm still on my stock separator as well, did you notice much additional oil build up in your driver side turbo from the separator when checking? I couldn't see how repairing your coolant leak to the turbos could possibly be bad.

Not a single sign of oil inside the drivers turbo aswell. It is just a very small bit of faith they are "fine" as the throbble starts inside and once there is visual damage it us almost too late i guess.

Well because i keep reading some still have leaks after fixing and failed turbos. I know it is a little excuse but :(.
Just wondering where this oil feeder screen is located people talk about!?

[jb1970]

2015 RS7.

6500 miles: APR stage 1. [October 2015]
11000 miles: one turbo destroyed and replaced. [March 2016]
Now at 33000 miles with no further turbo issues. [April 2018]

[Sanjman]

2013 stock 55555 no issues with turbo.

Anyone inspect their turbos themselves? can i pull the airbox? I heard there's a chance you could find metal shavings in the airbox along withi oil/coolant gunked up on the fins.

[s4nicetry]

Not a single sign of oil inside the drivers turbo as well. It is just a very small bit of faith they are "fine" as the throbble starts inside and once there is visual damage it us almost too late i guess.

Well because i keep reading some still have leaks after fixing and failed turbos. I know it is a little excuse but :(.
Just wondering where this oil feeder screen is located people talk about!?

I was just talking about the oil in the drivers side due to the original "B" pcv / oil separator being connected there, it appears like a number of people have noticed a significant amount of oil in / around that turbo from the separator. That's good if you have nothing. I'm hoping when I have a peek at my turbos I'll find the same thing.

In regards to oil feeder screen, I haven't seen where this could be on any of the diagrams for this engine, probably just internal filtered oil line going to turbo sans additional screen. I know in my 911 turbo there is two check valves with a screen element that are connected directly to the turbochargers themselves. (#23 in the attached diagram) I replaced both of these when I installed bigger turbos as a preventative measure. Some people tried cutting them out altogether which caused smoking issues from the additional oil getting past the turbos seals. I see nothing of the sort with this 4.0TT engine though???

[s4nicetry]

2013 stock 55555 no issues with turbo.

Anyone inspect their turbos themselves? can i pull the airbox? I heard there's a chance you could find metal shavings in the airbox along withi oil/coolant gunked up on the fins.

I haven't yet but yes you'd want to pull the intake right off to see the compressor wheels of the turbos. If you had a borescope you could probably just pull the filter and shive the camera in to inspect the compressor wheels. Metal shavings in the airbox doesn't make sense. If it's outside of the air filter no big deal, empty the box out. If you see that inside of the filter in the intake tract that's a big problem because the air is being sucked from the filter to the turbocharger, there should be no shavings of any kind past the filter. The pcv / oil separator is supposed to send fumes minus oil back into the intake stream before the turbo on the drivers side, but it seems that when this separator part is failing that oil is getting back into the intake stream and getting on the compressor side of that particular turbo. It makes me wonder if an oil catch can could be easily cut in line there to prevent this from happening.

[///M Traitor]

There are more photos in my album here.

Should I change my Poll submission? I put down "not blown yet"...

I tore down my 2013 S6 with 40k miles to inspect the turbos last night. Shows a lot of oil on the passenger turbo outlet AND inlet! edit: I should note that the pictures were taken after I wiped the inlet with a rag. It was a uniform black before wiping the inlet..

None of the PCV vapors are routed to the passenger turbo, so any oil here must be from failing oil seals, correct? It should also be noted that both turbos had play in the turbine shafts, and the passenger turbo had play along the axis of the shaft as well (thrust). I couldn't find any signs of the compressor scraping the housing, or bent blades, but MAN is it close!

I've been to the dealer a few times complaining of misfires and poor performance. I believe now that it could be my passenger turbo leaking oil into the intake and both turbos not spinning true because of bearing failures occurring.

[s4nicetry]

There are more photos in my album here.

Should I change my Poll submission? I put down "not blown yet"...

I tore down my 2013 S6 with 40k miles to inspect the turbos last night. Shows a lot of oil on the passenger turbo outlet AND inlet! edit: I should note that the pictures were taken after I wiped the inlet with a rag. It was a uniform black before wiping the inlet..

None of the PCV vapors are routed to the passenger turbo, so any oil here must be from failing oil seals, correct? It should also be noted that both turbos had play in the turbine shafts, and the passenger turbo had play along the axis of the shaft as well (thrust). I couldn't find any signs of the compressor scraping the housing, or bent blades, but MAN is it close!

I've been to the dealer a few times complaining of misfires and poor performance. I believe now that it could be my passenger turbo leaking oil into the intake and both turbos not spinning true because of bearing failures occurring.

Well it might not be totally blown yet but it does look like it has leaky seals and has seen better days. Atleast send them your pictures and see what they say, I'm pretty sure they'll tell you to bring it in.

[///M Traitor]

Well it might not be totally blown yet but it does look like it has leaky seals and has seen better days. Atleast send them your pictures and see what they say, I'm pretty sure they'll tell you to bring it in.

I hope the dealer does accept the pictures as proof because I have gotten a ton of resistance for them to do any diagnostic work. They just kept insisting that the Audi Platinum extended warranty I have doesn’t cover diagnostics even though it clearly says it does in the policy documents...

[snohman]

2015 S6 - 20k miles and bone stock, no issues thus far or any performance issues I have felt. Had been planning on EPL Stage 1 and Milltek exhaust, but I am waiting out some of these recent turbo stories before pulling the trigger.

I am due for my 4 year/35k Audi care service, and will have them run extra diagnostics on my turbos if they don’t hem and haw about it. Otherwise, will have my independent shop do a thorough look AFTER Audi does theirs.

[///M Traitor]

Does anyone know the specs of the S6 turbos for free-play allowed on the turbine shaft? Should there be any? I want to know before I head to the dealer, because I'm tired of being turned away with BS excuses...

[wwhan]

I think these links, I posted here, are interesting: https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...1#post13049907

[s4nicetry]

I think these links, I posted here, are interesting: https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...1#post13049907

Some good info in there for sure.

Does anyone know the specs of the S6 turbos for free-play allowed on the turbine shaft? Should there be any? I want to know before I head to the dealer, because I'm tired of being turned away with BS excuses...

Don't know the specifics for these turbos but "wwhan" has some good info to give you a general idea. Maybe don't show them pictures at this point or tell them you've inspected the turbos yourself in case the dealer tries to say you opened up the engine yourself and tries to give you warranty grief. Can you try another dealer around you to see if they'll work with you. If not call AoA and say this dealer has been hassling you not wanting to solve your ongoing issues with the car and they've been very unco-operative, start flipping some tables if you have too. You could also probably take it to a certified mechanic and get him to inspect it, take pictures etc. to give to Audi, or altleast have a certified mechanic you know willing to say those pictures were from him.

[RedheadNV]

I’m at 78,876 miles, supposedly my turbos were replaced at around 58k, by the dealer, after oil feed line failure.
On Thursday evening I pulled my inlets and found shaft play on both turbos. Driver’s side was quite a bit worse. I haven’t used a drop of oil since I changed my separator over Thanksgiving.
I do have “holes” in my boost when in normal drive mode. Seems like it misfires when first coming into boost. If I floor it though seems ok. In sport, at certain throttle input, it get the misfiring feeling too.
I have no noises, or other symptoms. I’m 100% bone stock. Drive pretty easily 99% of the time. When I do give the beans, I always cool it down. When I am just cruising around my oil temp is around 212*. I wish that was cooler though. I’m going to start collecting parts in case of turbo failure. Just need to decide, RS or hybrid???


2013 S6 Quartz gray metallic

[///M Traitor]

My car feels exactly as you describe. Feels like misfires, car doesn’t want to build boost from low RPM after staying at low rpms for even a short period... I’ve been thinking carbon fouling the whole time, but now I’m thinking it could be the turbos hanging up because of the sloppy bearings.

Now I’m curious, what hybrid turbos are available for our car?

[RedheadNV]

My car feels exactly as you describe. Feels like misfires, car doesn’t want to build boost from low RPM after staying at low rpms for even a short period... I’ve been thinking carbon fouling the whole time, but now I’m thinking it could be the turbos hanging up because of the sloppy bearings.

Now I’m curious, what hybrid turbos are available for our car?

http://sillyrabbitmotorsport.com/tur...-turbo-upgrade


2013 S6 Quartz gray metallic

[OlyS6]

2016 S6, 20,000miles.

Went EPL Stage 2 at 5,000 miles.
Swapped to new oil separator and RS turbos at 18,000miles, and went APR Stage 3.
During the swap, no evidence of oil in the turbos or play in the turbo shafts. Gaskets to return lines also swapped at that time, no evidence of leakage there.

[MadMaxD]

I hope the dealer does accept the pictures as proof because I have gotten a ton of resistance for them to do any diagnostic work. They just kept insisting that the Audi Platinum extended warranty I have doesn’t cover diagnostics even though it clearly says it does in the policy documents...

Time to switch dealers.

[Derek978]

2013 - Completely Stock, Both turbos failed at 49k miles

Recalls done, services at dealer annually, less than 10k miles between changes.

[Brooklyn]

I don’t think I’ve seen this yet: is there a list of recommended precautionary steps to take (replacement parts, etc) that might ward this off, short of replacing the turbos? I’m coming up on my next oil change and might ask the shop to change those items while they are at it. Other than the oil separator, anything else? I’m also shifting to 5k oil changes.


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[biehniac]

2013 S7, 51k miles. All stock. No issues yet.

[s4nicetry]

I don’t think I’ve seen this yet: is there a list of recommended precautionary steps to take (replacement parts, etc) that might ward this off, short of replacing the turbos? I’m coming up on my next oil change and might ask the shop to change those items while they are at it. Other than the oil separator, anything else? I’m also shifting to 5k oil changes.


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Nobody really seems to know why turbos seem to be popping lately on some of the cars. The upgraded oil separator is a good idea, reducing your oil change intervals and using a good quality synthetic. Make sure you allow the car to warm up properly before taking off and giving it the beans and if you've been in the boost allow it to cool down a minute or two before you shut it down. Remove your cover and make sure your not leaking any oil/coolant from the turbos feeder lines and that's about it for now. There's a number of people who's mileage is up there on the stock turbos so it's hard to say for sure what's going on, time will tell.

[brad65ford]

15 miles, been stage 1 now stage 2 for 1k miles, installed SRM intake and looked at blades and no oil found.

Nothing yet, hopefully they hold up.

[Brooklyn]

Thanks brother. Think I’ll go through with the oil separator and do a visual inspection of the turbos/coolant lines.

Nobody really seems to know why turbos seem to be popping lately on some of the cars, although judging by this poll so far the talk might be blown a little out of proportion. The upgraded oil separator is a good idea, reducing your oil change intervals and using a good quality synthetic. Make sure you allow the car to warm up properly before taking off and giving it the beans and if you've been in the boost allow it to cool down a minute or two before you shut it down. Remove your cover and make sure your not leaking any oil/coolant from the turbos feeder lines and that's about it for now. There's a number of people who's mileage is up there on the stock turbos so it's hard to say for sure what's going on, time will tell.

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[s4nicetry]

Thanks brother. Think I’ll go through with the oil separator and do a visual inspection of the turbos/coolant lines.

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There was a recent post where someone had both turbos fail. Upon inspection the dealer found that a couple tabs in the oil filter housing were broken off causing the filter to not sit in the housing properly. This could have potentially caused a pinch point in the oil pressure which would explain why both turbos failed. The oil filter is also mentioned in the tsb relating to turbo failure by Audi, so it appears they know about this problem. Essentially it's very important to make sure whoever does the oil change is aware of this, checks for broken tabs and makes sure the filter is inserted properly.

[BCT]

2014 stock S7. Change oil every 5K, full synthetic oil, top tier gas (Shell Premium). Have not launched it or abused it. Both turbos blown at 38K. I allow it to warm up before aggressive driving, and drive "soft" before putting it away to allow turbo spool down/cooling.

[MP4.2+6.0]

Mine are fine AFAIK on my 2015 S8, but at only 20K miles. I don't drive it particularly hard 99%+ of the time either.

FWIW, I short cycle changed the oil and filter on my S8 twice now in between the AudiCare cycles. One at with about about 6500 miles on that cycle IIRC, one with 5,000 miles. Most recent was in just the last month or so, so I remember it well. In both cases when I went to reset the various maintenance interval and related fields with VCDS (there are several of them), the control module data for the oil sensor they now have showed the oil quality data field had flipped to "poor." Again, note the miles are well under 10K factory spec. Preceding filter and fill service in each case would have been from dealer, and presumably the 502 Castrol fill they usually use. I am now cutting over to the 504 compliant fill when I do it myself, which is also spec for the 4.0T but has somewhat better attributes if you look into it. Most probably think of 502 as "the Audi spec," but they started dual listing it with 504 for some years now if you look carefully at your owner's manual. Before I poured the used oil into the recycling jugs, I noticed on sort of a thin sheen in a bit of a swirly faint rainbow pattern on the top of the oil. Pretty subtle, but it was there. Seemed like some signs of accumulated fuel in the oil from prior experience over 100 or more oil changes I've done in 40 years.

Though little discussed, 504 in turn really takes a very low sulphur fuel spec like in Europe. I am comfortable CA has that as part of the special CA formulation that is among the drivers of gas here being more expensive than national average; last I looked it was still sort of vague if rest of country had made the switch to the (yet) lower sulphur spec, both the states that follow the CARB CA emissions specs, and those that use the looser ones. They were supposed to by early 2017 IIRC. Audis are all built to the CA spec so are 50 state complaint, but you still want the gas formulation to be compatible with a 504 oil if used. The gas spec and the emissions requirements overlap here for things like longevity of emissions components, but then they also tie into the oil spec choices in an obscure way. For more info, search web and a few deep search BITOG threads.

[s4nicetry]

Mine are fine AFAIK on my 2015 S8, but at only 20K miles. I don't drive it particularly hard 99%+ of the time either.

FWIW, I short cycle changed the oil and filter on my S8 twice now in between the AudiCare cycles. One at with about about 6500 miles on that cycle IIRC, one with 5,000 miles. Most recent was in just the last month or so, so I remember it well. In both cases when I went to reset the various maintenance interval and related fields with VCDS (there are several of them), the control module data for the oil sensor they now have showed the oil quality data field had flipped to "poor." Again, note the miles are well under 10K factory spec. Preceding filter and fill service in each case would have been from dealer, and presumably the 502 Castrol fill they usually use. I am now cutting over to the 504 compliant fill when I do it myself, which is also spec for the 4.0T but has somewhat better attributes if you look into it. Most probably think of 502 as "the Audi spec," but they started dual listing it with 504 for some years now if you look carefully at your owner's manual. Before I poured the used oil into the recycling jugs, I noticed on sort of a thin sheen in a bit of a swirly faint rainbow pattern on the top of the oil. Pretty subtle, but it was there. Seemed like some signs of accumulated fuel in the oil from prior experience over 100 or more oil changes I've done in 40 years.

Though little discussed, 504 in turn really takes a very low sulphur fuel spec like in Europe. I am comfortable CA has that as part of the special CA formulation that is among the drivers of gas here being more expensive than national average; last I looked it was still sort of vague if rest of country had made the switch to the (yet) lower sulphur spec, both the states that follow the CARB CA emissions specs, and those that use the looser ones. They were supposed to by early 2017 IIRC. Audis are all built to the CA spec so are 50 state complaint, but you still want the gas formulation to be compatible with a 504 oil if used. The gas spec and the emissions requirements overlap here for things like longevity of emissions components, but then they also tie into the oil spec choices in an obscure way. For more info, search web and a few deep search BITOG threads.

Interesting, and thank you for sharing. You should have sent a sample of that last oil change to blackstone. I think I will send them a sample when I do my next change.

[Gonzoe11]

YES - Blown turbos
2014 S7 44k miles on a stage 2 tune.


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[Cris_OO7]

Yes - Blown turbos

2013 S6 42k miles


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[brian_216]

Add me to the list. 95k miles. Stock units. Let go on the ride home today. And I just filled my tank.

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[zcd2.7t]

91.67% with no issues.

[1975audi]

YES - Blown turbos
2014 S7 44k miles on a stage 2 tune.


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Same here but with unitronic stage 2 . Did the dealership help out at all?

[digdah]

Just dropped mine off to have them look into this gunk. Coolant was below the minimum level this weekend I and I had to top it off. Hopefully I won't have to add my name to the blown TTs

Screenshot_20180509-105848_Gallery.jpeg

[cobrario]

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bi3JCWkg...bbitmotorsport

saw this yesterday- SRM now has an alternate solution to replacing the entire assembly- drop in replacement wheels save a ton of money for those not interested in going stage 3- Supposedly more will be on their website soon.