2000 Seat Leon TDi 110 turbo collapse

[Antimus]

My nice Leon died on Friday.
Was driving it along, put my foot down, and a FOOM sound happened, car died, weird, started it up again and it was really rattly, revs bouncing up and down, drove it to the side of the road, no more than a minute, then billows of white smoke poured out of the exhaust so I turned the engine off.
Had a look around, under the bonnet looked ok, opened oil cap, smoooooke, closed it.
Weird I though
Tried to start the engine, and instead of the wha-wha-wha-wha-start sound, I got a single wha, that was is
tried again, wha, that was it.
got it towed to the local garage, they said the turbo had collapsed, one of the propelloers was bent, but not broken off.
Now, they quoted £1000 for a new turbo and fitting, but couldn't guarantee that the engine would still work, I asked if they could run the engine and bypass the turbo to see if the engine was ok, they said they couldn't.
Surely that's not right? I just need someone to back me up here, if the garage rips the turbo out and sties to start the car, if the engine is ok, it'll start, right? or am I totally wrong and the garage is right?

 

[Muttley]

Smoke out of the oil cap is not a good sign.

White smoke out of the exhaust will have been oil from the turbo bearing. There's a good chance all your oil has gone, meaning bearing failure as you continued to run it. Didn't the oil light come on? Is there any oil showing on the dipstick?

Catalyst will be covered in oil and may be unrecoverable, but that's the least of your worries.

You're looking at an engine strip to see if the bearings are ok, but the fact that you couldn't get it to turn over is worrying. Maybe something inside the engine has broken, and the bits bent the turbine blades on the way out. At the very least you'll need to get the head off.

I think the garage is right to say they can't make any assessment of the condition of the engine as it stands.

In answer to your question, it isn't impossible to run a turbodiesel engine without a turbo in place, but the ecu will be confused. The turbo is in both the inlet and exhaust tracts, so removing it will mean unrestricted exhaust out of the bottom of the car and no boost, no MAF reading and no air filtration.

This is the car you had mapped to 155 bhp by Celtic Tuning?

 

[Antimus]

That would be the same car yes. The oil light didn't come on, but the garage did mention that it had eaten all the oil from the engine.
Well, given that the cost of the work would be more than the value of the car, this just isn't my day is it.

 

[Andrewcupra TDI]

could it be put down the map ??? surely a turbos not that much to buy , i see them for sale on the ukmkiv forum all the time , , other thing would be to look for a write off and get the enginge

 

[Antimus]

If I could prove the engine is working fine then I'd be up for getting a reconditioned turbo but the garage is still saying they can't prove it works without fitting a replacement turbo for the one that's blown, and I'm not willing to spend £500-£1000 on a new turbo to find that the engine is screwed.
Just sounds a bit like they're having me on...

This car's been a bit of a pain for me so I'm wanting to get rid of it anyway, no matter if it's fixable or not, replacing the engine will probably cost more than the car is worth to sell.

 

[Nev_LCR]

you will make more money breaking it, doors, wings, boot, seats, i did that with a saxo and made more money then selling it mint, got rid of it quicker aswell.

 

[Antimus]

if only I had a garage or the skill to do that
If I started dismantling my car in my neighborhood I'd get a swift visit by the police and an eviction notice from my landlord, heh.

 

[Antimus]

so would it do any (more) damage to the engine to try running it without the turbo? sure it's unfiltered air but as it'll be for maybe a few seconds to see if the engine runs, would it be that bad?

 

[Leon03]

the engine will defo run without the turbo goin lad. iv a 110 myself and the turbo blew and i was still able to drive it home no prob but there wasnt any power, the car was just like a straight diesel. cost £75 for a second hand turbo and its runin like a clock sice no problem. £1000 far too steep 4 a turbo!!

 

[Robb1990]

IMO its unlikely to start with so many sensors not taking a reading, to be perfectly honest though you dont need to actually run the thing. disconnect the pump cut-off solenoid and crank the engine on the starter (fill the oil up first). If it spins, check the compression on each cylinder. your then ruling out any siezure and it will let you see if your oil pressure is coming up (the oil light will stay on/buzz if it doesnt come up) If you get compression, valves arnt damaged, and if spins without a nasty rattle or clunking then bearings should be fine. If it was spinning and getting compression over all 4 cylinders i would just get a re-con turbo from ebay ect it shouldnt set you much over £300 and will come with 12 months like a new part.

 

[sssstew]

the engine will defo run without the turbo goin lad. iv a 110 myself and the turbo blew and i was still able to drive it home no prob but there wasnt any power, the car was just like a straight diesel. cost £75 for a second hand turbo and its runin like a clock sice no problem. £1000 far too steep 4 a turbo!!

75 quid for a turbo?!!

 

[Robb1990]

£75 will be off a scrapper. No other way. second hand ebay will be at least £150 from a breaker, re-con will be £300-500, then brand spanker £800+

 

[brad1]

ive got a 110 turbo for sale if your interested

 

[Antimus]

Bit of thread necromancy, forgive me.

Left the car with the garage I bought it from, they've come to the conclusion that the engine and turbo are both dead and need replacing.

Someone has offered him £350 for the car. Should I just take it and cut my losses or wait for a better offer? the rest of the car is in good nick, I was hoping for more like £500 but that might be optimistic.

any opinions are welcome, I just want this fiasco over and done with.

 

[Robb1990]

ASV engines are pretty easy to come by so i would just get a new lump for it.

 

[Antimus]

don't have the cash to spend on it, or the time really. I've got a new car, I just need to get rid of the Leon and lose as little cash on it as possible. If it's easy to get an ASV engine, should I be looking for more cash for the shell than £350?

 

[Robb1990]

It depends, id say 350 isnt much for a shell with no problems and just needing a new engine. someone will have a right bargain, but then again, i dont buy these things....

 

[Antimus]

ok, I thought it was pretty cheap, but I don't buy these things either

Anyone have an idea what I should be expecting to get for it? £500ish?

 

[schmidhead]

same problem

I had the exact same problem on thursday. Lost the turbo and the engine Seat says that all of the oil disappears from the engine in no time and ciao........they frightened me with the cost of a new engine BUT found relatively cheap engines at the wreckers. good luck with your problem. I sure need it with mine.

 

[Markyboyt]

I'd imagine the £350 will be someone seeing how cheap they can get it, more than likely someone from the garage, tell them someones offered you 550-600 and if they can beat that they can have it.

As for running a diesel after turbo failure, not recommended as if it starts sucking the oil in it can run on its oil and will rev usually until game over point, obviously thats with the turbo and everything still intact, robb1990 is correct about gaining a better assessment of how the engine is, it won't rule out damage to the piston, head or cylinder from something getting into it but it will tell you if the engine is hydraulic'd or something is a miss. Ask the garage to remove the glow plugs and turn the engine by hand, then if thats ok, cut off the fuel and run it on the starter if thats ok then do a compression check. Biggest part of that will be removing the glow plugs which I have no idea how big a job it is on your engine.