Blue/Grey smoke from exhaust, even when warmed up

[LC5F]

You could go with just replacement CHRA cartridge as a saving, but can't imagine swapping just that out in situ.

I would say 8 hours is a bit generous - 6 is more like it
I thought everyone in the R of I know someone with a shed...that you could use, that is if not filled with JDM cars?

In case you take it on - the bits I struggled on refitting my turbo were:
-Connecting the oil drain onto the turbo -that F'ing gasket! - next time I would do that off the car, all the other lines were easy.
-I should have removed the turbo support, I left it in place, couldn't seat the manifold properly until I found the problem.
-Wish I had undone the drive shaft from the box earlier, it blocks straight access to several fasteners - in fact do that first.
-Heat shields are a PITA because working blind and weird bolt sizes/locations.

@Pudding - replace oil feed/return?? is there an issue with these?

[pudding]

Good tips for removal    It's a job I have to do myself at some point, so that's helpful.

I'm not aware of any specific issues with the return/feed lines on the TFSI, it's just good practice as on other cars, the feed line can get blocked with baked-in oil deposits over the years, which would obviously wreck a brand new turbo pretty sharpish!  Obviously you can just do a check with an airline or what ever, but on mine I'd just replace both of them.  Fit and forget.  Providing they're not £150 each of course

[LC5F]

OK - on mine I had soaked both lines in degreaser, and left the feed off till last moment filling up the turbo with oil + disconnected the coil packs to crank over a bit to get oil circulating - this was before fitting heat shields & temporary install intake

[OllieVRS]

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll give you a run down of my current options:

1. Take it to mechanic 1, who as you mentioned before probably underestimated the cost at €700. He had no idea that the coolant has to be drained for the job. I tried calling him today to ask about what the job would entail but he was too busy to talk. He would offer a 6 month warranty,

2. Take it to mechanic 2, who would first diagnose whether the turbo is definitely the problem or not for a cost of €85, and then if it's the turbo that needs replacing it would be €885 (including inspection cost), but this also includes the price of necessary gaskets, nuts and studs that would need to be replaced. The turbo used for the replacement would be a "remanufactured, not reconditioned" turbo. He also didn't know that the coolant has to be drained but says they can just block off the line so they don't have to drain it if that's the case. The catch is he'd only have time to do the job after New Years. He would offer a 1 year warranty.

3. Do it myself it outside my house in a shared car park where I've done all the oil pressure fixing up until now and the car would be subject to the risk of contamination of rain. I would need to spend between €150-200 on a floor jack as my current crappy one only barely lifts the wheel off of the ground. I would also need to buy a ratchet strap to pull the engine forwards to get the turbo out. This is obviously the cheapest option as then I can have my current turbo professionally rebuilt for under €150 with a warranty just on the turbo but I would have no guarantee that my reinstallation process will be successful. I also don't have the tools to extract a stud or bolt if it snaps.

I'm gonna order the replacement gaskets, nuts and studs anyway and have them ready no matter what option I choose. I can't find the bolt part numbers for the dogbone mount which you have to take off in order to move the engine forwards, so that'd be great if someone could let me know  . I'll check to see if I can buy those replacement return/feed lines too.

[bobby_fodge]

Whatever option you choose I'd want to be the one buying/supplying the new/recon turbo so you have control over the quality of the turbo.

[LC5F]

2. Take it to mechanic 2, who would first diagnose whether the turbo is definitely the problem or not for a cost of €85, and then if it's the turbo that needs replacing it would be €885 (including inspection cost), but this also includes the price of necessary gaskets, nuts and studs that would need to be replaced. The turbo used for the replacement would be a "remanufactured, not reconditioned" turbo. He also didn't know that the coolant has to be drained but says they can just block off the line so they don't have to drain it if that's the case. The catch is he'd only have time to do the job after New Years. He would offer a 1 year warranty.

He definitely sounds more clued up  - as bobby says:

Whatever option you choose I'd want to be the one buying/supplying the new/recon turbo so you have control over the quality of the turbo.

The fact he's offering a years warranty suggests he is confident the parts installing are of reasonable quality - you could further enquire about where the part is being sourced - plus if he's fully booked into the new year means they are doing something right.

BTW - not that much coolant needs to be drained down - only 1.5 to 2 litres

[OllieVRS]

Come to think of it, mechanic 2 said the turbos come remanufactured from the OEM producer. He didn't mention whether it was Borg Warner or not. He also gave me the option of getting a new OEM turbo but at a price €1800 total, so obviously not going down that route.

I forget to reply to the suggestion of renting a garage/shed to do the work in. Thanks to Dublin's uncontrolled urban sprawl in the early 2000's, not a single house in the area was built with a garage/car sized shed, I'm not even joking. I'd say that route is out of the question unfortunately.

I guess I'll just have to be patient until New Year's then.

Also, before I ended the call with Mechanic 1 he said "I gotta go, I just f*cked something up"  . Maybe it is indeed better to go with the mechanic offering the longer warranty. I'd be looking at other mechanics that are further away but I don't want to be driving the car far when it's blowing oil smoke that could damage the cat.

[Octoparrot]

I'd go for option 2, let them supply the turbo so that if something goes wrong they can't say you bought a dodgy turbo. Most garages I know won't fit customer supplied parts anymore. I think all turbo suppliers insist on the oil feed lines being replaced with proof or they'll declare the warranty void.

[pudding]

Try these guys.  Pricing seemed good last time I looked and 2 year warranty on new units.  https://turbo-diesel.co.uk/

It'll be the same BorgWarner fitted at the factory, just minus the VAG branding.

OK - on mine I had soaked both lines in degreaser, and left the feed off till last moment filling up the turbo with oil + disconnected the coil packs to crank over a bit to get oil circulating - this was before fitting heat shields & temporary install intake

That should be fine then.  I just like to replace stuff that is sensitive to 1000s of heat cycles, like rubber hoses, plastic parts etc etc.  Have you seen Diagnose Dan on YouTube?  He had a Saab 9-3 or something in the workshop that kept eating turbos. Turned out the oil feed line was blocked which previous shops didn't check. This discussion made me think of that, but I've also seen that happen on other brands of turbo engine.

[LC5F]

Option 2 is sounding better.

Plus they guy doesn't want your car sat on a ramp because of a problem part supplied.

I forget to reply to the suggestion of renting a garage/shed to do the work in. Thanks to Dublin's uncontrolled urban sprawl in the early 2000's, not a single house in the area was built with a garage/car sized shed, I'm not even joking. I'd say that route is out of the question unfortunately.

Ah - your in Dublin, mad congestion, all the sheds will have been turned into data centres!

Also, before I ended the call with Mechanic 1 he said "I gotta go, I just f*cked something up" 

Good marketing skills there!

I may be being cynical, but in the UK they make money on the parts, when I use my Halfords trade card I get 2 receipts, one with the true charged amount as much say 80% less on their own products, the other receipt is to give to the customer with full price.
Then there is the VAT, you can charge customer 20% vat, but certain businesses can register to not have to pay the full amount to HMRC - but some some companies may legally pay as little as 12%.to the tax man.

[OllieVRS]

I'd go for option 2, let them supply the turbo so that if something goes wrong they can't say you bought a dodgy turbo. Most garages I know won't fit customer supplied parts anymore. I think all turbo suppliers insist on the oil feed lines being replaced with proof or they'll declare the warranty void.

That's a really good point - I don't think they'd want to install a turbo I bought myself. But what about the replacement gaskets, nuts, bolts, washers and studs? I'll enquire on Monday, but do you think they would bother replacing them unless I provide them to them? I haven't even considered the oil feed lines yet.

I'll hold off on buying those turbo reinstallation parts myself for now until I know more.

Also, it's great to be getting so much advice, thanks again guys 

[OllieVRS]

Got some proper videos of the smoke on cold start, after not being ran for 3 days. Keep in mind it's 5 degrees outside though.

EDIT: I've just noticed there's a strange knocking sound when I start up the car????

Harder to see in this second clip, but about half way through there's a tiny puff of smoke coming from the back of the engine bay, presumably because I reused the same turbo to downpipe gasket when putting the down pipe back on. It's very difficult to spot, a small puff every few seconds. In this video there's a tiny puff at 0:04 on the top right.

[LC5F]

To me the rattle at the start does not sound unusual - just sounds like normal TFSI engine.

Smoke at the back of the engine - likely to be burning off the remains of the penetrating oil - for some reason mine took a day or 2 to stop smoking.

[OllieVRS]

Just found another mechanic a few kilometres into the country side, the owner of the garage does the repair quotes usually and he wasn't there so they'll ring me back when he comes back.  On their website they state "We only use fully accredited OEM parts and lubricants with full warranty", so that's good.

Looking back at the exhaust video I last posted, does the smoke appearing after 35 seconds actually suggest any problem in particular? I'm just paranoid it could be the valve seals or rings.

EDIT: Have dropped off car to mechanic friend who has offered to do it for €750 with 1 year warranty. He'll check if it's the turbo first before replacing anything. If it's the turbo he will have the current turbo rebuilt, and replace the gaskets etc if necessary.

[LC5F]

Yes - I could see the smoke start after a certain time.
Suspect that is just the amount of time it takes to fill up the exhaust.
Runs clear initially as all the smoke particulates will have fallen out of the air when it cooled.