[hymas283]

So I was currently Stage 1 APR tune with an APR intake and have drove my R for 5000 miles with no problem. I Installed a Milltek downpipe on it yesterday (Monday 6/29) and had an appointment to have it tuned at my nearest APR dealer (150 miles away) tomorrow (Wednesday 7/1). I called APR tech support before I even installed the downpipe and asked if it was okay to drive it that distance to have it tuned and whoever helped me said "yeah no worries". Long story short I was heading there tonight to visit family and have it tuned tomorrow morning, well I got on the freeway and made it about a mile, literally a mile, before my car lost all boost and starting billowing white smoke.

I limped it back home and hooked my VCDS tool to it and there are no fault codes present other than the emissions code from having a catless downpipe. I data logged it and there is no change in absolute pressure with RPM, and RPM is consistent and motor runs smooth so I'm ruling out a bad cylinder. So I'm curious if anyone has seen this issue before because now I have a new MK7 R with a blown turbo and a lot of questions.

Any advise on what to do would be great, maybe some info from someone at APR? I'm not looking for a handout, just help.

Thanks. :thumbup:

Also, I was not hard on the car, just a constant speed of 75 MPH on the freeway. Wasn't under load when it went.

 

[Recovering Jeep Addict]

I'm a bit of a noob to turbo cars, but I've spent some time as a truck driver, and I sincerely doubt driving a mile with an aftermarket downpipe would make a turbo let go. These things usually let go when they feel like it, and nothing you do will make much of a difference. On the plus side, you didn't get an explosion in your exhaust system from suddenly unburnt fuel. I've seen some pretty spectacular explosions after shutting down a suddenly non-turbo engine.

Next steps will depend on how tune-friendly your dealer is.

Regarding the CEL, with a cat-less downpipe, can the code be avoided by blocking the bung for the downstream O2 sensor and relocating said sensor to the undercarriage? When I was tuning and tweaking Dodge pickups, we did this all the time. Made the ECU read pure air from the downstream sensor and it thought the cat was operating at 100% efficiency.

 

[zed4me]

I believe nik1sub was running stage 1 with a downpipe. He did note that the downpipe made the car feel faster, than did the change from stage 1 to stage 2. Not that it means your failure couldn't be due to the downpipe, but I also doubt that it could make the turbo go so quickly just because you opened up the exhaust side. Hope you get things sorted.. always sad to hear stories like this.

 

[krn737]

Sorry to hear man. What version turbo do you have?

Now I'm paranoid. I have a full APR Stg2 w/intake and a Miltek downpipe.

Good luck with this and keep us in the loop.

The below is from the Golfmk7 forum:

Quote:
Originally Posted by HIpsi View Post
It's 702n
Sorry to hear that OP, 702 N is the second turbo version on the R; these were known to fail on stock cars and your dealer knows this. Your car however was tuned so VW will most certainly not honor the warranty. My guess is yours was going to fail at some point; and the tune has just accelerated the failure.

At this stage, I recommend that your dealer checks for debris in the engine just to make sure you do not need an engine replacement, and if all goes well, you should consider an aftermarket turbo from TTE or the likes, might be even cheaper than the OEM replacement...

Just for reference these are the turbo versions on the golf R:

06K 145 702 J
06K 145 702 N
06K 145 722 A
06K 145 722 H

 

[Recovering Jeep Addict]

Thinking out loud here, and hoping turbo gurus will correct any erroneous thoughts I may have....So we opened up the exhaust side with the downpipe....what does that actually do to the turbo? More airflow, so the turbine will spin a bit faster, meaning more power. A/F ratio will start to get a bit leaner, so ECU will demand more fuel. Depending on IAT sensor location, we could see a massive spike in underhood temperature readings, leaning things out. Mix gets lean, ECU pulls timing, maybe increases fuel, potentially fouling plugs. Weak spark results in inability to burn the mix currently demanded by the ECU, reulting in a rich condition environment where things are actually lean.

I'm trying to apply theory that I've learned to real-world situations, so please feel free to call me out wherever my understanding of ECU behavior wavers.

 

[hymas283]

I will keep you guys updated. Where can I find the version of my turbo? I would like to check it. I thought those problem where only in the early turbos.


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[krn737]

http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10127

One of the guys posts a picture to show where to take a video/photo with your phone

 

[brekdown29]

That really sux man. I would flash it back to stock as well as put everything else back to stock and hopefully your dealer works with you. Like someone else said more than likely the turbo was defective in some way and the tune only accelerated the failure.

Also curious where to find the turbo revision code on the turbo. If it's the same as the GTI then I think it's on the underside of the turbo itself and you need either a mechanics mirror or some dexterity and luck with a camera phone to see it.


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[nikhsub1]

FV-QR

That does suck. I am running APR stage 2 with a catless Milltek DP... I ran with stage 1 (test pipe file) for about a month before stage 2 was ready - I ran it hard for some logging, no issues so far. I ran at the track a few weeks ago, it was hot and I ran the car hard. Who did the DP swap? Seems odd that it went kaboom right after the DP was put on - maybe was something with the install? Maybe coincidental, not sure. I hope you get it worked out though - sorry for the trouble

 

[hymas283]

I installed it myself, my dad owns a Honda dealership so I have lift access and it wasn't too bad to do. So I don't think the install was an issue. Just seems really weird to have this issue, I knew people had ran that DP on a stage 1 file for a while without issue. I still had a bad feeling about it that's why I called APR about it and asked to make sure,and sure enough my turbo blows. I doubt my dealer will do anything they are not helpful at all. I'm looking at maybe parking it and waiting for APR stage 3. I figured I'd call APR tomorrow and see if I could get any info about time of release. Maybe a beta kit or something. If it costs 1500-2000 to replace the stock one it's worth the wait to just do it right and put APR parts on it.

Just don't really want it to be down for 6 months, but it happens and I can't do much. I'm calling my dealer tomorrow, but flashing back to stock isn't really an option. My dealer is 100 miles away and my APR dealer is 150 away so it would be a pain to tow it all over for the off chance they help me.


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[afrost]

The ECU looks pretty easy to pull in this car, just mail it to APR and they will program it back to stock.

As for the VW dealer, I think we have free roadside assistance for the first year, I'd call VWoA to see if they can have it towed to the VW dealer.

 

[cantgetenoughmk7r]

You have me worried now too. Just put in my apr stage 2 and dp. I have a 722H turbo so I hope it holds. You need to tell us what one you have that went bad to open that can of worms.

 

[jsharp4684]

You should be seeing underboost faults with a bad turbo. Also, most of the time, it is oil (not coolant) that leaks into the exhaust and smokes to high heaven, when you have a blown turbo.

 

[reallypeacedoff]

As for the VW dealer, I think we have free roadside assistance for the first year, I'd call VWoA to see if they can have it towed to the VW dealer.

I was led to believe it was first 3 years? Just call VWoA and say you driving the car down the highway and a plume of white smoke came out the back. I'm sure they will come pick it up. Unfortunately, tuning will (70% sure) void any warranty, most likely as the dreaded TD1 code will show up.

 

[MN Mongo]

no codes? the white smoke is concerning, but i'm assuming a truly blown turbo would throw codes all over.

 

[[email protected]]

.....

I limped it back home and hooked my VCDS tool to it and there are no fault codes present other than the emissions code from having a catless downpipe. I data logged it and there is no change in absolute pressure with RPM, and RPM is consistent and motor runs smooth so I'm ruling out a bad cylinder. So I'm curious if anyone has seen this issue before because now I have a new MK7 R with a blown turbo and a lot of questions.

Any advise on what to do would be great, maybe some info from someone at APR? I'm not looking for a handout, just help.

Thanks. :thumbup:

Also, I was not hard on the car, just a constant speed of 75 MPH on the freeway. Wasn't under load when it went.

Talk to me goose... : Car idles smooth and fine? How bad was limping home?

Two thoughts:
1. When the turbo in my MK7 GTI went, it was without any warning, highway cruising. I actually didn't see any smoke at the time. But man it was the WORST feeling trying to limp it off the road, and I only went about 600ft. NO power, struggle-bus noises, and I shut it down and waited for a tow.
2. When my R was stock (pre APR tune release) I installed my downpipe. WOT and 90mph would limp mode the car and shut it down - same feel as turbo. Turned it off, and back on, problem went away... until I did the 90mph thing again. Post tune, that problem went away.

Pull your intake off, remove the elbow, and use your phone to take a pic down in there. If it's toasted, you should see a trashed wheel.

In which case, worst timing + a little extra strain on an already weakened (read: was gonna fail regardless) turbo may have been the correlation.

 

[reallypeacedoff]

no codes? the white smoke is concerning, but i'm assuming a truly blown turbo would throw codes all over.

When you tune, you will throw a TD1 which gets sent to VW automatically and is basically a red flag straight up for VW in Germany that the car has been chipped. Unfortunately, a dealer can not bypass this and if they decide to risk fixing it for you, they could be the ones paying for the issue. Likely they won't and so you will have to pay for it.

Fortunately, sounds like you have a positive attitude and are able to let the car sit while (hopefully) a Stage 3 comes out. Kinda killing two birds with one stone albeit with a wait of not driving it in the meantime.

 

[MN Mongo]

When you tune, you will throw a TD1 which gets sent to VW automatically and is basically a red flag straight up for VW in Germany that the car has been chipped. Unfortunately, a dealer can not bypass this and if they decide to risk fixing it for you, they could be the ones paying for the issue. Likely they won't and so you will have to pay for it.

Fortunately, sounds like you have a positive attitude and are able to let the car sit while (hopefully) a Stage 3 comes out. Kinda killing two birds with one stone albeit with a wait of not driving it in the meantime.

at no point did I mention anything about warranty or TD1. I'm saying i'm not convinced the turbo let go, since a VCDS scan revealed nothing other than an emissions code.

 

[IanCH]

When you tune, you will throw a TD1 which gets sent to VW automatically and is basically a red flag straight up for VW in Germany that the car has been chipped. Unfortunately, a dealer can not bypass this and if they decide to risk fixing it for you, they could be the ones paying for the issue. Likely they won't and so you will have to pay for it.

Fortunately, sounds like you have a positive attitude and are able to let the car sit while (hopefully) a Stage 3 comes out. Kinda killing two birds with one stone albeit with a wait of not driving it in the meantime.

Only if they scan you with software installed... if he flashes to stock, the TD1 will not be found.

OP - we need to know 2 things:

1) per John, is the turbo actually blown? will be evident

2) whats your build date and turbo revision?

 

[[email protected]]

I almost want to blindly state that if you're not sure if its blown.. It's not. God it was an awful feeling. Like hitting a bunny on the highway. Just "NOOOOOOOOOoooooooawwww man."