Mark 7 GTI turbo problems

[itpesaf]

Hey All,
I have just bought myself a mark 7 golf GTI and after doing a lot of reading online (probably something I should have done before purchasing) I have started to become a little scared of turbocharger failures/issues...

My car has done 69k km and has full history with all receipts etc., It has a racingline stage 1 tune with heavy duty clutch, however it is a MY14 which I have read was a problem year for the turbos. I have also confirmed that my turbo is one of the ones that were affected.

Question is - is there anything I can do to help mitigate the risk of turbo failure? Is installing a new turbo hard or is this something that needs to be done with a mechanic (I have done oil changes etc in the past)?

Would be good to hear from others out there with the early mark 7 models, I love the car and it drives great, just paranoid now that at anytime my turbo may fail and may result in a blown engine

[h100vw]

Its Rs that suffered from turbo failures mostly. Dont worry about it. If youre scared out away a couple of grand as a contingency and live life.
I havent seen a GTI turbo blown personally. Not saying it doesnt happen. But in 3 years at UGP we havent had one

[itpesaf]

Its Rs that suffered from turbo failures mostly. Dont worry about it. If youre scared out away a couple of grand as a contingency and live life.
I havent seen a GTI turbo blown personally. Not saying it doesnt happen. But in 3 years at UGP we havent had one

Cheers mate - would a turbo failure mean just the turbo would need replacing or could it damage the whole engine? (Sorry coming from 10+ years of driving/working on NAs).

From your experience are the mark 7's fairly reliable? There's a lot of variation on the internet with some saying they're fairly bulletproof and others complaining of multiple issues...

[Lucas_R]

Cheers mate - would a turbo failure mean just the turbo would need replacing or could it damage the whole engine? (Sorry coming from 10+ years of driving/working on NAs).

From your experience are the mark 7's fairly reliable? There's a lot of variation on the internet with some saying they're fairly bulletproof and others complaining of multiple issues...

If the turbo hasn't failed by now then you are safe id say. As mentioned above, it was the larger turbo in the R models that had the issue, it wasn't a GTI thing.

And yes the engine is proving to be quite a strong and reliable engine so far, certainly much better than the Mk6 GTI engine was anyway.

[itpesaf]

If the turbo hasn't failed by now then you are safe id say. As mentioned above, it was the larger turbo in the R models that had the issue, it wasn't a GTI thing.

And yes the engine is proving to be quite a strong and reliable engine so far, certainly much better than the Mk6 GTI engine was anyway.

Cheers mate.

I have an opportunity to buy a used IS20 turbo off a newer 2017 model GTI (with 48k km) for a decent price. Would it be worthwhile getting it and changing over the turbo as preventative maintenance? Is it fairly straight forward to replace the turbo and if I have the racingline stage 1 tune will it be affected with a different turbo?

[Lucas_R]

Cheers mate.

I have an opportunity to buy a used IS20 turbo off a newer 2017 model GTI (with 48k km) for a decent price. Would it be worthwhile getting it and changing over the turbo as preventative maintenance? Is it fairly straight forward to replace the turbo and if I have the racingline stage 1 tune will it be affected with a different turbo?

Waste of time/money putting on another turbo unless your original turbo has issues. I highly doubt you will have an issue with your turbo, but if its playing on your mind, keep some $$ aside just in case....although as mentioned I very highly doubt you will have an issue.

To answer the 2nd part of your question, as long as you are replacing the turbo for another of the same model (eg IS20 removed and replaced with another IS20) there is no need to change anything else on the car. But if you replace the IS20 with the larger Golf R turbo (IS3 then yes you would need the tune to be altered (presumably a tune for a Golf R).

[itpesaf]

Waste of time/money putting on another turbo unless your original turbo has issues. I highly doubt you will have an issue with your turbo, but if its playing on your mind, keep some $$ aside just in case....although as mentioned I very highly doubt you will have an issue.

To answer the 2nd part of your question, as long as you are replacing the turbo for another of the same model (eg IS20 removed and replaced with another IS20) there is no need to change anything else on the car. But if you replace the IS20 with the larger Golf R turbo (IS3 then yes you would need the tune to be altered (presumably a tune for a Golf R).

Thanks mate, you've put my mind at ease a little. My main concern after reading a couple of forum posts online where people with failed turbos had to replace their whole engine. I'm guessing this would be very rare occurrence and in most cases a failed/blown turbo will just need a replacement turbo?

[Lucas_R]

Thanks mate, you've put my mind at ease a little. My main concern after reading a couple of forum posts online where people with failed turbos had to replace their whole engine. I'm guessing this would be very rare occurrence and in most cases a failed/blown turbo will just need a replacement turbo?

Very rare indeed. And even if you had what would be considered catastrophic failure of the turbo where the shaft breaks and the compressor wheels breaks into pieces, the pieces would get stuck in the intercooler and highly unlikely to cause damage to the engine. In most cases, even blind (or deaf) freddie would know something was wrong before it got to this stage (eg weird shreiking turbo noise, blue smoke out the exhaust indicating oil being burnt).

Go and enjoy your new car.

[LouieP]

Have not seen is20's fail anywhere except the US for some reason. My gti over in NZ has 115km now and still boosts fluently . Early is38's were problematic. If it does blow go is38, they are something else in a gti haha

[itpesaf]

Have not seen is20's fail anywhere except the US for some reason. My gti over in NZ has 115km now and still boosts fluently . Early is38's were problematic. If it does blow go is38, they are something else in a gti haha

Thanks mate! I'm thoroughly enjoying the car and yeah the forums where I read about the early turbo failures seem to be from the US...

I've got a stage 1 racingline tune on the car (along with the r600 intake/silicon tube, 90o high flow inlet and turbo muffler delete + npc heavy duty clutch) - the car feels ridiculously quick (I think this stage 1 ups the power to the 220-230kw vicinity) and traction kicks in if I press it in 1st or 2nd, is this considered a reliable setup or do stage 1 tunes affect the reliability of the car considerably?

I've come from years of driving NA and the whole notion of being able to up the power from 162kw to 220-230kw with a simple tune is beyond belief for me haha!

[spellbound]

Thanks mate! I'm thoroughly enjoying the car and yeah the forums where I read about the early turbo failures seem to be from the US...

I've got a stage 1 racingline tune on the car (along with the r600 intake/silicon tube, 90o high flow inlet and turbo muffler delete + npc heavy duty clutch) - the car feels ridiculously quick (I think this stage 1 ups the power to the 220-230kw vicinity) and traction kicks in if I press it in 1st or 2nd, is this considered a reliable setup or do stage 1 tunes affect the reliability of the car considerably?

I've come from years of driving NA and the whole notion of being able to up the power from 162kw to 220-230kw with a simple tune is beyond belief for me haha!

Yep the tune is good fun , did it to a mk5 , mk6 GTI and a Skoda RS never had any issues with APR or any turbo's .
German Auto tied to talk me into doing the Clubsport , but in stock its plenty for an old geeza .
Enjoy the tune and dont worry .

[Lucas_R]

is this considered a reliable setup or do stage 1 tunes affect the reliability of the car considerably?

I've come from years of driving NA and the whole notion of being able to up the power from 162kw to 220-230kw with a simple tune is beyond belief for me haha!

With turbocharged cars there is always untapped power that the manufacturer has left "hidden" as such to account for many reasons, such as:

• Using power figures to place car #1 vs car #2 in its lineup (eg GTI will always be advertised as a lower power option than the Golf R as standard cars in VW's lineup).
• Leaving untapped power so that in a year or two's time, they can offer an updated model with an extra 10-15kw to match new rivals
• Allowing for people who dont service the vehicle regurarly and who dont run 98 octane fuels, so that the vehicle remains essentially foolproof.

This leaves the aftermarket tuning companies with an opportunity to push the engine some more and release some of this hidden power, all while making sure they don't push things too far where they are adversely affecting reliability. Stage 1 and 2 tunes are generally considered extremely safe.