Loose Turbo Bolts - growing problem

[Blitzen]

What about brass bolts? Because they heat up at a different rate that that of the metal of the Turbo, they bind tighter. We use the brass nuts on the Turbo to Exhaust Manifold bolts on trucks. You could try that or lock tabs. I have a Polo GTI too, and now I'm worried

[PoloGTi]

Well mine are loose 4th time not just on 43k i have tried taking it up with vw Aus and got bugger all reply.
My car is just out of warrenty Vw refuses to fix.
Please does any one know of a solid fix?
This is stupid im over this prob.
This time the car threw an exhaust fault on the dash too.
Help any one?

[DaveMack]

Check with Guy_H ... may have developed something when he was racing / enjoying his Pogo.

Dave

[mikepologti]

has anyone leveled down on exactly what causes this. is it simply down to expanding and retracting bolts under heat, that rattle free?

[Kai]

Im still yet to have this problem.

weird?

[gtimk5]

I am wondering if the housings are warped on the cars affected?
Guy hasnt found any suitable replacement bolts....

[Petrina Polo]

Hi,

when I cold start my car, it sounds much louder and then maybe 20 seconds later it goes quiet and back to normal..

Is this the turbo bolt problem?

Ill ring VW straight away if so. Car holds boost when warm and goes fine.

[Guy_H]

Petrina, sounds like your car has started to suffer from it....

From all the research we did (and at the time - it was a lot) - it happens on cars that are driven hard. The standard exhaust flex in the downpipe is quite short & inflexible & hard acceleration / deceleration puts a lot of stress on the exhaust flex (and this is directly connected to the turbo charger), and over time, this helps to loosen the bolts (ie: the exhaust is pulling directly on the turbo).

We did a lot of checking on the manifold, bolts, turbo brackets & supports comparing them also to Audi A3 Turbo, Golf IV GTI which run a VERY similar setup, but almost never have this bolt problem.

It also seems to be more prevalent on cars driven on the track (lots of acceleration / deceleration) and they also have a lot of heat cycles (cooling down from red hot).

Now a dog bone mount helps a lot, as does an aftermarket downpipe with a good flex, but we also found, that once the factory bolts come loose, re tightening them is only a temporary fix (until the next big heat cycling time).

Proper installation of new bolts, gasket & factory paste seems to be the best remedy.

[Petrina Polo]

Ohhhhhh nooo..

If I go to VW, wont they say....

whats this FMIC, whats this bigger downpipe and exhaust....

thats whats caused it.. now hand over the $$$ to fix it?

How much is it to have it rectified at an APR dealer?

I dont want to be going off and pulling my FMIC off and then the downpipe etc just to have my bolts tightened up/replaced.

In saying that my boost gauge shows at the manifold its still seeing 17.5psi?

When I rev the car at idle it sounds like an exhaust leak or like a hyundai getz motor. Like it doesnt want to rev.

On the road its fine and goes well.

[brad]

Hi All.

Someone mentioned aircraft mechanic.... i used to fix aircraft components including a lot of hot section stuff.

You mentioned Inconel bolts - I'm not really sure they are necessary. inconel bolts & wire are crappy stuff to work with too.

I assume you are using a torque wrench on these things?

Any type of spring washer is useless - they will lose their tension very quickly.

lock wiring should work.
20thou stainless wire is easiest to work with & if you do it right the bolts wont move. Access is sometimes hard but you have to be patient & use a proper pair of lockwire pliers. It wasn't unusual to spent 45 minutes doing a single bolt pair in a difficult area and I often spent 8 hours lockwiring a few dozen bolts.



The other thing you might try is to buy or manufacture some tab washers that locate themselves (downbend) on the components and (upbend) against the nut. Bend them up against a flat (or 2) & nothing should move.

Alternately, a locktab runs from bolt to bolt. Something like the top one (CV joint bolts on my MKV were similar but didn't require bending):



Another suggestion is to stake the bolt with a punch - probably a bit light-on for this application though.

[Guy_H]

Ohhhhhh nooo..

If I go to VW, wont they say....

whats this FMIC, whats this bigger downpipe and exhaust....

thats whats caused it.. now hand over the $$$ to fix it?

How much is it to have it rectified at an APR dealer?

I dont want to be going off and pulling my FMIC off and then the downpipe etc just to have my bolts tightened up/replaced.

In saying that my boost gauge shows at the manifold its still seeing 17.5psi?

When I rev the car at idle it sounds like an exhaust leak or like a hyundai getz motor. Like it doesnt want to rev.

On the road its fine and goes well.

Petrina, dont panic - talk to your APR dealer first & then your VW dealer. Many, Many people still get warranty on their cars with aftermarket stuff fitted to the car (even do a search on this forum).

P.S. Doing an internet forum diagnosis is pretty hard - take it to VW or your APR dealer for a diagnosis before jumping to conclusions!

[Petrina Polo]

I have it booked in a VW in 2 weeks so I can get their courtesy car for a thrash.

I will try and hide the mods to the GTi...

[Chipped]

Kai,

I also have not had this prob.......yet.
Ive done 35,000k. APR Chipped, APR DP and HFC, APR Dogmount, Forge TIP etc...ECS perfomance clutch...she has been well worked.
Maybe this problem is possibley specific to a certain manufacture date??
Mine manufactured Nov '05.

[seangti]

When I rev the car at idle it sounds like an exhaust leak or like a hyundai getz motor. Like it doesnt want to rev.

On the road its fine and goes well.

eek, mine sounds like it has a slight exhaust leak when idling too (late 07 build, 16,000km, 1 trackday so far). Can't hear anything when driving. Its only a slight noise at this stage, i've just chosen to ignore it when noticed.

Do these cars generally have a slight exhaust leak noise... Not sure if it's a leak as such though. I've come subaru's so it's all pretty new to me.

[Timbo]

The issue is not so much what to do, or what can be done, but getting at the bolts to do it. It's down the back of the motor, in a small space between the manifold and the firewall. It's very easy to scratch your arm, skin your knuckles... I am finding myself almost unable to resist swearing loudly, just at the memory.

When I researched this, I found it was a relatively common issue on the 1.8T motor (check vortex).

MACCAA fabricated an additional support from the engine block to the turbo housing, but I can't say whether this was a solution.

Basically, I found the best way was regular preventive maintenance, ie, checking the bolts and tightening them periodically; in some cases removing and adding paste. As a result, I now have an enviable collection of 17mm spanners!

Good luck!