Northwarks Posted July 2, 2017 Posted July 2, 2017 So yesterday was a big day for my son, he took his 10month old Polo GTI for a remap, after the usual health checks and stock run all was fine, they applied their 'stage 1' base map as a starting point ran it up and the turbo bearings failed instantly. They are a VW specialist tuners and have done 'thousands' of remaps and have never seen this before - if this was a 10 year old car with crazy mileage I could understand I guess. How rare is turbo bearing failure ? Quote
Dommo Posted July 2, 2017 Posted July 2, 2017 At 10 months? Very. I'd presume the turbo suffered oil starvation given you've described the failure as instant. And oil starvation on a 10 month old car? That's surprising too. The other alternative is the remap somehow removed an overboost protection and the ECU bled off too much air from the wastegate actuator but if it's a reputable tuner who genuinely has done loads before that wouldn't be likely. But then - none of it is likely! Yet it still happened. Quote
Kit Car Electronics Posted July 2, 2017 Posted July 2, 2017 Sorry to hear that. During development, VW will have used turbos instrumented with speed sensors and carefully set boost limits to stay within the agreed turbo supplier limits. No matter how 'reputable' an after market chip tuner might appear, unless it's a VW approved conversion, it will be done without any of the usual detail that is needed for reliability. Unlucky to fail so quickly, but I'd say fully the fault of the tuner if it isn't VW approved, although they likely will claim no responsibility. Quote
Arm Posted July 2, 2017 Posted July 2, 2017 Turbo oversped . Simple. And i bet they havnt done thousands of these. Id be asking them to fix it at their cost. 1 Quote
XTR2Turbo Posted July 2, 2017 Posted July 2, 2017 I have a 1.8 polo gti. It is not the same as the engine in the Golf. It has a very modern compact head and turbo manifold arrangement. They haven't sold many and I doubt there is that much experience of tuning them. There are reports of turbo failures and oil usage on forums following remap of this engine. I really wouldn't let my car go anywhere near these hot rod tuners. If the map wasn't VW / TUV approved I would stay well clear. The car is a nice enough package as standard anyway. Gutting for your son though. Quote
Northwarks Posted July 2, 2017 Author Posted July 2, 2017 They said the turbo is Chinese made and they can suffer from quality control . . . The map is one they have used on identical stock engines with no issue, I'm hoping there was an underlying issue that putting it under some stress broke it. It's sat at a main dealer at the moment in stock setup as it's under warranty, I've got to have that awkward conversation tomorrow am as the bank of dad ... it's one of those things, I tweaked every car I owned at his age so hard to criticise his decision, especially when he knows I can't leave the Westfield alone, thenPolo is actually a great little car as it was but you can't tell him Quote
John K Posted July 2, 2017 Posted July 2, 2017 Really sorry to hear this as its likely to put him of tweaking for a long time. As per XTRs post, they may have done 100's of remaps, but to claim 1,000's and lot of experience with this engine might have been a bit of BS. And that's why if I ever tweaked the Fister, it would be a Mountune job as they are Ford warrantied. Good luck on getting them to hold up their hands. Quote
Kit Car Electronics Posted July 2, 2017 Posted July 2, 2017 It's not your son's fault, these chip 'tuners' have a great marketing machine behind them. They make money, regardless of the cost to the manufacturer who picks up the 'warranty' repair bill and will be busy investigating an early life turbo failure oblivious to the real cause of failure. As John says, stick to the manufacturer approved upgrades on a new car... Quote
Arm Posted July 2, 2017 Posted July 2, 2017 Made in China. When it comes off let me have the part number and I can see which plant its made in. But does sound like BS. Quote
John K Posted July 2, 2017 Posted July 2, 2017 11 minutes ago, Arm said: ... and I can see which plant its made in ... And that is called insider knowledge Quote
Northwarks Posted July 2, 2017 Author Posted July 2, 2017 Ok,so an update, seems turbo bearing failure in the polo gti is a thing, he's been trawling the forums and YouTube today for information and it's not uncommon. It looks like VW replace them with a different part number. No idea how to find out where they are made ! Quote
CosKev Posted July 3, 2017 Posted July 3, 2017 Luckily for him/you they won't look into it too much as it's common! Quote
Northwarks Posted July 3, 2017 Author Posted July 3, 2017 An update - all covered by warranty, confirmed excessive movement in turbo. New updated turbo on back order. He now has the curtesy car of shame to deal with - VW Up 2 Quote
John K Posted July 3, 2017 Posted July 3, 2017 28 minutes ago, Northwarks said: An update - all covered by warranty, confirmed excessive movement in turbo. New updated turbo on back order. He now has the curtesy car of shame to deal with - VW Up Result..! Go on... Chip the Up, you know you want to... 2 Quote
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