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1.8L Turbo replacement

2353 Views 2 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  juancarlosleon
Hey everyone!

I have a 2002 1.8L beetle with an AWV engine! When I drive my car the turbo smells like oil/burnt oil and when I step on the gas to accelerate the turbo makes this squeaking noise (that we joke sounds like a seagull :ha::ha:). The car takes forever to accelerate!! With that said we believe it is time for a new turbo all together!

Where can I find an O.E. turbo or a very good aftermarket turbo? any tips?
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A quick check; would be to pull off the turbo inlet pipe and check the turbo impeller for play/wear.

For a replacement turbo; rebuild or new seems to be normal options. The Borg Warner K03 is very common turbocharger and getting it rebuilt; would be no problem, many turbocharger specialists do these all the time. They typically tear them down and let you know; if it is rebuildable and worst case scenario, they replace the "center section" and reuse the turbo body parts and you essentially have a new turbo at that point, while reusing the left over castings.

For oem Borg Warner options; they sell their own remanufactured turbos or brand new ones. You might go under your car and get the part number; off your particular turbo and start researching what your options are and what BW has to offer.

Let us know; what direction you want to go: oem new, aftermarket new, aftermarket rebuilt or oem rebuilt/remanufactured.

Typical turbo shops seem to charge somewhere around $300; plus parts for a rebuild and Borg Warner rebuilt/new are in the $700-$1000 range.
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Hello Billymade, I have a 2002 NB Turbo S with a bit of the same problem as ruby (no squeaking yet but there's oil leak coming down from the turbo and oil contamination into the side mounted intercooler).
In my case I'm going to the cheapest route (rebuild), would you suggest any reputable turbo shops? maybe around the bay area?
Thanks to Rubytheorangebug for letting me post in your thread!
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