Is my motor stuffed [thanks for the xmas present son]

[Supramonsta]

Grrrrrr. My 17 year old son took my 07 GT TDi BMM and thrashed the arse off it [after he just blew up the last car i purchased for him].

I'll cut to the chase. Took me a while to diagnose the issue only because I was chasing an electrical fault, but no....the little ^%&* had snapped the turbo shaft [cant categorically blame him for that] and CONTINUED TO DRIVE AS HARD AS HE COULD [can kill him for that....yeah sorry admin] until it sucked that much oil into the intercooler that it blocked the air intake and stalled the motor. The intercooler had about 2.5 litres of oil in it, the motor had about 2 litres.

Now I am debating how much oil was gone out of the motor when it died, the only reason being is there was oil just at the bottom of the dipstick while I had being trying to find the fault. The car was sitting nose downhill a bit and im not sure where the bottom of the dipstick sits in the sump and what negative/positive effect that had on the oil level......BUT, I put about half a litre in it and jacked it up level [so as i could get underneath] and checked and could still see oil on the dipstick....not quite to the low level. After this i started the car briefly....and now I cant see any oil on the dipstick. Can a totally stuffed turbo dump huge amounts of oil into the cold side intercooler pipe in seconds? Some where about half a litre went missing I cant find, unless its in the intake. This makes me wonder how long he drove it after the shaft broke? [I cant get the truth out of this kid...so its all conjecture]

SO ....I finally decide to look at the mechanical [remembering I had turned it over numerous times trying to start it [20?] and checked the ASV. With the intake pipe off so i could see the flap I tried to start it and BOOM....it fired straight away and idled. Obviously sounded like a tractor with the intake pipe off. I only let it run for 5? seconds.....and shut it down, but i did start it again and hook the intake pipe up and it immediately starved for air and died. YES DUMB.....

So pulled all the necessary crap off and air filter full of oil, and turbo shaft on compressor snapped and shaft nut nearly off. Gutted.

Drained intercooler cold side of oil, and ran it through a sieve. A few tiny flecks of metal, one about 2-3mm long.

Drained engine oil [these bloody motors don't have a magnetic sump plug???????] and unfortunately forgot to clean the oil container first so unsure of what metal was already in there as to what was new.....but TBH there wasn't much. A couple of bits you would worry about if they were circulating your engine, but no major destruction. And I cant be certain they weren't trapped in the oil filter housing [which I had already removed the filter from]

Next...I took ran a strong magnet around the recess at the bottom of the oil filter housing. I got about half a fingernail of iron filings. Now these are likely from a lifetime of oil changes....who runs a magnet around there during oil changes, and the weight means they just sit there I imagine.

SOOOOO.... Do you think its worth replacing the Turbo? The motor went like a dream and its got 238km on it. Its had a very good dpf delete and egr/blank. Im interested in peoples thoughts on whether the engine will still be alright, and how deep a hole I should dig in the garden for my son?

Is it a major to change the turbo [these are the ones with the integrated exhaust manifold] PITA!

I would appreciate anyone's advice..... thanks neighbours

[Hillbilly]

how deep a hole I should dig in the garden for my son?


Well if you lay him down about 3 ft is deep enough if you stand him up will be 6 ft so not worth it. Suggest he buys a bike. If you dont want him to get up about 4 in of concrete will do LOL

[Sharkie]

SOOOOO.... Do you think its worth replacing the Turbo? The motor went like a dream and its got 238km on it. Its had a very good dpf delete and egr/blank.

Is it a major to change the turbo [these are the ones with the integrated exhaust manifold] PITA!

I would appreciate anyone's advice..... thanks neighbours

Turbo change it self is quite easy, bolt the new 1 on following the exact steps to bolt off the old 1 in reverse. If you get the part number off the old turbo Dr Google will help you find a replacement. Probably quite a few around on the net, but beware a 2nd hand 1 (which does not hurt the pocket as much) comes with its own problems. A new 1 may be cheaper found overseas (remember to add shipping costs in your calcs) rather than local. VW has a factory in China so quite a few OEM parts can be found there (AliExpress) far cheaper than anywhere else.

[Sharkie]

If you want to stick with another VW for your son, I'd suggest a circa 2010 VW Polo 1.4 petrol. No turbo, no power, but still decent handling and safety. Can upgrade the tech (radio with CarPlay) nicely. Engine is relatively bullet proof. Anything else he would probably just break ...

[DV52]

Supramonsta: Hi - bummer about the car (parenting ain't easy)

Hmm............... yes, I would probably try a new turbo (as per @sharkie sage advice) - but in all truth, I suspect that your focus regarding fixing the engine on this car pales into insignificance compared to the much larger question here!!

There are some exceedingly fundamental issues entwined in the opening sentence of your back-story that speak volumes about stuff that's way beyond the role of this forum. Especially since it appears that this ain't the first case of engine abuse.

The appropriate question for the future is -why? If the reason is because of a lack of knowledge - this can be easily fixed. If it's something else, then................................!

Don

PS: Before you decide to throw money at this problem - perhaps grab a SCAN report using a good diagnostic device - to confirm how the modules in the car feel about the damaged engine!

Even if you don't own a diagnostic device - it's probably still worth the effort to get a SCAN as a baseline for the overall health of the car - given the severity of the engine damage. If you are not aware, this forum has a "pimping" facility that unites consenting members that own a scan-tool with colleagues seeking the service. As I say, worth the effort IMO as an early indicator of the size of this problem