Anyone know what the typical lifespan is of a K03 turbo?

If worn, what are the symptoms likely to be?

Cheers

No one suggest symptons to look for?

Would smokey on startup and oil in the pancake pipe suggest the turbo is past it's best?

Cheers

 Smoke? what colour? does it smoke only on startup or all the time?

how much oil is in the pancake pipe?

you have to allow for a little oil as the turbo seals are not 100% efficent but at the same time if your getting a cup full of oil out the pankcake pipe then that would suggest turbo seals....

Mine only produced blue smoke after sitting ticking over for a while and when initially pulling away it gave a puff of blue smoke.... the seals were starting to weep so had it rebuilt and its been 100% ever since....

Stuart

Having seen pancake pipes on many mk4 turbos (k03 or k03s) it is normal to have oil contaminating the hot side of the intercooler. So oil in the pancake pipe is no indication of turbo wear or imminent destruction!

Talking to other drivers and reading this forum turbos tend to fail catastrophically with little warning. Shaft movement is probably the only way of measuring "wear" but that involves some dismantling.

Smokes on startup if I've had to crank it a few seconds (Blue) and apparently smells of oil when someone is following.

It's done 156k miles now.

Bext places to buy Ko3 or Ko3s? Can't really have the car off the road to get it rebuilt.

 turbo technics offered me a replacement for £500 plus VAT i think it was and its £195+VAT for a rebuild.... a rebuild took 2 days

the turbo is the easiest thing to assume when blue smoke arrives? may be worth checking a few other things? as if the turbo was worn or passing oil i would imagine it would do it at more than just startup....

Stuart

Cheers for that. May be smoking more, I only notice on startup.

Cheers for the rebuild info.