Problems with my Skoda Laura. And the resolution.

[GTO]

Inspite of inputs from Androdev & GTO, and a fair bit of net research am still not really clear on how to avoid blowing ones Turbo on a Laura, and the specific care that needs to be taken for the same.

1. Ensure 60 seconds idling before shutting the engine, and first thing in the morning.

2. Don't overshoot any oil change interval.

3. Don't high-revv!

[whatcanthisbe]

for point Number one that GTO Mentioned there are automated cutoffs available in the us so even if you switch it off right away it would keep the oil circulating and prevent damage to the turbo.... my q i this is great for cars with after maket turbos fitted but shouldnt cars with turbos installed from the manufacturer come with this built in ??

[ecclipse78]

Hi,

Are you referring to a turbo-timer ?

I think if you follow what GTO recommends, your turbo should be fine.

Don't push your car for the first few mins of a cold-start up. Let the engine get warmed up and reach optimum temperature. Similarly, try and idle the engine for at-least 60 secs, especially if you have really pushed your car hard.

[androdev]

ACM:
Few points:

The first ownership is an unknown here. High-revving when the engine is cold, or always driving below 1300RPM (where turbo is not used) are not good for turbo.

We don't know what the problem was with the failed turbo. Most Indian dealers replace the part when a simple repair would do. They don't even open the turbo to find what is wrong. It could be as simple as opening the turbo and cleaning the exhaust soot + oil paste thats blocking free movement of turbo parts. Can you find out from the dealer what the problem is? Did the shaft break, did the bearing seize, or the vanes got damaged? Knowing the exact problem will help you find the cause behind it.

These factory fitted turbos are wonderful devices, precision engineered and highly tuned to suit your engine. Driving in "sports" mode (2500 to 3500RPM) is very good for the turbo, engine and its other parts such as EGR, DPF, etc. In fact, it is a problem if you don't drive in high RPM frequently - which makes turbo diesels bad city drivers in India and excellent highway cruisers. Only thing is you should let it "warm-up" before taking it above 2000RPM and "cool-down" before switching off the engine. No need to idle if you run the last 2-3KM below 1300RPM.

Of course, be very very careful with oil. Use the proper spec. Change as per recommendation. Check oil level often to see if the engine is consuming more than it should.

turbocharger theory

This site has very good info on your car (called A5 platform)

[ACM]

Thanks, Androdev, Ecllipse78, & GTO.

Things are clearer

Assuming the To Do List is:

1) Stick to Oil Change Intervals - Would anyways do it.

2) Let it Idle for 60 sec on reaching destination. Was not done earlier, will do it going ahead.

3) Not rev it hard. ???? and yet drive in the Power band between 2000 to 3500. It is do able, actually the Auto does not let one take it to 4000rpm at all even in sport mode unless one goes into Kick down mode and stays there for long.

4) Not drive in low rev, below 1300 all the while - One tends to do this by default in the skoda as it seems to be the smoothest here and easily gets to 80Kph in city. Infact it drives one to sleep (auto drive mode) reaching the destination without realizing it.

Actually thinking about it I possibly do all the right things in the Safari (pre dicore model) due to the restricted power band and constantly use the turbo as well as drive it hard all the time so that may have kept the turbo fine though I did need to rework on the engine at 140K.

By the way the Service centre guys replaced both the turbo & the Intercooler, dont know if they are distinctly separate units or closely connected in the Laura. Possibly a defect in the intercooler could have damaged the turbo, dont know if it true in reverse.

Yet am a bit edgy for now and do react to all sounds from the engine by muting the Deck to check out if things are fine. Let see how things go.

[GTO]

3) Not rev it hard. ????

That would predictably be a problem with an enthusiast. What we meant was don't redline (if you can resist).

[ACM]

[Hi! Just took my Laura for the 5th Service at 38,000 Kms. [/FONT][/SIZE]
[

Thought that since this Tread is about Long Term Ownership an update was due

One slowly starts to appreciate the benefit of a Car that lets the Driver know when the next service is due; both in terms of giving prior warning pretty much like a countdown as also making it very clear when the times up that one needs to “Service Now”.

The Last Service cost about Rs. 8250 and this one cost Rs. 8700 odd. The difference this time as that a Scan Charge was added besides the cost of certain items went up marginally. (Service Included Oil change, Fuel Filter, Diesel Filter, Pollen Filter, Air Filter, Washer Fluid

Got the Service done at JMD Bhandup Centre (Mumbai) the last one was done at JMD Andheri Centre (Mumbai).

Had started this tread with all that went wrong with the car just before the warranty expired, and how I happened to be lucky enough to get all the errors rectified under warranty at no cost

This time round now that I am out of warranty, was a bit unsure of how the experience would go and wondered if I would be piled on with suspension or other items that needed replacement. (Actually a misplaced worry this time round

Requested for a Standard Service and asked for a specific check of the brake pads, which they adjusted and refitted and informed me that they would last till one more service and hence did not need to be replaced. Also checked with them on the tyre condition and again was informed that these too would last till at least 46000 kms

Had given the car in the morning and was expecting it back in the evening but a surprise lay ahead when in the afternoon I received a call asking me where I had filled Diesel. It seems that after the Oil and Filter change when they restarted the car it was missing a beat and giving out white smoke. They suspected fuel adulteration

Though I maintained that fuel had been filled at a good outlet, they emptied out the fuel and check with some diesel that they had with them. Yet the problem remained, then they checked the Turbo, which thankfully was fine, this was followed by a check of the Timing system which too was found to be fine, and finally they checked the Injectors that were found have been blocked with some finer particles than caught by the fuel filter. They cleaned the injectors and the car was again running smoothly. (By the way I did tell them that I felt that the Injectors could be blocked due to dust in the fuel.) Anyways this meant that the Car was delivered only the next day

Overall, I was quite satisfied with the service, and they did not charge anything extra for the Injector cleaning bit. I was ofcourse relieved that the white smoke was not due to something seriously wrong with the engine. Also the JMD service as usual was very nice and the experience while waiting in the lounge was quite pleasant. So alls well that ends well

Note from Mod - please do not copy from a formatted Word File- I wasted 10 min cleaning the post up

[androdev]

Originally Posted by ACM

One slowly starts to appreciate the benefit of a Car that lets the Driver know when the next service is due; both in terms of giving prior warning pretty much like a countdown as also making it very clear when the times up that one needs to “Service Now”.

If you press and hold the trip/clock knob for a couple of seconds, it shows the distance and time to next service. The trip distance will temporarily become 0.0 but it will return to the original value once the service information is displayed.