[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.

[personified]

Hi, i was looking at a second hand l & k for around the same age of the car. Any insights to how much the car did cost for the same?

[ACM]

Originally Posted by personified

Hi, i was looking at a second hand l & k for around the same age of the car. Any insights to how much the car did cost for the same?

Hi Personified:
Had bought the Fed 2006 Registered L&K Skoda Laura Auto DSG - Blue coloured Car with 2 months warranty left and 2 months comprehensive insurrance left in mid Dec 2007 for about Rs. 13L.- Cost to original buyer was Rs. 19L+, MH43 registration. With Rs. 10K paid for moderately special number. Scratch Less condition, with 2 installments - (3months) of an annual grooming contract worth Rs. 11K with JMD Service in mumbai still remaining. After initial glitch car now working smoothly - Touch Wood.

[anandbhat]

Got some info from Skoda India customer care! And they respond to mails promptly (with 2-3 days delay ofcourse)!!

Mail response below. He answered my query about Turbo issues and cool-down period!

<<
Dear Mr. Anand Bhat,
Thank you for showing interest in the Laura. We appreciate your initiative to write in to us and express your views. At ©koda, we constantly endeavour to bring to our customers the latest in technological innovations – and our products in India are testimony to it

Kindly be informed that the turbo of the vehicle will kick off at 1400 to 2000 rpm. We would like to bring to your kind notice that almost half of the time turbocharger failures are due to oil related issues. This can be from having contaminated or dirty oil which can scratch or score the bearing and can lead to bearing failure. Another reason could be the lack of oil in the system. The turbocharger runs at very high speed, so the lack of oil will quickly cause overheating and destroy the bearing.

Other problems that can cause Turbo failure are due to inlet restrictions from dirty air filters, collapsed hoses or undersized air pipes. The less air intake by the engine the heat in the exhaust will increase and lead to cracking and scaling of the turbine housing.
Hot engine shut downs can lead to oil leakage by causing oil to coke up in the oil drain and forcing oil out around the turbine and seals.
Foreign objects are another common cause for damage to the compressor or turbine wheels.

You are requested to take certain amount of care while operating the vehicle. Always warm up the engine for 2-5 minutes before throttling up, this will allows proper oil pressure and circulation to be maintained to prevent failures due to oil while placing the engine and turbo under a load. Let the engine idle for about 2 minutes before shutting down, this is called a cool-down time that keeps oil from building up inside the turbo on the wheel and shaft and causing future problems and malfunctions.

We would also like to bring to your kind attention that any component cannot run for the entire life of the vehicle, for that matter no manufacturer can even specify a life cycle of any component, but can only give a warranty period for the components so as not to burden the user with repair costs for a certain period. You are one of our much esteemed customers and you need not have any apprehensions about problems in future as your vehicle will be shielded with our applicable warranty conditions.

You clear all your apprehensions on your concerns, be assured on the Quality of our products and services We hope that we have been able to answer your questions, and we look forward to adding you to our list of esteemed customers.

Please call in if you need any further information.
Good day and safe motoring

Best Regards
XXXXXXXXXX

Customer Care
After Sales
SkodaAuto India Private Ltd.

[personified]

Originally Posted by ACM

Hi Personified:
Had bought the Fed 2006 Registered L&K Skoda Laura Auto DSG - Blue coloured Car with 2 months warranty left and 2 months comprehensive insurrance left in mid Dec 2007 for about Rs. 13L.- Cost to original buyer was Rs. 19L+, MH43 registration. With Rs. 10K paid for moderately special number. Scratch Less condition, with 2 installments - (3months) of an annual grooming contract worth Rs. 11K with JMD Service in mumbai still remaining. After initial glitch car now working smoothly - Touch Wood.

Thanks for the information ACM. One clarification required. Is turbo covered under comprehensive insurance? Because i was looking at making a purchase this coming Jan. Its a choice between a laura and an accord and most of them in the forum are suggesting an accord. Though i love the grunt of the turbo. Hence just required that clarification.

[ACM]

Originally Posted by personified

Thanks for the information ACM. One clarification required. Is turbo covered under comprehensive insurance? Because i was looking at making a purchase this coming Jan. Its a choice between a laura and an accord and most of them in the forum are suggesting an accord. Though i love the grunt of the turbo. Hence just required that clarification.

Turbo though covered under insurance cannot be claimed for unless you actually have an accident or the car gets submerged in a flood etc. If it just conks off then just like an AC or any other part you would not be able to claim it under insurance.

A biker just knocked off one side mirror - Rs. 16k + Labour & Colour + Taxes. Insurance would at most cover 50% plus would loose no claim bonus so am still in two minds.

The Turbo thrill just cannot be replace and Laura seems to be selling in greater numbers than Accords though frankly why even as an owner on one am not quite sure.

[ACM]

Cars going smooth at 57000 kms due for next service at 61000kms - That supposed to be the big one.

A small update. AC Compressor stopped worked along with AC Fan around Aug 2008 - Got them replaced outside in private showroom for about Rs. 40,000. The Authorized centre cost was about double that.

This one was a long story that I'll tell some other day after the current major skoda story is done with. It will make for interesting reading.

[tanwaramit]

why not share the story, it might add on the current skoda story.
all the best for the next service, hope things come out well and at least cost.