Disappearing oil

My '03 Passat is burning oil. I don’t see any blue smoke from the exhaust. The check engine light came on this weekend and I checked the oil which was change about 3000 miles ago and the dip stick was dry. I added a quart. The engine light is still on. A mechanic told be it’s the turbo, a very expensive repair. Is this a problem with this engine. What’s the prognosis?

When turbos go out, the bushings inside them sometimes allow oil to be sucked into intake and therefor engine. I had one on a GMC V-8 diesel that sucked ALL the oil out in about ten miles once it started smoking. Luckily I shut it down before any damage was done to the engine. Vehicles with catalytic coverters often won’t smoke even when oil consumption is high as the cat will burn the extra oil in what would have been smoke. Diesels do not have cats.

Thanks MGMcAnick. Sounds about right. I suppose I’ll have to call around to get estimates on the cost to repair.