E46 320d Turbo

[kcmwinga]

Hi

I have an E46 320d and i noticed at about 3000rpm on boost there is sometimes a very loud noise like the vanes of the turbo are touching against the turbo housing. Mileage is about 180 000 now and looking at history doesnt look like the turbo was ever replaced

I am removing the turbo today. What are the best options re having it refurbished or getting a new unit?

Thanks

 

[Spy007]

Buy new one cheaper and safer.
Around R9k from garette direct.

 

[Smartiesman]

Buy new one cheaper and safer.
Around R9k from garette direct.

+1000000

 

[kcmwinga]

Thanks will do that. would rather the peace of mind.

Taking out both cats while at it... Any point getting a remap done or its not worth the money?

 

[kcmwinga]

Update. Had turbo taken out and looked at and nothing was wrong. Had bearings and seals changed and rebalanced. Put turbo back in the car and now it boost from 1800rpm to 2000rpm then no more boost. No smoke and the engine can rev freely but without boost.

I changed the vacuum hose to actuator and also the one from reservoir to the controller. Also did the breather valve.

What could be the possible causes of this? I can hear turbo start to spool at 1800rpm and the goes quiet. Any ideas?

 

[Hellas]

My money was on the vacuum actuator.

Are you sure all the vacuum tubes are right way round and securely connected eg no vacuum loss?

You would hear the turbo spool as the exhaust gasses are still propelling though it. What happens is that you don't have a vacuum to change the angle of the vanes to actually boost the intake air. Check the vacuum system carefully for leaks.

 

[kcmwinga]

Will have a good look through the vacuum system. Is there a way to test if the actuator is working?

 

[kcmwinga]

Update.

I checked all the vacuum hoses etc and all was fine. However the actuator still seemed stuck. Decided to take turbo out and took the exhaust side apart and discovered that it was not assembled properly. Vnt system was stuck. Managed to reassemble and put it back and voila boost resumed.

Only 1 question now. Noticed a little oil where boost pipe to inter cooler connects to turbo. No oil on the side of the filter. Looks like oil coming from inside the turbo maybe? Should there be any oil on that side of turbo?

 

[Hellas]

The crank breather valve (the one that you also swopped out) vents back into the air intake. Since the breather pass oil vapour back into the system, it will accumulate in the intercooler or intake manifold. This potential puddle of oil in the intercooler is what sometimes causes runaway diesel engines.

This is not something you need to immediately worry about. Just maybe monitor it as if your car passes excessive oil to the intercooler, you may want to install an breather oil catch can. Look up on some of Twinz's threads about this topic.

 

[kcmwinga]

Thanks for the tip. Will monitor the amount of oil over the next few weeks and see if something needs to be done.