F30 B48 Turbo repair, Do I have to remove the Cat?

[zippy320]

Hi Guys
So those who have been following me know that our F30 has a turbo problem ,

Its a 2015 F30 320i B48 engine . The car has been parked off for about hmm 3 years now? maybe 2 and a half . So a quick back story , Started up the car in the morning , started blowing alot of smoke , switched it off , car was towed to BMW , BMW diagnosed Turbo Failure , and it would require a new turbo , Car was towed back home , Parked in Garage and never used since . Car was just off motorplan so the cost to replace the turbo was to much , We ended up buying a new car and this has been parked in the garage ever since .

Anyway , I had originally planned to buy a new turbo and have bmw fit it but never really got down to it , I have decided to slowly do the repair myself . Something to Pass my time when I need to get my head out of work .

It Seems pretty simple compared to the other things I have done so I thought , why not , let me have a go at it . Car is not in use anyway and I can take as long as I want with it , Maybe replace other parts along the way if needed or If my OCD requires me to lol

So I started of on Sat removing some of the parts to expose the turbo . Haven't removed the oil line , water line , or the cat yet.

Upon removing the charge pipe I found a bunch of oil , it was ALOT of oil in the pipe and in the turbo . There are no metal shavings , broken pieces of metal or anything of the sort anywhere and the turbine looks fine , Has a slight movement in and out though .
My diagnoses is that the oil seals probably blew , Oil leaked through , and was burned by the engine .

So my next step will be , to remove the oil and cooling pipe , What I don't know , and don't really want to do , is remove the CAT converter , Do I have to remove the converter to remove the turbo from it ? Or can I just undo the clamp and pull the turbo off the converter leaving it in place?

Still a long way to go , but Ill do it in steps .

Are there any pipes I should Replace? I have seen that there are alot of seals that need to be replaced .

How do I clean up all this oil that may have gone up the charge pipe and into the engine?
Should I remove the Spark plugs and replace them? And is it possible that the Converter is caked in Oil?

Thanks guys for all your assistance

 

[Solo Man]

I am not sure about the petrol engine but on the 2l diesel engines to remove the cat is not difficult. Once the big clamp on the connection between turbo and cat is loose there are just a few bolts that must be undone from beneath the engine and you can take the cat out, or in your case just loosen the big clamp mentioned above and you can remove the turbo. I would imagine that the intercooler (converter?) will be soaked in oil as well yes which will be a pain to clean but is possible after removing it from the car, also not a big job from underneath.

 

[zippy320]

Thanks @Solo Man , I'm kind of dreading removing the cat , I really don't want to jack the car up and go under it , I dont mind , but ag going on your back under a car lol , but if I must ,I will do it . I also suspect that there may be oil in the converter , Will know once i take the Turbo off the car .
I spoke to a friend at BMW and he tells me that If I can get the clamp off , I could remove the turbo , so will see . He said its normal procedure for them to remove the whole exhaust at the dealership but they have the lift and tools and people to help so it does not take that long .

I Wanted to remove the heat shields this evening but realized I don't have the correct size star shaped sockets for it . So will have to buy these to continue the project . Very interesting working through an F30 ,
I do like the insulation around and on the engine though . Theres some kind of thick foam covering the engine with foil and carpet , like a blanket all over the sides and back .
Wish my E46 had this .

 

[Solo Man]

When jacking up the car please put some stands underneath it as the jack or jacks are just not enough for safety reasons. On my F30 320d manual shift car i could remove the exhaust/turbo clamp from above so i assume you will be able to do the same on the petrol 2l. Had a slight issue getting the clamp to release as it is quite a tight fit over the connection between turbo and exhaust/cat.

 

[Greenjustin]

Do you know their is a recall on the turbo oil return line.

My 2018 320i B48 turbo was leaking oil and they replaced the turbo. R50k under motorplan

 

[zippy320]

Do you know their is a recall on the turbo oil return line.

My 2018 320i B48 turbo was leaking oil and they replaced the turbo. R50k under motorplan

Really?
I had no Idea , is it possible that it could affect my car? Any idea where I could find more information on this ?
That turbo is soaked in oil at the bottom opening where the charge pipe attaches to it .

 

[Greenjustin]

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2017/MC-10136710-9999.pdf

The dealership has to check your vin number if it part of the recall.

There is also a coolant pipe connected to the cylinder head part of the recall on the B48.

Mine had an oil smell when I drove the car for a while. It was only on 36000km. Then I saw oil leak at the pipes connected to the turbo.

 

[zippy320]

Thanks!
Will look into it , Thanks so much for bringing this to my attention , I have emailed my service guy at BMW to ask him about the recall and how it affects my car .
I do see on my BMW dashboard page online that it states that there is a recall on the car and I should contact a BMW dealer .

 

[zippy320]

When jacking up the car please put some stands underneath it as the jack or jacks are just not enough for safety reasons. On my F30 320d manual shift car i could remove the exhaust/turbo clamp from above so i assume you will be able to do the same on the petrol 2l. Had a slight issue getting the clamp to release as it is quite a tight fit over the connection between turbo and exhaust/cat.

Thanks! Will do , I have jack stands for this car . Where does one jack the front end up exactly on the F30? I can feel the clamp bolt from the top , I see its pointed towards the car and not the engine side . It may be a tight fit , but I may be able to unfasten the bolt to get the clamp off .

 

[NBN]

If I Were you , I would look at removing the turbo , the oil feed and coolant lines to the turbo , the intercooler and the charge pipe going into the manifold … there is probably oil everywhere in the above that needs to be cleaned out .

Try to see if you can find a Haynes manual for your car , anything to do close to the turbo will need to be torqued to spec , check to see if there is any aluminium , one time use only bolts that need to be replaced , o rings , gaskets etc

Check this video i found off YouTube where this guy removes the stock turbo

 

[zippy320]

If I Were you , I would look at removing the turbo , the oil feed and coolant lines to the turbo , the intercooler and the charge pipe going into the manifold … there is probably oil everywhere in the above that needs to be cleaned out .

Try to see if you can find a Haynes manual for your car , anything to do close to the turbo will need to be torqued to spec , check to see if there is any aluminium , one time use only bolts that need to be replaced , o rings , gaskets etc

Check this video i found off YouTube where this guy removes the stock turbo

Thanks!

Im going to do the repair , Im using the BMW TIS documentation for this car , will torque everything to spec , I have started to compile a list of gaskets and seals that I would need to order .
Not sure about the Aluminum bolts though , I will have to ask them , or just buy all the bolts that's needed , they are not to expensive .

Have already removed the charge pipe and cleaned it , Oil feed and Coolant lines come out when the turbo comes out . Have to look into the intercooler and how to remove that . I want to get as much oil out of the system as I can . Good thing is , im not finding any metal pieces , shavings etc anywhere in the system , including the oil so technically the turbo itself didnt break up any parts . really think it was just the seals that prob failed .

 

[zippy320]

So got my new socket set and removed some of the parts , haven't removed the turbo or coolant or oil lines yet .
Jacked the car up and placed it on jack stands .
Went under the car for the first time , and its pretty remarkable compared to the E46 , there's sooo much more plastic , and there's carpet all over , not a thick carpet , more like a hard but fluffy carpet . Thought this was only in the wheel wells . Bottom seems a lot more closed up as well with covers all over the place , where as the E46 was similar to the E30 being more open with less panels .
The cat looks huge! is it heavy?
What is this braided piece on the exhaust attached to it?
This is going to be an interesting car to work on .

 

[Solo Man]

That braided piece is the flex pipe. Gives the exhaust/engine room to flex without breaking the exhaust manifold or exhaust.

 

[Solo Man]

The cat is not heavy as such. Keep in mind the body is made of lightweight steel and the cat itself is very light, like maybe half a kilo (500 grams). I am guessing here!!) I would say all in all it weighs about between 5 and 8 kilos, if that much. Easy to handle. I have done mine all on my own, so you should be able too!

 

[zippy320]

So I have hit a stumbling block , I cant seem to get the Coolant feed and return line pipes off the turbo , IT says remove the bolts and pull the line but they are just so tight and wont come off , I got 2 of them off the Engine itself , The one that goes to the front of the engine , and the other that connects to the aux electric water pump , which was easy .
But I cant seem to get the other sides off the turbo , or the second pipe that goes from the turbo to the side of the engine, that one I cant get off the turbo or of the block ( its in such an odd position ) .
After removing the screw/bolt , I did try the bottom pipe first , the feed pipe I think , as it is ontop of the other pipe fitting. This is the one that goes from the block behind the turbo to the turbo , cant get it off .

Any tips?

 

[Mytfine]

So I have hit a stumbling block , I cant seem to get the Coolant feed and return line pipes off the turbo , IT says remove the bolts and pull the line but they are just so tight and wont come off , I got 2 of them off the Engine itself , The one that goes to the front of the engine , and the other that connects to the aux electric water pump , which was easy .
But I cant seem to get the other sides off the turbo , or the second pipe that goes from the turbo to the side of the engine, that one I cant get off the turbo or of the block ( its in such an odd position ) .
After removing the screw/bolt , I did try the bottom pipe first , the feed pipe I think , as it is ontop of the other pipe fitting. This is the one that goes from the block behind the turbo to the turbo , cant get it off .

Any tips?

Soak it overnight with penetrating fluid if that doesn't work heat is your friend. Get one of those plumbers blowtorches from a hardware. Clean the area properly 1st and drain as much of the oil as possible to avoid a fire and obviously keep an extinguisher nearby just in case.

 

[zippy320]

Soak it overnight with penetrating fluid if that doesn't work heat is your friend. Get one of those plumbers blowtorches from a hardware. Clean the area properly 1st and drain as much of the oil as possible to avoid a fire and obviously keep an extinguisher nearby just in case.

I have one of those torches but dont think I want to attempt this sort of thing , lol

 

[NBN]

I have one of those torches but dont think I want to attempt this sort of thing , lol

A heat gun is a safer option …. You also need to wiggle and pull at the same time to break the seal of the o ring and remove

 

[zippy320]

A heat gun is a safer option …. You also need to wiggle and pull at the same time to break the seal of the o ring and remove

Tried that , but it seems to be catching inside? Unless it could also be that the pipe is to short , I cant reach behind the turbo to remove the pipe from the block .

 

[Mytfine]

Tried that , but it seems to be catching inside? Unless it could also be that the pipe is to short , I cant reach behind the turbo to remove the pipe from the block .

If the pipes are not too expensive maybe it will be less frustrating just to cut them and but replacements.