N54 335i blown turbos: Advice needed

[freakazoid]

Thanks to Nicbyte

Shredded serpintine belt

:ty:

The worrying part is that with my luck with BMW I have another potential issue to add to the list. If a BMW model has ten types of issues, unlike everybody else who might experience one or two of them, I will get them all after each other :blueCry:

 

[KVI]

Sorry to bring a old thread back to life. I kinda got the same situation. Took the car and mechanic said Turbo's are on the way out. Only smokes when coming to a stand still.

Car currently with Mototechnik. Heard they are good and hope they can resolve the issue. They currently stripping the turbo's to see where the issue could lie. Hopefully they don't strip to find it is not the turbo's and just a vacuum line leak. :blueCry:

Does anybody know of another way to inspect the turbo. Another mechanic told me you can remove the intake and put a pin camera into the turbo to check them up. Is that true?

Kavir

 

[JayDrft]

What concerns me...is the statement of...."This is the first step":thumbdo:

First off - they need to provide the cause of the turbo failure. Pointless to pay 70k for turbo replacements, when it may be a blocked or feed or return that ran the turbos dry in the first place.

If you say that the car has not been driven recklessly, there is no way a turbo just gives up - unless there is another issue causing this.

How is the car boosting? Minimal, mild or wild? Any strange noises? Smoke out the exhaust? Not sure - but do the x35's have any form of boost guage....if so, check the vacuum at idle and check the boost levels under load. This will tell you if either compressor or exhaust housing has popped. Had an issue on a turbo setup, continously popping seals - found out it was a stick blow off/dump valve. 3 turbo setups later...fixed it up.

Hope it helps.

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oops, only saw checked the dates now...

KVI - check my primative recommendations on trying to diagnose turbo issues. - get back to us if you checked them and observed anything dodge.

 

[Woodies]

Sorry to bring a old thread back to life. I kinda got the same situation. Took the car and mechanic said Turbo's are on the way out. Only smokes when coming to a stand still.

Car currently with Mototechnik. Heard they are good and hope they can resolve the issue. They currently stripping the turbo's to see where the issue could lie. Hopefully they don't strip to find it is not the turbo's and just a vacuum line leak. :blueCry:

Does anybody know of another way to inspect the turbo. Another mechanic told me you can remove the intake and put a pin camera into the turbo to check them up. Is that true?

Kavir

Most of the cost of new turbo's is the labour. Turbo's are R6,500 each (you pay an extra R750 for front turbo and R2,500 for rear, which is refunded if you return the old/faulty ones). If they already started stripping you have incurred nearly 50% of the labour already unfortunately. My seals started failing around 95k kms. Only noticed smoke on idle when car was at temp. Car was Dyno'd before and after new turbos, power was only down about 15-20kw. I doubt a camera will show the problem (normal its just a little play in the shaft)

 

[FiRi@Rennzport]

Most likely seals... either refurb them and upgrade the wastegate arms one time, or trade in old turbos for new ones from bmw.

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[KVI]

@Jaydrft - Car is boosting mildly and no smoke when driving normally except when I come to a stop. Puffs of white smoke. The 70k was not for me but the original thread. They haven't given me prices yet to do the turbo but warranty has to pay for most of it. Since I only recently got the car, not sure how it was driven prior to this.

Gonna wait for them to get back to me. If the turbos is R6500 each, that means the total should be around 20k with fitment. That not to bad and hope the warranty pay for it. Never expect it to go so early in the car's life. Just got it so will see what they say.

Please can you explain about returning the old turbo's to BMW. So they are R6500 + the extra for front and back but they refund you when you take it back? Isn't it better to rather refurbish them and sell them? lol. Not bad at all if you think about it.

@firi - Will Mototechnik know about the upgraded wastegate arms? Will that stop that turbo flap rattle? The car is currently making that noise. They did offer upgraded turbo's but will see the options once they give prices and see how much I have to pay from my side.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[FiRi@Rennzport]

They should know about the upgrading the WG arms. The kit is 100usd before courier and customs.

Also...with all the parts required to do the install of new turbos, you at 20k for the turbos and the install KIT (gaskets etc). Labour should be another 4 to 6k. So a total of 25k max is what i would work on


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[Zound]

I did a bit of vacation work at Tune Tech and they've been dealing with the n54 turbo problem quite extensively. So if you're in the jhb region I strongly recommend you take the car to them, if not at least for a 2nd opinion. Talk to Noordeen there, he has coordinated the manufacturing of the wastegate upgrades and repairs.

 

[KVI]

Thanks for all the information and feedback. Will give Tune Tech a call and see where they can assist regarding the WG arms. Car is already with Mototechnik so lets see what they say and where they can assist.

 

[KVI]

I found a set from China for $88. Do you think it will make a difference on quality? I assume the USA guys are manufacturing in China anyway. lol

 

[FiRi@Rennzport]

Just make sure the c clips are included

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[KVI]

This is the list of parts supplied and information given on the add.

2007 + 135i 335i 535i Wastegate Rattle Repair Parts
Includes Repair Parts for 2 Turbine Housings:
2 x Flapper Arms
2 x Flapper Bushings
2 x Flapper Tabs
2 x Wastegate Arms

Fix Wastegate Wear, Which Causes Lose of Power and Loss of Boost and Bad Gas Mileage
304 Stainless Steel
Fixes Common Wastegate Rattle
Welding Flapper Tab On Arm Required

Wonder if it is cheaper through Tune Tech as they might be locally manufacturing it. Anybody else interested in gripping a set? Bulk order can be cheaper. lol

 

[FiRi@Rennzport]

No c clips in that order. Enquire with TT as to their pricing and put the feedback here.

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[KVI]

Who is TT? :hammerhead:

 

[Mia225]

Who is TT? :hammerhead:

really??? TuneTech :crazylaugh:

ey kavs, tired after milkshakes?

 

[KVI]

Lmfao. Was thinking Audi TT and then my mind went nuts. lmfao. Will give them a shout. Thinking now that I should have just taken my car there. :YesNo: . Will chat to Mototechnik and see how to proceed. If they are replacing turbo's, thinking of staying stock and the rattle should be gone after they are replaced. Will have to wait and see if they do confirm it is the turbo's that are shot.

 

[KVI]

So Mototechnik go back to me. Said the turbo's are gone. Seems like somebody messed it up bad as the actuator was just hanging there. Bolts were snapped off. Also said the sump is leaking oil so they need to be replaced.

The mentioned to get warranty to pay, they have to drop the engine and strip out the turbo's. No other way to do it? Seems like a lot of work and gonna be expensive. Now gotta contact Wesbank and get the dealer to pay for everything as the car is like 3 weeks old.

Should have feedback on Monday.

 

[Yuben]

Agree, the defects probably were present at the time of purchase. Contact the dealer and your Bank and inform them of the latent defects. MotoTechnik is reputed and RMI approved. So don't let the dealer railroad you and say to bring the car back to them.

Tell them that the car needs to be sorted out at the workshop it is at and they need to foot the bill.

If they give you uphill, you need to contact the Ombudsman.

 

[frikkieh]

I am astounded by the amount of opportunism displayed by the dealer.

What a shocker this is.

It is their way of saying: "You need a new 335i"

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Looks like this particular dealership believes the entire engine must be pulled to replace turbos. :hammerhead:

Everything in the path have to be stripped and cleaned thoroughly.
Any debris in the boost path will just damage the turbo again.
Doing it properly takes time and adds to labor cost.

(the DIY enthusiast normally has time :=): )


I am not too fond of BMW dealership diagnosis. They have a "replace it all" philosophy.
e.g. One bent rim would cost me four new rims and four new tyres, because I complained about vibration on the steering above 100km/h. Total: R21000.
One trip to a wheel repair shop and a few hundred Rands later, the problem was completely solved...

So in this case of the turbo repair, my opinion is that everything that can cause issues will be just blindly replaced.

 

[KVI]

Going to contact the bank to inform them of the issues on the car and will forward the quote to them once it is sent through to me on Monday. What the warranty does not pay and cover will have to pushed onto the dealer. I am not going to sit back and let them try convince me otherwise.

Will get the bank to step in and resolve this issue as it is financed through them. Will have feedback in the next few days and lets hope that all goes as planned.