Achtung Baby - Weird BMW diesel - OK BYE

[cort16]

Got 1/2 an hour to look at this today and stripped off all the plastic guff that sits on top of the engine. First thing that was obvious was the valley the injectors sit in are full of diesel. At least one if them is leaking at the union.

Conveniently you have to take off part of the inlet manifold to even stand a chance of getting a spanner in there. Can't think how it can be related but I'll just add it to list of faults.

[New POD]

When a turbo fails, I assume that the bearings allow the compressor wheel to rub on it's housing and bits break off into the engine ? That could damage valve seats, piston tops, and bore perhaps.

 

Also I assume that the oil flow through the turbo would pull bits of bearing into the sump ? Probably not so bad a problem as you have an oil filter.

 

And then there's the swirl flaps (what ever they are)?

[cort16]

Yes, my worry is the drrrrrr noise is the blades hitting of the inside of the turbo.

It seems a common cause for turbo failure is a blocked breather , which is a shit design and gets clogged up. I know he changed the turbo but was there an underlying issue that toasted the original turbo that's still there and is now causing me grief?

[Asimo]

I am sorry I can offer no advice but thank you, this thread has reminded me that BMW quality pays for itself and Diesel cars save you £££££££££.

[cort16]

Yes, don't do it kids. Mind you I've got a petrol BMW and it's shit as well .

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

If the turbo was in trouble, it would have almost no boost at all and would whine like a bastard. I drove one 40 miles with a seriously fucked turbo with massive impeller damage - just whiney and low boostaging.

 

Diesel engines are for tractors, lorries and U Boats. They are not for cars, unless it's a Mercedes 240D because that engine also powered the three modes of transport just mentioned.

 

Having said that, I've a trouser tent on for a 1997 318tds I've just spotted. But they were indirect injection with a pump, no swirl flaps, no common-as-muck-rail, no real sensors, no nothing. And it RUNS ON VEG YO.

[cort16]

I can here the turbo whoosh in neutral with no Skeltor wanking biscuit tin or howling noises .

[Pete-M]

Swirl flaps. They do rattle sometimes before they fail.

[oman5]

You've reassured me. I don't want one.

[cort16]

so today I finally did something about my dangly flaps and bought a set of these swirl flap blanking plugs. I also bought a new breather filter, which is the no1 cause of turbo failure on these crocks, which will make it 1% more desirable when I sell it for care bears and repairs once I finally accept the turbo has blown up.

 

 

In other BMW news my 5 series is hosing oil out the rear crank seal. I 've got it on ebay trying to sell it as is as the crank seal is like 20 quid but labour intensive.

Failing that I recon I'll need to get it done but I fear it'll be 6-700 quid, money I'll never see back for it but will need to spend if I want to sell it. I bought this off an ebay "dealer" but I think they just buy stuff from central auctions in Glasgow, polish it and stick on ebay without checking to see that its actually pissing oil. they're not interested of course. Wangs.

 

And finally this JRG one was running like a back of shit. I had the eml light reset and was hoping I could use it while I sorted the 5 series exon valdez. It starts but runs like shit. I unplugged the maf and it cheered right the fuck up but the gear changes are brutal for some reason and I have a warning on the gearbox (kill me now). I'm going to unplug the battery tomorrow morning and take the maf out and clean it, which I'm hoping will sort it.

 

IMG_1107 by cort16, on Flickr

 

So sit rep is

 

5 series - pissing oil

316i - knobbed maf and shonky gearbox

320d - possibly rattly turbo, leaky injector union, suicidal swirl flaps

SD1 - Broken starter motor

Cortina - Working. W@@T  - Mot runs out next week, no chance of passing

 

Once I clear these BMW's I'm leasing a new Focus.

[saucedoctor]

Wish I'd seen this sooner. You don't need the blanking plates/plugs. Just take the fanny flaps off the shaft and then put the rest back in. I've done it on 2 cars now, and both are still going.

 

A dead or dying turbo actuator will throw a fault code but no EML. I'd wager it's on a new turbo, but the original actuator. Also, I'd wager that there's oil in the intercooler from when the old turbo shat itself. Dead easy to take off on these.

 

Also, if you haven't already done so, disconnect the air flow meter and see if the car goes any better.

 

The BMW massive will grudgingly admit that the iteration of this engine that's fitted to the Rover 75 is actually more reliable.

 

 

[Pillock]

Once I clear these BMW's I'm leasing a new Focus.

Because they're dead reliable.

 

Can't stop, got to go sit in a corner and cry over my latest extortionate Focus garage bill relating to some piss-poor technology that is required to make the car run but has no actual benefit and is specific to Ford and hence vastly expensive.

[cort16]

These blanking plates I bought are made from the corpses of dead swirl flaps. I did think about doing what you suggested but I though there was something that might catch me out.

 

I had nothing to do with the turbo being changed over but I'd bet you're right about the actuator. I also bet you're right about the intercooler. None of this really points towards that drrrrrrrr noise I was hearing.

My plan is to do the swirl flaps, change the breather and thanks to your advice clean out the intercooler and see were I am

What's the best thing to use to clean it out?.

[cort16]

Because they're dead reliable.

 

Can't stop, got to go sit in a corner and cry over my latest extortionate Focus garage bill relating to some piss-poor technology that is required to make the car run but has no actual benefit and is specific to Ford and hence vastly expensive.

 

I hear you but the magic words are  "manufacturer warranty". I'll have it for 2 years then bye bye.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

What's the best thing to use to clean it out?.

 

Just empty a load of 'Catsan' into it then go for a blast

[saucedoctor]

I used a splash of paraffin to clean out the intercooler, but BMW guru Davy Jess (www.railwayautospares.com) told me it wasn't necessary. He said just to take out the IC, and put in end-on in a washing up basin overnight, and let the oil run out.

 

I'll drop Davy an email and see if he thinks that anything I encountered that might make that noise. You never know.

[cort16]

Just empty a load of 'Catsan' into it then go for a blast

 

I've already got a lockup full of that after unsuccessfully trying to use it to soak up some piss stink gearbox oil

[saucedoctor]

In the depraved depths of my mind, ISTR there was some tech bulletin about an aircon pipe vibrating on those? I wonder could that be it? I have the BMW ETIS somewhere, I'll check it and post back.

 

Edited to add: aye, there was a TSB. 320d 09/01-04/02. Vibration caused between 2000 and 4000RPM with aircon ON. Fit modified evaporator-to-compressor pipe. Modded part no. is 64.536.923.958.

Might be worth a look at the part number on the pipe (if any) to see if yours has been done?

 

Long shot, I know.

[cort16]

Cool, appreciated

[cort16]

The gold 316 lives ! A replacement maf sourced from one of Paisleys finest scrap emporiums for 30 quid has it running tops. I read online last night a dicky maf can cause the gearbox to go into limp mode, which in the case meant thumping into gear. Sure enough it's supa smooth with no warnings on the dash .

Swirl flap blanks have arrived for 320d, 520i going into specialist tomorrow. I could be BMW free by July !

[cort16]

I slipped away from my wife and new baby in the early hours of this morning to rummage about with some dangly flaps.

Unfortunatley they're on this shitey 320d I've lumbered myself.

 

Behold the majesty. This is after I spend best part of an hours stripping all the covers and bits and bobs off the engine.

 

IMG_1240 by cort16, on Flickr

 

First off I switched the breather for the turbo, which is supposed be the no1 reason why these crocks lunch their turbos. The Breather filter is like a cotton wool bog roll and clogs up with manky old oil. Here's the old and new breathers together I think it's fair to say the old one is pretty fucked and probably had something to do with why the old turbo blew up. It's generally regarded as a shit design and you can get an updated setup for 20-30 quid but this cost £5 and I'm cheap so I did it this way.

 

IMG_1248 by cort16, on Flickr

 

After a fair about of nobbing around I got the inlet manifold off.

 

IMG_1251 by cort16, on Flickr

 

Trying hard not to drop a hob nob down one of the inlet ports.

 

IMG_1252 by cort16, on Flickr

 

You can see the iphone has done what it does best and focus on something else but you can see the swirl flaps in situ. They're moved by a little vacuum thing that connects to a rod that moves the flaps and this does what ever it's meant to do.

 

IMG_1253 by cort16, on Flickr

 

They looked in reasonable shape on mine. The flap is rivetted onto a rod and it's the rivets that give way causing the flaps to drop down and scrunch the engine. It doesn't look like a very robust design (obviously) for something that's in a position to toast the engine in your pride and joy. Conclusion - BMW are on drugs.

 

IMG_1255 by cort16, on Flickr

 

I bought blanking plugs off ebay and the advert said 320d, e46 and all the things I was looking for relating to this car so I assumed it was the right thing. Wrong! These are twice the size as the ones I need for this thing so I dunno what's going on but I was a bit miffed

 

IMG_1256 by cort16, on Flickr

 

There was no way I was going to wait for these ebay swan molesters to send me new flaps so remembering what saucedoctor had said I just lopped them off at the end with the grinder and fitted the actuator rod back on so they cant fall out. Seemed to do the job

 

IMG_1258 by cort16, on Flickr

 

I put the inlet manifold back on and while doing up the last tricky bolt I dropped my ratchet spanner down into the middle of a jumble of pipes and hoses. I couldn't see it so had to take the manifold off againt to retrieve the spanner!

 

The result, well its not going Drrrrr anymore but this may be because there's still a lot of engine trim bits missing. It's defo not running right though it's like it's got a misfire or something. There was diesel sitting in the valley the injectors sat in and I mopped it all out and nipped up all the unions up before putting the manifold on (you have to take the inlet manifold off to get to the injector pipes!) but after my test drive there was  more diesel in there.

Not loads but some. I dunno what's going on there but I recon it's related to the running problem either that or I've not plugged something back in properly. So basically I'm no further forward so I guess I need to get it plugged into a decent diagnostics machine.

[dave21478]

I have basically the same engine - minus the flaps - in my Gaylander and had mega problems with the injectors. I always had a pool of diesel on the engine, so checked everything....the return pipes are a prime suspect....its just rubber hose on the Landy, dunno if the bimmer is the same...so an easy swap. Be careful of the plastic unions on the injectors though - easily broken.

 

Turned out that mine had a loose injector. Some caveman had taken it to bits before me as evidenced by various rounded off nuts and cable ties, and I found that some of the studs holding the injectors down were loose. I tried to tighten them, but they were loose due to stripped threads in the head. GR0.

 

I had to take the injectors out to take the cam cover off but one of the injectors was properly stuck in place. It took 2 days of fucking about, and eventually destroyed the injector, so I welded a long bit of steel rod onto the end of it and made up a crude slide hammer using the head from an old sledge hammer and some washers and some hopeful welding. Standing on the engine and going full retard with this slide hammer thing eventually got it out - it came with such force that the whole thing slipped out of my hands and I flung it over the roof and a good 20 feet across the yard. Lucky I didnt smash it into my teeth, I suppose.

 

Once that farce was over I helicoiled the stud holes in situ and fitted injectors that I had reconditioned by DieselBob. Been fine since - well apart from everything else breaking since then.

 

I also had a definite lack of boost at certain rpm ranges, which was a jammed VNT mechanism on the turbo. I got a recon job from an engineering company in Latvia or somewhere like that via ebay for a decent price

[cort16]

It have those return pipes and they're currently the prime suspect as all the unions are done up tight . Saying that it looks like a union is leaking at first glance but it all looks okay.

Pissing thing. Is the vnt to do with the variable vane turbo?

[dave21478]

Clean it up and give it all a light dusting with talc powder then run it to see where the leak might be coming from. You can do an injector leak-back test quite easily - Basically, disconnect each return line and run each one via a longer bit of pipe into an empty glass or something and see if any is returning vastly different quantities to the others. If so its basically buggered and needs replacement or reconditioning. People seem to encounter failure at anything from 90k to 150k miles on the Freelander forum. When I sent mine back for reconditioning, they were all pretty far out of spec, despite it running relatively well.

 

 Assuming its the same setup, then the turbo has no wastegate, boost is regulated electronically. Bolted to the turbo is what looks like a wastegate actuator, but is actually the actuator for the VNT (Variable Nozzle Turbo) system. There is a vacuum line from the vac pump/brake servo/egr valve spaghetti of vacuum lines which runs down to the turbo and goes through a solenoid valve which on the landy is bolted just next to the turbo. If you can get your hand to it (its a total arse to access on the landy), see if you can push or pull the rod between actuator and turbo. The spring is pretty strong so it takes a fair effort to pull on it. If not, the variable bit of the turbo is jammed. Sooty deposits were the culprit on mine. If you take it off and apart, they can be cleaned up, but mine was pretty well buggered so I got a recon unit.

 

If yours has already been changed and the VNT system appears to move freely, check the solenoid valve works ok. Also, again I dont know if the bimmer is the same but Landies have a filter on the vacuum lines which is just a wee transparent in-line fuel filter that one end is connected to the vacuum lines and the other end is open to atmosphere. If its dirty you should change it. It just dangles down the back of the engine and if you dont know its supposed to be like that, you assume its come disconnected from something. Landrover people often connect the open end to the diff breather which is just next to it, so the vacuum system draws the diff oil out and bungs everything up.

[twosmoke300]

Dave regards your injectors being tested and needing a recon . Has anyone ever taken injectors or injector pump into a diesel shop and had them say " yeh they are fine , just x for a test fee please " ?

 

I certainly haven't . Even units that are less than a year old

[dave21478]

True enough!  Apart from these injectors, everything else I have taken to a dieselist has been kippered to the point where the engine no longer runs.

 

Eventually they get to the point where the engine becomes very hard to start and a refurb sorts it right out.

I had all four our of the car anyway to helicoil the head, one was a scrapyard replacement with unknown history for the one I broke and since my cars mileage is completely unknown due to at least two speedo changes, it seemed prudent to get them all done anyway. I didnt fancy refitting them as they were only to have to take it to bits again at some point in the future.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

OP - hope you get to the bottom of it...

My missus is hellbent on chopping her PD130 Golf derv in for a 1 series derv. Her money, her choice. Getting scared for her now, though. I know modernish diseasles are as simple as keeping Kerry Katatonier off of the special white powder, but really? BMW - have you really become this crap? Tempted to tell her to hang onto the Golf tbh...

[Mr Livered]

I have no idea what swirl flaps are or what they do. Is this a good thing or should I educate myself?

[cort16]

They seem to get worse as they get newer. If you look on the 5 series forum and see all the problems folk are having you'd not buy a BMW diesel.he general consensus of there it unless you really need the mpg buy a 525i or 530i petrol (they just piss oil everywhere like mine). I think what's happened is that in their quest to get emissions down and mpg up everything is over engineered (or over thought ) so there's just so much more stuff to go wrong or not operate correctly.

An example of this is on some of the newer ones the EGR has it's own thermostat.  I mean for the love of god why?

 

The swirl flaps are meant to ruffle up the air on the way into the engine so you get a good fuel air mix. BMW aren't the only one who uses them I think Vauxhall does too but they just don't have the same suicidal design as these BMW ones. I think BMW changed the design so it's not an issue on them after about 2006 or something.

[Asimo]

 

Diesel engines like this made the Diesel's reputation for economy of ownership and fuel use: an engine for life

 

 

Diesel engines like this will make the Diesel's reputation as an engine for the duration of the warranty only.