BMW 320d 150Bhp Turbo Problems

[slimdaddy]

My Wife had a 320D as a company car (53 reg) and the turbo did the self same thing at 10mph while I was driving it.
It had only done 30k we were lucky that A) it was a company car and B) it was still under warranty, but the dealer who fixed it said if we were paying it would have cost over £5,000-00 just for the engine.
The dealer did mention that it was not an uncommon fault!!
Their way of saying it happens all the time.

Taking this into account I took a full warranty on my 04 reg 320D Sport which I brought in May this year.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but if you don't have a warranty to cover it it is going to cost you a shed load of money.
You could try a re-con engine or transplanting one from a body right off?

Good luck

[mtx]

Hello! I want to buy a BMW 320d (150bhp) second hand from Germany and I read about the turbo problems. I want to ask I you know something about the 2004 models.

*As I read the problems touched the models before 2003

[Conniff]

Don't agree to a 'cat' change at this time. Chances are that the cat will burn off the oil, they are a lot more robust than when introduced.
Only change the cat if it fails the next mot.

[bmwowner]

Hi there,

My 320TD on an 02 plate caught fire after I lost power on a country lane, smoke from bonnet and exhaust and then flickering flame in engine compartment.

Fire Brigade called out but flame extingushed with Fire Extinguisher.

Now in BMW dealers garage and I await report.

I am claiming through insurance company but having read these postings am very angry as to this known problem which could have caused death and injury to myself and others.

Car has 59,000 miles on clock and is one month over oil service but was working perfectly before having been used by my wife for general local trips.

I now await reports and estimates.

[philphall]

Hi

I am new to this so here goes.
I have a 318d on a 04 plate that has engine problems, I thought the big end were rattling due to the oil going missing over night so I purchased a new engine and fitted it but the new one is worse than the old one and also smokes badly. I have checked and there is oil coming out of the turbo but when I disconnected the turbo from the inlet manifold and ran the engine it still smoked and rattled. I am at my witts end.
I am being told that no one recognises a 318d so am strugling to get a quote for a turbo.
Any advise would be great.

Thanks Phil.

[bmwowner]

The EMail from BMW Group UK contains untruths.

After many telephone calls to a BMW dealer in Bishops Stortford where my car had been taken after a fire broke out in the engine compartment of a 320td on 2002 plate the quote was reduced from £4000 for repair to nearly £3000

BMW UK offered to pay initially 30% of the cost of parts but then upped that to 40%.

When I eventually received the bill I was paying the full cost of an exhaust system and other parts connected to the turbo and the labour fees were horrendous.

I will never ever purchase a BMW again and the treatment my wife and I received says a lot about the motor car servicing industry. We now go to a small local garage which attends to all the servicing, replacement of parts etc and are completely satisfied.

When you go to these main dealers you are paying through the nose and pocket for the free coffee, the young girlie in Reception and all the cosmetic crap which is no more than a massive front to relieve you of your money.

Stay away from BMWs is my advice unless you have very deep pockets or can swop them in after two years.

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[BMW320d]

Hi guys,

Am in the process of buying a 320D SE 53 Sept 03 model. However having read the countless posts online about the turbo problems am not sure whether i should go ahead with this sale. I am already borrowing money to purchase the car and could not afford to spend ridiculous amount of money needed to replace the turbo/engine if i had to. I've only left a £100 deposit for it yet, i rather lose that than spend thousands again in few months. The car has covered 119k with FSH is costing me £6k which i thought was a decent price.

Will this model be affected with the turbo problem or am i safe? Any replies would be appreciated, thanking you in advance !

/Worried

[Conniff]

Hi 320.

Most problems with turbos, on all cars, are caused by lack of an oil feed, or a lack of flow. Keep it in mind that oil is a coolant as well as a lubricant.
This can be due to a few reasons, oil and filter, (more usual the more owners a car has had), not being changed often enough so sludge will partially block the pick up strainer.
Cheap oil which does not contain the detergents etc that assist in keeping the build up of sludge to a minimum.
More common, a build up in the supply and return to the turbo.

Get a written guarantee specifically mentioning the turbo, for as long as possible, but shouldn't really be less than 6 months.
Don't be fobbed off with 'it is all covered', save yourself the hassle in the future if you should have problems and get it in writing.

If you should buy the car, use a 'technically' high quality oil and genuine filter and change them often, and as soon as you take delivery of the car, don't rely on anyone saying an oil and filter change has been done and they used the best oil. Even if they do say so, change it again.
If the seller is doing it, he will use the cheapest products possible to maximise his profit.

I hope you get what you want and enjoy now that summer is on the way, (so they tell me).

[fedupofbmw320td]

Just had the same problem on my 52 plate 320 TD Se Compact - doing 10mph and the turbo went - caused £1611.40 of damage. Thanklfully oil burnt off in CAT so could have been worse. Ill still write a stroppy letter to BMW even though it wont help.

[dtownsend]

Hi,
I am a fire investigator and I would like more information from any of you who have had turbo-related fires in BMWs.
Please reply direct to davet2@live.co.uk
Thanks.

[CELTIC1950]

Hi Nano

exactly the same problem with my BMW 2003 model 56k i am waiting on the local dealer getting back to me i spoke to BWM Uk this morning and was told they may look at a contribution towards a new engine nothing in writing at the moment any further details i will post

[rustythehorn]

hi everyone is there any modifications one can make to prolong the life off your turbo

[Conniff]

Originally Posted by rustythehorn

hi everyone is there any modifications one can make to prolong the life off your turbo

Hi Rusty and welcome.

99% of turbo failures in all cars is oil starvation.

The main and most critical thing about a turbo is the oil feed. To make it last as long as the car, never ever miss an oil/filter change, and even do one before oil change time, or on the odd Saturday if you're bored.

Use a flush in the old oil to clean out the sludge in sump, galleries and the turbo oil feed. If you drive a petrol car then use diesel oil as a flush after draining your old oil but before you change the filter, change that when you drain the diesel to replace it with the correct oil.

Because diesels are a lot dirtier than petrol engines, diesel oil contains more chemicals to help keep it clean and stop the build up of hard sludge, of course it will still build up especially if oil changes are late or cheapo oil is used.

I hope that helps.

[LancerQRL]

there is a modification i have read about on some of the bmw owner forums, i think it involves removing some plastic flaps from the inlet manifold as these are the things that break and end up going through the turbo.

[Borderline]

I am involved with BMW, so know what REALLY happens with these things.

1.) The post 9/01 (51 onwards) 320d is a disaster area. A very decent engine with some poor quality junk ancilliaries fitted to it. BMW don't even make the bits that go wrong! But they did design and fit them.........


What causes the turbo to fail? Extended service intervals, dirty oil and not allowing the turbo to spool down on shut-down. The turbo requires a supply of engine oil to lubricate it, and when you turn off the engine, the oil supply stops. The turbo is still spinning at many thousand RPM, only now with just whatever oil is around the bearings. Without a supply of oil, the oil in the bearings quickly turns to carbon, blocking the oil supply gradually. The answer? Allow the engine idle for 10 seconds before shut-off. The turbo then stops with a nice supply of oil to its bearings and it's good for 150-200'000 miles.

What happens when you get the oil cloud? The turbo bearings have failed, the turbo has collapsed and the oil is going past the destroyed bearings and into the engine. If you're lucky, you're into 'just' a turbo and an intercooler. The inlet manifold CAN be removed cleaned out but it takes a pressure washer and immersion in chemical cleaner to do it. Forget doing it on the engine! The Catalyst must only be cleaned with a pressure washer. Detergent may ruin it but give it a go. DO NOT USE PETROL!!!
The intercooler must NEVER be cleaned and reused. It's scrap.

Not all engines are U/S after a turbo failure. You can remove the intercooler, block the oil feed pipe and run the engine which is now a normally aspirated unit. The turbo won't do much but you can ascertain if the engine is dead or not. Yes, it will smoke but that's the oil in the exhaust. If it runs on all cylinders and doesn't make any nasty noises, you've been lucky.

Be aware that there is a breather that blocks up with oil sludge thanks to those extended oil changes and requires replacement every 30k to be safe. When this blocks, the crankcase cannot 'breathe' and it does the thing no good at all.

What can you do to prevent this? Simple. 1.) Don't buy a 320d. 2.) Buy the car cheap and fit a new turbo straight away. Seriously though, that's not a bad idea. The oil feed pipe also chokes up with gunge (thanks to the stupid oil change intervals, again). When you buy a 320d (and I wouldn't personally), replace the feed pipe and the breather. Change the oil and filter every 8000 miles. Let the engine idle for 10 secs before switching off. Pray.

That the end of the story? Not a chance.

320d's from 9/2001 (the 150 bhp facelift cars) also have a plastic inlet manifold with steel 'swirl plates'. These are there to improve emissions by cutting air supply into the engine under certain conditions. Great. Only it's not because these steel plates work loose and get sucked into the engine causing absolute carnage - there is no repairing the engine now, it's junk.

The solution is to buy a new manifold of which there is now a new version although BMW won't admit to anything.

BUT...........what you can do is take the manifold off and just remove the swirl plates. Throw them in the bin, but if you have a 2001-06 320d, DO IT NOW!! There is no warning, it's just happens. Pay a mechanic to do it if you cannot.


The sad thing is, the original 320d from V-Y plate was quite a good car and they weren't a lot of trouble. The later ones are just a nightmare - the problems with the turbo, breather, oil pipe and swirl plates are also shared with the 525d, 530d and 330d. The current stuff (E60, E90) is better but the E46 did BMW's repuation a lot of damage.

[Conniff]

Welcome to the forum Borderline.

A good post and a timely reminder about the oil feed to the turbo, something I emphasised earlier in the thread.

This is relevent to all makes and not just BMW, so should be headed by all.

[rich777]

Originally Posted by BMW TURBO FAILURE

Hi I am being taken to court by BMW over a turbo failure!

I handed the car back to BMW "couldn't afford to keep it" and as they where driving it to the auction, bang the turbo gave out with a big plume of smoke. They subsequently sold the car as a non runner!
I am now fighting in court for the £6000 they say I still owe them.
The information that I am searching for is:
A/ Proof of turbo failure in pre 2003 3 series 2ltr turbo diesels
B/ proof that this was well known to BMW
C/ Proof that this can happen regardless of service intervals
D/ Proof that they deliberately chose not to recall and the reasons for this( clutching at straws now)

Any help you are able to give me would be gratefully received I am due in court 2nd January 2007 ( 4 weeks!!!)

Thanks

This is simple.. when they took the car off you they assumed full responsibility for it. they (and you) should have signed a handover form . On that form should have been full details of the condition of the car

Even if the car was subject to any Lease or hire purchase. Once they take that car back its their responsibility.


You do not need any proof that a fault is a common one on that car.

What if they had crashed the car or written it off.. then they are saying its your fault ??

No court in the land will make you pay the difference between the cars worth after the damage and what you owe on the outstanding finance..

Even if there was no handover condition report . it is their responsibility to get one signed.. they are in the business, and should know to get one signed.


Oh and by the way ....Hi all.... its my first post

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[nano]

Thanks to everyone who has posted a reply. It's clear from the number of posts and what people have said that there was a problem with the design and as such I think BMW should have taken responsibility for it. There were a number of recurring issues with this car. I was very disappointed with the manufacturer for the lack of help. I would like to make the point that the car had been serviced correctly and not driven stupidly. At the last service with the local BMW dealer I had pointed out that there was a rattling sound coming from the engine but this could not be reproduced by them and they reported "no fault found". Other issues with the car included a smell from the boot area caused by a chemical reaction with the glue used to fit the inner panels and a recurring fault with a passenger occupancy sensor. I believe that these were also common faults. After several thousand pounds were spent on a new engine we the car was eventually sold with the faulty cat - which continued to rattle.

[jas686]

Originally Posted by Borderline

I am involved with BMW, so know what REALLY happens with these things.

1.)

That the end of the story? Not a chance.

320d's from 9/2001 (the 150 bhp facelift cars) also have a plastic inlet manifold with steel 'swirl plates'. These are there to improve emissions by cutting air supply into the engine under certain conditions. Great. Only it's not because these steel plates work loose and get sucked into the engine causing absolute carnage - there is no repairing the engine now, it's junk.

The solution is to buy a new manifold of which there is now a new version although BMW won't admit to anything.

BUT...........what you can do is take the manifold off and just remove the swirl plates. Throw them in the bin, but if you have a 2001-06 320d, DO IT NOW!! There is no warning, it's just happens. Pay a mechanic to do it if you cannot.


The sad thing is, the original 320d from V-Y plate was quite a good car and they weren't a lot of trouble. The later ones are just a nightmare - the problems with the turbo, breather, oil pipe and swirl plates are also shared with the 525d, 530d and 330d. The current stuff (E60, E90) is better but the E46 did BMW's repuation a lot of damage.

hi borderline.

just had the problem with the swirl plates and i have had a engine failure!!!
after reading the threads i have a bmw 320td compact on a 52plate with only 62000 miles on it.
i have removed the inlet manifold and found that the swirl plates have collapsed with number 4 cyl peg gone into the engine and making an awful racket.
Is there anything i can do with the BMW UK to get this resolved as it as a full service history and last done in Novemer 08 . i only bought the car in Jan 09 from a private seller unfortunatley.
do i have any legs to stand on
CAN ANYONE HELP!!!

[fra ireland]

Jesus people im glad I checked online first about this car as I was going to look at an 02 320d estate today.....saved me from a nightmare, Looks like im buying a VW Passat Estate then.....Again many thanks