# Turbo Failure or What??



## hyeung (Jun 25, 2002)

My folks have a BMW 530d (2000 model) which has recently shown major problems. They have taken it to the dealer which has diagnoised it as a problem with the turbo unit. They have tried changing the MAF which has no effect. I just wondered what others thought based on the following symptoms:

Full foot on the accelerator and nothing happens! Theres no power whatsoever and the car barely moves. You do see the revs building up but very slowly. It takes 20-30 secs before it reaches 3k rpm. Once it hits 3k, power seems to surge back.
Over 3k the car seems normal and under 3k the car is gutless as the struggles to move.
Also noticed that during a cold start, it struggles to rev when at idle. Full accelerator and it barely climbs to 1100rpm.....eventually it slowly revs up the range.

I'm not knowledgable about cars, but even if the turbo was dead/faulty, surely the car should still be able to shift itself during the 1-3k range. Not as quick but not struggle as i've described? And why would the power surge back after 3k? Does this not suggest the turbo is fine? Or am i missing something here?

Anyways, I wondered what others thought about this.
Any comments would be appreciated...


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## hyeung (Jun 25, 2002)

I forgot to mention is that its pretty low mileage car....30k, so it does seem abit soon for the turbo to go.


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

I'd have thought a dealer would have diagnosed turbo failiure if that was the case. You'd be producing a LOT of smoke too.

I'm have no great mechanical diesel knowledge, but it sounds more like a fuelling issue than a turbo problem.

Take it to a diesel specialist or anoth BMW dealer for full diagnostic. You don't have to commit to any rectification work.


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## ag (Sep 12, 2002)

ColDiTT had the same problem. Try mailing him.


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## ColDiTT (Sep 6, 2003)

> ColDiTT had the same problem. Try mailing him.


I had a problem about 18 months ago (2001,530d Sport), with what can only be described as a sort of engine mis-fire and severe loss of power. The car was in at the dealers - Sytner Leicester for about 2 - 3 months as it caused major head scratching with them too. Nothing untoward ever appeared on their diagnostic checks and no failures reported in the engine management system. The problem would occur at anytime whether the engine was hot or cold, probably, looking back and now and the technicians eventually finding the problem, the fault was at itâ€™s worst when the engine was warm/hot, although it did happen when cold.

They (Sytner and BMW UK) were on the verge of swapping the car as they were flummoxed by the fault. Then, I received a call to say that they had solved it!

It turned out to be a wire shorting out somewhere around the engine (sorry Iâ€™m not that technical), the protective insulation around the wire had worn through either from the heat from the engine or vibration from the engine or both causing the short.

Apparently BMW had many cases of this happening worldwide on this model, may be worth pursuing, from memory I think I had done about 18,000 miles at the time.

If you want the contact details for Sytner Leicester please drop me an email, I am sure they would have all of the details on record.

Col

http://www.********.co.uk/gallery/dianehood/bmw12.jpg


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## ColDiTT (Sep 6, 2003)

Forgot to say the BM has done 58,000 miles now, in for inspection 2 service tomorrow (Wed 3rd) and Sytners are loaning me a new 530d for the day ???

That'll be interesting :-X


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## hyeung (Jun 25, 2002)

You mention it suffered power loss. Was this consistent each time and was it through the complete rpm range?
Our car seem to suffer the power loss under 3k rpm. But anything over this it was fine.

The car has done 30k


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## ColDiTT (Sep 6, 2003)

The loss of power was throughout the rpm range, more above than below 3k.

I also forgot to mention that the garage changed virtually every (other than the block) mechanical component from injectors to the automatic transmission box on their way to solving the problem.


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## hyeung (Jun 25, 2002)

Wow...might have just given you a new car instead.

Anyways the situation is that the dealer is gonna change the turbo unit. Even thou, the car is out of warranty (almost 4 yrs)....BMW GB will fork out 100% on the parts. I just have to pay for the labour costs, which comes to 280 inc vat.

I just hope they have diagnosed the fault correctly? Will wait and see....


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## ColDiTT (Sep 6, 2003)

Good luck and please let us know how you get on


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

> Wow...might have just given you a new car instead.
> 
> Anyways the situation is that the dealer is gonna change the turbo unit. Even thou, the car is out of warranty (almost 4 yrs)....BMW GB will fork out 100% on the parts. I just have to pay for the labour costs, which comes to 280 inc vat.
> 
> I just hope they have diagnosed the fault correctly? Will wait and see....


If they have diagnosed correctly, that sounds reasonabble on the wallet for a 4 year old motor.


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## hyeung (Jun 25, 2002)

Yeah i think so too....seeing the turbo unit comes in at over 1k inc vat. That price is based on the return of the existing turbo unit.

If it turns out not to be the turbo....then i really much doubt i'll get them to pay for other parts at fault. So me hopes this fixes it.


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

Well good luck in sorting your motor out. It's awful to have nagging doubts about reliability in a car.


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## KevinST (May 6, 2002)

BTT


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## hyeung (Jun 25, 2002)

Just a final update....Its fixed  Got the car last Friday.
So far everything has been fine.

So it turns out to the turbo after all.....And at only 283 quid for the lot! 
Thanks again for everybody's input...

Cheers


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## ColDiTT (Sep 6, 2003)

That's great, what a result


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