[jamier27]

My car is poorly

It was recently in the garage as there was no power before 3k and that turned out to be the pressure converter, so had all 3 changed at same time.

This was done at a garage 90mins away (as there arent many experienced specialists in my area)

Noticed on way home that the car was much better than before and pretty much felt as responsive as it was low down revs i.e. the small turbo was doing its job again. But half way home i decided to give it some beans and it just didnt feel as savage as before... gutted. Couldnt take it back to garage as it was about 6 on a friday and my mate was needing to get home who was following me. Also i thought that maybe the map had been wi[ed while they were trying to find problem.
So got home and uploaded ecotunes, maxitune.... but made no difference.

Decided to do a vid to confirm that it wasnt performing how it should be...

Vid of before issue

Vid of it now

(both done on local airfield)

You can see that early in the gear it seems pretty close but once 75 comes it slows rights down basically above 3500 rpm roughly. I timed 70-100 on both vids and theres almost 3s difference.

I got the car up on my father in laws ramps and had a look about to looks for a boost leak or something (though not very mechanically minded)

Things we found were the usual oil all over the red boost pipe but no splits and pressure held pretty well while giving it revs on ramp (no load) so have ordered new seals but cants see it being that??


Then we also see that a little triangle type clamp was missing off the small turbo pipe which again i cant see that is an issue as there is no oil leakage in that area and also small turbo seem sto be fine?!?

See threaded bolt hole on flange


So again have ordered a new clamp piece and bolt.


One other thing is the wastegate... When we looked at that it seemed to be midway as we moved it to the closed position (the way it naturally wanted to move) but surely a wastegate should be either open or shut??


Basically the car seems to struggle the higher speed/revs climb. So am thinking its a boost leak of somesort but couldnt see anything obvious, am kinda hoping the red boost pipe seals will sort it but i find it very unlikelt..

any help would be much appreciated.

[jamier27]

73 views and not one bit of help..

Wrong forum?

[AWBimmer]

Someone will come along sooner than later and shed light but I've seen
Lots of threads on the boost issues of our 335d.. Have you had any luck doing any searches on here... Lots of info there.. Let me see what I can dig up but am on my phone right now so will do so a little later.

[MEGA]

Afraid I don't know any more and same for most of the regulars I expect. The converter replacement is the usual advice and now you've done that the big one is lagging instead. No difference in the converters required between small and large turbo I guess?

Replace the boost hose as well. Think it could well be pressure loss given its worse at higher pressures...

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will come along but don't lose hope!

[mistryn]

I am not too sure as to be able to pin point what it could be. Normally in cases of power loss its most likely to be a split/worn vacuum hose or the pressure converters. Now since you have had the PC replaced it is very unlikely that one of the new pc to be faulty

Next thing I would look at would be all vaccuum hose, take the cover off and can be difficult to find all of them but take your time and look out for splits and make sure they are attached onto the parts properly. The reason why I say this is when my PC were replaced the lazy (insert rude word here) at BMW couldnt be bothered to replace all the vac hoses especially when he took the vac hose off the old PC he spliced it as the pipe was welded onto the PC due to the heat. Instead of replacing he pushed it back on and when I checked it was half off

Next I would try to get the codes read to see if anything comes up (actually I would do this first and its least messy job lol)

following on from that I would clean the MAP sensor which is located on the cylinder inlet no 5 - it just pulls off clean it with switch cleaner - I have done a thread on this

I would also look at cleaning the MAF sensor with some IPA/electrical contact cleaner

I am not to clued up on the wastegate, but I would presume the rod should move with a bti of resistance. The other thing I can think of is the actuator for the wastegate is sticking - again i am not to sure of the fix but some people have put a bit of oil on the rod to help it move freely

My gut instict would be to clean the MAP sensor and take it from there

[Mustard3]

This does sound similar to my problem.

(recent thread - http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=735804 )

In addition I stupidly replaced my MAF sensor at £300 after convincing myself this was the cause. It wasn't.

My red boost pipe was replaced by dealer less than 2 years ago and doesn't have a spot of oil on it.

I thought the problem had made itself obvious when I suddenly lost ALL boost on the way to catch a ferry on Thursday. We limped home 15 miles, quickly threw suitcases into my wife's car and made the ferry with minutes to spare! On inspection when getting home yesterday it turned out to be the MAP sensor had popped out of its hole in the inlet manifold. I must have used too much grease to ease it in when replacing recently.

I've reached the end of my limited abilities now, so booking it in with a local BMW specialist. I will keep you informed if I get it solved.

[jamier27]

Thanks for all the replies.

I have searched various ways and there are so many different faults and ures that it all got a bit confusing so thats why i thought i better write my own thread an what i found and vid evidence to make all the facts with my problem as clear as i could.

I am now pressuming no one thinks that the boost pipe seals and turbo clamp piece will really make a difference.

I might phone garage this morning up in glasgow and double check they replaced all pressure converters.

I am about ready to take it to bmw themselves to sort but problem is becuase its got no dpf and is mapped they might just say its running fine ?!? As i am not sure if the speed in which it slows down might be now at standard type pace or near as damn it.

Will have a read of the thread just posted too thanks for that

[Mustard3]

Originally Posted by jamier27

I am about ready to take it to bmw themselves to sort but problem is becuase its got no dpf and is mapped they might just say its running fine ?!? As i am not sure if the speed in which it slows down might be now at standard type pace or near as damn it.

That's the problem. Many garages driving it would say 'it feels fast enough to me, there's no warning lights and no fault codes, there's nothing wrong with it'.

So I took mine to Evolve and had them do a couple of dyno runs, showed normal power up to 3000 revs then a drop off from normal of about 48bhp.

[mistryn]

Looking at your last pic, you see the blue vac hose is it me or does it look persihed by the black clip bit?

[mistryn]

Originally Posted by Mustard3

That's the problem. Many garages driving it would say 'it feels fast enough to me, there's no warning lights and no fault codes, there's nothing wrong with it'.

So I took mine to Evolve and had them do a couple of dyno runs, showed normal power up to 3000 revs then a drop off from normal of about 48bhp.

Event hough mine is not mapped (yet) I took mine to sytner and when the guy drove it said nowt wrong with it but once you get used to that type of power and it drops you notice it. But someone who does not drive these day in day out will find it difficult to diagnose.

Evne taking it to a main dealer they sometimes wont be able to diagnose if you fet someone who has not had much experince and used to the general servicing

[jamier27]

Thanks again for the responses.

I see what you mean about the blue hose ... i didnt even know that was a vacum hose thats how much i know.. thats a possibility too.

Well i have booked the car into the garage that replaced the pressure converters as i called him and he said that possibly one could be faulty..? So got my dad persauded to drive car up to glasgow thursday and hope that they can sort it and find a fault.. will maybe see if i can get it dynod at ecotune before hand so the evidence is there...

[jamier27]

Also any suggestions what would be worth replacing while car is in garage without major expense. I.e. vacum hoses, breather pipes or alike.

Car is 4 years old with 86k. And dont want to be getting car back from a 200 mile round trip to find another pipe splitting 2 weeks down the line.
If vacum hoses are cheap and involves little labour i would get them replaced if they are vulnerable...

[ade146]

I dont think you should do anything before putting some bolts in that clamp. I cant tell from looking at the pic but if its the high pressure side it could be blowing a gale under load.

[jamier27]

Originally Posted by ade146

I dont think you should do anything before putting some bolts in that clamp. I cant tell from looking at the pic but if its the high pressure side it could be blowing a gale under load.

Ok thanks hope its as easy as that... But if it was blowing from there would the area not be saturated with oil?

[mistryn]

Originally Posted by jamier27

Also any suggestions what would be worth replacing while car is in garage without major expense. I.e. vacum hoses, breather pipes or alike.

Car is 4 years old with 86k. And dont want to be getting car back from a 200 mile round trip to find another pipe splitting 2 weeks down the line.
If vacum hoses are cheap and involves little labour i would get them replaced if they are vulnerable...

3.5mm black braided hose from gsf car parts cost £3 per metre, the max I think you need is 5m. some of the hoses are easy to replace, some are hidden and some say the inlet manifold needs to come off. i managed to replace most of mine with the inlet manifold still on, just need nimble figers and long needle nose pliers.

[jamier27]

Brill thanks will look into that.

Well took car out last night and it felt pretty normal again..

So its an intermittent fault...

[andy9188]

Originally Posted by jamier27

Brill thanks will look into that.

Well took car out last night and it felt pretty normal again... So took it to local airfield and gave it some beans and this time 3rd seemed ok but when into 4th using manual it slowed right down a 95mph and creeped to 100 and would not go past as it ran out of steam was high in revs by then but wouldnt change up until selected..

So did it again and same thing happened just sits at 100 and wouldnt pass until u change gear?!??!

I hope this isn't through autobox trying to protect itself

[jamier27]

?? Never heard of that before?

Its like it looses all boost and power, but does seem odd pop into next gear and it goes again but slows right down up the revs again didnt take it too high due to lack of space

[andy9188]

Sorry to hear this. I had a similar problem a few months back. Small turbo spoiling intermittently. All vac pipes replaced under warranty. I believe some people have replaced them with high temperature silicone hoses. It's a poor design really as they all run over the top of the small turbo with a pathetic little heat shield which burns through by the way and makes hoses brittle

[jamier27]

Thanks for your input. Do you have any more info on the gearbox theory as i have not come across any failures on threads i have looked for.

Gearbox will be getting serviced shortly but works faultlessly.

How much labour is involved in changed the majority of problematic vacum pipes?

[Tyso335]

is your car remapped, looks alot quicker then mine to 110 lol im worried now mine is not running rite haha what gear was you in from 30 and were you in sport mode??

[jamier27]

Lol yeah had dpf removed and is running ecotunes "maxitune" and in manual mode starting in 3rd.
Was a rocket tbh but now is about as quick as a clio sport

Been in garage today and my dad is bringing it back from glasgow so will see what crack is later.