[mrmax1984]

I successfully completed the adjustment of my front turbo with the washer method. Here are some notes for those who still haven't had success, or are thinking about doing this:

First off, about my car:
- 2008 with 90k miles, had rattle on startup and throttle lift-off
- Left-hand drive, US

The car has to be lifted off of the ground, with the under-tray removed. I have a QuickJack, which was just awesome for this. On the lowest setting, I had plenty of space to roll around on my Harbor Freight creeper.

If you do this repair at the same time as the water pump and thermostat, it will be a LOT easier. If you want to do it without draining your coolant and removing the pump, these steps make it a bit easier:

1) Glue your two washers together. I used this gap-filling super glue. This allows them to stick 'vertically' to the end of your magnetic pick-up tool, instead of splaying out flat.

2) Remove the vacuum canisters and their bracket. You won't be able to get to the top mounting bolt of the front turbo's waste gate actuator without doing this. Get your socket with extensions in through the front (you removed the radiator fan, right?) and crack the top bolt loose. Loosen it so that you can move the actuator 2-3mm towards the front of the car.

3) Next, crawl underneath the car, with your feet towards the passenger wheel (my car is LHD). You'll want a magnetic pick-up tool in your right-hand, and your socket wrench in your left. You'll need some good lighting as well. From this position underneath the car, you can see the lower mounting bolt of the actuator. You can guide the socket in through the front of your engine bay (between some coolant lines) with your left hand, and watch it from underneath. There is a gap in the sub frame for you to insert your magnetic pick-up tool and grab the bolt once you remove it with your left hand.

4) Put a drop of super glue on opposite ends of the bolt, and put it back into the socket. Wiggle it around a bit so that it doesn't set too tightly, but just enough so that it doesn't fall out if you hold it upside down. It's important to not glue it down too tightly, or you'll lose your 1/4" to 3/8" adapter if you're using one.

5) At this point the procedure becomes a bit of an ordeal. While underneath, you'll need to guide the washers (which are glued together so that they stand vertically on the magnetic pick-up tool) up with your right hand, trying to shimmy them into the gap between the turbo's compressor housing and the waste gate actuator. At the same time, you'll need to guide the bolt in with your left hand, while trying to line it up with the hole in the bracket, your washers, and the compressor housing. Once lined up, tighten it down and wiggle the socket back and forth to break off the super glue.

This is arguably 90% of the effort required to complete this repair.

6) Now you have to repeat the process for the upper mounting bolt, which is way easier since you have direct line-of-sight to it from above in the engine bay.

7) This is also a good time to replace these vacuum lines:
- Front turbo's waste gate actuator to vacuum solenoid
- vacuum canisters to hard lines on valve cover
- vacuum canisters to vacuum solenoids,
- the rear turbo's vacuum line is very difficult to get to, so I skipped it.

At this time you can verify the amount of vacuum required to close the waste gate. Connect the vacuum line that is coming off of the actuator directly to your Mighty Vac (I bought a pack of misc vacuum connectors from Amazon), and pump the handle gently until you hear the 'click' of the waste gate closing. I forgot to do this while underneath, so I don't know if you can visually observe the rod moving or not. I can verify though that after this procedure, mine closed right around the ~6 in. Hg mark, as per spec.


For the rear turbo, I used my make-shift tool (one of those freeby wrenches from Ikea or some other flat-pack furniture, which I cut a ~4mm slot with a dremel) and adjusted the rod from above in the engine bay. I faffed around for a LONG time though, because my tool sucked. I originally made the cut too wide, and had to bend it with a hammer to close it up a bit. This weakened the metal, so it would bend after every turn, requiring frequent visits back to my bench vise. I recommend just sourcing the proper size wrench, although you'll still need something that has a ~90-degree head in addition.

I only got the rear turbo down to ~8 in. Hg or so, but crossed my fingers and closed it up. This one is very easy to see actually moving back and forth. Just be mindful that even after the rod is fully extended (or retracted?), you can keep increasing the applied vacuum, making it difficult to get an accurate reading. You'll have to do it several times to get a good feel for where it's actually closing.

After putting everything back together, my rattle is completely gone. I had already saved up cash to get replacement turbos, but I'm going to run these to the ground if I can and keep saving. Maybe by the time these finally fail, I'll have enough for some Stage 2 units from Pure lol.

If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

[vrracing]

My 08 has 82k miles so I found this thread, and mrmax1984's walkthru, potentially relevant. I hooked up my MitiVac and did a pull on the rear wastegate and watched the rod. It stopped moving at 7 in hg. I repeated this several times and it was consistent.

I then pulled the vac canisters and maneuvered my $25 HD USB boroscope hooked up to my MacBook Pro running QuickTime until I could see the flat on the front wastegate actuator rod. I then pulled vacuum on that line and it consistently stopped moving at 6.5 in hg.

For both I was able to take them to 15 in hg and neither of them budged beyond their initial stopping points.

My read based on this thread is that is all goodness and light and close enough for govt work with no further adjustment warranted. Correct?

As an aside, a few weeks back I replaced my vacuum lines with 3.5mm silicone tube replacing lines one at a time. The old lines appeared to be original with the cloth braid wrap.

When I look at the boost solenoids it appears to me that while there is a solenoid and canister pair 'associated' with its own turbo, in reality both feeder circuits tee into a single circuit that joins both wastegate actuators together.

Thanks.

Jim

[tmick5jr]

could someone please post a picture of where you are putting on these washers? a visual of exactly where these go would really help. thank you everyone

[Masher]

^ what he said

[tmick5jr]

So I did the front turbo adjustment with the two washers. Very easy if you have a lift. I just had a hard time locating the two bolts. After I located them it maybe took me 15 minutes to do both. It?s easy if you have a magnetic tool to hold the washers while you put them in place. But I still have rattle so it must be the rear turbo. Should the rear turbo arm have play and movement in it if you wiggle it side to side? You can wiggle it and hear it clanking around but when I adjusted it a few months ago it did nothing. Not really sure what to do

[tmick5jr]

Do you guys feel like there?s more lag after doing this adjustment with the washers? Or is that not even possible

[bimmerlove335]

Originally Posted by tmick5jr

Do you guys feel like there?s more lag after doing this adjustment with the washers? Or is that not even possible

Absolutely not. My rattle disappeared as did almost all of the lag I was experiencing.

Generally speaking, wg rattle is synonymous with lag because it occurs when the motion of the wg actuator has too much play which does not allow proper actuation.

[mweisdorfer]

If you use a telescopic mirror that has a light on it, you can place it so, that you can see the bottom bolt without even taking anything off the car.

With that said, if you take the fan and the vacuum tanks out, you could get to the bottom bolt from the top. I'd use modified washers, in the shape of horseshoes. I don't think I'd want to try and shimmy the washer between there and then try and put a bolt back in simultaneously. The top bolt is easy. I think I would loosen up the top bolt and then loosen up the bottom bolt. Create enough space so you can place the washers, which you super glued together. I'd probably do the bottom first since it's harder.

I am planning on doing the front sometime next month. I've Already done the rear by adjusting the rod 2.5 turns. You should mark the rod with "white out" prior to moving it. You'll also need a really short or modified 4.5mm wrench to turn the actuator rod. A "shorty" 10mm wrench comes in really handy when loosening and tightening the actuator rod bolt. I bought mine at Lowes for next to nothing.

[mrmax1984]

Figured that I would post an update. I applied the techniques in this thread on 08-29-2017, and as of today I am still rattle-free.

[!LEFTCOAST!]

Anybody in SoCal doing this?
I'd gladly pay you for your time.

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by mrmax1984

Figured that I would post an update. I applied the techniques in this thread on 08-29-2017, and as of today I am still rattle-free.

Same

[Michaelwaito]

Hey everyone,

I am getting conflicting advice about the break in period for new rod bearings. Some people tell me there is no need to break in new bearings, some say to keep the rpms down for 250 or 500 mlles, and then one person told me I needed to also change the oil after the 500 mile mark What is the general consensus?

Thanks

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by Michaelwaito

Hey everyone,

I am getting conflicting advice about the break in period for new rod bearings. Some people tell me there is no need to break in new bearings, some say to keep the rpms down for 250 or 500 mlles, and then one person told me I needed to also change the oil after the 500 mile mark What is the general consensus?

Thanks

I think you need to start a "New" thread

[feuer]

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

I think you need to start a "New" thread

lol yes!

[RagingE93]

Originally Posted by waikiki35

Hey guys,
Just wanted to let everybody knows that adjusting the front wastegate with washers under the 2 12mm that hold the actuator bracket is possible and fairly easy!!

All you need is a few 8mm washers . It took 2 on each bolt for me to adjust the wastegate to be closed at around 5.9 in. Hg

It's a 1-2h job.

To reach those two bolts I took the radiator fan and the vacuum canisters and that is it! No need to remove the inlet pipe. I was able to reach both the bolts with an extension on my ratchet. Nothing else needed . Go in from the front ( where you removed the fan. Top bolt is really easy as you can see it from the top of the engine ( where you removed the canisters. Go between the coolant hoses to reach it. For the bottom bolt do the same . You can reach it with your extension between the top of the water pump and one of the coolant hose ( still from front of engine) . To see what you're doing lay under the car and you will be able to see the bolt if you look through the space on the left side ( driver side) of the water pump .

Sounds complicate but you will figure it out once you get to it. The only thing I had a hard time with and that took the most time was getting the washers on there since you can get your hands in the tight space . I used one of those magnet stick tool.

MY RATTLE IS 100% GONE! ( at least for right now)

Old thread but glad I found it!!

This right here really works! Just completed this diy and man it feels good to not hear any rattle. Zero rattle guy!!!!

[Bama1]

I did mine after work today. I removed the underbelly shield, air ducts by the fan shroud, fan shroud, vacuum canisters and vacuum canister mount.
All of your tightening/loosening of both the top/bottom bolts will be done with your extensions coming from the front.

[Bama1]

This is the top one which you'll be able to see after you remove the vacuum canisters.
I superglued 2 washers and put them on with a telescoping magnet tool.

[Bama1]

Slightly more difficult but I bent the mount away a bit to give me more room to slide the washers into. Again, superglued to a magnetic pick up tool.

[Edris335i]

Originally Posted by !LEFTCOAST!

Anybody in SoCal doing this?
I'd gladly pay you for your time.

Anyone end up doing it for you? I'd pay someone as well.

[!LEFTCOAST!]

Originally Posted by Edris335i

Anyone end up doing it for you? I'd pay someone as well.

No luck

[leandrodasilva]

Anyone in the Greater Toronto Area that has done this? I will also pay for your time. Thank you. Visit my profile and e-mail me or text me please.

[e92.coupe]

Originally Posted by Edris335i

Anyone end up doing it for you? I'd pay someone as well.

I just did the fix on mine and 2 other E92's, it does wonders if the waste-gates still have some life in them. I'm located in the valley as well so feel free to PM me for more details if you still need it done