[fysto]

Hi guys !

I’ve been reading this forum for quite a while and it has helped me a lot, but this time I need your help.

I have a 335i n54 with 170 000km, it has downpipes, 5" stepped FMIC, inlets, reinforced charge pipe and a v10 stage 2+ mhd tune. Plugs and coils were changed a year ago, and the boost solenoids have like 6 months. Injectors are good, checked them and they dont leak. Oil pressure is fine, mesured it. Compressions are also in specs.

My turbos died after a track day, whining noise in the beginning and the next day heavy smoke at the exhaust. As I didn’t know the miles on them I was psychologically prepared to rebuild them when their time would come.

So I did, I replaced the cartridges with Melett's one, replaced the wastegates that rattled, new seals, fresh oil and filter. I made sure to make the oil circulate in the new cartridge by starting the motor with the coils and injectors unplugged.
And everithing was good, the car drove fine, no fault code besides a shadow 2AAF Fuel Pump Plausibility.

But last sunday I was on the freeway, I stopped for 2min with the car iddling and when I drove off I started to hear a whinning coming from the turbos and the car made 0 power. Fortunately I managed to get back home.
Started the car the next day, it's still whinning and makes 0 boost but no exhaust smoke.
I looked under the hood and everythink looks fine, no loose hose on the intake system.

Are my turbos already dead ?! They have less than 1000km...
What do you think is happening ? I don't know what to think :/

Here's a log I made sunday 30min before it started to fail :

https://datazap.me/u/fysto/log-16532...=0&data=6-9-21

And a video of the noise :

https://youtube.com/shorts/_SuO-CpyOnc

[Mustafa.e92]

dosent sound good. Pull off downpipes and inspect turbos

[Saif2018]

Originally Posted by Mustafa.e92

dosent sound good. Pull off downpipes and inspect turbos

+1, If the inlets haven't popped off, The log posted shows WG duty cycle was 80+%

Could be WG are shot or turbos dying.

[Saif2018]

Originally Posted by fysto

Hi guys !

I’ve been reading this forum for quite a while and it has helped me a lot, but this time I need your help.

I have a 335i n54 with 170 000km, it has downpipes, 5" stepped FMIC, inlets, reinforced charge pipe and a v10 stage 2+ mhd tune. Plugs and coils were changed a year ago, and the boost solenoids have like 6 months. Injectors are good, checked them and they dont leak. Oil pressure is fine, mesured it. Compressions are also in specs.

My turbos died after a track day, whining noise in the beginning and the next day heavy smoke at the exhaust. As I didn’t know the miles on them I was psychologically prepared to rebuild them when their time would come.

So I did, I replaced the cartridges with Melett's one, replaced the wastegates that rattled, new seals, fresh oil and filter. I made sure to make the oil circulate in the new cartridge by starting the motor with the coils and injectors unplugged.
And everithing was good, the car drove fine, no fault code besides a shadow 2AAF Fuel Pump Plausibility.

But last sunday I was on the freeway, I stopped for 2min with the car iddling and when I drove off I started to hear a whinning coming from the turbos and the car made 0 power. Fortunately I managed to get back home.
Started the car the next day, it's still whinning and makes 0 boost but no exhaust smoke.
I looked under the hood and everythink looks fine, no loose hose on the intake system.

Are my turbos already dead ?! They have less than 1000km...
What do you think is happening ? I don't know what to think :/

Here's a log I made sunday 30min before it started to fail :

https://datazap.me/u/fysto/log-16532...=0&data=6-9-21

And a video of the noise :

https://youtube.com/shorts/_SuO-CpyOnc

Don't bother rebuilding turbos in future, better of buying a new set RB OEM Billets or better. I wasted money uprating the WG to Incolnel ones, now the Turbos whining but it's still building boost.

[studio54]

my turbos also started whining a lot, soon after using V10 (coincidendly or not?)

however it's not exactly the same whine like in your video, and still boosting like Saif

[fysto]

Originally Posted by Mustafa.e92

dosent sound good. Pull off downpipes and inspect turbos

Originally Posted by Saif2018

+1, If the inlets haven't popped off, The log posted shows WG duty cycle was 80+%

Could be WG are shot or turbos dying.

Pulled off the downpipes, no noticeable radial play on the exhaust wheel but a bit of axial play, no oil on the exhaust side.
The inlets were in place.

I managed to do a leak boost test, turns out I had a small leak between the charge pipe and the throttle body, I put back on the original charge pipe and the leak is gone.
But most importantly I have pressure in the valve cover, if I open the oil cap the pressure goes away instantly. So I guess the PCV valve is dead, can it kill the turbos so quickly ?
Also the front turbo is leaking air, but not the rear. That's not good right ?

Originally Posted by Saif2018

Don't bother rebuilding turbos in future, better of buying a new set RB OEM Billets or better. I wasted money uprating the WG to Incolnel ones, now the Turbos whining but it's still building boost.

Yep, total waste of time and money...

[fysto]

Originally Posted by studio54

my turbos also started whining a lot, soon after using V10 (coincidendly or not?)

however it's not exactly the same whine like in your video, and still boosting like Saif

I used v10 stage 1+ for several weeks before putting the downpipes and everything worked great, it seems the transition to stage 2+ found the weakest link...
And that a shame because it pulls hard !

[studio54]

Originally Posted by fysto

I used v10 stage 1+ for several weeks before putting the downpipes and everything worked great, it seems the transition to stage 2+ found the weakest link...
And that a shame because it pulls hard !

Yeah I agree, V10 stage 2+ on 93oct (98ron) pulls really hard !
(and 1m throttle to 100% for fun)

I am not really sure but stock turbos might be near to the edge on V10 stage 2+ with more pressure than V7 for example..

Sometimes I see 20 psi on the "boost psi" MHD live gauge (probably when overboosting a bit), which means it's even higher on "boost mean"

The whining is scary, I have mine for months now. It's even more scary that you got the whining and next day, turbos died

Let us know about your turbos, I wonder what is the problem ? If you inspected them, no smoke, but no boost, did you check with a vacuum gun/source that wastegate arms are moving?

[Saif2018]

Time to save up for turbo upgrade guys,

[Saif2018]

Originally Posted by fysto

Pulled off the downpipes, no noticeable radial play on the exhaust wheel but a bit of axial play, no oil on the exhaust side.
The inlets were in place.

I managed to do a leak boost test, turns out I had a small leak between the charge pipe and the throttle body, I put back on the original charge pipe and the leak is gone.
But most importantly I have pressure in the valve cover, if I open the oil cap the pressure goes away instantly. So I guess the PCV valve is dead, can it kill the turbos so quickly ?
Also the front turbo is leaking air, but not the rear. That's not good right ?


Yep, total waste of time and money...

Not sure if PCV valve can kill turbos, I've not heard of it happening, but I've had the RB PCV Valve for a long time with no issues with the system. If its leaking air, then that could explain why it never reaches near BT

[studio54]

Originally Posted by Saif2018

Time to save up for turbo upgrade guys,

Hehe yes, fingers crossed that it will not break soon but I will not make the same mistake again, next set will be good upgraded turbos for sure, like RB or something similar with inlet and all stuff + a custom conservative tune that will push as much (and more) as OTS S2+ while being soft on them !

That said, I would expect that my stock turbos lasted longer without whining, they have less than 10000 kilometers (6000 miles)
Out of curiosity, I plan to make a test to know if both are or just one are whining, by unplugging vacuum line at the front wastegate, then rear, and listen (whine is audible at neutral)
I would find weird if both whines, but who knows !

[fysto]

Originally Posted by Saif2018

Not sure if PCV valve can kill turbos, I've not heard of it happening, but I've had the RB PCV Valve for a long time with no issues with the system. If its leaking air, then that could explain why it never reaches near BT

Yeah, that's the thing, while it certainly didn't help the situation, was it enough to kill them that fast is the real question. If not, what killed the turbos ? I don't want the new ones to die a third time in 3 months ! :/
In the meantime I ordered a reinforced pcv valve, it should resolve that issue.

[fysto]

Originally Posted by studio54

Hehe yes, fingers crossed that it will not break soon but I will not make the same mistake again, next set will be good upgraded turbos for sure, like RB or something similar with inlet and all stuff + a custom conservative tune that will push as much (and more) as OTS S2+ while being soft on them !

That said, I would expect that my stock turbos lasted longer without whining, they have less than 10000 kilometers (6000 miles)
Out of curiosity, I plan to make a test to know if both are or just one are whining, by unplugging vacuum line at the front wastegate, then rear, and listen (whine is audible at neutral)
I would find weird if both whines, but who knows !

That's a good idea, I didn't think of it or else I would have tried it to pin point the culprit !

[Saif2018]

Originally Posted by fysto

Yeah, that's the thing, while it certainly didn't help the situation, was it enough to kill them that fast is the real question. If not, what killed the turbos ? I don't want the new ones to die a third time in 3 months ! :/
In the meantime I ordered a reinforced pcv valve, it should resolve that issue.

I think it's the running around 20psi causes the whine, you would probably have to strip the turbos to get a good idea of what might have caused it. Stock turbos just seem to die if you push them hard (~20psi) frequently. I haven't heard about anyone killing RB OEM Billets, 1's or 2's yet. RB turbos seem to be time most reliable if you run them in the effeciency range Rob recommends.

Soon as these damn stock turbos die I'm going RB