320d 53plate turbo issues

[320Touring]

hi,

My mate's 320d (facelift e46 150bhp) on a 53 plate has just properly lunched its turbo..

Garage quoted him £1500-2000 to repair it- so thats probably not an option.

Been looking at 2nd hand turbos, but I need to know what engine code is in the car

how can I identify the lump?

also-is there a common cause of turbo failure on these lumps?

Thanks in advance

Neil

[320Touring]

Has no one any ideas?

Currently thinking gonna strip it down a bit on thurs night and see whats what...

[hoshy]

you checked wikipedia? Does realoem give engine numbers?

[Chris-W]

M47 engine code, if ever more failing memory even vaguely serves.

[320Touring]

you checked wikipedia? Does realoem give engine numbers?

apparently its an M47N.. what ever that means..

should at least narrow down the turbo type we're looking for

[Eddie25]

M47 engine code, if ever more failing memory even vaguely serves.

Rings a bell with me too. Same donkey they fitted to the Rover 75 IIRC.

[ricey46]

Could be pricey!?

[320Touring]

Could be pricey!?

you're tellin me

There are a few turbo's on ebay tho...

[Jon_Bmw]

Its where the bits of broken turbo might have ended up that would worry me...

[320Touring]

Its where the bits of broken turbo might have ended up that would worry me...

another valid point...dunno if the blades broke or what. only one way to fing out, i suppose

[Jon_Bmw]

Just pull the air inlet pipe off, get a mirror if required and look at the compressor turbine. Get praying that it is all there.

When you say its proper gone, do you mean no power or lots of smoke. Best situation is that its just smoke and the seals are shot, but i BET it isn't

[320Touring]

Just pull the air inlet pipe off, get a mirror if required and look at the compressor turbine. Get praying that it is all there.

When you say its proper gone, do you mean no power or lots of smoke. Best situation is that its just smoke and the seals are shot, but i BET it isn't

James bond spec exhaust, and a thirst for oil like ole olly reid...

Will look in turbo to see the blades (or whats left..)

[Jon_Bmw]

That is potentially good news as long as it didn't lose a huge chunk of power. Seals are replaceable usually, but you'll obviously have to crack the tuby open. Can be quite easy, can be quite difficult.

[320Touring]

That is potentially good news as long as it didn't lose a huge chunk of power. Seals are replaceable usually, but you'll obviously have to crack the tuby open. Can be quite easy, can be quite difficult.

oooh.. car still runs ok As far as I know...so not much turbo chunkage .

Take it seals are stealer only?

[MJJ_ZX6RR]

I assume it is the 150bhp version, rather than the 136. Unfortunately, the lunched turbo is not uncommon on this model, and common consensus is it is due to flaps in the inlet manifold breaking up and then being fed through the turbo. A number of people have removed the flaps from the manifold as preventative maintenance.

General consensus is that replacing the turbo and manifold should be OK, but the exhaust and cat may have been soaked in oil and smoke a bit to start with.

There is some great info on bmwland.co.uk, do a search for 320d turbo failure or swirl flaps.

Sorry to be the bringer of bad news.

Martin.

[jamie325isport]

Ive heard of some terrible problems with those 320 diesels. This is what went wrong with one that my girlfriends boss had. It was a 54 plate 320td, he is late 50s maybe in his 60s now so doesnt thrash his cars.

He bought it second hand off main dealer fore court with just under 20k on the clock. At 24k the gearbox packed up, ok it was fixed under warrenty but still 24k this shouldnt be happening. It had a ongoing problem with the diesel pump, from almost the day he picked it up until the warrenty ran out and yep you guessed it, it finally gave up one month past (about 27k). It wasnt a problem being a good customer BMW paid for that.

He has had BMWs since E30s were new (obviously he had one and loved it, goes without saying ) the problems he had with that car almost made him reconsider his next motor after over 20 years of owning just BMWs.

Now he has a 58 plate (got an amazing deal for it) with all the mtech bits on it, his words a much much much better car than the previous. We will see.........

[320Touring]

I assume it is the 150bhp version, rather than the 136. Unfortunately, the lunched turbo is not uncommon on this model, and common consensus is it is due to flaps in the inlet manifold breaking up and then being fed through the turbo. A number of people have removed the flaps from the manifold as preventative maintenance.

General consensus is that replacing the turbo and manifold should be OK, but the exhaust and cat may have been soaked in oil and smoke a bit to start with.

There is some great info on bmwland.co.uk, do a search for 320d turbo failure or swirl flaps.

Sorry to be the bringer of bad news.

Martin.

So the manifold may be fubar'd too?

cheers for teh info.

if flaps are off, but mani not damaged could it ber saved?

[320Touring]

bmwland not making for good reading...

[Ziggy]

My old neighbours one went. Long story -> short = new engine time, but luckily he got BMW to foot the bill for the parts at least.

[320Touring]

My old neighbours one went. Long story -> short = new engine time, but luckily he got BMW to foot the bill for the parts at least.

cheers jon!

looks like the flaps cause mosrt of the issues, I feel a fannymold off incident coming on

[Ziggy]

Basically, they said "oh it's £££ for a new turbo". Then "sorry, you'll need a new inlet mani too". Followed by "Erm... £7000 for a new engine, please". Not great on what was a 4 year old FSH car!

[320Touring]

Basically, they said "oh it's £££ for a new turbo". Then "sorry, you'll need a new inlet mani too". Followed by "Erm... £7000 for a new engine, please". Not great on what was a 4 year old FSH car!

seems its either swirl valves in the inlet or a turbo toasting itself..

not good, lets hope for no block damage...

[MJJ_ZX6RR]

bmwland not making for good reading...

True. I know that they sold more of these things than Ford did Mondeos, but still there seem to be a surprisingly large number of people who have had expensive failures. BMW have paid to fix a lot of them, but once they are much past 3 yrs and particularly if they have been serviced outside of the main dealers, then contributions are rare.

The manifold was superceeded with a new part if I recall, but I would have thought you'd get away with just removing what are left of the swirl flaps. Consensus seems to be they do very little, maybe bolster bottom end very slightly.

I think it would be worth having the exhaust off, and doing everything possible to remove the oil that will be inside it. Save the cat as much pain as you can.

Best of luck

Martin.
ps: On the plus side, the 320d engine does seem bulletproof other than this manifold issue so once fixed, it should go on for a very long time.
pps: Never had this problem on the e30

[320Touring]

bmwland not making for good reading...

True. I know that they sold more of these things than Ford did Mondeos, but still there seem to be a surprisingly large number of people who have had expensive failures. BMW have paid to fix a lot of them, but once they are much past 3 yrs and particularly if they have been serviced outside of the main dealers, then contributions are rare.

The manifold was superceeded with a new part if I recall, but I would have thought you'd get away with just removing what are left of the swirl flaps. Consensus seems to be they do very little, maybe bolster bottom end very slightly.

I think it would be worth having the exhaust off, and doing everything possible to remove the oil that will be inside it. Save the cat as much pain as you can.

Best of luck

Martin.
ps: On the plus side, the 320d engine does seem bulletproof other than this manifold issue so once fixed, it should go on for a very long time.
pps: Never had this problem on the e30

Yeah, current plan is to pull both manifolds off, and have a damn good look and clean.

Remove swirl flaps if ther're all there

[320ise]

is there not a breather hose at the block that can cause the turbo failure in the first place (crank case breather?) is i am sure i read that somewhare? just thought id post it anyway incase it helps. sorry to hear about that though i think i have lost all confidence in derv beems.

[stuartgallafant]

The majority of the time, turbo failure is down to blown seals, where people turn the engine off too soon after a heavy run and the oil sits in the turbine shaft whilst its spinning at 100'000+ revs cooking the seals. Sooner or later the seals burst, dumping oil straight into the exhaust system. The swirl flaps rarely make through into the turbo's when they break.

A turbo from BMW will cost you 1200 quid for the part alone. I think the cheapest i've seen an invoice at my dealership for a turbo is roughly £2500

Also, the engine in the 320d came in 3 variations; M47 with a vacuum controlled wastegate, M47TU (Technical Update) with an electronically controlled wastegate and the M47TU2 with further changes to the turbo, inlet manifold and fuel preparation i believe. Finding out exactly which engine is in yours is imperitive. Just ring a dealers and quote your chassis number, they should be able to tell on VIEWDATA.

If its dumped a shed load of oil down your exhaust, you may have problems with the cat. These are about 800 quid alone!! All the prices I quote are obviously main dealer prices, as I see them all the time. I rarely bother with Euro Car Pants

If I can help anymore, please feel free to PM me

[irish320i]

The oil breather filter causes a lot of trouble bmw do a modified one, new housing and oil separator. Its located towards the back of the engine beside the air filter . The last one I worked on could close a motorway with the smoke it was putting out was perfect after I changed the breather.