New owner ........... Turbo gone?

[Dode4444]

Hi all!
Have owned my black 3.0d sport exclusive for around 6 weeks and was loving every minute of it. Until yesterday when I noticed a distinct louder than normal whistle from the turbo but no excess smoke or any loss of power at all so hoped it wouldn't be anything serious.
Took it to my local BMW specialist and they have looked at it and said that the turbo bearings are gone and I require a new turbo.
They're computers were down so couldn't quote me for the repair until Monday now. Was just wondering if this is quite common on these and if people had a rough cost I should be expecting to fix her?
Thanks for your help!!

[Horizon]

Hi and welcome to the forum, I'm sure I was told the turbos are around £800 new, some people say they can't be overhauled, some say you can get refurbished ones. They are Garret turbos , one person I spoke to said they fit 2 different ones, one with an electronic actuator, one with a mechanical actuator.
Hopefully someone on here will be better versed in the subject than me.

[Dode4444]

No problem any help is really appreciated thank you!

[macca]

i know im not much help as i am in Australia, but when i looked around a couple of years ago, (i have an external oil weep from my turbo) my mechanic wanted a ludicrous price, probably sourced OEM, so i rang around independent tuners and it seem that the turbo in our cars is fairly garden variety

and can be purchased much cheaper that OEM ( not surprised), and they can be rebuilt

the guy i called had both new and rebuilt with warranties sitting on his shelf, i can not remember the price
but fitted i didn't think it unreasonable. ( maybe $1200-$1400 not sure)

so ring some of the aftermarket turbo tuning shops I'm sure you will get something you can live with.

[Dode4444]

Thanks for your help I will try local Indys as well thanks

[ChrisLux]

I had exactly the same thing which started mid-way thru this year . I believe it is quite a common problem with
all diesel turbo engines , although I had an E39 which I owned from new and sold with 285,000 kms on clock
and it's still running on it's original turbo with the second owner .

I eventually got mine changed when I came back to UK on hols in August .

The total cost by my local Indy in Wolves was between £1300/1400 , the turbo was about £900 .

I was advised NOT to go for a rebuilt unit as this particular Indy said they'd had several cases of
rebuilt units failing after about 6 months , and the difference in cost between the two made buying
one a false economy .

Good luck

[Dode4444]

Thank you all for the advice my local bmw specialist has just quoted me £2100 for

Replacing the turbo
Flushing the engine
New oil and filter
Oil breather changed also.

Does this sound reasonable to you guys???

[X5Sport]

The breather is £50, oil £100 or so (depending upon deals), filter £10.  Why does it need flushing?

If the turbo us £900 then someone is charging main dealer rates for labour!

Richard

[ChrisLux]

As I said , my Indy charged me between £1300/1400 , so that sounds far too expensive to me  :'(

[Dode4444]

Was told needed the flush due to the grittiness and soot in the pipes and engine oil. I thought it was slightly on the high side for pricing maybe I'll get a few different quotes. Thanks guys!

[Bargain Bucket]

Soot and grit - pah. I'm not a fan of flushing - it can dislodge all sorts of crap thats baked onto various surfaces. The dislodged crap then blocks up oilways and causes massive damage. I've seen many engines that failed through oil starvation after a flush.

Try these guys who can probably rebuild your turbo very cheaply. Universal Turbos.  01425 656900. I've used them for turbo rebuilds on a couple fo Lotus Carltons and they were VERY good.

[Dode4444]

Thanks for that I'll give them a try