XSeries-forum

Probably part of this item 7 on the diagram?  Might be a single available part of two pieces?

I thought that, but googling and looking at pics of that part do not show the orange bit.

Have found this though, appears others have had the same issues and there is rumour that the fins breaking off even led to turbo damage:

http://forum.bmw5.co.uk/topic/105349-what-is-this/

Looking at the pic in the above Web site post, I've lost much more of the veins than I thought!

just saw your posting on the orange air guide, better get one of those orderd,

I havent took my turbo off yet unfortunatly i need my car for work every day so have to get all me bits/parts ready, the only number i could make out on the the turbo in 742722.1

the inner wing is plastic and can be removed to give more vision/access

i dont think the valves shouldnt open enough to allow a nut to pass

i have one of those camera things that plugs into my phone its ok not fantastic didnt cost a lot those photos of my cracked manifold were taken with it

That orange bit looks like an engine wrecker !!! You might need to cut out the centre bits and leave the outer ring as it may be needed to seal the joint.
Could be another swirlflap scenario.. there's a good chance that the missing bits could get caught in the intercooler preventing them from getting through to the intake.

The orange flap thing, supposed to induce air into a swirl pattern and cut down turbulence for a better flow are not listed anywhere, think they have been dropped long since. I shall not be putting it back.

Horizon, your spot on, there is a substantial amount of plastic missing from mine when you look at the survey fins it should have, I've lots all curved bits and half the straight bits, not good! I just hope they stay put in the cooler

Moose, know what you mean, we're normally like that but this happened to coincide with me buying a new car, and still had old one, so reassured that so have 2 cars and not under as much pressure to get done (except from Mrs, who's now very keen on driving my car, not the other one which is far more eco and her old car. Think I might need to do some persuading to get my car back off her when the x5 is back to full health!).

I'll not bother with removing inner wing, now know what I'm doing, don't think it'll help much, as there definitely lots of metal around where you need the space, not to mention the steering column and damy flex bit of exhaust, although glad it's there to save removing all of it!

What I'm suggesting is the two parts may be assembled into the only part you can actually buy, and not available separately.  It could now be a single part including the flow shaper - you still need to spin the air column to help stop standing waves in the air ducts which would reduce delivery by inducing back pressure close to the blower output.

I'd be surprised if the fragments get all the way to the engine given the intercooler and inlet structure is in the way (all are post turbo).  Plenty of room for the fragments to fall out of the airstream.  I'm not volunteering to try it though 

Lol, think my motor may have lol.

I see what you say, but pics do indicate it's simply been removed. Not surprising how flimsy it is. I'm ordering the rubber anyway, why not as all the others been changed, so when that gets collected, I'll know for sure.

As for the missing bolt/screw I suggest you buy one of those flexible magnets and poke it in every available hole, if it's in there it will stick to the magnet. Only a couple of £

Thanks Henry, had my magnetic pick up stick everywhere I could get it, but there a lot of restricted spaces and crannies etc. Will look of r a bendy magnet as mine a Aries type shaft, so ridgid. Hard think is the market sticks to everything but where you want it to go lol.

A manifold nut is too big to drop past the valves into the cylinder ...... well i know the 11 mm nut on the petrol inlet manifold is for certain (my ar$e fell when i watched that bugger drop)
doesnt mean that it cant sit on the top of the valve though 

Know what you mean Ian, mine certainly has, just at the thought of it having gone in.

I'll get the boroscope in each hole once it arrives. Kind of hope to find it in there, as if not, not a clue where it is! Least if I can find it, I know and can then work on whatever needed to get it out lol

Shurley those missing bits from the shape shifter must be blocking a considerable number of the tubes in the intercooler, considering how small  those tubes are, that will mean a vast reduction in air flow through intercooler and subsequent loss of power. Would it not be prudent to remove intercooler and at least inspect. If you put it all back together and there is no improvement your always going to wonder/wish you had.

I'm with Henry here
If there is anything in that intercooler that gets thrown into the impeller vanes then that's your turbo down the swanny
One of the most common reasons we get turbo warranties rejected is because the garage don't clean the system through and the impeller gets a clout from a piece of carbon or something else and then the turbo eats itself alive
I'd take the extra time and clean everything
At least then you know it's done and right

Fair enough chaps, you are right, I'm just being lazy and had enough of it to be honest, so not keen to make more work, but you are correct of course.

Any hints for getting cooler out? As had a quick look and it appeared to need the front off, partly hence my reluctance.

Regards getting sucked into turbo, is that even possible, I thought cooler was post turbo, ie air is going turbo to cooler to inlet manifold, so anything in it would just be pushed into cooler, not sacked out of it?

From looking at the plastic bit, it's been broken for quiet some time though, not that it changed anything.

Thanks both, just need to figure out how to get the cooler out now

Intercooler is downstream - it's there to cool the compressed and therefore hot output air (charged air) from the turbo.

As far as I know from looking at the plumbing, the airflow route is Intake > Air Filter > MAF > Turbo > Intercooler (Charge Air Cooler) > Intake Manifold > Engine Inlet ports > Suck/Squeeze/Bang/Blow > Exhaust port > Turbo drive > CAT > Exhaust >