HELP! Have I blown my turbo !?!?

[RickyG512]

Hi All,

What happened (2007 (57) X3 20d 177ps N47
Driving down motorway today, started juddering/limp mode, loud whistle, just about made it home in 1 piece

Car still starts but there is no whistle anymore, but there is a rattle coming from the Turbo area, like a 10 pence coin spinning in a Coke can, can't hear any escape of air, car still in limp mode, gas peddle floored the revs max out at approx 1.8k RPM with a judder to the car

OBDII Diagnostics

1. I have a couple of EGR codes, but I've always had this for months which I assumed was because of the blocked DPF

2. 4530: Charge pressure control (which I believe from memory is new from today)

What I know
I know the DPF is blocked, just haven't got round to sorting out, however I have had all 4 glow plugs, glow plug controller and thermostat replaced few months ago by BMW Chip Tune to help the car regenerate which didn't clean the DPF up under forced regeneration, as the car still started and drive (until today) I thought I'd fix it later.

From my uneducated guess, could it be the turbo is gone, causing limp mode, or the DPF is fully blocked now causing limp mode? or the blocked DPF caused the turbo to go? or could it all be EGR related? I feel it's something big from the spinny rattle noise from the Turbo-ish area.

Any advise what I can do to accurately diagnose what's the cause? Or do I just need to simply take the Turbo out to see? I have a 100 degree C 250 bar pressure washer at work with detergent, I was planning on taking the DPF and cleaning it at work, I still need to do this regardless but maybe I left it too late?

[IanP]

A severely blocked DPF usually damages the turbo. Ive seen dozens of these at a friends garage, it would seem that the backpressure in the exhaust forces gases into the oilways of the turbo leading to bearing damage. There are numerous threads on here about checking turbos, but basically you need to get into the inlet side and check the movement of the turbo rotor. There should be little up and down movement (usually less than 2mm), and no metal to metal contact at any time. If there is then its new turbo time. Common to see snapped rotor shafts as well.

[jagr]

What mileage is on your car?
What is the service history like?


Have you checked the hidden computer for temperature? as you say the thermostat was changed but there are 2. And if they used non genuine thermostats they are prone too fail quickly.

Check the toilet roll oil separator and if not already done swap it to a newer 'vortex' one?

How dirty is your exhaust?

[RickyG512]

125k
Lost service history, only had the car 8 months, just got a receipt for a service about this time last year.

Thermostat was replaced with genuine at BMW chip tune, my scanner says water temp is approx 88-90 degrees C, not sure if the N47 engine also has 2 stats?

Will have a look into the oil separator.

Exhaust gases have always been quite dirty and does has a strong smell, smoke too but not a huge amount of smoke, wouldn't really notice the smoke if you wasn't looking for it but it is there