BMW Forums : BimmerForums banner

2001 BMW E39 530D Auto - Turbo raplacement after oil pick-up

5.4K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  matthew_henson  
#1 ·
Hi everyone,

I'm a new member (hello) and this is my first post, so I hope its a good one.

We've had our 2001/51 BMW 530D Sport Auto from new. It was my fathers car up to around 58k and we got it from him around 3.5 years ago (so we know the complete history).

It had a BMW replacement turbo under warrantee circa 21k miles (Garrett M53) and we've had no major problems since. We also had the swirl flaps removed around 2.5 years ago as a precaution - we left the shafts in place and blanked off the control side of the inlet manifold.

However around 4 months ago we had a serious issue!
My girlfriend was driving the car and heard a strange sound before the car "filled with smoke" and "wouldn't turn off"! She managed to get our little boy out (but couldn't see due to the smoke!). The car ran for what Im told is a few minutes before just stopping. I can only put the cause if the self-running (and lots of thick smoke) down to oil pickup from the turbo.

The car was recovered to mine where it sat there untouched since yesterday (not dropped any fluids in this time).

- The engine does have oil remaining so it's not run dry. However I can't see any water in the header tank but am unsure if this is a hot running overflow -either way, no signs of oil/water mix.

I followed this guide (BMW TIS - 11 65 020 Removing and installing or replacing exhaust turbocharger (M57)) to check the turbo.

(I'm currently stuck at the last stage Not being able to reach Bolt#1 in the diagram so the turbo is removed but still attached by this pipe - thinking of cutting it).

From what I can see:-
The turbo had a considerable amount of oil in, but spins freely with no noticeable noise. The vanes look ok with no chipping and there is no scoring around the housing so no visual indication of contact with the spinning components. which baffles me as I was assuming that the car stopped running due to the turbo seizing, stopping the oil feed to the cylinders. There is some slight play in the shaft but gather that this is perfectly normal - I'd say around what feels like 1mm movement left to right (not in/out).

When the turbo was attached to the oil feed, it would induce oil when I manually spun/turned the turbine (so nothing seems blocked?). The intercooler pipe has oil residue in. There are signs of carbon deposits on the engine mount beneath the turbo - maybe this indicates there's been a pressure leak for a while.

...so this is where I am.
Confirmation that the turbo seals (at least) are shot due to the oil leakage.

However more doubt due to no water in the header tank! I'm now hoping the engine hasn't dumped its water and seized!

Can I ask - What would the next steps be?

Thanks,
Gallen
 
#2 ·
If it ran away on it's own engine oil till it stopped itself, I'd say your engine is dead! The symptoms you discribe are indicative of turbo oil seal failure. Not 100% on this but could also be a blocked rocker breather??? Surprised you or partner didn't notice it starting to smoke before hand tho if it was turbo failing. If a turbo fails it's not likely to stop the engine because it stopped spinning. Have you tried turning engine over by hand to see if it's seized or being brave and topping up water and oil and restarting before taking turbo off? Also for future reference, when carrying out a deflap you need to remove the flaps, not just disconnect the control diaphragm. With engine running the flaps still "chatter" away and will still break off into the engine. Don't imagine this is your problem tho as this will create a miss fire and slight smoke from low compression but shouldn't run away on itself.
 
#3 ·
As Hobstar says it sounds like run away oil consumption from the turbo but you usually need catastrophic failure of the turbo for that to happen and you say it spins freely with normal amount of shaft play (up to 2mm is OK) so doesn't sound like the kind of wear that would allow enough oil out to"run" the engine. I don't think the turbo is at fault

The inlet side of a BMW M57/M47 engine aways has loads of oil in it so nothing abnormal there.

It is very unlikely the swirl flap shaft would break once the flaps are removed, it is the stresses on the shaft causes by the air pressure on the flaps when closed that causes them to break so would rule that out.

I am leaning towards a blown head gasket (burning oil from the an oil feed) or a dropped valve which would be very rare but not beyond the realms of possibility, the old air cooled VW's did it on a regular basis