Hi,

I own a 54 (2004) 530D Sport. It has around 60k on the clock with full BMW service history and has started to develop a problem with the turbo.

The turbo sometimes comes on and sometimes doesn't. I can sometimes drive the car with no problems and other times i will try to accelerate and the turbo will not come on.

There is no smoke and nothing showing up in iDrive. I dont think the turbo is damaged as it can works prefectly and then suddently stops working ...and can come back on later in the journey.

Any ideas what could be causing this or anything i can check myself before sending it to the garage.

Thanks for your help,
Shaun
(UK)

 

Hiya Shawn,do you have a dpf(diesel particulate filter)as I know mine seem's sluggish when it's going through the regeneration sequence,you really need to get it hooked up to a computer and see if there are any error code's,i'm sure if it was anything bad it would have shown up in the idrive.

 

On the 535d the vacuum hoses that control the turbos fail after a few years and cause symptoms like this. Not quite sure of the 530d setup but I suspect you'll have the turbo actuator controlled by vacuum hoses so I'd be checking none of these have broken.

 

Agree, vacuum hoses failing or popping off can cause all sorts of drivability issues with turbocharged engines.

That'd be the first thing I'd check

 

Agree with the suggestions above - I had a similar problem recently (lack of power on full throttle as if the turbo was not spooling up) and changing the vac hoses (all of them) seemed to fix it.

Cost me less that £150 from an independent BMW specialist.

 

hate when this s*** happens with our cabs <>