Greetings fellow 5ers

I have a 2008 535i and have been reading about the turbos going bad around 80k (I'm currently at 78k). Bought the car with 55k and the car feels nowhere near as powerful and responsive as it did when I bought it. Under hard acceleration I get the dreaded 30FF code. Just curious if it's worth it to take it to my dealer and try to get them replaced under the recall, or possibly my 3rd party warranty might cover it. Has anyone had any luck with turbo replacement with a 3rd party warranty?

 

Yes take it to the dealer and have them check it out. A 30ff could be something as simple as a vacuum line failure or more serious like the wastegates failing to seal properly when closed, usually the rattling noise you hear underneath the car. If it's the WG then BMW will replace your turbos with rebuilt ones under warranty. The WG has an extended warranty of 8yr/82k miles.

 

I had exactly the same symptom and same error code when I bought my 2008 535xi a few years ago at 97K mi. On the forum's suggestion I looked closely at the vacuum lines that ran behind the oil filter housing and sure enough one of them was completely broken/separated. I used a small plastic hose adapter to join the broken hoses back together, cleared the code and it has been working flawlessly ever since. Of course my turbo power was restored too!

 

It would probably be a good idea for you to replace all your vacuum lines. The OEM ones start getting brittle and start cracking after about 60-70k miles. The ones connected to the vacuum tanks go bad often since they sit right above those nice hot turbos.