vatovey

Evening all,

I have a 2007 E60 LCi with the N47 engine, 120k on the clock.

About 3 years ago I purchased a refurbished turbo/actuator from Premier Diesel, had it fitted - all was good, fast forward a year or so after that I discovered a cylinder with a thread on it on the undertray whilst carrying out my annual service (at the time I didn't know what it was but have since discovered it is part of the turbo actuator), for about 12 months after finding the cylinder in the undertray I had driven the car with seemingly no issues. During my most recent service I decided to run a ISTA-D scan to see if anything had been logged, only to discover code 41A2 'DDE: Charging pressure actuator, activation' - this led to me check the actuator on the turbo, which I then discovered was not even connected to the turbo, the connecting rod from the actuator and turbo was disconnected, the actuator nut which is meant to hold the rod/cylinder in place was MIA.

As you cannot purchase brand new turbo actuators, I took a chance and purchased a known good unit (as the seller described it) from a seller on eBay, fitted it as soon as I received it.

Since then, when the engine is started from cold, when accelerating for the first few minutes the car is very hesitant at RPM's between 2000-3000rpm with the engine struggling to get through that rev range, once it does get to 3000rpm approx the car takes off and drives fine.

I've done a bit of research, and have cleaned the MAP and MAF sensors, made no difference unfortunately - of course, cleaning a sensor would not make any difference if the sensor has gone bad.

I even rebuilt my original/refurbished turbo actuator and fitted it to the car, but the hesitation was even worse, making me think that the eBay turbo actuator is at least partially faulty.

I have sent my original/refurbished turbo actuator to a company who claims to rebuild/repair them, hopefully I will get it back later on this week, or early next week.

Have I missed anything else obvious ?, or have any other suggestions ?

My next test is to remove the MAF electrical connector so the car runs without a MAF sensor, that may prove a MAF fault if the car runs fine ?

Apologies for the longgggg post, just wanted to give a full picture to anyone who maybe able to assist.

olliecampbell

It's an electronic turbo actuator on your car isn't it, as opposed to the vacuum type?

You haven't said if it's an auto or manual car, but I believe there can be rpm surging issues with the auto boxes. Could it be this?
If not, what state is your EGR valve in?

vatovey

Hey Ollie,

Indeed it is the electronic type. car is manual, 6 gear.

EGR valve has been removed and deleted, intake manifold is pretty new (2 years old) also.

I tested with the MAF cable disconnected earlier on, no difference when cold.

Turbo actuator rebuild company called today and advised no fault found on my original actuator, am starting to think it's the turbo itself, as it was purchased as a refurbished unit from Premier Diesel, but they didn't even rebuild the actuator properly as they couldn't have put thread lock on the locking nut - doesn't fill me with the greatest confidence that they took attention to detail on the turbo itself. Will remove the air intake hose from the turbo on the weekend, see if I can see any play on the impeller or anything else wrong.

olliecampbell

Hmm not sure. Could it be sticking variable vanes inside the turbo? I hear that lots of people have had some luck using 'turbo cleaning' products to help release them....

And have you looked at the expected and actual boost pressures using a data logger?

vatovey

I have purchased some turbo cleaner spray (Wynns branded), should arrive tomorrow. Can I spray this directly into the turbo impeller with the air intake pipe removed ?

I haven't checked expected pressures, I'm assuming I can do that in ISTA-D, will have to look up how to do it.

If I do need to buy a replacement, can anyone recommend a company in the UK which sells good quality remanufactured units ?, am not buying from Premier Diesel again... thats for sure.