Its possible that it could be a sensor.

I picked up the car this afternoon and took it to the indy. The diagnostics read that there was no boost going to the turbo (this fault has been visible all along even with the bad dpf readings). The guy in the indy reckons it needs a new turbo, personally I reckon its a sensor somewhere.

When the engine is revved the boost pressure sensor pretty much follows the same as the air sensor. The guy does not reckon it could be MAF. There is no whine of the turbo etc.

Another thing that is somewhat annoying - the guy absolutely trashed the dpf (he welded it off for some bizarre reason when there was nothing wrong with the bolts) when he fitted a bypass pipe, even though they said they would return the part .....

 

Are you able to post the fault codes here?

 

Sounds like you got a bunch of muppets working for you.

 

Are you not able to take out the DPF from the car's ecu map and put in a straight pipe?

 

What about vacum hoses ? Some BMW diesels have had problems with cracking vacum hoses which decreases the power.

 

This would be funny if it was happening to someone else .....


Thanks for the responses so far -


Anzafin - sorry not got the fault codes - don't have laptop with serial port to get software - and BMW are reluctant to give me the actual codes.


Anyway as said the independent dealer in Swansea removed the 'DPF'. In actual fact THEY REMOVED THE CAT NOT THE DPF - hence I cleaned the CAT - poss why it seemed so clean...


They put the CAT back on the car (obviously still had the prob of lack of power).


Then I took it to the exhaust company - who again REMOVED the CAT and bypassed it thinking that the CAT was the DPF. They also did the engine remap.


So the problem still existed and I drove the car home still completely lacking in power and a hissing noise started coming from around the area of the engine. I took it back to the exhaust company - well eventually had to have it towed as the car was stalling all the time.


The exhaust company then told me that they had found "loads of oil in the cat" and took off the cat - (ie the DPF) and bypassed that so I could drive the car to BMW again and have them look at it. So now I have a car with its DPF removed (which was swimming in oil) and the CAT removed - which as I said earlier had been hacked off leaving a hole in the box etc.


Incidentally by this time I had borrowed my Dads car to get around in which he needs returning soon.


BMW then re-diagnosed the car (more ££ unsurprisingly) and told me that the DPF was blocked which is how I realised that the indy and the exhaust company had mistaken the CAT for the DPF.

They said it could be that the turbo has gone but the head mechanic said that he thought white smoke could be coming out of the exhaust too quickly to be solely the fault of the turbo. He said that it could also be oil in the crankcase breather and also that there seems to be oil in the glowplugs. He is sure its not swirl flaps as you'd hear the engine misfiring. The worst case scenario he said is that the engine would need to be decoked.


So BMW dealer costs are 1700 quid for a turbo, and potentially approx 200 quid for the CC breather issue, and in a worse case scenario 6000 quid for the engine de-coke. He also said that if it was his car he would get rid of it. Now the car has only done 100,000 miles and IMO is still a clean, good car - bar this issue :-) Oh and I was offered 3700 as a trade in (not against a beemer).....


I'm tempted to go to a different garage and have the turbo replaced / or send it off to have it reconditioned.

 

Sorry hear of your tale of woe - incredible ineptness. But I stand by my previous advice - find better shops that aren't shooting in the dark at your expense. I'd have little faith in a shop that can't tell a DPF from a catalyst.

What the current state of play? No cat and no DPF on the car, some white smoke (under what conditions please?) and the car runs how? Please be thorough and specific.

I'm afraid a remap was a mistake - no point in changing a map if there's something wrong with the car. If you paid either indie with a credit card I would consider filing a claim with the CC company for improper/incorrect repairs to your car.

 

Very sorry to hear that!
Anyway, according to your text, you seem to take it pretty calmly .

Can you demand any rebate or something from the garage that removed the cat instead of a DPF. They did a major mistake in a first place I think!

- Antti -

 

Anzafin - The exhaust company have said they will replace the CAT - I may have to request that they replace it with a new one though owing to the damage they caused when taking it out.


The diagnosis report from BMW reads as follows ::


"Intakes full of oil
Turbo actuator no carrying out full adjustment, rod stuck atucator.

crank case breather valuve has oil intake

set of glow plugs reading as open circuit."


Has anyone else seen these sets of symptoms. Driving the car back from the garage the other night the fuel economy was showing as 25mpg along a very flat road so appears to be running rich.

The white smoke coming from exhaust appears almost immediately when you rev the engine. I can see that the turbo rod isn't moving when revving the engine as well.

I have a printout of the DIS diagnosis report from BMW. Not sure how to interpret some of it but can scan it in if anyone is interested.

One part of it says "test step measure 33 ...... DIAGCODE: D1165_D0000000_04_001" which seems to relate to boost pressure actuator defective.

Also I have noticed for about 6 months a clicking noise when the car has stopped which continues for about 20 secs plus. This comes from around the turbo area - the BMW mechanic though it may be the actuator trying to reset itself.



Cheers

 

this is insane