330d e46 turbo lag issue and mod advice

[Ashley King]

Hi all,

I have a 2002 330d facelift m57 135kw, I wanted some advice before I start looking to repair anything. I feel that the car has a turbo lag issue, the boost only comes in at about 3000 rpm. It has minimal power before 3000rpm but as soon it goes over 3000rpm it pulls like a train. I know turbo cars come with turbo lag but i think there is too much lag. I think it could be a problem with the vacuum unit for the vgt or a boost leak. Any advice would be appreciated.

Another thing I was wondering if an egr delete, performance exhaust and remap would be a good idea to get a little bit extra out (nothing crazy). The car does have 320000 km but it has been very very well maintained. Once again any advice (pros and cons) would be appreciated :coolShake:

Thanks :ty:

 

[Captain_Stealth]

Hi all,

I have a 2002 330d facelift m57 135kw, I wanted some advice before I start looking to repair anything. I feel that the car has a turbo lag issue, the boost only comes in at about 3000 rpm. It has minimal power before 3000rpm but as soon it goes over 3000rpm it pulls like a train. I know turbo cars come with turbo lag but i think there is too much lag. I think it could be a problem with the vacuum unit for the vgt or a boost leak. Any advice would be appreciated.

Another thing I was wondering if an egr delete, performance exhaust and remap would be a good idea to get a little bit extra out (nothing crazy). The car does have 320000 km but it has been very very well maintained. Once again any advice (pros and cons) would be appreciated :coolShake:

Thanks :ty:

Subscribed.

I plan on doing a single pipe freeflow
Egr delete
Bigger intercooler
Remap
CAI
Intake butterfly delete
Better flowing turbo manifold
Light flywheel


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[AdiS]

Well I think you should tackle the maintenance first And get the car back to performing the way it should before considering any mods.

 

[Gizmo]

Modding a 320 000km diesel will quickly show you all the weak areas of the car, turbo being the first to go bang!

 

[Captain_Stealth]

Al guys why is everyone so negative here. I say mod it buddy. And make a build thread !


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[Gizmo]

You need to fix it before you can mod it, duh.
What is the point of doing mods if the car has a fault code list as long as your arm?

 

[that_guy_Ettiene]

Jip,
First do a "stage 0" before you go "stage 1".
Stage 0 means getting your car to original factory condition. Fix all problems and do some preventative maintenence.

Then and only then can you do mods.

From my S7_Edge

 

[Yuben]

General consensus would be to fix all issues first, before modding, or you might sit with even bigger issues thereafter.

Ultimately it is up to you:cartel:

 

[Captain_Stealth]

Do u have pics of ur car


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[Ashley King]

Here are some pictures,

The main reason I started this thread was to ask if anyone knew what the possible issue with the boost is or if it is normal to come on at 3000rpm. I wanted some input before I start looking into fixing anything especially if I am looking at fixing something that isnt broken hahahaha.:roflol:

Just to clarify on the mods guys don't get me wrong guys, I am not planning on making this a crazy drag car or street racer, I was just looking into getting a small amount more out of my daily driver. The car is well maintained, it is an old car with high mileage so I do look after her and understand that things do break but ,if anything ever appeared to be failing or leaking it was replaced or fixed as soon as it was noticed and oil services are done every 7500km.

Thanks for the responses :ty:

 

[spawn616]

you have a turbo problem, sounds like you vnt is stuck open, they basically if you don't understand how vnt works have 2 wastgegates(before the smarties reply) your first wastage is stuck or broken completely ,if you do understand then the vanes are stuck usually clogged with with carbon.id remove the turbo and rebuild it, under 6k last i checked.

or remove turbo fit hx30 or similar size turbo find bigger injectors do intercooler make 200wkw and 99999999nm of torque and tow the world :cartel:

 

[Ashley King]

you have a turbo problem, sounds like you vnt is stuck open, they basically if you don't understand how vnt works have 2 wastgegates(before the smarties reply) your first wastage is stuck or broken completely ,if you do understand then the vanes are stuck usually clogged with with carbon.id remove the turbo and rebuild it, under 6k last i checked.

or remove turbo fit hx30 or similar size turbo find bigger injectors do intercooler make 200wkw and 99999999nm of torque and tow the world :cartel:

Thank, I am a Mechanical Engineer and do understand how a VGT/VNT turbo work but let's not get technical haha. I do think it is the an issue with the vanes inside the turbo, I try to move the VNT lever on the turbo and it is very very very stiff but does still move. The turbo is still original on 320 000km and has not been out as far as I know so the possibility of it having excess build up is fairly large.

Taking the turbo out is going to be a lot of work though haha :roflol:

 

[spawn616]

you have a turbo problem, sounds like you vnt is stuck open, they basically if you don't understand how vnt works have 2 wastgegates(before the smarties reply) your first wastage is stuck or broken completely ,if you do understand then the vanes are stuck usually clogged with with carbon.id remove the turbo and rebuild it, under 6k last i checked.

or remove turbo fit hx30 or similar size turbo find bigger injectors do intercooler make 200wkw and 99999999nm of torque and tow the world :cartel:

Thank, I am a Mechanical Engineer and do understand how a VGT/VNT turbo work but let's not get technical haha. I do think it is the an issue with the vanes inside the turbo, I try to move the VNT lever on the turbo and it is very very very stiff but does still move. The turbo is still original on 320 000km and has not been out as far as I know so the possibility of it having excess build up is fairly large.

Taking the turbo out is going to be a lot of work though haha :roflol:

its about 3 minutes to remove the turbo from the engine.....once you remove the engine from the car...... :roflol:

but since you understand, take the downpipes off spray cleaner work the arm spray more work the arm so more and then take for a drive... your mechanical fingers are a lot stronger than the vacuum pressure that is used to work the vanes open. it might be a simply fix or it might do absolutely nothing ,time will tell

 

[Waseem 333i]

The turbo lag is most likely coming from vacuum leak. Replace the vacuum hoses to the turbo. Starts from under the intake manifold till the turbo. PM me for more details. I cant remember if the pre lci has swirl flaps. If it does blank those out then you can also delete the vacuum lines to that. Delete vacuum to egr and clean egr. You can renew vacuum lines to engine mounts or delete. If you delete the engine will shake more when start up and switch off. Then remove the intercooler. Clean that out. Be sure to wear a face mask and eye protection when removing it. Replace oil separator. Install a downpipe. Then decide if you happy with the performance or if you want more.

 

[Ashley King]

The turbo lag is most likely coming from vacuum leak. Replace the vacuum hoses to the turbo. Starts from under the intake manifold till the turbo. PM me for more details. I cant remember if the pre lci has swirl flaps. If it does blank those out then you can also delete the vacuum lines to that. Delete vacuum to egr and clean egr. You can renew vacuum lines to engine mounts or delete. If you delete the engine will shake more when start up and switch off. Then remove the intercooler. Clean that out. Be sure to wear a face mask and eye protection when removing it. Replace oil separator. Install a downpipe. Then decide if you happy with the performance or if you want more.

Hi,

Thanks for the advice, I have already removed the swirl flaps and did the egr clean and "deleted" the vacuum line to the egr this past weekend. I replaced all the vacuum lines in about June last year so i don't see the lines themselves being an issue. I thought maybe the vacuum tank or pressure converter before actuator on the turbo?

 

[Waseem 333i]

What you can try is removing the vacuum hose from that tank and hear if it sucks in air. It can be done with the car off. Send me a whatsapp. I'll show you how I did my vacuum delete.

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0826715571

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[Ashley King]

Hi all,

Thank you to all who helped out and gave advice, I really appreciate it. Just to give everyone an update, a very delayed update Haha.:roflol:

After a lot of searching I found out there was a turbo leak on the system. I did this by checking the running pressures inside the manifold using a diagnostic flight mode tool. When I checked the pressures it was getting a max of 0.4 bar at very high rpm's which is why I assumed a turbo leak... I took the turbo pipe off at the turbo and egr and pressure tested the line and there where no leaks, I then tested the egr into the intake and it was losing a huge amount of pressure very quickly. :thumbdo: so I had found the issue :rollsmile: I ordered the rubber seals that go between the intake and the manifold so I could replace them when I took the manifold off just to be extra sure it wouldn't leak from there.

About a week later I received the seals from bmw and I took the manifold off the car. I was shocked to find a vacuum pipe stuck between the intake and the head. It was also the vacuum line going to the turbo so not only did I have a turbo leak but a had a variable geometry turbo which had no variable

Now the issue is fixed and new vacuum lines are installed and it really pulls like a train :rollsmile::rollsmile::rollsmile:

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[Juggy]

Congrats on the fix. I would be interested wtf messed up like that

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[Waseem 333i]

I'm shocked the car still pulled with that flaw. I once had a boost leak on the intake manifold and the car would limit at 3000 rpm.

What you should also do is blank off the vacuum lines right there as the picture where the 4 lines come out. Trace the ones for the swirl flaps and egr. Remove and close the hole with a snug fitting screw.

 

[Ashley King]

I'm shocked the car still pulled with that flaw. I once had a boost leak on the intake manifold and the car would limit at 3000 rpm.

What you should also do is blank off the vacuum lines right there as the picture where the 4 lines come out. Trace the ones for the swirl flaps and egr. Remove and close the hole with a snug fitting screw.

It pulled well, the difference is unbelievable since the fix though Haha. :roflol: I have removed the swirl flaps already but I left the vacuum line to actuator otherwise it throws up an error. I have blanked the egr line further up the line as I don't want to damage the "splitter". I checked the egr before the delete and it was extremely dirty and the oil in the motor looked bad too... so I cleaned it out and changed the oil (it needed an oil change) I had a look at the egr when I was testing for leaks. It was really clean compared to before the delete and the oil is looking cleaner in my opinion. I am really happy with the car at the moment :rollsmile: when I get a chance I'm going to recondition the turbo (it is still the original turbo at 323000 km so I feel it might need some tlc :biglol: then it's time for a downpipe, decat and remap:rollsmile::rollsmile: