anyone have to replace a turbo in a 335i yet?

[m3j0n]

looking at a car that needs a new turbo. Just wondering if this is a terribly long/difficult job as I am not too familiar with the e90/e92 chassis. Can the stock turbos be found fairly easily and cheap, or does it pay to do a turbo upgrade? Thanks!

[BoostedBlack330]

looking at a car that needs a new turbo. Just wondering if this is a terribly long/difficult job as I am not too familiar with the e90/e92 chassis. Can the stock turbos be found fairly easily and cheap, or does it pay to do a turbo upgrade? Thanks!

Turbo upgrade, but they really dont have a turbo upgrade, its just a compressor upgrade. You have to drop the engine somewhat to do the swap. Do you have a tune already? I know either piggyback from Terry or Shiv will work with the upgrade turbo.

The best turbo showing the most power is the RB Turbos by Rob, but I believe you have to send in your old turbos too and the wait is quite long but I havent checked in a while. Check out www.N54tech.com thats terry's site and he is very helpful. IF you want I have Terry's cellphone number (i was very close with him back in the day when pioneering the modding of that platform).

[EMC]

bigugly would be a great guy to ask about this. If you Google "bigugly fabrication" I think you can find his number. He has done a lot of 335 work.

Used turbos are relatively inexpensive. Upgrades are serious money and would only be worth it if you are going to mod the car and keep it. Probably not that great for resale.

If you are sure the car only needs turbos (motors are supposedly rock solid)...and the price is right...it could be a great car.

[cragg56]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2008-...#ht_500wt_1182

[biglou911]

Yes bigugly is the person to ask/work with

Sent from my iPhone using BF.com

[bennyfizzle]

Haha $40?!

[The Humjet]

No way!

[ZimDoc]

Support the engine from above. Drop or hang the subframe and then take about 8 hours swapping out the turbos.

This is on a full sized lift and at a BMW Dealership. Co-workers have done the job a few times and there really isn't any "fast" way of doing it. Just gotta work smart and understand a lot of things have to come out before touching the turbos and breaking a new sockets/bits

[busterhax]

Yep, my friend had to replace two turbos his first week at the dealer, it took him a little over a day. Experienced techs can MAYBE get it done in a day with proper resources.

[m3j0n]

jesus christ! 8 hours?! thats insane. Anyone know how to identify that the turbo is the issue rather than something else? I started the car and it seemed fine. No CEL, no strange noises, etc. jsut the seller telling me that a turbo is bad. Any tips on what I should look for specifically? Maybe its something else not so difficult to deal with. I wish I was more familiar with these cars/motors.

[Jim M3]

What advice did he have that the turbo was bad, is there dealer documentation? Why not take it to the dealer and get a PPI, and use it as a negotiating tool.

[Sniz]

yes its a long process.

[jekaio]

engine cradle.

and done in one day.

Also with replacing them, you have to swap over the wastegate actuator, and you will have to adjust it.

Proper BMW adjustment is using a vacuum machine and setting it to a specific pressure to adjust the clamping pressure of the wastegate valve.

Edit: PM me for any more info if you need it

andrew

[BadBoostedBmwM3]

What are the failure rates of the stock turbos?? I've heard of wastegate failures/problems

And, I did not know it was all that work to swap turbos. To me, that makes the n54 motors almost unattractive.

[m3j0n]

yeah, looking into it a bit more, the manifold and turbo seem to be integrated as one - similar to how the e46 m3 has the cats integrated into the header. Annoying to say the least if you have an issue that requires a replacement. From what I have heard they are pretty stout and fast motors if your fuel pump doesnt die.

[Dominic49]

yeah, looking into it a bit more, the manifold and turbo seem to be integrated as one - similar to how the e46 m3 has the cats integrated into the header. Annoying to say the least if you have an issue that requires a replacement. From what I have heard they are pretty stout and fast motors if your fuel pump doesnt die.

the exhaust housing is built into the manifold, it will come seperate

[JackEatsEmoKids]

Support the engine from above. Drop or hang the subframe and then take about 8 hours swapping out the turbos.

This is on a full sized lift and at a BMW Dealership. Co-workers have done the job a few times and there really isn't any "fast" way of doing it. Just gotta work smart and understand a lot of things have to come out before touching the turbos and breaking a new sockets/bits

Actually there is a "fast" way. If you drop the engine/trans/subframe together on a table(shouldn't take anyone with BMW experience more than 45 mins to do), gives you all the room in the world to do a turbo swap. If you're on your game and don't let anyone bother you, job can be in in less than 5 hours or so. That's we do them along with engines.

[hybridbmw]

I would find out why they think they have a bad turbo. If they are getting a rattle at startup then it's a WG issue. And jack is right, dropping the motor is pretty easy if you have a lift and the proper table. If not, hang the motor from the top and lower the subframe. Either way, not a fun job.