BMW 2007 320D - turbo gone

chops018

Hi all,

As above. Turbo is gone in my car.

Mechanic I use cannot do such big jobs but he said he will get someone who can to do it for hopefully a decent price.

He said it could be anywhere from €500 to €1,500 euro.

Don't want to be annoying him and will wait to hear back from him this week but does anyone on here know how much this would usually cost to have done? It won't be a main garage doing it, so that will keep costs down.

Also, he said I can drive it but it will just burn more oil. Doesn't seem to be losing massive power as of yet but you can hear a whining noise from it a certain revs, which is why I brought it to my mechanic in the first place. Anyway, as it probably won't get done for a few weeks do yee think it is still ok to drive around? Could you use it for long journeys without it breaking down?

Thanks in advance!

rex-x

The turbo on a 320d is not really a big job work wise so i'm not sure what kind of mechanic you have? Also if the turbo is really gone then you shouldn't even be starting the car let alone driving. If it fails completely it may do catastrophic damage to the engine or cause a runaway which is the same end result.

secman

Cost me € 1,600, didnt go the reconditioned route, the car was parked up as soon as it was diagnosed, as previously stated driving it can cause unbelievable damage if it completely goes.
Turned me off BMW

rex-x

secman wrote: »

Cost me € 1,600, didnt go the reconditioned route, the car was parked up as soon as it was diagnosed, as previously stated driving it can cause unbelievable damage if it completely goes.
Turned me off BMW

To be fair every car with a turbo can have one go, they are not designed to last the life of an engine although short service intervals can dramatically extend their useable life.

chops018

rex-x wrote: »

The turbo on a 320d is not really a big job work wise so i'm not sure what kind of mechanic you have? Also if the turbo is really gone then you shouldn't even be starting the car let alone driving. If it fails completely it may do catastrophic damage to the engine or cause a runaway which is the same end result.

Thanks. I'll keep it off the road unless necessary until it's fixed.

Well he said he will try get it sorted for a good price. How much do you reckon it should be?

mullingar

I'd seriously change mechanic if he cant even swap a turbo. I'd understand if he hadn't the specialised equipment for certain jobs to turn the work down, but for a turbo swap, you dont.


Turbos are very simple devices and rarely fail on their own accord. This is why a turbo should never be swapped without diagnosing the reason it failed. 90%+ of turbo failures are down to oil starvation. turbos need a constant high feed of good quality clean oil as its the oil thats used as the bearing when the turbo is spinning at 100,000 rpm!!

If the bearing spindle gets too damaged from wear by rubbing off the turbo housing thanks to oil starvation, this will destroy the oil seal and the oil will then escape into either the exhaust side of fresh air side of the turbo and literally prevent all the oil from returning to the sump which can destroy an engine.

chops018

mullingar wrote: »

I'd seriously change mechanic if he cant even swap a turbo. I'd understand if he hadn't the specialised equipment for certain jobs to turn the work down, but for a turbo swap, you dont.


Turbos are very simple devices and rarely fail on their own accord. This is why a turbo should never be swapped without diagnosing the reason it failed. 90%+ of turbo failures are down to oil starvation. turbos need a constant high feed of good quality clean oil as its the oil thats used as the bearing when the turbo is spinning at 100,000 rpm!!

If the bearing spindle gets too damaged from wear by rubbing off the turbo housing thanks to oil starvation, this will destroy the oil seal and the oil will then escape into either the exhaust side of fresh air side of the turbo and literally prevent all the oil from returning to the sump which can destroy an engine.

He said he doesn't have the equipment for big jobs a he will get someone he knows to do it for hopefully a good price. Thought that was fair enough, no?

Car has nearly 190,000 miles on it and to be honest it hasn't been serviced in ages and I was stupidly holding off until nearer the NCT to get it serviced. Plus, I take the train to work so it doesn't get the big runs it used to. Presume that does not help either?

At the moment, it's making what can be described as a shrieking/siren type noise. However, once it's up at around 30-40 mph that seems to go or else ease off a lot. The noise is loudest when it is sitting idle. It also is not losing power yet.

He will get a price for me this week so as I said I will see what he says and take it from there. I will also keep it off the road.

Was just wondering was the high price normal. I understand diesels are expensive to fix if something goes wrong and thought a turbo replacement would be a big job, but just wanted to see what other people have paid. €700-800 I am hoping will be the price. Does that sound reasonable/to be expected if not going to a main dealer?

cournioni

chops018 wrote: »

He said he doesn't have the equipment for big jobs a he will get someone he knows to do it for hopefully a good price. Thought that was fair enough, no?

Car has nearly 190,000 miles on it and to be honest it hasn't been serviced in ages and I was stupidly holding off until nearer the NCT to get it serviced. Plus, I take the train to work so it doesn't get the big runs it used to. Presume that does not help either?

At the moment, it's making what can be described as a shrieking/siren type noise. However, once it's up at around 30-40 mph that seems to go or else ease off a lot. The noise is loudest when it is sitting idle. It also is not losing power yet.

He will get a price for me this week so as I said I will see what he says and take it from there. I will also keep it off the road.

Was just wondering was the high price normal. I understand diesels are expensive to fix if something goes wrong and thought a turbo replacement would be a big job, but just wanted to see what other people have paid. €700-800 I am hoping will be the price. Does that sound reasonable/to be expected if not going to a main dealer?

Sounds like the shaft of the turbo giving way. Usually you can get a core assembly fitted for about €350ish.

mullingar

A turbo replacement can be done with the simplest of tools, even tools from Halfords.

Change mechanic.

chops018

Ok, thanks for all of the feedback and the comments. Duly noted.

So you reckon €500-600 is what I should be being quoted when I am not using a main dealer?

chops018

Update:

Went back to the dealer who I bought the car off last year. He said to drop the car to him Wednesday and he will have his mechanic's fix it and give the car a full service. He said it should be around €650.

Happy days. Hopefully he will be able to sort it.