[amw896]

turbo is most likely pooched and it sounds like the shop messed something up. I doubt that driving with no tune caused this because I drove my car for almost a month while waiting on my tune. I had all hardware bolted on already and even had to drive about 200miles to get the tune put on.

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by SDBroker

Ugh. This is a disaster. I took my car to a local shop and basically told him to make my engine more efficient and the car much louder. He recommended a downpipe (Evolution Racewerks Catless) and air intake (AFE Air Intake) for starters. The plan was to also do the tune and intercooler but the parts never showed up.

He went ahead and mode those two mods and told me to come get my car, that we'd do the rest when the parts come in. I drove my car for about a week and then, while cruising at about 65 mph, the check engine light came on and the car started hesitating, meaning little to no engine response, and the entire car was shaking.

He thought it might have been the spark plugs or coils and replaced both. Nope. The first part of this video is of the car being pulled out of the garage after the coil and plugs. Still, hardly any engine response, lots of smoke, and misfiring like crazy. I mean, I wish it would sound like that and actually run! I love the crackling sound...

Anyways, the car is jacked, not even driveable. He thinks it might be the head gasket or the turbo but is unsure. Someone else said that doing the downpipe on the V6 twin-scroll turbo without tuning would cause the fuel to run too lean and would blow the head gasket. The guy from the shop of course says this just happened, and has nothing to do with anything he did....

Someone else thought that there may be coolant getting into the intercooler and that would cause the smoke and sputtering which you can see in the second part of the video.

What are your thoughts based on the background, based on the mods, the color of the smoke, sound, etc?

Video (after mods):

Video (before mods):

So you took your $50+k luxury car that was designed by a team of elite engineers and asked a mechanic to make it more "efficient"?

[SDBroker]

Originally Posted by Polo08816

So you took your $50+k luxury car that was designed by a team of elite engineers and asked a mechanic to make it more "efficient"?

Ha, well played... but no. My “$50+k luxury car” is worth maybe half of every other car in this “mechanic’s” garage. He tunes and modifies very high end cars and was highly recommended to me by someone that has used him for years on multiple vehicles, including his track BMW. I cross verified his reputation online and he has the highest five star reviews in San Diego county.

I get what you mean though. The car was awesome before and now it’s undriveable... Me, being new to BMW and new to car tuning, relied on a “professional” and now I’m hosed.

Some think it’s his fault and some say it was a bad coincidence and what he didn’t couldn’t have caused the issue I’m having. Personally, even with my admitted lack of knowledge in this area, I’m pretty sure he caused this.

Seems people are 50/50 on the issue; head gasket or turbo.

I appreciate all the responses and will update this post when I find out more.

[zinner]

It's interesting the tune and intercooler parts didn't "show up". My guess is the shop got the few parts on and realized there was an issue and just stopped and tried to distance themselves from your car, not finishing the job. I have swapped my downpipe quite a few times. It's hard to imagine a situation where a downpipe swap could hurt the turbo. It's a few band clamps and some mounting tabs. If you take the downpipe off you can look and inspect the turbine wheel for any play. Can you take a picture of the turbo side honeycomb on the stock downpipe ?

It's also possible the shop got the tune on and hurt the turbo and just backed off the parts and said they never showed up as well.

[atlguy]

Originally Posted by SDBroker

Ha, well played... but no. My “$50+k luxury car” is worth maybe half of every other car in this “mechanic’s” garage. He tunes and modifies very high end cars and was highly recommended to me by someone that has used him for years on multiple vehicles, including his track BMW. I cross verified his reputation online and he has the highest five star reviews in San Diego county.

I get what you mean though. The car was awesome before and now it’s undriveable... Me, being new to BMW and new to car tuning, relied on a “professional” and now I’m hosed.

Some think it’s his fault and some say it was a bad coincidence and what he didn’t couldn’t have caused the issue I’m having. Personally, even with my admitted lack of knowledge in this area, I’m pretty sure he caused this.

Seems people are 50/50 on the issue; head gasket or turbo.

I appreciate all the responses and will update this post when I find out more.

Really easy to tell if it's coolant or turbo. If the smoke smells sweet, it's coolant. If it smells burnt, it's oil. That would likely be the turbo.

You said earlier it was burnt oil smelling. It's tough to say from the video, but it LOOKS more like coolant than oil... but the smell doesn't lie.

You can also drain the oil, and see if there's separation. If there's water in the oil, you have a failed head gasket.

If you drop the downpipe and see oil, you have a bad/failed turbo.

[SDBroker]

Originally Posted by zinner

It's interesting the tune and intercooler parts didn't "show up". My guess is the shop got the few parts on and realized there was an issue and just stopped and tried to distance themselves from your car, not finishing the job. I have swapped my downpipe quite a few times. It's hard to imagine a situation where a downpipe swap could hurt the turbo. It's a few band clamps and some mounting tabs. If you take the downpipe off you can look and inspect the turbine wheel for any play. Can you take a picture of the turbo side honeycomb on the stock downpipe ?

Agreed. He had PLENTY of time to get it in. One excuse after the other. I'd say a total of two weeks from the time the downpipe was on until he called and told me just to come get my car and he'd call me to bring it back when the tune comes in.

Yes, will do when I get home. Happy to provide any info / photos / videos to you guys. Thanks again.

[SDBroker]

Originally Posted by atlguy

Really easy to tell if it's coolant or turbo. If the smoke smells sweet, it's coolant. If it smells burnt, it's oil. That would likely be the turbo.

You said earlier it was burnt oil smelling. It's tough to say from the video, but it LOOKS more like coolant than oil... but the smell doesn't lie.

You can also drain the oil, and see if there's separation. If there's water in the oil, you have a failed head gasket.

If you drop the downpipe and see oil, you have a bad/failed turbo.

Burnt oil without a doubt. Strong and distinct smell for sure.

[SDBroker]

Originally Posted by Spaceme1117

1. You need to get a list or invoice of exactly everything that was done to your car. Can't begin to figure out what might be wrong if you don't know what was done.

2. Don't go back to this shop. Just installing an AFE intake and ER catless DP even without a tune should not cause these problems. With the catless DP, you will get a CEL but that is only because the car is throwing an emissions code. Won't adversely affect the engine otherwise. Neither should the intake. (Assuming proper installation)
*Note: Aftermarket intake is a waste, won't gain you anything but a lighter wallet.

3. That much white smoke from exhaust means coolant getting into cylinders so probably blown head gasket. Cause ould be vacuum leak from improperly installed intake and/or improperly installed downpipe causing the 02 sensor to read wrong. Either would cause the DME to try to make adjustments and engine would not run right. And if the shop took the car for a spin to test with an improperly running engine, bad things can happen.

4. You need to make sure when you have work done that you take it to a shop with a good reputation. And you should learn about your car, its engine and how it works.

5. I would put everything back to stock before you bring it to BMW. If not, they will void the warranty.

Thank you for the detailed response. The items installed I mentioned in the post are the only things he did. There was more on the list, but he said the parts didn't come in and told me he'd call me to bring my car back in for "round 2."

I think you hit the nail on the head with #3 in your post

[SDBroker]

It also seems like most people I've talked to agree that the issue was caused by the shop only doing the downpipe and not the tune. Seems he should have done both at the same time vs allowing me to drive it (as my daily driver too btw) with only a downpipe installed. The only warning I received was that the check engine light would come on due to the emissions but he told me to ignore it and he'd clear it when he gets the tune in and actually tunes it...

[larrylam646]

Sorry to learn of your issues.

Has your mechanic checked to make sure the O2 sensors are plugged in properly? Very easy to swap since the connectors are right beside each other and I think are identical.

If you have an OBD2 reader, check AFR, STFT behaviour.

Good luck!

Edit: I just reread your initial post. You were running with the mods for a week before you first experienced this issue so it is unlikely the O2 sensors connectors were swapped. Still check the AFR and STFT. Perhaps a bad WBO2 sensor?

[sean2648]

Sadly, it seems in the very least the "mechanic" took advantage of the fact you are a rather new enthusiast. My guess like some others have said is he discovered there was a problem after the work he did, just swept it under the rug, and told you to come to get your car. And you would be oblivious since you're rather new to the car.

If he had any experience at all with the cars, he would also have been able to diagnose if it was the coils or the plugs and how to figure that out, hell a quick search of these forums can help with that. You don't just blindly replace both for the hell of it.

Good luck with this whole situation though and hopefully you can come out on top.

[OldCrow7xx]

I work on computers all day and still learning cars lol but anyway when troubleshooting any complex device its important to remember that you may actually have 2 problems occurring at the same time thus muddling the interpretation of the observed symptoms.

So the smoke that looks like coolant but smells like oil could actually be the outcome of two contributing factors?

That is to say just because your turbo is leaking oil doesn't mean that your head gasket is not also leaking at the same time?

Unlikely yes, possible sure.

I just bought my car and its been in the shop the whole time too with bad oil leak, so i understand being new to these motors and working with trusted/untrusted mechanics etc. on your pricey investment. Not a great position to troubleshoot.

[Spaceme1117]

Originally Posted by SDBroker

Thank you for the detailed response. The items installed I mentioned in the post are the only things he did. There was more on the list, but he said the parts didn't come in and told me he'd call me to bring my car back in for "round 2."

I think you hit the nail on the head with #3 in your post

Sorry for your troubles dude. I feel for you. I hope you can get your car sorted out.

[SDBroker]

Originally Posted by Spaceme1117

Sorry for your troubles dude. I feel for you. I hope you can get your car sorted out.

Thanks. I’m thinking this may be a thorn in my side for a while..

[RsPhi135]

Originally Posted by SDBroker

It also seems like most people I've talked to agree that the issue was caused by the shop only doing the downpipe and not the tune. Seems he should have done both at the same time vs allowing me to drive it (as my daily driver too btw) with only a downpipe installed. The only warning I received was that the check engine light would come on due to the emissions but he told me to ignore it and he'd clear it when he gets the tune in and actually tunes it...

had a older n55 on a 135i with DP with no tune for 4 years daily driving and swapping it for inspection every year, never had a problem.

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by SDBroker

Thanks. I’m thinking this may be a thorn in my side for a while..

Any chance this mechanic dropped something into the air intake during the install and that destroyed the turbo?

[Spaceme1117]

Unless, your mechanic was an absolute, complete idiot, there would be no reason for him to touch the turbo other than to remove and install the downpipes.

That being said, it is extremely unlikely there is anything wrong with your turbo. Turbos don't just "go bad". They are extremely tough, robust, precise, and simple (basically only made of three parts) pieces of equipment that are made to operate under extreme heat and conditions.

There are only 2 things that destroy a turbo; foreign debris and insufficient lubrication. There shouldn't be any way either of those things could have happened. And assuming that either is the case, neither would cause coolant to get into the cylinders.

Turbos almost never cause problems to an engines but they will manifest other problems in an engine, making it look like the cause is the turbo.

Also, the smoke from your exhaust will have a little bit of an oil smell to it with a blown head gasket. Oil and coolant can and will mix but because of all the water, the smoke will be mostly white.

If your turbo was "bad" most likely it would be leaking oil from the shaft/bearing area and the smoke from your car would be bluish colored and unmistakably smell like oil.

Another way, a car can make a lot of smoke is with cracked pistons. But this would be bluish colored smoke from oil. There would be no coolant leakage. So its not that.

What ever mechanic you take your car to needs to do a cylinder leak down test. This will determine where the leak is.

[SDBroker]

Thank you all for your detailed responses. I appreciate how knowledgeable and willing to help a noob everyone on this forum is!