[Fodase]

My car has about 38k miles and I've had my BM3 for about the last 2k miles. I took it into the dealer for an oil change, and they said for $350 they would change the air and cabin filter. I declined that as I had a BMS intake I had still in the box. Car ran great from the dealer for the 35 minute drive home. I pulled the intake off and put the new one on, and when I went for a drive to see how it sounded, the car made no power.

I got no code, drives smooth as butter but the power meter wouldn't go past 120hp and 200lbft.

The dealer called me back at the end of the day to tell me it needs a new turbo and it's going to run about $7k

I need to have a little longer conversation with the dealer and ask some questions. Is it normal that there would be no code? Are there any other failure possibilities?

Then I need to look into aftermarket options and find someone else to change it out.

Any other questions I should be asking? I was up front with the dealer and told them I was running the BM3, but that it had been put back on the stock map.

Thanks!

[G.Newt]

Did you put the stock intake back on? Any leaks or cracks in the intake/charge piping?

[Fodase]

Originally Posted by G.Newt

Did you put the stock intake back on? Any leaks or cracks in the intake/charge piping?

I put the stock intake back on immediately and no change. Cleaned the MAF with no effect, even tried unplugging the MAF and no change.

Wouldn't a code be thrown if the ECU is requesting X psi and it doesn't see that happen? I struggle with the fact that there is no code coming up.

[njdangelo]

It's possible during your install something fell into the intake tubing and got sucked into the turbo impellers and destroyed the turbo but yes there would be codes. Any weird noises or other symptoms? Have you tried flashing back to stock? Also bm3 sometimes surprises CELs so that could also be why you aren't seeing any

[weehe126]

The turbo inlet is still connected to the turbo? Would cause a lot of un-metered air getting in.

[aardate]

I don't have BM3 but doesn't it hide codes?

[Chris@VargasTurboTech]

It'll throw a code, sometimes it just takes time.

[les anderson]

If they want $350 to change the air and cabin filter I would not trust them.

Also, even if you do need a new turbo, do something aftermarket for more power at half the cost.

[Wires]

Originally Posted by les anderson

If they want $350 to change the air and cabin filter I would not trust them.

Also, even if you do need a new turbo, do something aftermarket for more power at half the cost.

This.... I'd question the "blown turbo" from them as well.

[Fodase]

I am going to question it, and I agree with the comments. It seemed lazy to me for the dealer to just say it's a blown turbo. He said they could take it all apart to confirm, but that would be almost as expensive as just replacing the turbo.

As soon as I lost power I put the stock airbox back on and flashed back to stock. The car drove no different in stage 1 than stock mode - just slow. I checked all of the intake connections and everything looked solid. It's certainly possible that something fell into the intake, but it was only off for a quick moment before I put the aftermarket part on.

No other symptoms, and the car is just as smooth and quiet as ever. I drove it to work for a week while waiting for a code to pop up with nothing. My wife drove the car and said that while it was "sad" it drove fine otherwise.

I would most likely want to upgrade. While I do have the roadster to drive, the 30 day lead time at Pure kinda sucks. I'll have to do some research and see if there are other options.

Thanks again all.

[_N54]

The compressor side turbine blew on my old 340i running a JB4 with meth and it did not throw any fault codes even with shards of metal going straight into the engine

[Fodase]

Originally Posted by 6266N54

The compressor side turbine blew on my old 340i running a JB4 with meth and it did not throw any fault codes even with shards of metal going straight into the engine

Interesting! Besides obviously having no boost, did the car drive any differently? Could you hear anything else going on?

I assumed that because I was only running the off-the-shelf stage 1 BM3 tune with no other mods the turbo would hold up. I'm pretty surprised I only got 2k miles out of it.

Now looking at the VTT turbo as an option, they appear to be in stock.

[_N54]

Originally Posted by Fodase

Interesting! Besides obviously having no boost, did the car drive any differently? Could you hear anything else going on?

I assumed that because I was only running the off-the-shelf stage 1 BM3 tune with no other mods the turbo would hold up. I'm pretty surprised I only got 2k miles out of it.

Now looking at the VTT turbo as an option, they appear to be in stock.

No power and some smoke out the tail pipe if I remember correctly. The engine also got trashed from the metal pieces.

[kern417]

Originally Posted by Chris@VargasTurboTech

It'll throw a code, sometimes it just takes time.

This

And no, BM3 doesn't randomly suppress codes.

Your best bet is to run a log or look yourself to see if you can diagnose it. Is there smoke coming out of the exhaust? Any weird noises? Usually loss of power after swapping an intake = boost leak or MAF issues, basically tied to the work you did.

[frchdragon]

Originally Posted by kern417

And no, BM3 doesn't randomly suppress codes.

There are several documented cases in this forum of codes that didn't show until the car was flashed back to stock.
So it did happen. I don't know how or why, but we can't state that it doesn't.

[kern417]

Originally Posted by frchdragon

There are several documented cases in this forum of codes that didn't show until the car was flashed back to stock.
So it did happen. I don't know how or why, but we can't state that it doesn't.

It doesn't block codes. The only one it can block is ones that are turned on in the tune, like cat efficiency or others you manually turn on. If you flash to stock and have new codes then those are new codes that popped up. Just like Chris said above, sometimes it takes a few drives for codes to pop up.

[Fodase]

I did change the intake and that certainly could be the exact reason the turbo is dead. I spoke to the service advisor today and he said they are closer to a $5,500 bill to swap the turbo and maybe he could do better.

He said they thought it was odd as well that there were no codes, but that they could still pop up. The advisor I spoke to was very straight forward and understanding. He told me the stuck a scope down but couldn't see any blockage and that the turbo was seized. To fully diagnose it, he told me he would have to take it apart, and that it's pretty certain to need replacement.

So! I spoke to a (what seems to be) a good shop that is local to me, Larchmere in Chagrin Falls. I'm going to schedule them to take it apart and likely go with something aftermarket.

The car always drove fine, it's just like a switch went off and it had no power.

[luchocamp]

Originally Posted by frchdragon

There are several documented cases in this forum of codes that didn't show until the car was flashed back to stock.
So it did happen. I don't know how or why, but we can't state that it doesn't.

that is correct, several cases.

[luchocamp]

Originally Posted by Fodase

My car has about 38k miles and I've had my BM3 for about the last 2k miles. I took it into the dealer for an oil change, and they said for $350 they would change the air and cabin filter. I declined that as I had a BMS intake I had still in the box. Car ran great from the dealer for the 35 minute drive home. I pulled the intake off and put the new one on, and when I went for a drive to see how it sounded, the car made no power.

I got no code, drives smooth as butter but the power meter wouldn't go past 120hp and 200lbft.

The dealer called me back at the end of the day to tell me it needs a new turbo and it's going to run about $7k

I need to have a little longer conversation with the dealer and ask some questions. Is it normal that there would be no code? Are there any other failure possibilities?

Then I need to look into aftermarket options and find someone else to change it out.

Any other questions I should be asking? I was up front with the dealer and told them I was running the BM3, but that it had been put back on the stock map.

Thanks!

I am selling a perfect working turbocharger US$875.00

[dmanb2b]

Originally Posted by luchocamp

that is correct, several cases.

You all have any links to these several cases? Last time I saw this was by BPC in NC, but that was ages ago. If BM3 actively wipes DTCs other than those selected by customer, I'd be surprised and consider switching.

[Fodase]

I have my car back! The new turbo is in, and the old turbo is out and I still have no idea what happened.

I went to my mechanic (Dan Gerber at Gerber European Auto) and he installed the new Vargas GC turbo. The old turbo spins smoothly and freely, and Dan said he couldn't see any other issues that would have caused the turbo to fail.

So now I need to decide about tuning, and whether I should leave it stock or not. This was not an inexpensive event, but I know there is a lot of potential there and I miss the push of the BM3.

I also now have a used turbo that I think doesn't work.


Edit: I've only driven it for about 35 minutes, but can tell that it has noticeably more power than it did previously in stock mode. It might be my imagination, but I feel like the power comes on a little later with a touch of lag, but it's all very smooth.

[G.Newt]

Originally Posted by Fodase

I have my car back! The new turbo is in, and the old turbo is out and I still have no idea what happened.

I went to my mechanic (Dan Gerber at Gerber European Auto) and he installed the new Vargas GC turbo. The old turbo spins smoothly and freely, and Dan said he couldn't see any other issues that would have caused the turbo to fail.

So now I need to decide about tuning, and whether I should leave it stock or not. This was not an inexpensive event, but I know there is a lot of potential there and I miss the push of the BM3.

I also now have a used turbo that I think doesn't work.


Edit: I've only driven it for about 35 minutes, but can tell that it has noticeably more power than it did previously in stock mode. It might be my imagination, but I feel like the power comes on a little later with a touch of lag, but it's all very smooth.

You can run the GC turbo on an OTS BM3 map just fine. And yeah, it should make more power even without any tuning changes.