525d turbo fault - BMW Forum

stevecvo · 08-21-2008, 01:34 PM

My 2001 525d with 133000 miles on the clock has lost power a couple of times recently. Press the accelerator and nothing much happens and then the turbo kicks in belatedly. Took it into BMW who said that the diagnostic revealed no stored fault. They suggested replacing a small pipe and a sensor as the first stage to avoid heavy expense.

They did say however that there was a very small oil leak from the turbo which over time would only get worse. A new turbo would cost €1200 but they said that they could get a turbo rebuilt for a much lower cost with a 1 year guarantee against the 2 year guarantee of the new part.

Any one any experience of rebuilt turbos or any other advice in this area, please?

darkhorse737 · 08-23-2008, 10:10 AM

small oil leak in turbo will not cause the probs you are complaining about. The only reason why you get a(as you say) "belated" response will be because there isn't enough air being forced through...

when was the last time you changed air filter?

stevecvo · 08-23-2008, 12:12 PM

Darkhorse 737 Thanks for your response. I have always had the car serviced by BMW dealers in the UK and in Portugal and have done my own oil and filter changes halfway between the indicated service intervals. The air filter should have been changed when necessary but I will check it out.

I did not know how best to describe the lack of power. It has only happened a couple of times and when I pressed the accelerator pedal the engine only picked up slowly without any surge of power and then after some delay the turbo kicked in and the power came on strongly from about 3500 revs.

stevecvo · 08-25-2008, 03:05 PM

Invoice shows that the air filter was replaced at last service II. To make sure I have removed the filter and it is fairly clean

stevecvo · 10-29-2008, 03:20 PM

Since the vacuum pipe and sensor were changed I have had no problems so fingers crossed.

Tomassio · 10-26-2011, 06:07 PM

Hellow Steve, im baging you tell me what was the sensor they have changed becourse i have the same problem and no body knows why?

With regards Tomassio!

stevecvo · 10-27-2011, 02:43 AM

The parts replaced were a vacuum tube and the Turbo pressure activator . There is a reference on the invoice for the activator of B11.74.7796.634 which may be the part number.

I later had the same symptons after I removed the swirl flaps but in this case I had not connected one of the electrical wiring plugs correctly.

Tomassio · 10-27-2011, 04:15 AM

Thank you very much for your answer.

With regards,
Tomassio