im thinking my wastegate is messed up right now and i dont know if i can get the dealership to warranty it. i dont think you can buy the internal wastegate by itself. tried looking on realoem.com but no luck.

has anyone done this before or have any knowledge on how to do this?

 

I had mine gone out around 32000 miles . The dealer put on a whole new turbo. I'm sure there's a way to have it rebuilt.

 

yeah im close to 50k miles like 400 miles away from my warranty expiring. i dont want to pay for a new turbo

 

What symptoms make you think you're wastegate is going out?

 

ok so i got a tune by jan and everything was working ok until i went to the dealership one day. my ac was broken cause a line was bad. when they fixed it everything was working fine until my car started boosting around only 7-10 pounds. while in 6th gear i drop to 4th and floor it my boost gauge reads 0. then while shifting back to 5th boost reads 13. 6th gear boost reads 13.

so after having this problem i thought my tune had just magically disappeared. i reloaded the tune and everything was back to normal. after a day the tune disappeared again. i asked jan if he had any idea what was going on and he told me my wastegate most likely is going out. so i reload my tune again and everything works. sometimes i can go a day with the tune still on and sometimes the tune only lasts for 40 min or so. i think figured out a way to make it disappear. another day when i loaded my tune i was driving and i actually hit 20lbs of boost.

i took my car to the dealership and got my car diagnosed. paid 300 for diagnosis and updated software. the dealership had told me i was having boost issues, but after they had reflashed the car the problem went away. boost levels were normal, reading 10-13 lbs.

after about 2 weeks of driving without a tune i read my ecu and sent it to jan. jan responded quickly and sent me a file to test. i loaded the map any everything was boosting fine 15-18 lbs or so. 1 day later while driving i tried accelerating and the car just felt sluggish. i was thinking maybe the car isn't warmed up, but kinda had a feeling that i was back to square one. turns out im only boosting 7-10lbs and the boost doesnt even hold anymore. boost will go to about 7 lbs and just start dropping to 3.

so i think that i have a bad wastegate and i need to get a new one or something. i really dont know what to do.

 

maybe a tube is not properly clamped up? or there could be a leak somewhere?
when i picked up mine from the dealer, the mechanic did not tighten the tube clamps on one of the boost tubes. i did not find out until it popped off when i was trying to accelerate getting onto the freeway. exiting off the freeway and trying to get back to the dealer was a pain... the shop foreman's excuse was "we usually don't push the car hard when we do a test drive." seemed like he was trying to put the fault on me, saying it as if i was trying to race my car

 

i have checked all my tubes and they are fine =/

 

Just take it to the stealership with the stock tune n it and say its not holding boost and see what happens. But what do you to do to change from internal to external wastegate? I would like to know, also I wonder if you go get an external wastegate from a similar sized motor if it would work?

 

That sounds similar to an issue I'm having at the moment. My local mechanic was thinking it could be my BOV or the waste gate. I swapped the BOV out with another known working one this morning. It didn't help. When it goes into limp mode, does it register a 2885 fault code? That code won't trigger a CEL and it doesn't show up on my ScanGaugeII. My turbo was replaced about 6k miles ago just before the MINI went out of warranty.

 

i actually do go into limp mode at all. before when i had my bov on i thought it was that as well, i took it off an put everything back to stock and still the same. so after you had your turbo replaced everything was ok?

 

The turbo replacement was actually for a different problem. The turbo froze up and wouldn't spin. The dealer initially blamed my intake and exhaust mods for the failure but couldn't prove they were the cause and offered me a one time good will replacement at no charge when I pressed them. Now, almost 5 months later, I am going into limp mode without a CEL. The local repair shop that I took it to was able to pull code 2885 which corresponds to "boost pressure deviation". It sounds like our boost pressures are behaving similar but mine goes into limp mode. I can usually get it to work OK in the mornings but it seems to go back into limp mode later in the day. The local shop smoke tested my intake manifold and didn't find any leaks. I haven't had the opportunity to take it up to the dealer yet. I'll have to do that three to four weeks after I come back from a vacation I have beginning the middle of next week. It sounded like yours is kind of in limp mode. I can still get around 11 PSI boost at times when it is acting up so I know the turbo is spooling. It does happen with the canned tune and the stock tune so I know it isn't the tune itself that is causing it. I'm hoping my issue isn't with the waste gate as I believe that calls for replacing the turbo (again). If that happens I'm probably going back to having it mostly stock. I can't pay for a new turbo every six months.

I won't post more about my issues in your thread as I don't want to hijack it. Good luck with it. I hope you get it figured out without having to spend a bunch of money.

 

no i dont mind at all, im actually thankful that you provided me with this information. when you say you are going to limp mode you dont actually have the cel on right? its just like an internal limp mode? sorry i read your statement again and i just saw limp mode without CEL..lol

and as for boost levels its around 11 and then it drops to 5

also im having trouble flashing my car back to stock =/ when i do then i can bring it to the dealership to get it check out again. i dont have that kind of money to buy a new turbo either. but if it ends up like that im most likely going to get a jcw one or a bigger turbo

 

Yep, no CEL, but it is going into limp mode. I get the icons displayed in the tach and on the navigation system. The local repair shop was able to pull code 2885 from it. They cleared everything and we went for a test drive while it was hooked up to their computer. They were monitoring the boost levels and checking for any codes. As soon as it went back into limp mode code 2885 popped up on their computer, but no CEL.

I had tried swapping the BOV from wife's Clubman but that didn't help. Her Clubman ran fine with my BOV installed and I was still stuck in limp mode. I've since swapped the BOVs back (this morning). Now, it appears to be stuck in limp mode. I won't know if what I was doing to get it to work in the mornings will be effective until tomorrow morning. On my way in to work this morning my max boost was 5 PSI.

What problem are you having flashing your ECU back to stock?

 

Way back in the Uni-Chip days I was having some issues and I found a thread on here some where that talked about upgrading the internals of your Diverter valve with those from an Audi A3 the High Output one with 265 hp. I did it and it helped at the time, who knows if it is still helping but the Audi one is stronger ( I know this may be off topic, but it may also be the issue)

 

diverter valve meaning the stock bov?

 

You'd need part #2 from here:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...44&hg=11&fg=50

I'm swapping the one in our Cooper S out for the stronger part found in the factory JCW on advice from a friend who has friends who work on Challenge cars in Germany. Again part #2:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...44&hg=11&fg=50

 

maybe ill swap with a friends first to see if it actually holds up.

 

Yes that is the correct part, the Audi internals and spring where bigger and stronger. No problems so far and I am 25k on it since the change. Its funny they just pop in and out, it ends up the housings are exactly the same except for a small dimple that prevents installing the whole Audi housing.

The JCW is rated for 210 hp and the audi for 265, but I dont know which one would be better??

 

Part #2 is the BOV, which is what I had swapped between my MINI S and my wife's Clubman S. It didn't help.

 

Or I should say, that is what I think is the BOV. Anyway, it is the piece I swapped out between the two vehicles.

 

Did you check your boost tubes for small holes in them, if they are Alta rubber hoses they eventually wear small holes in them (atleast mine did)

 

I do have the rubber ALTA boost tubes. The local shop did a smoke test on my intake and did not find any leaks. Supposedly that included the boost tubes as well.

 

AH,HA, but if the hole is small enough it will only open up at full boost causing a leak, and a limp home mode then to be fine upon re start.

If I where you, I would do what I did. Take those off and put the stock ones back on, or replace with hard pipes from NM. But take them off and see if you still have your problem, it may be solved???

 

I might want to try this on my car also. Do you have the Audi part number?

 

I still have the box at home, Ill post the part number later tonight for you.