So there I am driving to the mall the other day, i'm on the highway doing about 60-65 in 6th and the car infront of me moves out of the way.

I squeeze the throttle expecting the the usual wave of torque, instead I get nothing :S

I drop a cog and try again in 5th and still notta...

no limp mode, no strange lights.. just no power...

It idles fine and revs fine, just no grunt.

I go home and thought it might be the HPFP or the DV most likely... or perhaps an IC pipe came off (I have no MAF)

I take the Intake pipe off and try to spin the turbo with my fingers and its stuck :S

i can hear it scraping and grinding against the housing walls


I've never had a ecu tune on the car, it's running on the stock intake and only a catback exhaust added about 500-600miles ago

the car has 35,000miles on and always been maintained at the dealer..

of course the warranty expired already as well..

I've owned MANY japanese turbo cars in the passed, and have never seen an oem turbo fail so easily before.. i've pushed turbos way passed their oem spec on my other cars in the past (double oem boost for example)

I'm starting to wish I sold/traded the car when I had the chance..

 

warranty is 50K miles. take it in

 

It's 50,000km's where I live.. unfortunately i'm at 57,000 now

 

just buy a used one or see if you can source a vw k03 and swap parts. as long as the housings are not destroyed you can rebuild it. It is not the end of the world.

 

You might talk to the dealer anyway, some things are covered longer due to emissions, or they might goodwill it for you.

Then check the oil drain for the turbo to see if it's clogged - that can cause a center bearing failure like you're describing. There's a reason it failed, you need to find it before you install another one.....how often do you change the oil? Was it/is it low now?

 

I have a stock K03 for sale if interested....

 

Looking like you can also get rebuild kits for the ko3 turbos, that way you can have a spare =)

 

I know it's not the end of the world, I've blown and rebuilt motors before (usually from pushing them beyond their limits, or tuning mistakes)
my point was that at 34,000miles this turbo should be far from a complete failure...
especially one that is water and oil cooled and the car turbo times itself and i've never raise the boost on it


I took the car to the dealer, and will try to fix it under goodwill.. the head of mini is a friend of mine and he'll try to fight for it... time till tell..

You right, but if the return line was clogged shouldn't it cause higher oil pressure, and result in blowby and smoke in the exhaust?

I changed the oil whenever the car told me to, (so far 3x) since it was under service package... it has about 4-5,000 miles on the current batch of oil


If i end up having to pay for a turbo myself, I'll deffinately be PMing you

thanks

 

Definitely right the dealer should cover you for a "good will" fix

 

so yeah thought I'd update the thread..

the dealer told me "good news/ bad news"

good news is the turbo isn't fubar

bad news is I have to pay for it...

theyre saying that the old coked oil and sludge had gummed up the turbo's bearings and it just needs a good cleaning at it'll be fine...

they want ~$650 for the parts and labor.. for some gaskets,seals hoses and an oil change... plus a boat load of labor (about half the cost)

they're waiting for my approval.. but I'm trying to argue it..

the car has always been serviced with them, and has full service history..

I've always had long intervals between oil changes, and have gone to the dealer on several occasions, and asked them to change the oil since it seems way too long for one batch of oil...

they would always answer the same way... if the car doesn't ask for oil, then it doesn't need an oil change... they'd stick my FOB in the reader and point out to me the OBC says i still have XXXXXkms left before my next service (i even made a thread about these intervals on this forum before)

they had my car 10days now, and I'm using my Ducati as my DD at the moment, I dunno how long I should argue over it, (my car is out of warranty)

I'm worried also that theyre trying to bandaid the car so they don't have to foot the bill, and get me out the door, and maybe 5 or 10k later the turbo will come apart on me and by then and then they'll try to weasel out of goodwill repairs since my "mileage is too high"

they're arguing that they have to "try the easy way" before they do a turbo replacement, and BMW HQ wouldn't honor their claim unless they did all this first...

also now that they know about the problem, it's not like I can tell them to just put it back together and return the car to me, and then I go fix it elsewhere either...


*sigh*

 

Same situation here.

At 25000 miles my turbo was replaced with a brand new one, because serious cracks had occured both on the turbo and the exhaust manifold. I was fitting the JCW kit at the time. So a new manifold was being replaced as a part of the kit (the JCW manifold) but the turbo had to be replaced as well.
The car had a full service history and was outside the warranty (here in Greece it is just two years regardless of the mileage).
I left the car with them and waited for an answer.
I was patient, and ready to go the legal way if they turned to say NO.
Finally, after two weeks time they answered that the turbo will be replaced with a brand new one without any charge. It turns out to be a discontinued part (the original factory fitted turbo) and it was replaced with a new part number (after 03/2010 I think). May I also say that the car was bone stock at the time.
So, what I would advice you is to be patient and argue till the end with them.
You have got nothing to loose. They know that they have a faulty turbo there and the sludge thing is more common fault than the cracks that I had.
May i also say that I did not have any functional problem with the cracked turbo whatsoever and that if I had not taken the car apart to fit the JCW kit and hence the JCW exhaust manifold, I would not have noticed the cracked turbo. And sometimes if the cracks are internally they may not introduce serious functional problems. At least not so quick.
If they replace it with the part number after 03/2010 beware that you will need a different gasket at the exhaust side (downpipe side) of the turbo because the new one has integrated an o' ring pattern where as the discontinued one has not. If you use the wrong gasket, leakage will occur eventually.
I hope I have been helpful.
Good luck with your dealer.

 

I have a VW polo Gti 1.8T with a K03s turbo, never let me down. Also our business car an Audi A6 turbo has the same turbo K03. Oil change is every 15 thousands KM, therefore you might need to look for the problem some where else. These kind of turbo are in service for many years with the VW group. Check the temperature build around the turbo, may be too high.

 

Once again, a driver who follows the computer based oil change schedule has a clogged return line from the turbo.

Am I the only one who see's the correlation?

While the dealer has to follow the mfr's guidelines, we as consumers don't...

So, change your oil folks - save a turbo in the process.

I do mine twice a year or about every 7,500 and it looks clean and feels clean when I change it. Some would argue that means I'm changing it more often than needed, but I'll bet I don't get a clogged oil return line and blow my turbo....btw, I use the MINI oil and factory filter too.

 

X2......... Every 6 months is an easy OCI to do and remember. You do one on your dime, dealer does the next.

 

Exactly!

 

I personally make oil changes every 3000-4000 miles.
The intervals that the dealership or the on board computer is suggesting is simply stupid.

 

Same here.Maybe a little overkill but never had a carbon problem ,hpfp,or cold start issue.Absolutely best thing you can do for your Mini.Keep the engine flowing clean

 

so I went to the dealer again and argued with them

long story short...

they agreed to change the oil lines and do an oil flush on their own dime and see if it works...

the mechanic also admitted to hearing a "grinding noise" from the turbo..

but they are insisting on doing the "easy way" first, and only then see if the turbo needs changing.. I don't see how an oil flush will help cure grinding noises... that is that sound of excessive shaft play and the compressor blades touching the housing walls...


I also mentioned the turbo recall (Thanks penl) and they said that if my VIN had been in that range they would of changed it already, so it's not...

I dunno anymore..

I'm just taking it one day at a time with them...

 

What is the production date of your Mini? Mine is 10/2007 and it was out of warranty. They initially wanted me to pay for the turbo, but that was not going to happen...I was not willing to spend a single penny for something that is clearly faulty from the factory. And this seems to be a common failure.
A friend of mine with a 2007 MCS has had 4!!! turbos replaced in warranty, and 3 of the 4 times the oil return line was blocked. Not to mention that the last time the turbo failed, the oil hose exploded and burning oil was spilled all over the engine and of course on the glowing orange turbo thus catching fire and the front end of the car was completely destroyed
Grinding noise from the turbo means something very very very bad is going on.
If I were you, I would not accept to have that same turbo fitted in my engine.
Argue with them a little more.

 

4 TIMES?! wow that's rediculous! is he sure they replaced the turbo? sounds like they were lying to him lol..

what happend when the car caught fire? insurance claim? or the dealer had to do something about it? i would be pissed!

as for my production date.. I can't remember exactly to be honest...
I think mid 2010.. but don't quote me on that...

this is the first Engine related issue I've had with the car...

everything else has been electrical.. (most recently my panoramic roof is doing strange things)


do you guys have any carbon build up issues and associated problems in the intake valves like the US spec minis do?

 

It's a common problem with any direct injection engine, not just MINIs. An oil catch can puts a stop to it. Just search for oil catch can or OCC on this site, you'll find a ton of information.

Dave

 

just wanted to update this thread..

after 40+ days I got my car back today..

originally they wanted to only change the oil lines and flush the oil and send me out the door...

well it turns out now, they had to change the turbo after all..

interestingly tho, they have me a Reman. Turbo... not a new one

I didn't know BMW/Mini sold/used Remans (or perhaps this problem is common and have started doing it now as a cheaper way to solve this problem,)

it had a part number: BP11.65.7.600.890 (which is the same on realoem) but the description on the SA's PC said RMFD. TURBO
I'm not sure if it always says that tho when it's a warranty job etc.


i'm curious what an "oil flush" is..
is that the usual R&R of oil.. or did they actually clean the oil galleries and such with some sort of pressuized system...
or just use a cleaning oil etc..

it has it's own product number zz99991100007 which didn't yield any results in google or Realoem

curious

 

unfortunately Peugeot engine are not reliable at all, bwm simply made a mistake to go with them,,,, better the chrysler R53,,

 

 

im taking my mini in tomarrow and will ask them while i get my oil changed if there is a different oil flush option service?