[dzenno]

Originally Posted by tibra1

I understand but a good scientist always rules out the obvious first

That's the thing, its not so obvious really...just above if you look a few posts, anonemouse doesn't smoke...but a few of us do...the difference between his an my setup is he's running the stock exhaust...i could mount my stock exhaust and run on it for a while and maybe I'll eventually do that for the hell of it but I'd rather finish installing my oil pressure gauge and get some readings on it to get some understanding on the oil pressure on the n54...this is nowhere in any manual sadly which is strikingly odd

[tibra1]

Originally Posted by dzenno

That's the thing, its not so obvious really...just above if you look a few posts, anonemouse doesn't smoke...but a few of us do...the difference between his an my setup is he's running the stock exhaust...i could mount my stock exhaust and run on it for a while and maybe I'll eventually do that for the hell of it but I'd rather finish installing my oil pressure gauge and get some readings on it to get some understanding on the oil pressure on the n54...this is nowhere in any manual sadly which is strikingly odd

Dzenno..you may see things objectively and are going thru a process of elimination..but there are some that see these threads as an overture to summarily dismiss the use of OCCs which is absolutely wrong..thats my point here.

[dzenno]

I don' t think anyone just openly dismisses the use of OCCs on this car...we're just going by the data collected on some of them with RBs on the car and some do fall outside the Bentley spec...now we can leave it there and leave the topic of ill effects to everyone to ponder on but we chose to go further and say we need something more "within" the BMW spec for this engine...anyway, i really don't want to go back to that again, data is there and everyone is free to interpret it any way they like...on top of all that I've never had any "issues" with either the RR or the BSH on the stock turbos but that data has never been collected as there really was no interest in it...that kind of sucks too as there's nothing to compare the data with RBs on the car but I think someone recently said they got an oil cap that they'll try and modify and they'll perform the same testing with the OCCs and stock turbos...will be fun to look at but then again, its just more data and people get to make their own conclusions and take action as they see fit

[Rob@RBTurbo]

OP's rear turbo had a very evident issue of oil contamination, a foreign abrasive made it into the turbine side journal bearing. The front turbo was perfect.

So the good news is there is guessing or theorizing on this one, it's simply a case of debris getting into the rear turbo and chewing up a journal bearing and a shaft surface.

[M9 L]

Hi there, count me in the smoking crowd.

Have been running RB turbos for 1600 km now, added meth about 400 km ago. Yesterday I've been doing a few WOT pools from a standstill map 3 JB4 with meth, boost under 17 psi. Came from work today parked my car and noticed the garage got filled with smoke. Freaked out, thinking I am finally paying the price for running mods since 5k. Was a bit relieved when I found this thread.

Never had a problem with the car before, 33K km on the clock. Like I said installed RB turbos 1600 km ago, started to notice some smoke today. Puffs of smoke come out when standstill from the left pipe (at least what I noticed) when reving a bit, there is no smoke when reving standing still to 4K+ Also I did not see much smoke when going WOT but its hard to see smoke out of the rear view mirror. I guess checking the oil line install would be a starting point. But given I have been running RBs for 1500 km without any issues makes me feel this is either a pesistent problem or the seal got blown somehow. Also my oil reading has dropped a square. I change oil every 5k km and have never seen my oil level dip in between.

Rob what do you think?

P.S. My set up: full catless dp and exhaust, FBO+meth and RBs of course.

[dzenno]

Originally Posted by RobBeck

OP's rear turbo had a very evident issue of oil contamination, a foreign abrasive made it into the turbine side journal bearing. The front turbo was perfect.

So the good news is there is guessing or theorizing on this one, it's simply a case of debris getting into the rear turbo and chewing up a journal bearing and a shaft surface.

"OP" as in Adam Way who started this thread?

Originally Posted by M9 L

Hi there. count me in the smoking crowd.

Have been running RB turbos for 1600 km now, added meth about 400 km ago. Yesterday I've been doing a few WOT pools from a standstill map 3 JB4 with meth, boost under 17 psi. Came from work today parked my car and noticed the garage got filled with smoke. Freaked out, thinking I am finally paying the price for running mods since 5k. Was a bit relieved when I found this thread.

Never had a problem with the car before, 33K km on the clock. Like I said installed RB turbos 1600 km ago, started to notice some smoke today. Puffs of smoke come out when standstill from the left pipe (at least what I noticed) when reving a bit, there is no smoke when reving standing still to 4K+ Also I did not see much smoke when going WOT but its hard do see smoke out of the rear view mirror. I guess checking the oil line install would be a starting point. But given I have run RBs for 1500 km without any issues makes me feel this is either a pesistent problem or the seal got blown somehow. Also my oil reading has dropped a square. I change oil every 5k km and have never seen my oil level dip in between.

P.S. My set up: full catless dp and exhaust, FBO+meth and RBs of course.

Oh snap, another one! that sucks man but i'm actually happy in a way that this isn't "just" another mystery one off on my car

[M9 L]

Originally Posted by dzenno

"OP" as in Adam Way who started this thread?



Oh snap, another one! that sucks man but i'm actually happy in a way that this isn't "just" another mystery one off on my car

With you on this one

[Big Tom]

Oh shit, what's going on with these RB's??

[Clap135]

Originally Posted by Big Tom

Oh shit, what's going on with these RB's??

People usually don't want believe the obvious. Seriously, those who smoke, take some time to take the dps off your cars and check for shaft play. Catch can this catch can that, all of you are beating around the bush with this one.

[jippii ensio]

I would just adjust the oil feed if this bothers anyone. These type of turbos are very reliable and easy to maintain. The oil pressure is higher than in most cars and that can come as a surprise to an average installer.

[Rob@RBTurbo]

Yes, the OP is Adam.

M9 L,

You would not be the first, second, or third who had turbo issues and it turned into a compromised engine. So in order to rule that out I'd suggest a compression test since it's easy enough to do. Secondly, I've been a little apprehensive about your car since the moment you messaged me about your shop altering the turbo geometry- as extreme care is required when handling/disassembling turbos and you didn't seem too confident in their abilities. But anyway in order to isolate turbo damage you would need to pull the downpipes and inspect the shaft play (no in and out/axial, little up and down/radial).

[scottp999]

Keeping my chin up on my set to come. I do have a BMW tech lined up to do the install, so I have no worries there, as he has done many stock sets and so far 1 RB (mine will be the second).

It must be a downer for Rob to see this type of stuff going on and not be within arms length of the vehicle, or able to look over the shoulder of each install.

We appreciate your contributions to the community Rob!

[badass335]

[dlbrooks18]

Sorry thread is too much for me to go through right now, but bottom line does this prob have to do with installs or tuning, or what??

[M9 L]

Originally Posted by RobBeck

Yes, the OP is Adam.

M9 L,

You would not be the first, second, or third who had turbo issues and it turned into a compromised engine. So in order to rule that out I'd suggest a compression test since it's easy enough to do. Secondly, I've been a little apprehensive about your car since the moment you messaged me about your shop altering the turbo geometry- as extreme care is required when handling/disassembling turbos and you didn't seem too confident in their abilities. But anyway in order to isolate turbo damage you would need to pull the downpipes and inspect the shaft play (no in and out/axial, little up and down/radial).

I do not think it is the install, if you may recall, we resolved that it was more of a misunderstanding issue re installation. The guy I spoke to was not the guy who did the install. When I spoke to the guy who did the install I found that alterations were within tolerable limits specified by you and should not actually affect anything, (2 degrees movement max without setting the tubo loose, and not moving them beyond the tick on the housing). Been running the car ok for 1500 KM, ran in the turbos for 400 KM. Do you think the install could cause the oil from turbo leaking?

I will check my compression ratio and the turbo install.

I feel really sad now, facing either an engine rebuild or a trubo replacement... Just when all started to come together.

BTW, I am getting the impression that some oil lekaing may be normal with RBs, but what is the "normal" limit?

Just had my 10 liters of pure meth delivered

[M9 L]

Here is an update:

Compression is fine, equal across all 6 cylinders.

Checked sparkplugs, they were fine too but replaced them just in case.

No leaking evidence under the car, or on turbos, did not take DPs off yet.

Replaced oil with Castrol sae 40 same as x5 m, was 30 before, perhaps a thicker oil will solve the smoking issues.

No codes, car runs fine. Will have full turbo check on Monday.

[R1000K3]

I'll wait to upgrade with RB's until the issues are clarified and fixed.

[dzenno]

I use mobil1 0w-40, doesn't help

[scottp999]

If the number of cars having an issue is really 5, then I would love to know the denominator to find the rate of this issue. If it's close to 40-50 then it would ease my mind on doing the install as soon as they arrive.

[dzenno]

I've got my leatherz gauge kit harness wired up last night finally and I've installed their oil distribution block that hooks up to an oil pressure sender/sensor which I'll be hooking up to the oil pressure gauge today. Hopefully we'll finally have cold/hot idle/cruise/WOT oil pressure results for the N54. Too bad I won't be able to datalog them with software but eyeballing should be fine as it's a pretty slow changing value I think

[dzenno]

Oil pressure results:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?p=10354437

22psi - 70psi, well within range, high oil pressure isn't the cause here

[Syndicategt]

Originally Posted by M9 L

Replaced oil with Castrol sae 40 same as x5 m, was 30 before, perhaps a thicker oil will solve the smoking issues.

Wouldn't thicker oil cause higher pressure just like on a cold start (thicker oil).

Keeping my head up too. If I have to switch back to stock exhaust I will.