[blueh88]

Okay, so after reading another thread on here (thanks adammcf), it prompted me to start my own thread on a long standing issue I have been having. I had noticed some oil on the turbo pipe and never knew where it was coming from. Well, last night I did some proper poking around and noticed oil/crud on the front of the intake manifold. Looks like it has been there for a long time so its not catastrophic yet.

Looking at it side on standing from passenger side under the manifold, there is oil seen on the braided cables etc.

Few pics on the link below.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/a6UySsqnDWYVa7yv1

One of the pics also shows the vac pump which looks to have some oil on the bottom half. Not sure if this is normal but will be checking this out too.

I plan to take it apart this weekend or next, clean it up and assess the situation a bit further.

In addition: swirl flaps were removed by previous owner....come to think of it could this be part of the issue of it not being put back together properly or a seal/gasket not sat properly?

[adammcf]

Ill upload the pics of mine hopefully today. Yours looks to be just starting to leak. Mine is covered in all of those areas including the vacuum pump. Hopefully new seals all round will solve them.

[blueh88]

Originally Posted by adammcf

Ill upload the pics of mine hopefully today. Yours looks to be just starting to leak. Mine is covered in all of those areas including the vacuum pump. Hopefully new seals all round will solve them.

Thanks Adam. So, new manifold seals, vac pump o ring, and turbo pipe seals?

[adammcf]

Originally Posted by blueh88

Thanks Adam. So, new manifold seals, vac pump o ring, and turbo pipe seals?

Yeah those are the main culprits on my car. Once the manifold was off its easier to trace the leaks back.

Here's how my vacuum pump looked before -

20180414_155558 by Adam McFarland, on Flickr

Dripping down over the thermostat area -

20180419_203821 by Adam McFarland, on Flickr

Can see dirt etc in the groove where the seal sat -

20180414_160958 by Adam McFarland, on Flickr

Can see the leaking oil from some of these seals where the swirl flaps were -

20180410_180601 by Adam McFarland, on Flickr

[blueh88]

Brilliant, cheers adam. did you need to clean your manifold? Heard they can be a b**** to clean and to be honest, I can't be arsed with the hassle so might just buy a new one if it's in a bad condition.

[adammcf]

Originally Posted by blueh88

Brilliant, cheers adam. did you need to clean your manifold? Heard they can be a b**** to clean and to be honest, I can't be arsed with the hassle so might just buy a new one if it's in a bad condition.

Covered the manifold in engine cleaner and then left it to soak in a big tub of water for about 3 days then took at it with the power washer and big chunks of carbon were coming out. I had to get the screw driver to the ports though as it was baked on hard and needed scraping off.
Its not perfect as there's still a layer of carbon inside but its a million times better than it was.

20180421_103143 by Adam McFarland, on Flickr

20180421_103153 by Adam McFarland, on Flickr

[blueh88]

Originally Posted by adammcf

Covered the manifold in engine cleaner and then left it to soak in a big tub of water for about 3 days then took at it with the power washer and big chunks of carbon were coming out. I had to get the screw driver to the ports though as it was baked on hard and needed scraping off.
Its not perfect as there's still a layer of carbon inside but its a million times better than it was.

20180421_103143 by Adam McFarland, on Flickr

20180421_103153 by Adam McFarland, on Flickr

Cheers Adam. Really helpful. Will do a similar thing then. I was contemplating just getting a new one but suppose if I go in prepared then should be alright.

So how has yours been since you re-installed? Any more leaks? Performance gains?

[adammcf]

I haven't had time to put it all back together yet and I'm still waiting on my parts to arrive from BMW Cotswold.
It'll probably not be until next week as I'm going to order the belts and pulleys too while they're easy to reach with everything else out of the way.

[blueh88]

Originally Posted by adammcf

I haven't had time to put it all back together yet and I'm still waiting on my parts to arrive from BMW Cotswold.
It'll probably not be until next week as I'm going to order the belts and pulleys too while they're easy to reach with everything else out of the way.

Adam, how did you get on with your car?

Also wanted to ask, where did you get the vac pump seals from? Is it the one inside the pump itself?

[adammcf]

Yeah all back together now and running really well. It so smooth and quiet now you can barely even hear the engine from inside the car now. It pulls really strong now with no boost leaks etc.
The only downside is that since removing the swirl flaps the car has lost loads of power below 2k rpm. Ive read about this and hoped it wasnt true but anyone who says they dont notice it must drive like a granny as its a big difference. Im hoping to get the map on my car tweaked to see if it can be sorted. I'd put the swirl flaps back in but they were leaking so bad its not an option.

I got my vacuum pump seals from a Polish place on ebay as no-where else seems to sell them including BMW. They came in a few days and fitted perfectly.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-E60-E...53.m2749.l2649



I've been meaning to do a build style thread with all the things I did but haven't had time yet.

[blueh88]

Originally Posted by adammcf

Yeah all back together now and running really well. It so smooth and quiet now you can barely even hear the engine from inside the car now. It pulls really strong now with no boost leaks etc.
The only downside is that since removing the swirl flaps the car has lost loads of power below 2k rpm. Ive read about this and hoped it wasnt true but anyone who says they dont notice it must drive like a granny as its a big difference. Im hoping to get the map on my car tweaked to see if it can be sorted. I'd put the swirl flaps back in but they were leaking so bad its not an option.

I got my vacuum pump seals from a Polish place on ebay as no-where else seems to sell them including BMW. They came in a few days and fitted perfectly.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-E60-E...53.m2749.l2649



I've been meaning to do a build style thread with all the things I did but haven't had time yet.

Ah that's good to hear! Ah really. I bought the car without swirl flaps so not really got a comparison. However, mine has a really good custom map on it and I certain there is no lack of power at low revs. So hopefully a map will sort yours out.

Thanks for the link, will get them ordered!

I just hope mine goes back to being smooth and quiet again!!