[PurpleMonkey]

my 320d has now done over 117000 miles & i have heard that the turbos are worth replacing as if it goes it may damage the engine, so i was thinking maybe a slightly bigger turbo?

I have had the car tuned to 205bhp & wonder if i can get a bigger turbo fitted without needing to change any other parts.

I have contacted BMW but they say they will only fit the standard turbo

[dxb335d]

Speak to Ant at Speed religeon (ID ANT397)

He has a larger turbo on his 330d demo car.


Personally i wouldnt go down that route unless you want to mod the engine even further.

I wouldnt replace the turbo if there is no signs of wear.

[E92Fan]

It's not going to be possible just replacing the turbo with a larger one, without doing a wholesale reprogram of the ECU, a possible upgrade of the fuel pump, a larger intercooler etc to keep the turbo from overheating... there's a lot to do, and that's assuming a larger turbo even exists to fit this car in the first place!

The problem with the standard BMW turbo (and this is actually not very common taking all the 2.0 diesel engines into consideration) is that there have been occasions where the impeller blades have separated from the main bearing, and if unlucky have been ingested by the engine. That's not to say that it will happen with your car - it's only a minority of cases.

That said, if you feel you are more comfortable changing the turbo, then you should contact one of the well respected independent BMW garages, who will charge you a LOT less than BMW for the work

[dxb335d]

Think the piss flap failure turbos were on older E46 cars. Think they have changed them few years back to stop this happening now.

[330dan]

i looked into all this a while ago. After going to see several people, garages, tuners, questions on various forums it became apparent that nobody is willing to really carry out this sort of work on these cars and its not particularily well recommended.

Appart from some individual cars that tuners have done themselves i challenge anyone to find many bmw diesels that have had considerable tuning / engine modification apart from remaps.

You also risk losing torque and moving your power band up, erroding the main perks of a diesel (or so i've been told) and really just to stick to remaps etc. (or so ive been told on forums anyway im no mechanic).

I would actually be interested if anyone said you could do more to diesel bm's but so far i have just come up against a brickwall. people tend to talk about the possibilities of what you could do but in reality its a different story.

[dxb335d]

Mate, there some seriously highley tuned diesel drag cars....

For sure you would alter the cars drivability, but depends what your after. I would say leave your car alone. Buy a 330d or something.

Or if you want to tune to crazy levels. Buy a Supra.

[Cafe.Racer]

I talked to... turbotechniks (I think)... about getting a Hybrid - I understand the D3 turbo is effectively a hybrid of a 330D cold side with a 320D hot side.

I know that Steinbauer could do a "custom" map.

[Steve A]

Originally Posted by Cafe.Racer

I talked to... turbotechniks (I think)... about getting a Hybrid - I understand the D3 turbo is effectively a hybrid of a 330D cold side with a 320D hot side.

I know that Steinbauer could do a "custom" map.

Correct. From the 330d they use the exhaust half of its turbo. This is bigger and therefore can accommodate more airflow. They also use the 330d’s intercooler to accommodate the new engines thirst for cold air.

From the 535d they use its injectors.

Finally, the inlet half of the turbo is a patented ALPINA/Garrett/ Honeywell unit.

So there is a lot of work to acheive these 'RELIABLE' gains.

Not to mention the exhaust.......

[330dan]

Originally Posted by dxb335d

Mate, there some seriously highley tuned diesel drag cars....

For sure you would alter the cars drivability, but depends what your after. I would say leave your car alone. Buy a 330d or something.

Or if you want to tune to crazy levels. Buy a Supra.

Exactly, drag cars, not too many road cars.

I totally agree with you though - as ive found from similar discussions on forums - if you want a faster diesel, buy a faster diesel.

If you wanna tune your car up - but a petrol turbo - probably japanese - probably a supra!

[PurpleMonkey]

thanks for all the input guys, think ill just leave it alone now & save up want a M3 sometime in the future