2001 3.0 Diesel white smoke from exhaust video

[balongbalong]

Originally Posted by powers1

Hi,
Can you ask them ...why was it blocked and with what?
Its very unusual for the outlet oil pipe to block because its a non-pressurized pipe,unlike the inlet!In my 15 years of dismantling turbos ,never came across a blocked outlet pipe.....dozens of inlet,yes!

they said it was blocked with oil sludge, are they BS-ing me? and they don't know what caused the sludge either

anyway got the vehicle back and been driving it over the weekend.

no loss of power, no white smoke during idle anymore, however there is still that black smoke when you floor it. gassed it on two different stations and no smoke still. gassed it only a little then try to empty the tank before filling up with another station. now its time to check gas consumption as i have filled it up in full. will monitor also coolant and oil levels every two days to see if level gets low

anyway here is a picture of the two old turbos, wondering what caused the bent impeller blades on both. left is the older one, right one is the supposed new turbo that is leaking and was replaced as well.

Turbo #2 LEFT and Turbo #3 RIGHT


Turbo #2 close up

[blueagle]

That is some picture of a damaged turbo....

[powers1]

Originally Posted by balongbalong

they said it was blocked with oil sludge, are they BS-ing me? and they don't know what caused the sludge either

anyway got the vehicle back and been driving it over the weekend.

no loss of power, no white smoke during idle anymore, however there is still that black smoke when you floor it. gassed it on two different stations and no smoke still. gassed it only a little then try to empty the tank before filling up with another station. now its time to check gas consumption as i have filled it up in full. will monitor also coolant and oil levels every two days to see if level gets low

anyway here is a picture of the two old turbos, wondering what caused the bent impeller blades on both. left is the older one, right one is the supposed new turbo that is leaking and was replaced as well.

I cant see properly the compressor vanes on the new turbo that was also replaced!But the vanes also look damaged!Is that right?

Anyway,the only way the vanes can get damaged that way is when get a strange object from the pipe that goes to the air-filter!Nothing would go past the air-filter itself,so someone must have left something there ,like a screw !
When they removed the turbo,they must have found bits of the object there,I am sure????
This is the culprit and why you had white smoke..NOT because of a clogged outlet pipe!Because of the "strange object" hitting the vanes it would warp the turbine rod sufficiently to allow oil to be blown to inlet manifold and out of exhaust.
This happened on the first turbo you replaced.you now have to ask yourself who before this,changed your airfilter or did any work around it?
If its the same shop that replaced the turbo,then they screwed up big time ! Use the pictures you taken and hold them responsible!Tell them you will send them to BMW ,if needed.
Good luck.

[balongbalong]

^ correct, both turbos have damaged vanes. the old one having more visible damage than the new one. they replaced the new one with another new one.

unfortunately the BMW associate who replaced the turbo years ago was non other than BMW Philippines but maintenance after the initial replacement were done by different dealers until when the car started to smoke white smoke excessively again as seen in my video

thanks for the insight and help.

[powers1]

Just find out which one of the dealers,last worked on the car and the air-filter in particular...and hold them responsible!

So the second one was replaced because it was also leaking,when in fact it was only leaking for the same reason as the first turbo!Something hit the compressor vanes ,warping the turbine rod and letting oil to be blown to engine!

You say that now with the 3rd turbo.you have no smoke,but I would strongly recommend that you or someone check the turbos inlet back to the air-filter to check for any debris ,to ensure that the vanes wont get damaged again!
Looks like the different dealers all BS you,saying the oil inlet pipe blocked and turbo leaking was the problem.
Do check the pipe to the compressor vanes ....its best.

[friggedx5]

i have just solved a similar problem with my diesel x5, changed the pcv filter and is all back to normal. my symptoms were to much oil pressure so much that it was blowing oil out of the dip stick, and ballowing white smoke from the exhaust. once we found the problem it was an easy fix.

[powers1]

Originally Posted by friggedx5

i have just solved a similar problem with my diesel x5, changed the pcv filter and is all back to normal. my symptoms were to much oil pressure so much that it was blowing oil out of the dip stick, and ballowing white smoke from the exhaust. once we found the problem it was an easy fix.

You are right ,the breather filter is a crucial maintenance item ,usually overlooked(see posts here #33,#35) and will make white smoke blow out of exhaust.
The OP problem here is in fact oil blowing thru turbo to inlet and out thru exhaust due to damaged vanes in both turbos warping turbine rod.

[balongbalong]

thanks for the input guys, will have the turbo reinspected in a month to see if there's damage to the compressor vanes.

[Zedex]

Hi,
I hope you have sourced the problem already but your post caught my eye as I have had a similar problem on another diesel engine, that I'm now able to say is happy and smoke free.

Apparently if the engine has had an easy life and not worked too hard the bores can glaze. This glazing or polishing means the bore surface is very smooth / shiny thus allowing oil to pass between the sealing ring & bore wall and into the combustion area - hence the smoke. Diesel engines like to work!, running at low revs or idling for long periods will lead to glazing as will frequent short trips where the engine will not be able to fully warm through.
The solution although it sounds brutal works. My first attempt would be to run the engine hard, under heavy load with high rpm, the engine will smoke heavily until the bores start to rough again and the oil seapage slows. The second method is even more brutal and you can pm me if the first does not work and I will explain further.

Indicators that this is the case are oil consumption and the ability to discount that it is the cooling system is to monitor the coolant level to see that the engine has not been consuming coolant.

Obviously the minced turbo internals mean something has contacted the inlet guide vanes and that should be the first concern - making sure nothing is still in the intake system.

Z. (98' 3.0SD)

[balongbalong]

Originally Posted by Zedex

Hi,
I hope you have sourced the problem already but your post caught my eye as I have had a similar problem on another diesel engine, that I'm now able to say is happy and smoke free.

Apparently if the engine has had an easy life and not worked too hard the bores can glaze. This glazing or polishing means the bore surface is very smooth / shiny thus allowing oil to pass between the sealing ring & bore wall and into the combustion area - hence the smoke. Diesel engines like to work!, running at low revs or idling for long periods will lead to glazing as will frequent short trips where the engine will not be able to fully warm through.
The solution although it sounds brutal works. My first attempt would be to run the engine hard, under heavy load with high rpm, the engine will smoke heavily until the bores start to rough again and the oil seapage slows. The second method is even more brutal and you can pm me if the first does not work and I will explain further.

Indicators that this is the case are oil consumption and the ability to discount that it is the cooling system is to monitor the coolant level to see that the engine has not been consuming coolant.

Obviously the minced turbo internals mean something has contacted the inlet guide vanes and that should be the first concern - making sure nothing is still in the intake system.

Z. (98' 3.0SD)

actually, the engine has had it fair share of hard running and loads.

it would normally go to hard driving 1000 km trips with full passengers and cargo.

overall, its almost 100,000 kms on the odo, 50% of it was run hard, though it gets stuck in traffic/idle approx 25% as well.