Smoke from front of engine (m57) 2010.

[Diesel Spectre]

Hey all,
So I’ve started to smell exhaust (?) inside the cabin while driving this last week. Leading up to this, I’ve been chasing a “belt squeal” like noise for months. Under the hood I see smoke coming from between the heat shield and small turbo. I work a lot so I brought it to the shop Thursday. Friday they called me and said both turbos failed due to the dpf being clogged. They can replace the turbos for $11k but I’d have to get the dpf cleaned elsewhere. They didn’t remove anything (that I know of) to come to this conclusion, just heard the noise and saw the area the smoke came from and called it. I’m not getting any codes related to boost (although a few months ago, I dig get one). After they did me that huge favor (which I declined), I pulled the rad fan and filtered air pipe off and had someone try to start it. Now I can see smoke coming from what looks like under the vacuum pump and the edge of the valve cover behind the small turbo in the front corner of the engine. I just can’t tell exactly where. I doesn’t look like the egr cooler connection. It’s got 200k plus miles so I’m going to just do the vcg and vacuum pump.
I believe the noise I was chasing was due to an exhaust manifold leak from either a cracked manifold or a broken stud. I plan to pull the small turbo and the exhaust manifold to inspect and re seal. As such I’m spending a small fortune on gaskets anyway so I’m thinking I should just pull the large turbo as well. That will give me a chance to replace the oil feed lines to both turbos since they all have over 200k miles.
Q1) am I wasting my time trying to limp along with 2 tired old turbos? Would you just rebuild or replace? Go hybrid or factory? New CHRA or send it out?
Q2) the dpf is original and although not clogged, will come out for the large turbo replacement. Would you replace w/ new, clean the existing one, or “upgrade” the downpipe & tune?
Q3) the only thing maintenance wise that hasn’t been done are the timing chains, guides & tensioners. Am I wasting my time/ money by not doing them (like on the N57) or should I leave them alone?
Q4) am I throwing good money after bad here and should cut my losses? The current car market is not conducive to “upgrading” and I have quite a bit into this thing to keep it in good reliable condition. I absolutely love driving it still and new diesels (for commuting , not hauling) are getting scarce.
This is my daily driver (in NJ) so all of this will cause me to find alternate transportation for work (140 miles/day) so the faster I can get back together and on the road, the better.
Comments, concerns, gripes & complaints all welcome. It will help me refine the workflow/ timeline and help me identify all the various gaskets, seals, stretch bolts, etc. I’ll need to do the job. I’ve never had the turbos out or the valve cover off so some of this will be new to me on the diesel.
Thanks in advance,

[Diesel Spectre]

Wow, nobody has anything to say? Where’s the community? At the very least I expected to chastised for something. Geez. Someone talk ard into buying another diesel and coming back…

[Daytonawim]

Sorry I am not a diesel driver ( I hate them) , the only thing I could say is that a leaking valve cover can cause smoke, because the leak on the exhaust.
And I read someting about leaking oil lines from the turbo.

And about repair costs, you have to figure out I you want to spent 11k on your car, if you do you will have to drive for some time, because with a sale of your car you wint get your 11k back.

[ard]

Originally Posted by Diesel Spectre

Wow, nobody has anything to say? Where’s the community? At the very least I expected to chastised for something. Geez. Someone talk ard into buying another diesel and coming back…

lol. Still have her! 2012 w 192k


I was *going* to add a (dumb) comment and self-moderated: I had a harmonic balancer fail...squeals, then smoke/burning smell...but it only lasted a day before it fully failed. Didnt really match your symptoms so I didnt post. (But did feel bad your post was languishing)


Once that inner rubber core of the HB fails, the inner engine part spins on a 'bearing' of failed rubber. Initially the belts turn, but eventually you can grab the belt with the motor running. Also the red alt light will be on as the alt isnt charging.




Oh,I will add that when I read your post, my first thought was 'get a second opinion- how does a clogged DPF kill BOTH turbos'... but then I did a bit of research and read that this IS possible. Still, there are a lot of dpf issues without a ton of 'killed both turbos' stories....




SO...yeah, sorry. Moral support at best.

[Diesel Spectre]

Haha. I had the same thing with my harmonic dampener last summer. Used the FAI unit from Whitebread. So far, no issues.
I seriously doubt it’s the DPF. I do get codes for “possible end of life” but I monitor regens with Carly and get no codes for differential pressure or dpf clogged. They’re just guessing because they don’t know or understand the R2S system or euro diesels at all for that matter.
Thanks for the moral support though. I’m still waiting to be chastised by DH… ��

[ard]

lol. That other site? Someone tell me when PropellerHead dies. OK?

[13brian]

What I believe I would do: get 2nd opinion on the turbos for sure, if salvageable/possible I would have them rebuilt. Since the DEF box has to come off, I would determine if it is bad or not. A couple of parts are replaceable, if you are so inclined, if the whole box was to be replaced or plan to anyhow, I would delete and program. My $0.02 FWIW. love mine is e70 2011 35d

[Diesel Spectre]

I would love to delete. The increased fuel mileage alone is worth it to me. I could never understand how a system that causes more fuel to be burned for a given task (or mileage) was “cleaner”… we all know energy and mass can be converted or stored but never “go away”.. I digress…
I just can’t manage to pull the trigger since I live in NJ. It would effectively give me a $10k fine and pull my car off the road. It’s just not an option for me.
I thought about the “second opinion” option but decided against it. I figured I could actually replace almost everything on that side of the engine for less than half that quote. I just had the sub frame down a few months ago to replace the steering rack so I’m familiar with that. Everything on this motor has 215k miles on it so removing the turbos and putting them back is foolish. I might as well freshen the whole thing up and be done with it. I’ve got the valve cover gasket set as well so I’m setting myself up for another 100k miles of reliable service. I’m struggling with what to do with the dpf actually. I don’t want to spend the ridiculous $4000 for a bmw dpf but also don’t want a “48 state legal” dpf either. It hasn’t been cooked so my plan is to drop it and have it cleaned by …someone… idk yet. Truck stop service shops should be able to do it if I bring it to them.
After all this, the timing chains are the last maintenance item. (Thank goodness it’s not the later diesel.

[13brian]

Gotcha, understood. Sux about the NJ thing for you. I am apparently not familiar enough with turbo failures to speak all that intelligently on reinstalling after a rebuild, them. Sure can not help you with the 48 state vs BMW, only St Louis has emissions check in MO. I can say $11k + $4k is a lot, but do not disagree with you on being worth it. I guess how long will it last, how much is it worth 5+ years from now. 100% agree about the idiocy and control/money grab with the SCR/DEF/DPF B. S.
Apologies I was not much help. Good luck man.

[Diesel Spectre]

A good conversation is always helpful even if it just opens your eyes to a perspective you haven’t considered. So no apologies needed…
As far as the value it’s become more subjective with the car market the way it is right now. For me, it’s no longer the $ value of the thing. I really enjoy this car. I like all the boxes it checks from a pragmatic perspective and I really enjoy driving it. The newer ones are getting far more disconnected from the road. Anecdotally, years ago they started making washing machines to conserve water… No problem with that except they no longer cleaned clothes well. This was brought about by govt regulations and eventually they figured out how to both conserve water and clean clothes marginally well. I believe these aging e70s are just at the cusp of that sacrifice for driving enjoyment. Sadly we’re on the other side of the threshold for the after treatment systems. In other words, even though we got a “first iteration “ of the alphabet soup nonsense and all the trouble that brings, the chassis and steering along with the ridiculously unrelenting torque (given its mass), make this the last of dying breed. Even with all the battle damage of a NJ commute, I’m starting to see it as a pinnacle of sorts. Only time will tell if others see the same thing I do in them. For now though, I just really enjoy driving it and that’s enough for me to keep her on the road.