I would say thats quite a bit of play. My stock ones had no where near that amount of play

Ok, thx, I thought that might be the case, I'm surprised it's not making more noise then what it is. Looks like I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get it from BMW since I can't find a quality rebuilt one. Plus if I get it from BMW it has a 2 year warranty I believe?

I have a contact for you. He's in new york, so depending how far that is from you, he could probably even do the swap for you.

Give Jess a call at Bohl Diesel. He's the one who built my new turbos. You can even upgrade them if you're looking to make more power. I opted for stock-ish replacements.

He's quite knowledgeable as well.

BMW — Bohl Diesel Performance
(518) 859-2351

Thank you for the contact Dr Anthony. I live in the Chicago area and enjoy doing the work, but I will definitely give him a call. Assuming he has your old core perhaps he can rebuild that and ship it to me then I send him my core so my X is not down long.

I'm sure he has some cores that he can build for you.
I ended up paying extra to keep mine, and I'm glad I did since there was nothing wrong with them.

Sounds good, I'll give him a call tomorrow.

So have you found out what was/is(?) causing the noise? I know of a similar case and wonder if it's possible to remove both belts for a quick ride to rule out the pulley.

Did you resolve your issue? I still have the same noise as you and want to get it resolved.

I did. turns out my turbos were perfectly fine :/ Oh well, atleast now i have a spare set of turbos. Anyways, my issue was the exhaust manifold gasket.
one of my studs broke. (previous dealer repair) and the air was escaping between the flange and the gasket. It totally makes sense tho. The gasket is 5 thin pieces of metal.

Remember the sound you'd make when you put a thick blade of grass between your thumbs and blew through it? Same concept.. similar sound.

Interesting, that does make sense. Was it the top turbo to manifold gasket or manifold to head gasket? i ask because i pulled my small turbo off today to send it to Tims Turbo (whom i believe rebuilt yours for Bohls, but i could be wrong, too many turbo conversations lately) and i noticed the bolts where not as tight as i expected them to be, not loose but easily broke free. i also notice there was soot under the gasket, which means a leak.
Thank you very much for the feedback!