BMW X3 turbo failure.

lttlejoe

lttlejoe

lttlejoe

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My daughter's 4.5 year old X3 has just stopped running due to turbo collapse..ouch! Does anyone know the cheapest way to solve the problem, other than getting rid of the vehicle or purchasing the part from BMW direct?

From what I can gather, it costs an arm and a leg to replace the part via a BMW main dealer....are there any third party suppliers which are cheaper? Perhaps a re-con part?

I don't have much time to help her today but having just had a quicky google it seems that this is a common problem with X3's...surely a vehicle of this quality shouldn't have such a bad record for turbo problems, especially on a vehicle which has only just covered 58K?

It's a long shot but I'm wondering if BMW are actually partly-liable for such an obviously flawed design which is clearly not fit for purpose?

Any suggestions?
 
It's 5 years old with 60k on it, turbo failure is hardly rare or uncommon on diesel cars. I suspect the best way to fix this is going to be at an independant BMW specialist, expect to pay a grand or so unless damage has been done to the engine - it depends what failed and how.
 
[TW]Fox;19211593 said:
It's 5 years old with 60k on it, turbo failure is hardly rare or uncommon on diesel cars. I suspect the best way to fix this is going to be at an independant BMW specialist, expect to pay a grand or so unless damage has been done to the engine - it depends what failed and how.
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I suspect you're right and there's not much that can be done but, after only a brief search, the net is full of reports of turbo failure on this model, even those under 3 years old so, it's not as if it's a one-off issue and begs the question, if it's a design fault, who should be liable?
 
lttlejoe said:
I suspect you're right and there's not much that can be done but, after only a brief search, the net is full of reports of turbo failure on this model, even those under 3 years old so, it's not as if it's a one-off issue and begs the question, if it's a design fault, who should be liable?
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Did she buy the car new from BMW? If she did, there is chance they may contribute but if she bought it second hand from an independant car dealer it's difficult to see how BMW should be liable for something they didn't sell to her. It's 5 years old - turbo failure is sadly a fact of life on turbodiesels.

It's why diesel is often false economy.
 
I've gotta shoot off now for a couple of hours but if anyone has any ideas for the cheapest solution, I'd appreciate them.
 
Cheapest fix will likely be source the part yourself and get an independent to fit it but as Fox says, if it's from BMW they might help out making it cheaper than the above. Get a proper diagnostic too, depending on how the turbo failed it may have done more damage to the car than simply a busted turbo.
 
Do you have any mates who would fit a turbo you sourced yourself for you?

The turbo blew on my Fabia vRS last week and I fixed it myself for £225 and £30 for a bottle of oil.
 
lttlejoe said:
and begs the question, if it's a design fault, who should be liable?
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It's not a design fault and no one is liable.

On a diesel, turbos are consumable items, much the same as brake discs, pads, exhausts, shock aborbers, batteries and tyres.

They just simply wear out.
 
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amigafan2003 said:
It's not a design fault and no one is liable.

On a diesel, turbos are consumable items, much the same as brake discs, pads, exhausts, shock aborbers, batteries and tyres.

They just simply wear out.
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what a load of rubbish. i had a few vag pd diesels at 150-160k miles, i had a pug td with the same, no turbo issues

what makes them a consumable?
 
Matt82 said:
what a load of rubbish. i had a few vag pd diesels at 150-160k miles, i had a pug td with the same, no turbo issues

what makes them a consumable?
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But we're not talking about a VAG or a Pug. Maybe I should have said "on a BMW diesel" but that would be unfair to BMW's - I've seen many VAG/ugs with failed turbos at 60k, esp if they are warmed up properly or switched off after a hard thrash.

Matt82 said:
PS. what "wears out"?

quickly, off to google :D
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Normally the seals. Bearings are the other common failiure.

If the seals go, you get oil being dumped into the engine and lots of blue smoke, sometimes a loss of pressure as well.

bearings result in a rattle, lotts of pressure and if they fail critically then the turbine goes through your engine (or gets stuck in the intercooler if you're lucky).
 
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if the car was bought from BMw, i would def complain. Dealers have a policy not to do any goodwill for cars over 5 years, but BMW direct will

you will the car to be fully serviced, and you may only get a percentage of parts paid for, but it should bring the bill down.
 
amigafan2003 said:
It's not a design fault and no one is liable.

On a diesel, turbos are consumable items, much the same as brake discs, pads, exhausts, shock aborbers, batteries and tyres.

They just simply wear out.
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I would hope they AREN'T consumables!
A part costing around £1000.00 plus god knows how much for fitting should not be compared to brakes etc etc!

If it's a very common occurrence on a particular model as in this case, then it is more likely to be a design fault! If it was a one-off then I would agree but a turbo should not wear out at such a relatively low mileage!

I've owned Citroen turbo cars with near 200K on the clock and no turbo problems - and I'm sure many others will have owned differing makes with similarly high mileages and no probs with turbo's so, if a part is consistently failing prematurely, it's a design fault and not simple wear and tear!
 
just sounds like theyre using naff turbos.

even chinese copies of the KKK blowers VW use last longer than that.

i had a friend that used a 406 td as a cabbie, that thing was on uber mileage (ie close to 300k), the car fell apart but the engine was nearly the only thing left
 
It's not so much 'design fault' as 'cheap design'. If they really wanted to they could design a turbo which lasted 100k+, but as with a lot of things it was most likely designed to a price (as turbos aren't cheap) so the end user suffers. Seems a common thing with modern diesels, older diesels seemd to last longer or is that just my imagination?
 
alx said:
It's not so much 'design fault' as 'cheap design'. If they really wanted to they could design a turbo which lasted 100k+, but as with a lot of things it was most likely designed to a price (as turbos aren't cheap) so the end user suffers. Seems a common thing with modern diesels, older diesels seemd to last longer or is that just my imagination?
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now that sounds far more plausible. the part was designed to outlast the warranty so the end user suffers

surely the brand suffers too because that smacks of shoddy
 
Matt82 said:
now that sounds far more plausible. the part was designed to outlast the warranty so the end user suffers

surely the brand suffers too because that smacks of shoddy
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I'm not sure exactly how the BMW warranty works, but I imagine the X3 in question could have had one if the owner was willing to pay the price.

But yeah, it's more likely to be a cheap part than a design failure but it's hard to tell.
 
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