335i boost leak challenge.

[Herbmiester 927]

1 hour ago, Matth5 said:

Boost builds up very slowly, my feeling is something is inhibiting it from building boost in the first place, not a leak.

I cant think what it could be, it does have a bigger volume intercooler. 

[Herbmiester 927]

Possible problem found, the pipe that come off the cold side of the intercooler just pulled off with very little force. Note I was not trying to remove it I was taking some ducting out further up, and the bottom of the pipe just came out. 

 

[Matth5 471]

LOL that's definitely not supposed to happen, let's hope that's it

[Herbmiester 927]

Problem is  it's a complete b***h to put back on. Absolutely no working room.

Edited March 16, 2017 by Herbmiester

[Herbmiester 927]

The bonus is that the Evolution Raceworks charge pipe fits nicely, as opposed to the previous no name CP i bought that I suspect was made in China, looks like someone threw up on the welds as they were working. THe pipe out of the intercooler need to come to the right a few degrees and the connecting pipe from there is a bit too short, (all aftermarket stuff) so off to Repco/Sc tomorrow to see what I can find that will work a bit better. Unfortunately I will have to get under the car to realign the bottom pipe.  

[Herbmiester 927]

Sorry for the long gap in updates but between work/life commitments I just had to close the bonnet for a few weeks. To cut to the chase the problem is sorted. I replaced the factory charge pipe with an Evolution Raceworks pipe which I have to say was an easy fit. The problem came with the pipe that connects intercooler to the charge pipe. In the end I got some help from Brad and his hands being a bit smaller than mine allowed him to button up the clamps and then it was just putting it all back together. So I can now rev it out and there is no check engine light. I stuck with the original diverter valves and will do some logging with them in place and then swap over to the forge valves. Without a leak throttle response seems better and power builds from lower down in the rev range. 

I have gone over the original charge pipe a couple of times and I can't find any cracks. I can only conclude that with the diverter valves being a slack fit into the charge pipe that could have been where the boost leak was occurring. The vaunted BMW engineering excellence was perhaps not at its highest in the N54 and I was somewhat underwhelmed. The charge pipe is a fail waiting to happen. 

[Olaf 3318]

great news, John.  Hopefully cresting this puts you in the position you were expecting, with BMW handing and the power you sought.  Kind of sad the 535i e60 didn't make an appearance in NZ or Japan, I think that power plant in the e60 Chassis would be a fun thing for us boost-heads!

Hope to see you on the next roadie.

 

[Herbmiester 927]

Yes an E60 with an N54 would be nice. I liked my E60 very much and the chassis was very good indeed.

I am hoping to be back on track now, This whole experience was very frustrating and while the end fix was simple the process was not. I have spent half a life working on cars (I was an Auto Electrictrician). I will say this not since the days of working on British cars have I been so frustrated by the way a car is built; with the older Brit cars it was sloppy build quality and questionable design, with the N54 it seems to be complication for the sake of it, design philosophy over practicality. The proof to me would be the N55. Sure it doesn't have quite the same tuning potential but it delivers similar results with less complication. Anyway rant over, I will fit the M3 front control arms and Koni shocks after Easter: still need some new front rotors though.....

[Matth5 471]

Glad to hear that's sorted, now you'll finally see what the car can do!