[QUOTE=ExclusiveAuto;24174560]Normally, I can fix anything, but this car has me so frustrated I'm about to set it on fire and call it a day.
Purchased a 2013 X3 2.8 (2.0L turbo) for the wife about 3 years ago with 60K on it. Her commute to work at the time was about 150 miles a day and figured it would be best to save the money on a car out of warranty, rather than a used one within warranty as she would surpass it by mileage fairly quickly.
About 4-6 months into owning it, we would occasionally get a message on the iDrive screen that stated "Drivetrain malfunction - reduced power drive carefully, reduced power" or some non-sense like that. The car would then drive like a regular 4-cyl without the turbo. No check engine light on the dash cluster. Once the car was shut off and restarted, the car would drive like normal. We did that for about a year or so as it was occasional.
I have a lead foot and my wife drives like a grandma, so we noticed it would happen much more frequently and sooner into our trips with me driving. So, I tried driving it slow, with very light throttle, staying in low RPMs before boost should come in, and noticed that the light took longer to kick on.
Over time, it has been occurring more frequently and with increased sensitivity - to now, where it comes on almost as we pull out of the driveway - at 102K miles. The car is slow as a dog and gets crappy gas mileage compared to what we used to get (used to get about 30mpg, now we get 19mpg). By the way, it was awesome that BMW announced the recall on the timing chain after we were already over the mileage....THANK YOU BMW!!
Got to the point where she needed tires, so I found a nice set of Factory M sport wheels with nearly new runflats for the same price as 4 new runflats would have been for the stock 2.8 wheels.
Only modifications I have done: Factory M sport 19" wheels, Aftermarket HID ballast and bulbs.
The car "feels" like it has no boost, but it also feels like a misfire, and it also feels like something in the drivetrain with some of the "bucking" at very slow speed. I am going insane trying to figure it out. Upon scanning the car, I only get one code - something about the boost pressure (I cant remember it off the top of my head, but will look it up again and update this thread). The car does run rich (black tail pipes), but doesnt smoke. Every BMW master tech friend that I know has looked at the car has absolutely no explanation and just tells me to sell the car, or throw parts at it.
So what have I done/found so far? The car was stating that the boost pressure was a problem. I checked the vacuum since the turbo is operated by vacuum. I found that the canister on the vanity cover was full of oil. I cleaned it out and cleared the codes. The car ran great for about 5 miles, then went into limp mode again. Checked the canister and found it filled with oil again. Noticed that there was no vacuum, so I thought I had found my issue.
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GET RID OF IT NOW....here’s what’s going to happen: the oil feedline to the turbo is faulty. BMW issued a TSB in 2018. But unless you have symptoms they don’t tell you about it. Meanwhile everyday it leaks into the turbo and causes premature failure. It’s a $6400 job, then they tell you the catalytic converters is bad $3k. Then they tell you ur beautiful car is now worth $750. GET RID OF IT NOW!!!!!!!! Mine is dead at 105k miles. That’s been my week.
If u think it’s the timing chain there’s a class action suit that you might be able to access, but the settlement is the owner pays 60% of the repair cost and bmw 40%. My advice: GET RID OF IT ASAP!!!!
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