[Andrew115]

Hi,
I wanted to see if anyone else with BMS stage 1 on their N20 is smoking at WOT. When I step on it I can see smoke in my rear view mirror. On bright days it's quite obvious.

I noticed this first when I pulled out in front of someone and didn't realize they were 20+ over speed limit, had to step on it to get out of the way. I looked back to see they were closing on me in a cloud of black smoke. It's not really think but its very noticeable.

* I did notice smoke smoke after install while idling but went away for awhile.

Removed tune tested no smoke ever, reinstalled tune smoke again at WOT only.

Anyone else notice this?

[aspang86]

Originally Posted by Andrew115

Hi,
I wanted to see if anyone else with BMS stage 1 on their N20 is smoking at WOT. When I step on it I can see smoke in my rear view mirror. On bright days it's quite obvious.

I noticed this first when I pulled out in front of someone and didn't realize they were 20+ over speed limit, had to step on it to get out of the way. I looked back to see they were closing on me in a cloud of black smoke. It's not really think but its very noticeable.

* I did notice smoke smoke after install while idling but went away for awhile.

Removed tune tested no smoke ever, reinstalled tune smoke again at WOT only.

Anyone else notice this?

I have no smoke man and iam running +4psi. Have u tampered with the settings?

[Andrew115]

Originally Posted by aspang86

I have no smoke man and iam running +4psi. Have u tampered with the settings?

I haven't changed anything just plug and play. Terry thinks I might have a weak turbo. Suggested running it till it starts smoking without the Tune and then go in for fix

[aspang86]

Originally Posted by Andrew115

I haven't changed anything just plug and play. Terry thinks I might have a weak turbo. Suggested running it till it starts smoking without the Tune and then go in for fix

Wow thats something you want to monitor. Were you running 3psi or 4? What kind of gas?

[Andrew115]

Originally Posted by aspang86

Wow thats something you want to monitor. Were you running 3psi or 4? What kind of gas?

I think its 3psi, just plug and play with stage 1 so I can't adjust, I always run 93 tried 100 once for the fun if it but that's it.

[Jamesons Viggen]

Originally Posted by Andrew115

I think its 3psi, just plug and play with stage 1 so I can't adjust, I always run 93 tried 100 once for the fun if it but that's it.

The only thing to adjust is with the cable, bump up to 4psi when used in conjunction with 93 or better octane.

In your case, I would ditch the BMS tune and watch for the symptom to worsen so BMW replaces the turbo. If it happens during the tune, they are going to blame the tune and you will be out several thousands of dollars.

[BRM6]

Weak turbo? How many miles do you have? Have you logged and sent data to them? I am really curious about this case.

[Andrew115]

Originally Posted by Jamesons Viggen

The only thing to adjust is with the cable, bump up to 4psi when used in conjunction with 93 or better octane.

In your case, I would ditch the BMS tune and watch for the symptom to worsen so BMW replaces the turbo. If it happens during the tune, they are going to blame the tune and you will be out several thousands of dollars.

That's the plan, not sure if it's just rich on the top with the tune or if I have a real issue starting. Had BMS on for about 1500 miles. Still runs great no issues noticed other then some light smoke at WOT.

[Andrew115]

Originally Posted by BRN20

Weak turbo? How many miles do you have? Have you logged and sent data to them? I am really curious about this case.

I will keep you posted, I have 23K on the car have about 1500miles on since BMS. I haven't logged to sent them data, I have Stage 1 not sure I can. They haven't asked for any so I guess they were not concerned.

Has anyone noticed even more build up on exhaust tips since install? I park next to the exact same car at work, except I wash mine regularly.....

The tips on that car have little black on them. I have to scrub mine every week.

[momo3605]

My friend riding a motorcycle saw a bit of smoke when i was shifting from 3rd to 4th WOT...the tune is probably running richer than stock? Which would be safer than running lean I guess

[aspang86]

I was thinking about this a little more today and decided that it cannot be your turbo. This engine operates under a closed loop fuel system...if your turbo was weak, an engine code would have been thrown by now. A weak turbo would throw everything off and knowing how well engineered german cars are made, i would say there is 2 potential problems here:

- Bad tank of fuel. Try another station after running the tank low. There might be some water in the fuel.

- what viscosity of oil are you using? Have you had to add oil to your vehicle? Have you checked your oil level?

If you think about how sophisticated our engines really are, a weak turbo would have blown your engine by now. All our tail pipes have soot on it so you already know that the exhaust is dirty. That may have something to do with emissions control. The most important thing to make sure at this point is that your vehicle isn't low on oil.

[Andrew115]

Originally Posted by aspang86

I was thinking about this a little more today and decided that it cannot be your turbo. This engine operates under a closed loop fuel system...if your turbo was weak, an engine code would have been thrown by now. A weak turbo would throw everything off and knowing how well engineered german cars are made, i would say there is 2 potential problems here:

- Bad tank of fuel. Try another station after running the tank low. There might be some water in the fuel.

- what viscosity of oil are you using? Have you had to add oil to your vehicle? Have you checked your oil level?

If you think about how sophisticated our engines really are, a weak turbo would have blown your engine by now. All our tail pipes have soot on it so you already know that the exhaust is dirty. That may have something to do with emissions control. The most important thing to make sure at this point is that your vehicle isn't low on oil.

I like your thought process.
This has been happening on many tanks. I don't think I have got bad gas.

I have no idea on the oil. I bought the car 3months ago from BMW dealer.

I did check the oil last month but haven't since. I will do this today - good call.

[Jamesons Viggen]

Originally Posted by aspang86

I was thinking about this a little more today and decided that it cannot be your turbo. This engine operates under a closed loop fuel system...if your turbo was weak, an engine code would have been thrown by now. A weak turbo would throw everything off and knowing how well engineered german cars are made, i would say there is 2 potential problems here:

- Bad tank of fuel. Try another station after running the tank low. There might be some water in the fuel.

- what viscosity of oil are you using? Have you had to add oil to your vehicle? Have you checked your oil level?

If you think about how sophisticated our engines really are, a weak turbo would have blown your engine by now. All our tail pipes have soot on it so you already know that the exhaust is dirty. That may have something to do with emissions control. The most important thing to make sure at this point is that your vehicle isn't low on oil.

I do not think your assumption of a weak turbo throwing a CEL is correct.

All manufactured products have an certain number of faulty units. Maybe its 2%, maybe it's 10%. The turbo on this car is not made/assembled by BMW. It can pass a QA check but still have some kind of internal fault. Look at what happened with the seats that rusted from Leer, again passed QA check and only showed issue months later. It happens.

In the meantime, the car starts, runs, makes decent power, but the turbo can still have a fault and not enough of a fault where it cannot produce the desired air mass for the MAF sensor and cause a CEL.

[aspang86]

Originally Posted by Jamesons Viggen

I do not think your assumption of a weak turbo throwing a CEL is correct.

All manufactured products have an certain number of faulty units. Maybe its 2%, maybe it's 10%. The turbo on this car is not made/assembled by BMW. It can pass a QA check but still have some kind of internal fault. Look at what happened with the seats that rusted from Leer, again passed QA check and only showed issue months later. It happens.

In the meantime, the car starts, runs, makes decent power, but the turbo can still have a fault and not enough of a fault where it cannot produce the desired air mass for the MAF sensor and cause a CEL.

Its possible that it went undetected with QA but this turbo is the life of our engine. That would be a huge mistake on BMW's behalf. I am hoping these guys haven't overlooked this!

Why would there be smoke coming out of the tail pipe because of a weak turbo? The turbo is generating our power. You take the turbo away and all of a sudden CEL codes are going to be thrown. You would think BMW has a ton of calculations and sensors to ensure the turbo is in its optimal range. A manufacturer would rather have a turbo fail than an engine.

There is no way of really knowing until you bring the car in. From past tuning experience, if a turbo is starting to fail a lot things start to happen to show the symptom. Smoke coming out of your tail pipe is one of them but also a loss of power, misfire, and all other bad stuff that would tell you "holy $hit somethings wrong!".

Anyway if it was my car, i would bring it in right away before any major issues arise.

[slmdgee]

First off if your turbo was going it would blow white smoke, i mean literally clouds!!! You would have a service engine light and you would barely feel any power. Because you got the tune the car is running more boost so it's running richer because of bms tune.. dude don't worry!

[Jamesons Viggen]

Originally Posted by aspang86

Its possible that it went undetected with QA but this turbo is the life of our engine. That would be a huge mistake on BMW's behalf. I am hoping these guys haven't overlooked this!

Why would there be smoke coming out of the tail pipe because of a weak turbo? The turbo is generating our power. You take the turbo away and all of a sudden CEL codes are going to be thrown. You would think BMW has a ton of calculations and sensors to ensure the turbo is in its optimal range. A manufacturer would rather have a turbo fail than an engine.

There is no way of really knowing until you bring the car in. From past tuning experience, if a turbo is starting to fail a lot things start to happen to show the symptom. Smoke coming out of your tail pipe is one of them but also a loss of power, misfire, and all other bad stuff that would tell you "holy $hit somethings wrong!".

Anyway if it was my car, i would bring it in right away before any major issues arise.

There is nothing for BMW to catch if it is an internal fault. It also might not show until later, again like the rust on the seats.

Let's not over think this.

It's either...

A) Normal to produce more smoke with the tune due to increased boost pressure, especially on a cold/unwarmed up engine
B) There is a defect in the turbo and the tune is just making it more clear

Now, if it's A, great, but if it's B and the tune is used then the OP is going to be out of luck with the warranty. That is a multi-thousand dollar gamble. It's one thing if the tune is on and everything is 100% with no changes in how the car is operating. But it is showing a change that would cause some concern.

[aspang86]

Originally Posted by slmdgee

First off if your turbo was going it would blow white smoke, i mean literally clouds!!! You would have a service engine light and you would barely feel any power. Because you got the tune the car is running more boost so it's running richer because of bms tune.. dude don't worry!

X2...make sure you got oil! Lol.