[samsamdar]

Was finally swapping out my chargepipe and intercooler today; got the pipe out and found this weird looking brown sludge in the chargepipe on the throttle body side... also found a good amount of moisture in the intercooler... the turbo to intercooler pipe seemed clean though; how bad is this and how fucked am I lol?

[F87source]

Originally Posted by samsamdar

Was finally swapping out my chargepipe and intercooler today; got the pipe out and found this weird looking brown sludge in the chargepipe on the throttle body side... also found a good amount of moisture in the intercooler... the turbo to intercooler pipe seemed clean though; how bad is this and how fucked am I lol?

The sludge could be bmw's O-ring grease which is a very heavy silicone style grease, and it is brown because it is contaminated with oil and/or debris. However it could also be blow by, or something else. It is hard to tell by photos and without feel/smell.


However, that is alot of white spots and splattering in the charge pipe, so it is kind of concerning. The large amount of moisture is also concerning to me.


I have some questions for you to help diagnose this:

1) Are you running an aftermarket intake?

2) What does the inside of the turbo inlet look like? If there is alot of stuff there too, that could mean your pcv vapors are excessive.

3) Does your car burn alot of oil?

4) Can you wipe the liquid onto a white paper towel? It is hard to tell its true color on your skin.



Also you should get MAF cleaner to clean up your TMAP sensor, that stuff probably isn't good for it.

[samsamdar]

Originally Posted by F87source

The sludge could be bmw's O-ring grease which is a very heavy silicone style grease, and it is brown because it is contaminated with oil and/or debris. However it could also be blow by, or something else. It is hard to tell by photos and without feel/smell.


However, that is alot of white spots and splattering in the charge pipe, so it is kind of concerning. The large amount of moisture is also concerning to me.


I have some questions for you to help diagnose this:

1) Are you running an aftermarket intake?

2) What does the inside of the turbo inlet look like? If there is alot of stuff there too, that could mean your pcv vapors are excessive.

3) Does your car burn alot of oil?

4) Can you wipe the liquid onto a white paper towel? It is hard to tell its true color on your skin.



Also you should get MAF cleaner to clean up your TMAP sensor, that stuff probably isn't good for it.

1. Stock intake and stock turbo
2. the turbo inlet looks to be clean - i'll take it off later to double check the turbo too.
3. car has never burned any oil as far as I'm aware
4. Will do that later!

[samsamdar]

Originally Posted by F87source

The sludge could be bmw's O-ring grease which is a very heavy silicone style grease, and it is brown because it is contaminated with oil and/or debris. However it could also be blow by, or something else. It is hard to tell by photos and without feel/smell.


However, that is alot of white spots and splattering in the charge pipe, so it is kind of concerning. The large amount of moisture is also concerning to me.


I have some questions for you to help diagnose this:

1) Are you running an aftermarket intake?

2) What does the inside of the turbo inlet look like? If there is alot of stuff there too, that could mean your pcv vapors are excessive.

3) Does your car burn alot of oil?

4) Can you wipe the liquid onto a white paper towel? It is hard to tell its true color on your skin.



Also you should get MAF cleaner to clean up your TMAP sensor, that stuff probably isn't good for it.

Just checked again and the turbo inlet does indeed have a bit of oil in it - my buddy who's a bmw tech said that this amount of oil was normal for a tuned N55... Now I'm just wondering what to do about the fact that it looks like there was moisture (water) in the chargepipe. It's supposed to be sealed from outside water isn't it? I mean I did just drive the car in the rain but I wasn't expecting to find any water in there...

[F87source]

Originally Posted by samsamdar

Just checked again and the turbo inlet does indeed have a bit of oil in it - my buddy who's a bmw tech said that this amount of oil was normal for a tuned N55... Now I'm just wondering what to do about the fact that it looks like there was moisture (water) in the chargepipe. It's supposed to be sealed from outside water isn't it? I mean I did just drive the car in the rain but I wasn't expecting to find any water in there...

Yeah it's normal for there to be some oil (which explains the brown sludge), but in your case it looks like there's alot of blow by or moisture entering the charge pipes.

Yeah it's supposed to be fully sealed from the outside, so if you don't have a boost leak your o-rings are good.


It could be that your engine is making a lot of moisture or condensation in the crank case, but that's an excessive amount if you found that much moisture in there. I'm not sure where it could come from tbh.


How's your coolant levels? Are they stable? How does the turbo's compressor wheel look?

[samsamdar]

Originally Posted by F87source

Yeah it's normal for there to be some oil (which explains the brown sludge), but in your case it looks like there's alot of blow by or moisture entering the charge pipes.

Yeah it's supposed to be fully sealed from the outside, so if you don't have a boost leak your o-rings are good.


It could be that your engine is making a lot of moisture or condensation in the crank case, but that's an excessive amount if you found that much moisture in there. I'm not sure where it could come from tbh.


How's your coolant levels? Are they stable? How does the turbo's compressor wheel look?

The coolant is slightly overfilled at the moment but stable (thanks dealership) and the turbo looks good to me... I think I'll just monitor this and check over it every now and then. Anyone know what OCC to get for the f87?

[F87source]

Originally Posted by samsamdar

The coolant is slightly overfilled at the moment but stable (thanks dealership) and the turbo looks good to me... I think I'll just monitor this and check over it every now and then. Anyone know what OCC to get for the f87?

Yeah, it's probably condensation and blow by, but it's strange that the moisture still remains in your intercooler - seeing that it does get pretty hot and sees alot of air flow. Are you sure that's water and not just oil?

[samsamdar]

Originally Posted by F87source

Yeah, it's probably condensation and blow by, but it's strange that the moisture still remains in your intercooler - seeing that it does get pretty hot and sees alot of air flow. Are you sure that's water and not just oil?

I'm thinking it was water because I had just driven the car in heavy SoCal rain before taking it all apart...

[Info@mad-us.com]

Looks like oil mixed with water to me.

[samsamdar]

Determined that it was just blowby! Car is doing just fine lol

[F87source]

Originally Posted by samsamdar

Determined that it was just blowby! Car is doing just fine lol

Great to hear!

But that's alot of blow by.

[samsamdar]

Originally Posted by F87source

Great to hear!

But that's alot of blow by.

Talked to a BMW master tech buddy of mine and he assured me it’s normal on tuned cars (he has a lot of experience with tuned N55s)

[F87source]

Originally Posted by samsamdar

Talked to a BMW master tech buddy of mine and he assured me it’s normal on tuned cars (he has a lot of experience with tuned N55s)

Yes blow by is a common thing that occurs on these cars, but your scenario has blow by going through the intercooler and to the cold side pipes and onto the tmap as well.

That is ALOT of blow by.


I would personally consider getting an OCC at that point, because you will lose intercooler performance if there is alot of oil in there. Blow by also can cause knock as the oily vapors lower octane.

[samsamdar]

Originally Posted by F87source

Yes blow by is a common thing that occurs on these cars, but your scenario has blow by going through the intercooler and to the cold side pipes and onto the tmap as well.

That is ALOT of blow by.


I would personally consider getting an OCC at that point, because you will lose intercooler performance if there is alot of oil in there. Blow by also can cause knock as the oily vapors lower octane.

Definitely getting an OCC lol - thanks for the help bro!

[F87source]

Originally Posted by samsamdar

Definitely getting an OCC lol - thanks for the help bro!

You got it!

[XutvJet]

This is completely normal. My 2016 M235 that I've owned since new had this exact look inside and oily residue inside the OEM charge pipe when I upgraded the pipe years ago. At the time, the car wasn't tuned. My FTP charge pipe and stock intercooler had some oily residue in them when I had them off two years ago for an IC upgrade and that was after two years of running Stage 2. My M235 runs very strong, doesn't burn any oil, smoke, lose coolant, etc.

[F87source]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

This is completely normal. My 2016 M235 that I've owned since new had this exact look inside and oily residue inside the OEM charge pipe when I upgraded the pipe years ago. At the time, the car wasn't tuned. My FTP charge pipe and stock intercooler had some oily residue in them when I had them off two years ago for an IC upgrade and that was after two years of running Stage 2. My M235 runs very strong, doesn't burn any oil, smoke, lose coolant, etc.

Blow by is indeed an occurrence on these cars, but this level is excessive and should probably be delt with an oil catch can. Otherwise sensors are going to get gummed up, the intercooler will become a lot less effective with oil coating it, intake valves will accumulate carbon, and octane values will be negatively affected.


My m235i had minimal blow by (some oil in the pipes but not to the level where it coated the pipes and even made it through the intercooler to the cold side). My m2 upon last checking 3 years ago is bone dry, you can wipe a piece of tissue paper and not pick up a single drop of oil.


In terms of sludge the op was reporting, I thought he meant near the flange, which typically could be BMWs silicone grease. Bmw generally applies alot of that to the o-rings (the throttle body side has a lot of this, and even the oil filter housing).