JB4 Pushing Boost Limits - Heads Up To All

[NickRac]

Just wanted to share a quick story. I don't know all of the technical details and I'm not the best story teller on these boards so bare with me. Hope this isn't a re post but I searched the forums and couldn't find anything...

I've been running the JB4 tune on Map2 for about 3-4 months now. I've had numerous drive train malfunctions. No big deal really - engine always checked out fine and ran perfect after a restart. That was until last week...

One evening I was running car extra hard on the freeway(car was warmed up - this event didn't happen until a good 30+ minutes of driving). Shifting between 3rd and 4th gear I heard a tremendously loud POP, almost like a mini-explosion, followed by the familiar drive train malfunction. I pulled over, restarted the car and proceeded on. The only problem was that I has almost no power - as if I were driving a 320i - and under acceleration when the turbos would normally spool I could only hear a loud whistling from under the hood.

I limped the car back to my local shop the next morning to have a look. Turns out one of the plastic pipings that leads from the turbos to the engine has simply exploded EVERYWHERE leaving plastic shards and metals links all over the engine bay. The explosion was so intense that part of the engine cover had even been broken to pieces.

See example photo below, although not my actual engine, the area in red(yes, the penis shape) was entirely gone - vanished.

Luckily just a few replacement parts were needed and a day of service. Most likely something like this won't be covered under warranty so keep this in mind when deciding on a piggy-back. I still wouldn't drive this car without it!

[teamwerx]

Interesting,

Have any pics of the damage? Can you elaborate on the constant drivetrain malfunction?

[Properstyle]

What you experienced is why Most boosted cars that are upgraded have metal charge piping. Plastic can only hold so much before it gives. Normally what goes first or gives out are the couplers that attach the charge piping to the intake.

[ASAP]

Lol... you think this has to do with the fact that this is a piggypack as opposed to simply elevated boost?

The knowledge on this forum is amazing.

[MasterC17]

Interesting, I've run up to 31psi and haven't had such an issue, luck of the draw I suppose.

[Properstyle]

Originally Posted by MasterC17

Interesting, I've run up to 31psi and haven't had such an issue, luck of the draw I suppose.

What are you running to monitor boost to verify you are actually running that much boost on those tiny turbos? I'd actually be quite worried about them at that pressure given there compressor size. running a turbo out of it;s offiecency rang equals nothing but heat and that leads to detonation and failing ringlands.

[kitw]

There was a pre-delivery recall to replace those parts - did you have it done?

[Padfan9]

Originally Posted by NickRac

Just wanted to share a quick story. I don't know all of the technical details and I'm not the best story teller on these boards so bare with me. Hope this isn't a re post but I searched the forums and couldn't find anything...

I've been running the JB4 tune on Map2 for about 3-4 months now. I've had numerous drive train malfunctions. No big deal really - engine always checked out fine and ran perfect after a restart. That was until last week...

One evening I was running car extra hard on the freeway(car was warmed up - this event didn't happen until a good 30+ minutes of driving). Shifting between 3rd and 4th gear I heard a tremendously loud POP, almost like a mini-explosion, followed by the familiar drive train malfunction. I pulled over, restarted the car and proceeded on. The only problem was that I has almost no power - as if I were driving a 320i - and under acceleration when the turbos would normally spool I could only hear a loud whistling from under the hood.

I limped the car back to my local shop the next morning to have a look. Turns out one of the plastic pipings that leads from the turbos to the engine has simply exploded EVERYWHERE leaving plastic shards and metals links all over the engine bay. The explosion was so intense that part of the engine cover had even been broken to pieces.

See example photo below, although not my actual engine, the area in red(yes, the penis shape) was entirely gone - vanished.

Luckily just a few replacement parts were needed and a day of service. Most likely something like this won't be covered under warranty so keep this in mind when deciding on a piggy-back. I still wouldn't drive this car without it!

I'm really sorry that happened to you. Hopefully some of the JB4 owners calling me crazy for spending $2500 on Dinan stage 1 now understand my dilemma and why I would rather pay more for the peace of mind. I have also heard the power is shaky and up and down, not smooth throughout all power bands. I hope your car gets out of the shop soon.

[flewbyu335]

One guy has a issue compared to the hundreds running jb4 and automatically we blame the jb4? Interesting all i can say is ive been running the jb4 for 4500miles on e85 and 5000miles on meth and e85 with no problems.

[8600RPM]

Thete was a recall on these? What was the updated part?

[NickRac]

I think the tone and attitude I took in my OP was extremely fair. I am in now way mad, upset or claiming any type of foul. Just outlining an issue that happened to me in the Engine section of the board.

I didn't say anywhere that it would happen to everyone - I'm happy that after so many miles it hasn't happened to you, flewbyu335. Over the years many issues will come up with these cars, tunes, aftermarket parts, etc. that will happen to some and not others.

Simply here sharing an experience. I'm not trying to stage a witch hunt - I even closed my OP by saying I wouldn't want to drive the M4 without the JB4. This is a forum - without sharing experiences and information there would be nothing here!

[NickRac]

Originally Posted by teamwerx

Interesting,

Have any pics of the damage? Can you elaborate on the constant drivetrain malfunction?

Working on pictures...

As for drivetrain mal: http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho...6#post17203666

[Reid]

Originally Posted by NickRac

I think the tone and attitude I took in my OP was extremely fair. I am in now way mad, upset or claiming any type of foul.

Simply here sharing an experience. I'm not trying to stage a witch hunt - I even closed my OP by saying I wouldn't want to drive the M4 without the JB4. This is a forum - without sharing experiences and information there would be nothing here!

I hear you, and yet it seems that all you had to say was "I broke a charge pipe running higher boost levels". Unfortunately, too many people have a poor understanding of the situation and believe that the cause was the JB4 instead of simply an increase in boost. This can happen to anyone running more boost than stock (Dinan, JB4, etc).

Charge pipes have a history of cracking on N55's and N20's, so this wasn't completely unexpected.

[A418t81]

Charge pipes on most turbocharged BMWs can be suspect when upping the boost. It is a common problem in the N54/N55 world to have the charge pipe break...this is regardless of the type of device used to raise boost levels.

In this case, this is the first I've heard of it and you are running more "moderate" boost levels. You may have had a defective charge pipe. I guess we'll wait and see.

[GGreek5]

OP, I had the same thing happen to me when I only had 500 miles on the car. It was the pipe closest to the front of the car though. It was shattered. I did NOT have the jb4 in. My car was still stock. I've had the jb4 in since about 1000 miles and no issues.
My dealer replaced the 2 pipes and called BMWNA to try and get a tsb put out on the pipes because I wasn't the first person to have that issue with a brand new M3.

And I'm pretty sure each pipe is between 80-100 bucks each. So not real expensive at all.

[RingMeister01]

This happened on early test cars where the charge pipes "popped" off during track sessions.

Maybe we need an after market solution since we're running high boost than stock.

[Mike@N54Tuning.com]

This is the first charge pipe failure I've heard about on the S55 but if its a weak point it won't be the last. Sooner or later Evolution Racewerks and other companies will offer stronger pipes.

Mike

[jballs16]

What a clickbait title.

[djhex36]

Originally Posted by GGreek5

OP, I had the same thing happen to me when I only had 500 miles on the car. It was the pipe closest to the front of the car though. It was shattered. I did NOT have the jb4 in. My car was still stock. I've had the jb4 in since about 1000 miles and no issues.
My dealer replaced the 2 pipes and called BMWNA to try and get a tsb put out on the pipes because I wasn't the first person to have that issue with a brand new M3.

And I'm pretty sure each pipe is between 80-100 bucks each. So not real expensive at all.

It could be much more expensive if some bits of plastic fall into the turbo and/or get sucked into the intercooler.

[gthal]

Originally Posted by NickRac

Luckily just a few replacement parts were needed and a day of service. Most likely something like this won't be covered under warranty so keep this in mind when deciding on a piggy-back. I still wouldn't drive this car without it!

The bigger issue, IMO, is that if your BMW shop now knows you had the JB4, then they would have flagged the car and there is likely no warranty at all on any future engine issues (or, at least, without major fighting). Hopefully the shop you took it to wasn't a BMW dealer and/or you didn't alert them to the mod .

[skillz911]

Well good to know we need aftermarket charge pipes, im sure we will see them soon. These are plastic.

[UH_TX]

The reason why your car goes into Limp Mode is bc you got Limp dick drawn on your engine bay.