BEW Turbo Vanes Stuck! Chemical Cleaning On Vehicle??

I noticed i was getting boost hesitation going uphill recently, took off my actuator and checked it and the turbo which the vanes move but are very sticky

So i need to clean my turbo; which ive read many people use oven cleaner or some kind of carbon cleaner exhaust side and move the rod back and forth


Is there any seals inside here and could this be harmful?



What do you rinse this off with afterwards? Water? Diesel?


Need the car up and running soon and i cannot take the turbo off currently but also have the car without an actuator as of now so...

Also just checked some recommend going through EGR port some say exhaust port


Any thoughts on this?

Do a search under turbo cleaner or related terms, theres various threads about this. I cleaned mine with oven cleaner... Sprayed it in the exhaust side of turbo, let it set for awhile then worked the vanes spray it again etc... I forget how I cleaned it out, but I may have just ran it like that. Its not going anywhere except out the exhaust..

Yep i guess my questions is:

how do i know if the adjustment is correct on the actuator (i have a vacuum pump but isnt the actuator super sensitive even if off by a hair?)

I have regular oven cleaner would that work just fine? Forums are saying to use Mr muscle or Easy off which i dont have

I tested n75 output section on vcds and the actuator moves but can i check another way as i need to fix my car and im checking all possible causes for underboost and overboost and lagging symptoms

The reason I would suspect the vanes to be gumming is it sounds like your issue just started. If the actuator would be out of adjustment your symptoms would not be changing (unless its loose or something). You can get Easy off pretty well anywhere, Walmart, Lowes etc. It may be stronger than off brand cleaner that's the only reason id recommend it over other.

"I noticed i was getting boost hesitation going uphill recently, took off my actuator and checked it and the turbo which the vanes move but are very sticky"
Didn't you confirm them to be sticky?

The car always seemed to run just fine, however VCDS logging shows otherwise; i may have had this overboosting since day 1 but just recently got VCDS :/

How free should the lever move on the turbo? its not falling down on itself once raised

I sprayed oven cleaner through the exhaust port but the foam pours out shortly; should i keep spraying it and make a cover plate over the turbo and soak it bigtime?

I cleaned mine by taking the three bolts off the exhaust side and moving the downpipe away to access the turbo. Just spray the cleaner in the exhaust side of turbo, try to get good coverage and spray it in till it comes out. Some make block off plates so they can fill it and let it set, for me it seemed to work to just use a few different things sprayed on the wheel. I used some PB Blaster, oven cleaner, and maybe some Free All to get them loosened up.. Im not sure on how hard the actuator should be moving.... Id say do the cleaning, spray it in and let it soak for awhile, then move the actuator/vanes, repeat, repeat... Just to be sure everything is freed up in there. Wont hurt anything then you can be sure youre getting good travel of the vanes. I noticed a change in travel and also ease of travel after cleaning mine and my overboost issue went away.

Thanks! Will do that tomorrow afternoon and post back!

golfere said:

how do i know if the adjustment is correct on the actuator (i have a vacuum pump but isnt the actuator super sensitive even if off by a hair?)

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I don't feel it a precise setting.
With the vacuum pump connected to the actuator the arm should start moving at around 3 inches and be at full range around 19 (or so)

On my car it seemed ok but I still got a few over boosts.
I also was easily getting 30 pounds boost on my gauge.

After changing a few vacuum hoses I lengthened the actuator rod less then a turn two or 3 times. Less the third time.

I also changed my N75 valve months after this. Not sure if it helped but I haven't had over boosts in a while.

Did you test the n75 valve and it was bad?

When you say lengthened the rod what do you mean? Is more rod sticking out of the vane lever?

golfere said:

Did you test the n75 valve and it was bad?

When you say lengthened the rod what do you mean? Is more rod sticking out of the vane lever?

Click to expand...

I did replace the N75 after the arm was lengthened. If did seem to have some vacuum leakage but not much.

Yes, make it longer.
I did 1/2 turn trials.
Seems OK now.