E60 Diesel: Replacing the Front Turbo Housing/Volute

**The turbo needs to be removed. Reaching the 8mm nuts at the back of the volute is impossible               with it in situ.

1. Mark a line on the original volute / front-casing where each 8mm screw is located before removing it. It is adjustable and the new one needs to be in the exact same place as the original for correct waste-gate location.
2. Remove the 3 screws holding the waste-gate bracket to the turbo front-casing / volute using a 10mm wrench.
3. Remove the 6 screws holding the front-casing / volute to the turbo and wiggle it free.
4. Hold the new volute up to the original and mark lines in the corresponding places. This is best done with them on a flat surface and holding a straight-edge across both.
5. Slide the new volute on to the turbo and replace the six 8mm screws, ensuring the lines are correctly located before tightening them up. It is alloy-to-steel, so no high-heat gasket-paste is required.
6. Press the waste-gate into the right position for the bracket to meet the holes on the volute and replace the three 10mm screws holding it in place.

Why I replaced mine:

With re-con turbos starting at £350, I went for a used one from a crash damaged 7-Series. Mine is an early E60 and has the vacuum-actuated turbo, so it was handy that the 7er did too as they are hard to source - eBay is full of the electronic-actuated type and I couldn't see a vacuum one, but it may be that they are inter-changeable.

The overall condition of the turbo looked worse than the one I was removing, but there is a bit less play in the spindle-shaft so worth a shot at £200 delivered, let's hope the saving pays off. The only drawback is the front-casing was slightly damaged at the point where the pipe to the intercooler fits, but swapping the original one in was not a difficult job.