Are all "ABC" delete options equal?...

[Nyc Dito]

I'm most likely going full delete soon and wonder about the varying quality and brands from the four choices I am looking at. Buzzken, Rawtek, ATM and Unobtainium.

I would prefer one that has minimal drone (if any) and will be utilizing a catalytic.

Are all of these good choices? I dont think I've read bad things about either.

Thank you.

[RL18]

Originally Posted by Nyc Dito

I'm most likely going full delete soon and wonder about the varying quality and brands from the four choices I am looking at. Buzzken, Rawtek, ATM and Unobtainium.

I would prefer one that has minimal drone (if any) and will be utilizing a catalytic.

Are all of these good choices? I dont think I've read bad things about either.

Thank you.

I would go with rawtek or ATM. I have a catless atm on my 335d and it was good quality and fit perfect. However I did an x5 delete for a buddy and he got the catted rawtek one and that Is a nice downpipe. It was pretty quiet with the stock exhaust too with like hardly any smell. Make sure you wrap the cat with some heat tape since rawtek has the cat after the downpipe, vs ATM that has it in the downpipe. Unobtainium is a really nice downpipe but wayyyy too expensive for me.

I will be going with a catless rawtek on my x5 though.

[E7D]

Buzzken just recently updated their down pipe with a new cat that really reduces the smell if smell is something of concern for you. That started around mid-December.

[Spyro235]

Originally Posted by Nyc Dito

I'm most likely going full delete soon and wonder about the varying quality and brands from the four choices I am looking at. Buzzken, Rawtek, ATM and Unobtainium.

I would prefer one that has minimal drone (if any) and will be utilizing a catalytic.

Are all of these good choices? I dont think I've read bad things about either.

Thank you.

When do you plan on doing it? I've got an annoying "whoo" from somewhere on my intake tract, and my trans wines a little right now (lol) but I'm happy to meet up and take you for a crusie to show you the highwya noise/ lack of drone on the ATM w/ stock muffler setup. Plus, you'd be adding a cat, so it would be even quieter.

[RL18]

Originally Posted by Spyro235

When do you plan on doing it? I've got an annoying "whoo" from somewhere on my intake tract, and my trans wines a little right now (lol) but I'm happy to meet up and take you for a crusie to show you the highwya noise/ lack of drone on the ATM w/ stock muffler setup. Plus, you'd be adding a cat, so it would be even quieter.

What do you mean by "whoo" noise? I hear noises like that but on acceleration, I'm thinking it's a vacuum system issue on my x5d, since my 335d doesn't making any noises but releasing pressure when I let off. (but it had made similar weird noises in the past when the vacuum was leaky and not working properly).

I'll be doing a complete vacuum system refresh on my x5d fairly soon here so maybe I can report back. My x5 sounds very weird sometimes though... then other times I can hear both turbos spool up together like in my 335d.

[Spyro235]

Directly related to spool level, but I can't really tell which turbo.

Light throttle, constant or accelerating from a stop, I roll into the throttle. Immediately, I get a high-ish pitched "whoo sound" that happens RIGHT before I hear the whistle of the small turbo, and it's just as loud if not louder than the whistle.

You can year it really well in this video, I apologize for it being sideways and the jackhammering. Make sure your volume is initially low if you have headphones in!

It's kind of a lazily responding sound to throttle. Goes away with REALLY heavy throttle. Has always made me think that maybe it's my big turbo, but she doesn't smoke any oil out, and it hits boost/ boost req just fine. I would ABSOLUTELY love to get rid of it. I just want my pure sweet diesel whistles on their own!

I havent checked many things- I need to check the exhaust banjo bolt, I need to replace the seals on my very oily red boost pipe, and I havent run any sort of smoke test on the intake tract, and I believe I have leaky swirl flaps. I don't hear any crazy boost leaks like I had on my n54 once, but other than the turbo or an intake whistle leak, I'm not sure what it would be.

[RL18]

Originally Posted by Spyro235

Directly related to spool level, but I can't really tell which turbo.

Light throttle, constant or accelerating from a stop, I roll into the throttle. Immediately, I get a high-ish pitched "whoo sound" that happens RIGHT before I hear the whistle of the small turbo, and it's just as loud if not louder than the whistle.

You can year it really well in this video, I apologize for it being sideways and the jackhammering. Make sure your volume is initially low if you have headphones in!

It's kind of a lazily responding sound to throttle. Goes away with REALLY heavy throttle. Has always made me think that maybe it's my big turbo, but she doesn't smoke any oil out, and it hits boost/ boost req just fine. I would ABSOLUTELY love to get rid of it. I just want my pure sweet diesel whistles on their own!

I havent checked many things- I need to check the exhaust banjo bolt, I need to replace the seals on my very oily red boost pipe, and I havent run any sort of smoke test on the intake tract, and I believe I have leaky swirl flaps. I don't hear any crazy boost leaks like I had on my n54 once, but other than the turbo or an intake whistle leak, I'm not sure what it would be.

I don't see a video!

The boost pipe could be culprit too. I know x5s are a bitch to replace needing the whole front bumper cover removed... I hope to do it once only and never again so I bought an atm intercooler on Black Friday which is still not in-stock

I would delete the swirl flaps anyways, and make sure if you pull the intake multiple times to change the gaskets. 90% of the time it's the vacuum system though. Just my experience with it. My 335d is just now running perfect because I've been chasing funny turbo noises for a year now and I had a hunch that something in the vacuum system was still messed up... even though I completely redid everything. Turns out I pinched my vacuum line under the first runner of the intake and I was leaking boost a little bit and the vacuum line was leaking vacuum. Fixed it and I can hear my turbos spool up harmoniously now and I only hear normal noises when I let off

[Spyro235]

Originally Posted by RL18

I don't see a video!

The boost pipe could be culprit too. I know x5s are a bitch to replace needing the whole front bumper cover removed... I hope to do it once only and never again so I bought an atm intercooler on Black Friday which is still not in-stock

I would delete the swirl flaps anyways, and make sure if you pull the intake multiple times to change the gaskets. 90% of the time it's the vacuum system though. Just my experience with it. My 335d is just now running perfect because I've been chasing funny turbo noises for a year now and I had a hunch that something in the vacuum system was still messed up... even though I completely redid everything. Turns out I pinched my vacuum line under the first runner of the intake and I was leaking boost a little bit and the vacuum line was leaking vacuum. Fixed it and I can hear my turbos spool up harmoniously now and I only hear normal noises when I let off

Whoops! I forgot to paste the copied link!

I get normal noises when letting off other than the whir spooling down. Give it a listen, let me know if that's what you heard.


Front bumper cover is coming off this weekend for lightbar install, front DEF tank removal, and boost pipe seals. Next time I tow, if my iat's are climbing to where I don't want them, I'm just going to splurge on the ATM upgrade. If it keeps me cool while towing, that's what matters when I'm towing my drift car thousands of miles.

[RL18]

Originally Posted by Spyro235

Whoops! I forgot to paste the copied link!

I get normal noises when letting off other than the whir spooling down. Give it a listen, let me know if that's what you heard.


Front bumper cover is coming off this weekend for lightbar install, front DEF tank removal, and boost pipe seals. Next time I tow, if my iat's are climbing to where I don't want them, I'm just going to splurge on the ATM upgrade. If it keeps me cool while towing, that's what matters when I'm towing my drift car thousands of miles.

Okay that doesn't sound like boost leak or boost related. That sounds like an actual turbo issue. My 7.3 stock turbo at about 197k sounded like that (sounds like an old siren noise) I thought it was a boost leak but then I was upgrading the turbo to the GT38R and found out I had about 1/4" of play in and out on the stock turbo shaft!! What's funny is I still got 20mpg on the highway and no drop in mpg. Definitely should check the turbos for shaft play, my guess is the HP turbo is bad.

Exhaust sounds good btw! I could hear that spool from the exhaust

Edit: this is my 335d "spooling" up

[Spyro235]

Originally Posted by RL18

Okay that doesn't sound like boost leak or boost related. That sounds like an actual turbo issue. My 7.3 stock turbo at about 197k sounded like that (sounds like an old siren noise) I thought it was a boost leak but then I was upgrading the turbo to the GT38R and found out I had about 1/4" of play in and out on the stock turbo shaft!! What's funny is I still got 20mpg on the highway and no drop in mpg. Definitely should check the turbos for shaft play, my guess is the HP turbo is bad.

Exhaust sounds good btw! I could hear that spool from the exhaust

Welp. I totally agree though, I've kind of always assumed that sound was the LP turbo making contact with the housing, but I also have always felt like it would've started at least smoking or failing to hit boost if the blades chipped up a bit. I've help off from thinking about it since the thing boosts totally fine on the big turbo. I'm still getting great mpg, and have great power. Towed 3500 lbs around totally fine yesterday, and was boosting pretty hard some of the time. Towed 7k lbs 2500 lbs on my big drift trip totally fine.. it's been whirring like this for like 40k miles that I've been noticing it, and I might just not have noticed it prior to that.

And thanks! I LOVE the way this thing sounds. I just wish I could listen to the whistle without the whoo!

And if the LP turbo ends up being the culprit and needing replaced.... I've got to do some research to make sure it's something I would want to do, or maybe I'd just pay a shop to do it. but maybe I'd put in an upgraded one... Who knows. At the end of the day I do have enough power for what I use it for, but if a turbo's coming out anyway............................

[RL18]

Originally Posted by Spyro235

Welp. I totally agree though, I've kind of always assumed that sound was the LP turbo making contact with the housing, but I also have always felt like it would've started at least smoking or failing to hit boost if the blades chipped up a bit. I've help off from thinking about it since the thing boosts totally fine on the big turbo. I'm still getting great mpg, and have great power. Towed 3500 lbs around totally fine yesterday, and was boosting pretty hard some of the time. Towed 7k lbs 2500 lbs on my big drift trip totally fine.. it's been whirring like this for like 40k miles that I've been noticing it, and I might just not have noticed it prior to that.

I know that sound too well haha. My 7.3 stock turbo randomly started making it after the trans was rebuilt. My first thought was exhaust leak since they had to remove the downpipe to pull the trans and I also thought I smelt exhaust, but that turned out to be a leaky hp fuel line dripping in the valley and heating up, which later on burst when I gave it the beans on an on ramp for the highway. Anyway it had no drop in mpg or boost... everything functioned as it should except for that noise, but it had a 1/4 of in an out play which is why the tone changed because as it spool the turbo shaft will also move in and out.

I'd say it's the HP turbo though, the big turbo doesn't get spooling on its own till about 3k rpm. If you can get a video in maybe 3rd or 4th and get a good sound clip going from 1500-4000rpm medium throttle that'll give you a good idea which turbo is making noises. Other than that there's no easy way to check the hp turbo for play only the LP turbo. Pretty good reason to upgrade to hybrids though

[RL18]

Originally Posted by Spyro235

And thanks! I LOVE the way this thing sounds. I just wish I could listen to the whistle without the whoo!

And if the LP turbo ends up being the culprit and needing replaced.... I've got to do some research to make sure it's something I would want to do, or maybe I'd just pay a shop to do it. but maybe I'd put in an upgraded one... Who knows. At the end of the day I do have enough power for what I use it for, but if a turbo's coming out anyway............................

No problem! Me too. I need spring to come sooner because I'm having withdrawals from my 335d. And I got some service I need to get done on my x5d so I can delete it finally.

If you can manage it yourself I would do the turbo yourself and replace all your oil lines. Unless you know a shop that really knows what they're doing with our engine. And if you can afford the full upgrade I'd do both HP and LP turbos.

[Spyro235]

Originally Posted by RL18

I know that sound too well haha. My 7.3 stock turbo randomly started making it after the trans was rebuilt. My first thought was exhaust leak since they had to remove the downpipe to pull the trans and I also thought I smelt exhaust, but that turned out to be a leaky hp fuel line dripping in the valley and heating up, which later on burst when I gave it the beans on an on ramp for the highway. Anyway it had no drop in mpg or boost... everything functioned as it should except for that noise, but it had a 1/4 of in an out play which is why the tone changed because as it spool the turbo shaft will also move in and out.

I'd say it's the HP turbo though, the big turbo doesn't get spooling on its own till about 3k rpm. If you can get a video in maybe 3rd or 4th and get a good sound clip going from 1500-4000rpm medium throttle that'll give you a good idea which turbo is making noises. Other than that there's no easy way to check the hp turbo for play only the LP turbo. Pretty good reason to upgrade to hybrids though

Hoenstly, I think it's the LP turbo mostly because the HP smaller turbo definitely spools up and makes noise first, and then the whiiiirrrrr/whoooo comes in, kind of slowly and lazily. I imagine it's the HP turbo that sounds fine and then the whirring LP turbo gets spinning a hair after the HP is whistling and sounding like the sexy diesel she is.

Truthfully, I'm not nervous about the job so long as it went well. But, snap a stud, break a bolt, and all the sudden I'm without a vehicle and pulling the motor to fix it. THAT makes me nervous.

[RL18]

Originally Posted by Spyro235

Hoenstly, I htink it's the LP turbo mostly because the HP smaller turbo definitely spools up and makes noise first, and then the whiiiirrrrr/whoooo comes in, kind of slowly and lazily. I imagine it's the HP turbo that sounds fine and then the whirring LP turbo gets spinning a hair after the HP is whistling and sounding like the sexy diesel she is.

Could definitely be. Lp turbo can be checked for play once you remove the intake boot