BMW B47 Tuning

"All you need to know about tuning and performance parts on the BMW B47 engine!"

The B47 is a diesel engine that belongs to BMW's "B-series" engine designations. It is designed for improved efficiency, performance, and reduced emissions compared to its predecessors.

Key features of the BMW B47 engine include:

The B47 is a four-cylinder engine, and often features a single turbocharger or a twin-scroll turbocharger (depending on the specific variant) to enhance power output and efficiency.

It uses a common rail direct injection system, which helps in delivering precise amounts of fuel directly into the combustion chamber.

This technology contributes to better fuel efficiency and reduced emissions and allows us to make more power when tuning it as it provides quite a bit of headroom.

The B47 engine block and cylinder head are typically constructed from lightweight aluminum, contributing to overall weight reduction and improved fuel economy.

The B47 engine is part of BMW's modular engine architecture, which means it shares certain components and technologies with other engines in the lineup. This modular approach helps BMW streamline production and optimize engineering efforts.

This pages aim is provide an introductory guide to B47 tuning and report on the optimum modifications. This 4 cylinder engine was released in 2014 and replaced the N47, primarily to meet euro 6 emissions regulations.

The higher powered engines have a twin turbo setup and fuel injection pressures were also increased around 2017.

Please watch my video on BMW Tuning Tips. Be sure to keep up with our latest YouTube content and subscribe.

BMW B47 are popular tuning projects and with the optimum tuning mods like remaps, turbo kits and camshafts you will dramatically maximize your driving experience.

It was smoother and quieter, especially around town compared to it's predecessor.

Please Watch my diesel tuning guide video for "beginners'.

History, Power & Specs of the Engine

The fuel pressure is rated to around 2000bar - typical for a direct injection diesel engine and turbos are the twin scroll variety which have variable geometry inlets, and spool up quite quickly making the engine feel like a high power NASP unit.

Each cylinder has 4 valves and are designed to warm up very quickly, helping reduce emissions and particulate filter build up.

Generally speaking the higher powered engines have a twin turbo setup and revised mapping, but share many components with the lower power engines, giving a few bolt on upgrade options from the BMW parts bin for those with the 114 hp & 148 hp engines seeking more power.

B47D20 (85 kW version)

114  hp @ 4,000 rpm 270 Nm (199 lbft at 1,250–2,750 rpm

  • 2015–2019 F30/F31 316d
  • 2020–present G20 316d

B47D20 (110 kW version)

148  hp @ 5,000 rpm 236lbft-266lbft

  • 2014–2016 F10 518d
  • 2014–present F45 218d Active Tourer
  • 2015–present F20 118d
  • 2015–present F22 218d
  • 2015–present F25 X3 sDrive18d
  • 2015–2019 F30/F31/F34 318d
  • 2015–present F32/F36 418d
  • 2015–present F48 X1 sDrive18d
  • 2015–present F54 MINI Cooper D Clubman
  • 2017–present F39 X2 sDrive18d
  • 2017–present F60 MINI Cooper D Countryman
  • 2019–present G20 318d
  • 2019–present F40 118d

B47D20 (125 kW version)

168  hp @ 4,000 rpm 360 Nm (266 lbft at 1,500–2,750 rpm

  • 2015–present F56 MINI Cooper SD

B47D20 (140 kW version)

188  hp @ 4,000 rpm 400 Nm (295 lbft at 1,750–2,500 rpm

  • 2014–2016 F10/F11 520d
  • 2014–present F26 X4 sDrive20d
  • 2014–present F45 220d Active Tourer/220d Gran Tourer
  • 2015–present F20 120d
  • 2015–present F22/F23 220d
  • 2015–present F25 X3 sDrive20d/xDrive20d
  • 2015–2019 F30/F31/F34 320d
  • 2015–present F32/F36 420d
  • 2015–present F48 X1 sDrive20d
  • 2015–present F54 MINI Cooper SD Clubman
  • 2016–present G30/G31 520d
  • 2017–present F39 X2 xDrive20d
  • 2017–present F60 MINI Cooper SD Countryman
  • 2017–present G01 X3 xDrive20d
  • 2018–present G32 620d Gran Turismo
  • 2019–present G20 320d
  • 2019–present F40 120d xDrive
  • 2019–current F44 220d Gran Coupé

B47D20 (165 kW version)

221  hp @ 4,400 rpm 450 Nm (332 lbft at 1,500–3,000 rpm
202  hp @ 4,000 rpm 430 Nm (317 lbft at 1,750–3,000 rpm

  • 2015–present F20 125d
  • 2015–present F22 225d
  • 2015–2018 F30/F31/F34 325d
  • 2016–present F32/F33/F36 425d

B47D20 (170 kW version)

228  hp @ 4,400 rpm 332lbft - 369lbft

These have a clever multi stage turbo setup and fuel pressure is 2500bar.

  • 2015–2018 X5 F15 sDrive25d/xDrive25d
  • 2016–present F48 X1 xDrive25d
  • 2017–present G01 X3 xDrive25d
  • 2017–present G30/G31 525d
  • 2018–present F39 X2 xDrive25d
  • 2018–present G02 X4 xDrive25d

Tuning the BMW B47 and best B47 performance parts.

Best B47D20 tuning parts

When talking about the best and most optimal modifications for your B47D20 engine, we are going to concentrate on the tuning parts that give the best value for money.

Remaps are usually the go to mod on the B47 and will push power to around 200hp, which for a simple plugin and retune mod is quite impressive. The higher power engines see even higher final power figures, of around 235hp, which makes you wonder about going twin turbo on the early single turbo engines as a worthwhile mod.

B47D20 camshafts

Significant gains on the B47D20 can be made from camshaft upgrades, but the issue is sourcing one. A regrind on your stock camshaft is often the only option in some areas and regions.

Altering the camshaft profile alters the intake and exhaust durations on the engine and can dramatically change the torque and power output.

Fast road cams normally increase the power throughout the rpm band, you could sacrifice a little bottom end power but the high end rpm power will be lifted.

Competition cams, increase the high end rpm power band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

In a typical daily driver must carefully try to optimize your power band to your usage of the car. Altering valve durations via a revised cam can alter the bhp band and on most engines, the exhaust and intake durations do not need to match, although most cams and tuners use matched pairs there are some advantages to extending the intake or exhaust durations.

I'd never find a B47D20 Motorsport camshaft to be a pleasure to live with when driving around busy urban areas.

This is because a competition cam causes a very lumpy idle, and makes the car more prone to stall or jerk along in stop start traffic, sadly though many ignore this and end up ruining a perfectly good car and having to revert back to a fast road, or OEM cam profile.

Best Engine Mods for the B47

  1. Remapping We would highly rate remaps, there is no other mod that gives so much extra for so little. B47 engine tuning/remapping provides the most power compared to your outlay, aftermarket ECUs, and inline Tuning boxes are all alternatives.
  2. Exhaust downpipes are generally where we see a modest improvement so there is little point going for a full exhaust system, but note that catalyst removal is not legal in most areas, and replacement with a sports cat is likewise not always possible.
  3. Air filters don't make much more power on the stock B47 but we've seen improvements combining this with a remap.
  4. Turbo upgrades to turbochargers and superchargers - forced induction is the most significant way to raise the intake air supply, allowing you to combust more fuel and make higher power. Although one of the most expensive upgrades but provides the best gains.
  5. The biggest gains after these mods tend to come at quite a cost, and involve internal engine work, or more complex setups.
  6. Intercooler upgrades- the stock intercoolers usually struggle over 230hp.

Please watch our video which covers the 5 principles of tuning your car. Be sure to keep up with our latest YouTube content and subscribe.

B47 Tuning Stages

Typical stage 1 mods often include: Fast road camshaft, Remaps/piggy back ECU, drilled & smoothed airbox, Intake manifolds, Sports exhaust header/manifold, Panel air filters.

Typical stage 2 mods often include: Fast road cam, fuel pump upgrades, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, high flow fuel injectors, induction kit, Ported and polished head.

Typical stage 3 mods often include: Competition cam, Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Engine balancing & blueprinting, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Twin charging conversions.

Plan your options and then acquire your tuning mods and set yourself a power target to avoid costly mistakes.

Remaps should help to fully realize the full potential of all the upgrades you've fitted to your B47D20.

B47 Air Intake Upgrades

A cars ability to pull in fresh cold air is essential in a performance engine.

Structure and flow characteristics of the Intake manifold can make a big change to engine efficiency on the B47D20.

Fitting big valve kits, doing a bit of port matching and head flowing will also raise torque, and as an added benefit will raise potential for increasing the torque increase on other upgrades.

We have to mention the swirl flaps fitted to the B47, the theory behind these is to spiral the air into the cylinders helping the fuel to mix with the air more thoroughly.

You might be thinking this is good for performance, but let's see why these were actually fitted and what the issue is with them.

The swirl flaps are only really effective at lower RPMs so it's more of an economy and emissions feature than a performance one.

As the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) valve does its thing oil residue builds up coating the intake with carbon, narrowing the intakes, and in some cases we've seen these lose 50% of their capacity to flow air.

When you add the EGR issues to the swirl flaps the problems just keep getting bigger, and instead of helping emissions and low RPM efficiency, it degrades it further.

Plus you have the issue of the flaps breaking, sending shards into your engine, and this in our mind poses a significant risk to your car which far outweighs the benefits.

So many owners are opting to remove the swirl flaps completely, but this may not be legal in some areas.

Keep an eye out for symptoms of carbon build up in the intake.

Feeding more air into your B47D20 is the aim to any engine upgrade project.

The intake plenum/headers takes the air from the filter and allow it to be pulled into the engine and mixed with fuel. If this is restrictive you'll not be achieving your power gains, but in the case of the B47 the intake flows well enough, a replacement open-air induction kit is unlikely to make any more than another 7hp, and I'm not a fan of the induction "roar" on the B47.

Turbo upgrades on the B47

We've seen guys spending a lot of money on turbocharger upgrades on the B47D20 only to watch the car catastrophically fail just after it's used in anger just because they failed to get it properly mapped.

BMW use single scroll Bosch-Mahle turbos equipped with variable geometry inlets and this pulls great from low RPM and gives a good amount of torque throughout the rev range.

Larger upgraded turbo units tend to experience low end lag, and little turbo units spool up much more quickly but won't have the top end torque gains. There is very much a balancing act performed here, and you want the power where it'll be most useful to you.

It's interesting that BMW opted for a twin turbo setup on the higher power engines, which effectively if setup correctly gives the best of both worlds.

In the last 10 years, the choice of turbo chargers is always developing and we commonly find variable vane turbo chargers, allowing the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp.

Twin scroll turbo chargers divert the exhaust flow into a couple of channels and push these at differently angled vanes in the turbo. They also increase the scavenging effect of the engine. So you can see why BMW opted for this option, they also spool up quite quickly making the engine feel like a large capacity NA (naturally aspirated) engine in terms of torque delivery.

You'll commonly see there's a limitation in the air flow sensor (MAF) on these engines when considerably more air is being drawn into the engine. Most will notice a flat spot, errors being thrown up or "limp home mode".

We see 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor sapped torque at a much lower level. The MAF you choose is quite important so speak to your tuner about your o

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large bhp and torque gains, although more difficult to configure. We have this guide to twinchargers if you want to read more.

B47 Performance Intercooler Upgrades

An intercooler is basically a radiator that cools the intake air charge before it reaches the engine. Install an intercooler in front of the radiator to take advantage of the large quantities of cold air reaching it. An efficient intercooler design may generate 5-10% more power and can endure heat soak for a longer amount of time!

The stock B47 intercooler will generally flow well to 240hp, but over this it makes sense to upgrade it or you'll be facing a restriction in your intake.

The most important advantage is that they remain cooler for longer periods of time and enable larger power figures for longer periods of time - the heating of your intercooler and inability to function is called heat soak.

Remember that you want to draw as much air into the engine as possible, so if the intercooler's internal core impedes airflow, you'll actually lose power. It is the intercooler's internal flow characteristics and cooling fins that are responsible for its function.

The fins should have the largest surface area, while the inner core should have a minimal number of tapered bends and no internal welds to create turbulence.

However, considering the benefits of having a high-quality intercooler installed and the modest loss of airflow inherent in a well-designed intercooler, this argument fails to hold up..

An intercooler that is too large can restrict airflow in practise, therefore finding the right size is crucial for any given application's needs (this is something which can be discussed in more detail in our forum.)

B47 Fuelling

The ECU mapping and injectors and fuel pump also will make differences on the bhp gains you'll make, the fuelling is the typical limitation in your tuning project when you start going for big power hikes.

When you raise the bhp and torque you will need to look at the fuel system. And thankfully the stock fuelling on the B47 is pretty good and can cope with decent power gains.

It really is a simple as "More bhp and torque" needs "more fuel and air". We strongly recommend you to over specify your flow rate on the injectors. So if your mods are pushing you close to the limits, it's wise to upgrade rather than just keep getting by.

As a rule of thumb add 20% when buying an injector, this accounts for injector deterioration and gives you some spare capacity should the engine need more fuel.

We think this one is common sense, but you'll need to match your fuel injector to the type of fuel your car uses as well. The higher cetane fuels generally allow the car to make a lot more power, and you should see better fuel economy from it.

Exhaust upgrades for the B47

You may need to improve your exhaust if your exhaust is creating a restriction in flow but this is unlikely as the BMW diesel exhausts are known to flow pretty well from the factory.

Especially on the diesels, and full performance exhausts rarely make more power than a performance downpipe.

The common exhaust restriction can be traced to the catalyst/DPF installed, so adding a higher flowing, high performance aftermarket one will improve air flow, and rather than doing an illegal decat, will keep the car road legal.

Generally the branch manifold and catalyst and DPF are the weak areas, and we see power gains of around 10hp if these are sorted, but that depends much on what is legal in your region. If catless or decat test pipe mods to your exhaust is not legal and you can swap the cat then it makes sense to get a high flowing sports cat.

Removal or a change to the downpipe will necessitate a remap.

Weak spots Issues & problem areas on the B47D20

The B47D20 engines are generally reliable and solid units, as long as you follow the manufacturers service schedules, and use a good quality oil to ensure longevity. Few problems should happen as long as they are regularly serviced and maintained.

Carbon build up in the head, particularly around the valves which will sap power or create flat spots, this is a larger issue on direct injection engines but should be looked out for on all engines. We have tips on removing carbon build up.

Keep an eye out for swirl flaps problems, a failure of this can cause major issues and when combined with the EGR issues, the carbon build up can really degrade your performance, and a simple walnut blast and swirl flap removal is all you need for peace of mind.

Some of our members have had issues with flat spots or glitches after applying mods and upgrades or tuning, this is not usually related to the design of this engine, so instead see our article on diagnosing flat spots and problems after tuning which should help you get the bottom of this issue.

Regular oil changes are vital on the B47D20, especially when tuned and will help extend the life and reliability of the engine.

DPF can be an issue on short journeys and lots of cold starts, so read our guide on cleaning a DPF to keep it in good condition.

If you would like to know more, or just get some friendly advice on Tuning your B47D20 engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

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We love to hear what our visitors have got up to and which upgrades work best for you on your car. Which helps us keep our guides and tips up to date helping others with their modified car projects. Your feedback and comments are used to keep this page up to date, and help improve the accuracy of these B47D20 tuning guides which get regular updates and revisions.

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5 Responses to “B47 tuning”

  1. Manaf Belimam says:

    i have a question, what’s the difference between a B47D20 with 116ps and the version with 188ps ?

  2. TorqueCars says:

    The 116ps model has a single turbo and the higher power versions feature a twin turbo and obviously this has different mapping. There was an A and B suffix added to further differentiate parts on these engines with variations in injectors etc..

  3. Jimmy Gonzalez says:

    Thanks for a GREAT article!
    I have a 118d and wonders if there are any physical differences between this and the 120d?

    Thanks again.

  4. TorqueCars says:

    AFAIK it is mainly the mapping that differentiates these engines although the 120d had Piezo injectors and there were some different turbo units fitted between years. There were also some brake variations and differential differences that affect the final drive ratio. So you can easily take a 118d to 120d power and even exceed this with just a remap.

  5. Zain says:

    whats the limiting factor from making around 230-40hp on a 218d compared to a 220d. Is it the injectors or turbo or what is it? Surely the easiest way would be to bolt on and map.

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