Here we go. Before I give up, I thought I would ask for your opinion..

Here is the story..

A month ago or so, I decided to clean up around my intake valves since the cylinder 6 on my X5 had slightly low compression (130 psi compared to others being around 180). I took the intake off, did some work on the valves (mostly filing their sides with fine finger nail stuff, hoping to get rid of any carbon deposits that may cause the compression loss.

Once the work was done (Hoping for the best), I put the intake back on, (added some gasket sealant around each intake gasket) and tried to start the car.

It cranked for a while, sounded like it almost started then it just completely stopped. There was a lot of fuel smell. Flooded? I tried to turn the crank by hand but it felt stuck, so I gave up for that day.

Next day, I tried to turn it again by hand and interestingly it was turning loosely. So I tried to start again, but it kept cranking and no start, eventually, out of battery power and the crankshaft felt very tight again. I could not turn it by hand this time until I turned it back and forth and it eventually became loose.

So, I took the intake out again, thinking I did something wrong. Looked like I used excessive gasket maker and it partially blocked cylinder 8, which may or may not have caused the flooding (and probably a hydrolock related to it).

After the cleanup, I tried to start again. This time when I cranked it (starter motor power), there were weird noises, a lot of loud popping and eventually FIRE out of the intake. Of course, I was following the flooded engine advice on the internet, so trying to start with WOT (gas pedal down all the way to have minimum or no fuel in there). I was worried after the FIRE out of intake happened multiple times so I stopped trying.

I thought, I might have messed up the timing as I was turning the crankshaft back on forth to loosen it so, I took off both camshaft covers and timing was perfect! (Checked with timing metal thingy inserted and the timing blocks on, on each of the camshafts). So that could not somehow leave the intake valves open at the wrong time to shoot fire out of there.

Also, as I tried to start, before the fire out of the intake started, all the hoses from the air filter box connecting to throttle body popped out (shot up) during those big explosions. So, I started to worry about the fuel pressure regulator / filter being broken and sending fuel in there which may cause those explosions. So, I replaced the fpr which I hoped would be the solution.

Once again, I repeated the same process of starting a flooded car (I checked several cylinders and there was 0 compression on them (meaning piston wash?), although I could get some compression back (around 30) by squirting oil in there and cranking the engine multiple times without the fuel pump fuse and spark plugs).

I added around 10 ml of engine oil in each cylinder, cranked a bit and put the spark plugs on and everything connected including the fuel pump fuse.

I really thought that everything would be ok this time, because couple of days earlier my wife cranked the car multiple times (as I watched with fire extinguisher in my hand, in case) with everything connected and there was no fire but the car would not start after 10 cranks (10 secs or so each time). She did not do WOT which I thought was the problem.

I tried it again today by myself hoping for the best. Tried with WOT and there is a huge pop once again which seems to happen, so I kept cranking. This time I started hearing some metal noises (oh crap, something broken?) and eventually the FIRE out of intake once again. I decided this is a two men job and stopped.

At this point I am really hoping nothing is broken yet, because the engine keeps cranking. What else would be the problem? I really like this car and I don't want to give up on it..

Cheers,

Ozzie

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X5 4.4 01