Sudden Running Poorly and Then Not?

[razorboy]

The sensor certainly seems like the easiest thing to replaced or even check. I have found the Hella units for around the 50-60 dollar mark which seems reasonable by BMW standards anyway.

Its plausible that the VANOS could be sticking but I have been running Royal Purple XPR oil in this thing for years at at 18.00 a quart, I would hope that tarnishing on the parts would certainly not exist. I also split my oil changes so I change it twice the suggested interval.

I guess for 50.00 I will swap out the sensor first and see if the issue continues. If it does, then into the VANOS we go.......lol

Thanks guys.

[jdstrickland]

From the Apples & Oranges Department, my kid is having P0011 on her Ford Edge. She's also showing P0016, which is that the Bank 1 Cam is not in synch with the crank. By my read, P0011 and P0016 are inter-related.

P0011 is purely that the Bank 1 Cam is advanced.

On the Ford, the water pump is driven by the timing chain. The crank pulls the Bank 2 cam directly, but the Bank 1 cam can be affected by a dodgy water pump -- the sprocket can be wobbly and this extra movement can make the cam change position relative to the crank, and this makes the P0016.

The reason to bring this up is only to give another perspective. I forget which engine you have, but if the water pump is driven by the timing chain, then you might have issues there so keep your eyes peeled for that. I have the I6 engine, my water pump is driven by the serpentine belt, I'm not aware of how the pump is driven on the V8s.

[razorboy]

Thanks!

Yea, mine is the 3.0 I6 so belt driven waterpump.
Funny, just put a brand new one in a couple of weeks ago too so that could have certainly been a prospect if it were part of that circuit.

It hasn't done it since which leads me more towards a sticking VANOS than a bad sensor. Usually, a intermittent electronic issue would show up more than this. At least in my experience.

[razorboy]

Hey Lads,

Pushing this to the top again as I have been able to get back to working in the shop for a bit.

So I replaced the cam position sensor and that really didn't make any difference to the running condition of the truck.

I finally caught it today on video

I had just gotten back from the store and right in front of my house it started burbling and running rough. I jumped out with my phone and opened the hood to capture it thinking that the symptoms might be familiar to someone. Even more pronounced is how the exhaust sound changes.

The second video is right after I turned the truck off and restarted it - like immediately. When I got back in the cab my CEL was on and as soon as I restarted the truck, the CEL turned off.

This is odd and constant now.
When the truck warms up the idle seems to drop to a low. The engine grumbles as if the idle has been set to low but the tach still shows about 500-600 RPM. The other weird thing is that as soon as I lift my foot off the brake, the rumble stops even if the truck has barely rolled.

Anyway, check the two videos and let me know what you think.

Engine Running Rough
https://youtu.be/OezGtmqENBg

Engine Running Smooth (all I did was turn off the truck and restart)
https://youtu.be/fmFNN_-Cr3k

[CapeX5]

Have you pulled the codes lately?? I had a similar situation and the DME was shutting down certain cylinders due to what I think was a CCV/PCV issue. Sucking oil/water into intake. I would look into your CCV system and replace/modify it. I think the tolerances for the combustion were pretty tight and the DME saw there was an issue. By restarting, it resets and starts to monitor again and fires all plugs, etc. Just my 2cents-but that is my experience. BTW, I have modified my CCV to use a PCV and the engine runs perfectly and I am not using any more oil. And, it has 210K miles! Keep us posted.

[SlickGT1]

It really does sound like the car shut of a cylinder or two. That loopy exhaust sounds wrong.

What codes are you getting?

[razorboy]

Originally Posted by SlickGT1

It really does sound like the car shut of a cylinder or two. That loopy exhaust sounds wrong.

What codes are you getting?

Originally it was a P0011 code but I am going to check today to see if there are any others now.

Its an intermittent issue because the CEL also comes on and then goes out after a while.

[razorboy]

CEL came on again today.
Checked the codes with my scanner and sure enough still just the P0011 code shown in the ECU.

So if I am to believe the scanner, its something to do with timing which brings me back to the VANOS and associated equipment.

I have already replaced the cam position sensor so where would you go next? Is it possible the VANOS solenoid may be to blame?

[SlickGT1]

Maybe clean the vanow solenoids first. The loopy idle is deff something that can be caused by vanos malfunction.

[razorboy]

Originally Posted by SlickGT1

Maybe clean the vanow solenoids first. The loopy idle is deff something that can be caused by vanos malfunction.

How does one go about cleaning the solenoids?
From what I remember seeing when I changed the cam position sensor, the solenoid is pretty sealed with just a small piston coming out one end?

Bernie