Black smoke and loud banging from engine is my x5 dead?

[Rockstarsi]

Took it for a drive today. After a oil /air service engine seems as sweet as ever. No power loss. No noise. At a loss as to why it was. Can only think it sucked something up in the engine oil or fuel system. Interestingly mpg has improved


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[wpoll]

Some water in the diesel maybe?

Please keep us up to date if anything changes!

[4.8iS Le Mans_NZ]

My initial thought was maybe it dropped a swirl flap, but if all is good again now, this is unlikely.

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by 4.8iS Le Mans_NZ

My initial thought was maybe it dropped a swirl flap, but if all is good again now, this is unlikely.

Especially since no E53 has swirl flaps!

Yeah, I know, the internet is full of information that states that all M57 engines do have swirl flaps but in truth, for some reason, BMW never shipped any M57 equipped E53 with flaps of any sort.

Thanks goodness!

[spadge]

Thats definitely not correct! At least the M57N (218 HP) engine was shiipped with swirl flaps: Intake manifold- Vacuum-controlled | BMW X5 E53 X5 3.0d M57N Europe

I would check the oil separator and at least the e39 had problems where the master brake cylinder had sucked water (water drain was clogged). I would check this, at leats to make sure...

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by spadge

Thats definitely not correct! At least the M57N (218 HP) engine was shiipped with swirl flaps: Intake manifold- Vacuum-controlled | BMW X5 E53 X5 3.0d M57N Europe

I beg to differ - just because a part shows up in a parts fiche doesn't mean it ever shipped on a vehicle.

As far as I can tell (and I have looked into this a LOT!) no M57D30/M57D30TÜ in an E53 EVER shipped with swirl flaps.

The later M57D30TÜ2 motor fitted to the E70 did have them, and a DPF as well.

The BMW parts fiches are often copied from one model to another and errors creep in. Given that the M57 series was used in a lot of models, and most of them DID use swirls flaps, it's easy to see how this error arose.

Swirls flaps were fitted to the M57 series, along with a DPF and engine mapping changes, to help BMW achieve an EU4 emissions rating for their diesel vehicles. The fact is the diesel E53 was never going to get an EU4 rating - or at least not with the engine still producing enough performance to meet the E53 buyers expectations. BMW may have considered adding the swirl flaps, and even possibly trailed it and prepared to modify the assembly line to fit them (swirl flaps and DPFs), and the parts fiches support this theory. The DPF was certainly available as a retro-fit kit too.

But no one has ever put their hand up and said "I have and E53 with swirl flaps". Or at least no one on any BMW forum.

I'm still looking, so if YOU (anyone reading this) have a diesel E53 that has swirl flaps, then let us know. It'll be a world first (or an engine transplant)!

[Rockstarsi]

Originally Posted by spadge

Thats definitely not correct! At least the M57N (218 HP) engine was shiipped with swirl flaps: Intake manifold- Vacuum-controlled | BMW X5 E53 X5 3.0d M57N Europe

I would check the oil separator and at least the e39 had problems where the master brake cylinder had sucked water (water drain was clogged). I would check this, at leats to make sure...

What is the oil separator and oddly enough I had a brake hose failure straight after


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[wpoll]

Originally Posted by Rockstarsi

What is the oil separator and oddly enough I had a brake hose failure straight after


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The oil separator separates oil from the crankcase vented pressure and it lives here: -



On earlier models the separator contained a filter that separated the oil from the vented air but it easily clogged and caused issues (including turbo failure!). It was updated to a vortex type design and the newer design requires much less maint. (in theory).

Old style: -



New Style: -

[deepblonde]

Originally Posted by powers1

Now the fact OP reported a knocking noise that has since cleared (has it actually cleared when he drives the car or has he driven it?),suggests the possibility that there could have been an exhaust blockage,like a broken catalytic converter loosing parts out to rear of exhaust system..

All these possibilities are very common ,not just on the M57 ,but until we get some more feedback from OP we really cant say!

Originally Posted by Rockstarsi

Not a rubber smell. More oil fuel smell. I thought it came from engine bay and exhaust but can't be 100% sure all happened so fast.


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Originally Posted by Rockstarsi

Took it for a drive today. After a oil /air service engine seems as sweet as ever. No power loss. No noise. At a loss as to why it was. Can only think it sucked something up in the engine oil or fuel system. Interestingly mpg has improved


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Originally Posted by wpoll

Especially since no E53 has swirl flaps!

Yeah, I know, the internet is full of information that states that all M57 engines do have swirl flaps but in truth, for some reason, BMW never shipped any M57 equipped E53 with flaps of any sort.

Thanks goodness!

Originally Posted by Rockstarsi

Cars run fine for last two years no engine issues at all. No loss of power. Car is 3.0d e53 on 02 plate.

If the noise is now gone and the MPG has improved perhaps it was just the cat and some piece of it went out the tailpipe (easy decat!) or is lodged now in one of the rear mufflers?

You could check to see if exhaust is coming out of both tailpipes now?

Would still probably run ok with one of the rear mufflers blocked,
as most of the restriction is in the single Cat anyway.

Oh, and wpoll is right, no e53 diesel ever came with swirl flaps

[spadge]

@wpoll: that's definitely not correct! swirl flaps are not introduced for Euro4 compliance! They where introduced on the Euro3 M57 (yes the old, first generation one) ONLY with the 193 HP M57 and an automatic transmission. The 193 HP manual shift (as well as the 184 HP manual and automatic) never had swirl flaps. The M57 never had a DPF build into by the factory. The DPF was introduced later with the M57TÜ & Euro4 compliance.

According to the ETK: the E53 with the M57TÜ engine will only have swirl flaps if your E53 was shipped with a DPF by the factory. Maybe this little difference (S200A) makes the E53 M57TÜ swirl flaps as rare (depending on the market?) as unicorns

You can easily check if you have the vacuum box (#9) shown here then there are swirl flaps: Intake manifold- Vacuum-controlled | BMW X5 E53 X5 3.0d M57N Europe
If not