Fuel Injection System Error

[UPGrayd]

Hey all, long time listener, first time caller.

We have a 2005 e53 diesel, I'm in love with it, however on the drive home today after putting some fresh tyres on it the car lost all power and flashed up with the inject. system error. Luckily we had enough momentum to cruise out of the way of traffic and pull over somewhere out of the way. I shut down the car completely and tried to start it again a few times with no luck (it would just crank away but not fire up).

A quick google later and I had accepted it was something i probably wasnt going to be able to resolve on the side of the road so I was going to have to call a tow truck. I thought "I'll give it one more shot before I do" and as I turned the key she fired back to life like nothing had happened. Drove about 10 minutes home without incident, then shut it off in my driveway. Tried to start it again about a minute later after opening my front gate and no luck, It would just sit there cranking over as if it had no fuel (not throwing any errors or anything).

10 minutes later the wife went out to move it and it fired up with no problem straight away.

Being so intermittent I imagine its going to be a nightmare to try and diagnose, so I'm wondering if anyone has experienced this behaviour and would be able to point me directly to the culprit to save me alot of time and hassle chasing ghosts around an engine bay.

[andrewwynn]

Sounds like a fuel pump on the way out. Diesel have two, one to move the fuel to the engine compartment and one to pressurize to high pressure for injection into the cylinders. Could be either but hope and pray it's the low pressure pump it's a lot less expensive.

How many estimate hours (divide odometer by average speed)

[UPGrayd]

If they are the original pumps, I'd say probably 9000-9500 hours.

[andrewwynn]

The low pressure fuel pump should last about 5000 hours. 9000 hours would be about 240,000 miles, what did you use for average speed and distance?


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[UPGrayd]

From the onboard computer I got an average speed of 32.7kph (20.3mph) and distance was 300,000 km (186400 miles)

[andrewwynn]

Originally Posted by UPGrayd

From the onboard computer I got an average speed of 32.7kph (20.3mph) and distance was 300,000 km (186400 miles)

The hard core test I found for fuel pumps didn't test diesel only E0 E10 E20. The avg lifespan on those are 4000,5000,6000 hours.

If diesel is similar to gas in lifespan you are just about perfectly due for pump #2. (main tank pump).

If running on the original, that would be literally exceptional (or previous owner drove a lot of highway miles and the actual average speed is closer to 40 mph)

Stand outside there car when off on the starboard side and turn the key to on and listen under the right rear seat for the fuel pump. It should whirr for about six seconds then stop.

No whirr; for sure it's the low pressure pump. The problem is when it's intermittent. So; if you get a no start, than leave the door open so you can stand outside and listen for the pump and try several times turning the key to off then on. If the pump fires up it's either the pump or the ignition switch. (I've never heard of the ignition switch failure to cause a stall while driving but if the right contact opens it would be the same as turning the key to off)

Interesting on the quantify of pumps: the "diesel block diagram" combines the high pressure stuff into one black box: I've never worked on a diesel x5

Have you ever had a no start situation before the moving stall?

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

… Interesting on the quantify of pumps: the "diesel block diagram" combines the high pressure stuff into one black box: I've never worked on a diesel x5 …

This is better than a "black box".

BMW M57TU fuel flow...


Cick the image for a larger version.

[UPGrayd]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

Have you ever had a no start situation before the moving stall?

I have had 2 no start situations in the last month. The first I was in a hurry and figured I had not allowed enough time for the glow plugs to heat up. It started second try.... The other no start situation was just a week ago, it wouldn't start after 2 attempts, I pulled they key out of the ignition, put it back in and it started fine. As it was still a somewhat isolated incident and was showing no other symptoms of anything being wrong, I thought nothing of it.

[omodos]

Ok another one for me to keep an eye out for, but if it is any consolation I had this issue once (injector failure error) but car still ran and odd errors like dsc off, it was my battery! and my battery was low due to a supposedly known starter motor issue (drawing too much current on each startup causing more juice loss than could be replenished by an average daily drive)

[UPGrayd]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

Funny aside; "mate" men's something quite different in America. What's funny is, the context usually helps determine which meaning (eg American meaning of my romantic partner) but stronger than context is apparently accent because if you hear an Aussie accent it will be quite clear the meaning is non romantic pal.

Definitely Australian..."Mate" is interchangeable with (and the preferred term for) "pal, buddy, friend" etc over here...

Originally Posted by omodos

Ok another one for me to keep an eye out for, but if it is any consolation I had this issue once (injector failure error) but car still ran and odd errors like dsc off, it was my battery! and my battery was low due to a supposedly known starter motor issue (drawing too much current on each startup causing more juice loss than could be replenished by an average daily drive)

I have read about all sorts of battery issues. Having said that, The battery and alternator were replaced on this one about 6 months ago...I wouldnt imagine it to be the battery as it has no problem whatsoever cranking the big girl over with plenty of enthusiasm.