X5 4.4i N62 intermittent weird starts

[brokenX544]

Hi everyone,

I have a very weird issue on my new to me X5 4.4i LCI from 2005 with 180000km (110k miles I guess).
The car died a few days ago and it turned out to be the fuel pump. We changed it, and the car started struggling to start when hot. We then changed the spark plugs and the car seemed fixed, until a few days ago where it did not want to start in the morning. All that while running what seemed to be perfectly the day before. It had done like 1600 km (1000 miles) in the days before that without any hiccup.
So after a few failed start-up attempts we called bmw and their assistance came and managed to start the car by cranking for like 20 secs (felt like eternity) and giving it full gas.
Now it sometimes struggle like that, cold or hot, and each time we manage to start it by giving it full throttle and wait. The Bmw guys said it was like the engine was flooded with gas.
Not one single code on the OBD reader, and all values when running look to be in the correct range.
We plan on replacing the fuel filter, but what could be the issue?
I have a video of it trying to start but I dont think I can put it here.

Thanks a lot for your time and cheers from Switzerland

[andrewwynn]

Symptom of failure in FPR. If you can get it to start and rent a girl pressure gauge. If the needle wiggles vs. solid value near 50 psi the FPR is at fault.

[brokenX544]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

Symptom of failure in FPR. If you can get it to start and rent a girl pressure gauge. If the needle wiggles vs. solid value near 50 psi the FPR is at fault.

Hi Andrew,

I thought about that but the Bimmer guys discarded it kinda quickly. Ill try to find one for rent. It does start, sometimes really easily even. Its a weird thing

Thanks for the help !

[bcredliner]

Any codes?

[andrewwynn]

Originally Posted by brokenX544

Hi Andrew,

I thought about that but the Bimmer guys discarded it kinda quickly. Ill try to find one for rent. It does start, sometimes really easily even. Its a weird thing

Thanks for the help !

Yup wife's did the same. The really hard start came after it sat for a while waiting for a part. I thought the fuel pump was shot but I had 50psi. Once I got it to start, it showed 49-50 psi but it modulated with each cylinder so fast the needle looked gray.

[brokenX544]

Originally Posted by bcredliner

Any codes?

Use to have one about voltage drop from how many times we tried to start the car but that’s it

[brokenX544]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

Yup wife's did the same. The really hard start came after it sat for a while waiting for a part. I thought the fuel pump was shot but I had 50psi. Once I got it to start, it showed 49-50 psi but it modulated with each cylinder so fast the needle looked gray.

And was it running well once it started? I would’ve thought it would run rich all the time and have bad mileage and a gas smell… my Porsche 944 has had a bad FPR and that was the symptoms

[aureliusmax]

My guess, this update of the N62 come with the IVM module ? Frequently these go bad on the E65's causing hard/no starts

[andrewwynn]

Originally Posted by brokenX544

And was it running well once it started? I would’ve thought it would run rich all the time and have bad mileage and a gas smell… my Porsche 944 has had a bad FPR and that was the symptoms

Never noticed a problem once running and at first I thought FPR ok nectar it read 50. On closer inspection it was 49-50 and fluttering.