Like gamblin in vegas!

[btmed]

2001 x5 3.0 OK. Just had codes read for dsc, abs and its the steering angle sensor. Also had SES light and they said it was air leak somewhere. That was $130 at bmw. I replaced cvv and valve cover gasket in feb. They also found torn outer boots on front axles, but before i could get to any of this my wife calls me and says all of a sudden it is running like crap. I go and get it and It is actually running like its only hitting on 4 cylinders. Wont go over 50. So i take it to a mech friend who does a smoke test and finds nothing. Has diagnostics read, a bunch of misfires. I bring it home for the weekend. Replace the intake and ex. cam sensors thinking just maybe.... gamblin.... and nope. Go get codes read:
P1352 misfire during start cyl 6
P0313 PCM determined misfire with low fuel
P0102 Man absolute pressure or MAF sensor condition
P0174 Fuel trim bank two condition, rich or lean air/fuel ratio bank 2, bad maf, failed heated o2 sensor, ignition misfire, fuel injector prob
P0171 Fuel bank trim 1
P1347 misfire cyl 3 with fuel cutoff
P0300 cylinder misfire random cylinders ignition system, wires, coil, vac leak, injector fault, high or low fuel pressure

Maybe fuel filter, new plugs, injectors and coil. I know what its gonna cost if i take it to the dealership... my butt! So maybe ill gamble and replace the parts myself saving a ton. I still have to get the steering angle sensor replaced and even if i get it replaced at an indie ill have to take it to BMW to be reprogramed.
Unlike vegas where ive never came back with anything except some great stories, i would have a car that was in pretty good shape with new parts. Thats providing this would all fix the thing.
Is anyone seeing anything that i might be missing? .......should i go to vegas instead?
Thanks for any input, BT

[X5Flyboy]

Lotsa luck! was there in July to see James Taylor/Carole King. Noticed the a/c was only pumping out air just above luke warm (115 F temps typ then). Went to Desert BMW..., 3.5hrs & $236, just to recharge the a/c. I will admit, they had done a COMPLETE inspection of my car, as the service man had found evidence of previous things that I already had fixed (oil stains from a valve cover gasket leak).

Given your list, I'd bet you won't get out of the dealer for less than $800, probably more.

What's your mileage? If 100k, then the complete tuneup is due. If you are doing short trip & stop'n'go rushhour (a true oxymoron) driving, then fouled plugs are most likely the culprit. I'd go with that first and see what that does before investing in the rest.
Good Luck!

[btmed]

104k miles, yes wife just drives back and forth to work and around town. And im in dallasfw area 10 or more days strait over 100. Im thinking your right maybe plugs and filter first. When i went to the dealership to get the code read for steering angle sensor they also did a very good workup on the car. The boot repair was $1300 alone and that was not replacing the whole shafts. Think the steering angle sensor was over $600 so im pretty sure this would break the bank.
Ill have to search around to see what plugs are being used. Found bosch and NKG from $6 to $8. Fuel filter $65, Fuel injector $90 a piece, yikes, unless i gambled again with remanufactured, i didnt know they even did that. Coils $106 but beck/arney $52 online. I can just imagine with the parts alone would be at the dealership...

[X5Flyboy]

yeah, had to do the boots about a year and a half ago. fortunately, it was caught within a week (had a part delay & was back the next week), so no axle damage. My indy recommended the BMW boots as they are much thicker, with many aftermarket boots being thin and wearing out within a year. hate to tell you, but even with BMW boots, my indy in SC was alot less than $1300. I've lucked out finding a good indy in SC and an indy-priced dealer (here in ID). I can't begin to total the savings I've had. Being small shops, I can afford to show my appreciation to the mechanics & service manager at Christmas. unfortunately, I'm no longer in a position to do the work myself. so finding reasonably priced alternatives has been my good fortune. I truly love driving this car!

[btmed]

Yes, i said no thanks to their $1300 repair job, had bought the replacement boot kit for $15 and about to do the job like weasel had described without totally taking everything apart. Then this happened so trying to get it running correctly before getting back to the boots. Guess its good i dont have to be back to the fire station till wednesday!

[JCL]

I would always get a proper diagnosis and fix the problem, rather than throwing parts at it in the faint hope that I hit the jackpot and found the failed part. If it all of a sudden started running poorly it doesn't sound much like plugs. More likely a vacuum leak.

At least in Vegas you can go see a show.

[btmed]

changed plugs and filter today and was not the complete prob. running better but something is still making her run rough. Here's the plugs i changed out:
And heres what came out of the fuel filter:
So at the most this made me throw some much needed maintenance toward the car even if it didnt completely fix the prob. I can only imagine what moritz would have charged to change the plugs and they wanted $265 for the filter? I paid $60 for the plugs NGK laser platnums and $60 for the oem filter. Now i will go get the diagnosis which will cost me another $130. Maybe they'll find that coils may be bad. I attached a few pics while i had them out. A few looked worn with scorch marks that didnt look right to me. Or maybe injectors could be bad from contaminates. Or it could be something completely different. Ill let you know in the next couple of days. One things for sure if its coils or injectors ill be saving a lot of money on labor even by paying the $130 diagnosis

[X5Flyboy]

you do use premium top tier gas (Shell, conoco/phillips, chevron)? Fuel pump was also part of the 100k tuneup. I'd ask a good mechanic what caused your plugs to look like that.

[btmed]

yes sir 93 oct. ive only had it a year and U.S.Marshalls owned the car since 2003. no telling what they put in it. I am taking it back to bmw for diagnosis and then decide whether to let them do the job or myself. whether its the coils that are part of the prob i sure would like one of the techs in the forum to tell me what they think of the pics in the post. im no mechanic but they sure look like they need replacing just from the distortion and scorching i found.
by the way did you replace fuel pump yourself?...and please dont tell me its next to the fuel filter! what a pain to get to

[btmed]

Well after debating over changing more parts or taking to BMW for diagnosis i decided to replace those coils. As i said i am no mechanic but i kept looking at the pictures i took and wondered if any of the techs in these forums would put them back in their car. Well no! they wouldnt so decided they needed replacing anyway. After installing 6 new coils the car is running like a top! Better than it ever has. So here is what i got from this experience:
With 104,000 miles and not knowing if theyve been changed, change the plugs and the fuel filter for better performance.$115 at this point you could see if the prob was fixed, if not....
While changing the plugs look at the coils if they dont look right as in my pics change em. $342
Now i did also change the cam shaft sensors, both of them after reading posts, i really thought they might be the problem due to same symptoms. They were not the problem but the ones i put in have a lifetime warranty and should not have to worry with them. So mark that as maintenance. $200

If this did not fix the run performance i would definately go get diagnostics done at BMW $130

Again i can only imagine what it would have cost if i took it to bmw in the first place!
Now back to my initial problem that was diagnosed at bmw involving a bad steering sensor and torn outside cv boots.