My X5 Stalling Problem, Running Rough PLEASE HELP

[icexx99]

2001 BMW X5 4.4L
So 2 months I got the P0171, P1341, p1343, P1345, P1349... I replaced the left side camshaft sensor and it fixed the problem but I bought an aftermarket one, once and awhile I get the P0171 code but I need to replace an oxygen sensor I believe because I dont see any air leaks and I checked numerous times...

So yesterday I was driving home and I was almost home and every time Igave it gas the car kinda like felt like it was going to stall, I pulled over shut it off for a moment restarted it continued to drive home no CEL,
About 2 miles away from my house the truck did it again except this time the CEL came up and flashed so i pulled right over, luckily I had the scanner in my truck I got the P0171, P0174( bank 1 and bank 2 lean oxygen sensors)
P1341, P1343, P1345(multiple misfire ,cylinder 1 and 2 misfires)... I got the truck home after it sat for a half hour, driving 20mph with a steady CEL not flashing.
I figured Im going to narrow the problem by swapping the Coils to cylinders 3 and 4 and swapping the CPS's.... Now the truck starts fine when it warms up it runs a lil rough then stalls, if you try and bring the rpms above 1500rpm or give it a quick spurt of gas the truck stalls NO CEL.... PLEASEEEE HELPPPP Im guessing it can be the Fuel Pump or Fuel Filter thats all I can think.. Any

[icexx99]

I know which cylinders are misfiring, and I swapped them out to the back now the engine just stalls and doesn't misfire, it might still do it but it doesn't throw a CEL... I will try this out in the morning and see if it makes a difference

[_XS3C_]

hey ICEXX99, [ I'm re-posting my previous post as I did accidently deleted it ......], anyway I guess 1st it's the Coils !
2nd. the crank shaft and/or camshaft pos. sensors ..... [the aftermarket ones are not OEM's you know what I mean - change it again]!
3rd check/change the OVP & fuel pump rellay's --- they might just stick on hot engine !
yeah to replace the Fuel Filter is not bad idea considering your X5 is '01 - but still depends on the miles that you have !


regarding the Coils just read this:
All BMW 8-cylinder engines from the mid-90s use a multi-coil ignition system, where an ignition coil is mounted directly over each spark plug. This design eliminates the need for ignition wires and distributors, with their attendant caps, rotors and other mechanisms. The ECU uses signals from crank position sensors to trigger timing and spark sequences. Due to the elimination of components, reliability is increased. With one coil for each cylinder, a no run situation due to coil failure is eliminated since all the ignition coils would need to fail at the same time for the engine to become inoperable.
Checking for a bad coil is not difficult. To do this, remove any cover from the ignition coils with the engine off. Then, release the clips for each coil’s signal wire plug. Unfasten the clips only. Do not remove the signal wire plug. Start the engine and starting from a particular coil, remove the signal wire plug. If the engine starts misfiring, this indicates that that particular coil is in working order. Repeat this test for all the ignition coils, working systematically. Use insulated gloves when performing this procedure to eliminate the chance for an electrical charge from the coil jumping to your hand. It’s not a pleasant experience, to say the least. When you find an ignition coil that makes no difference to the engine’s idle when the signal wire plug is removed, you will have found the non-working ignition coil.

[icexx99]

Originally Posted by _XS3C_

hey ICEXX99, [ I'm re-posting my previous post as I did accidently deleted it ......], anyway I guess 1st it's the Coils !
2nd. the crank shaft and/or camshaft pos. sensors ..... [the aftermarket ones are not OEM's you know what I mean - change it again]!
3rd check/change the OVP & fuel pump rellay's --- they might just stick on hot engine !
yeah to replace the Fuel Filter is not bad idea considering your X5 is '01 - but still depends on the miles that you have !


regarding the Coils just read this:
All BMW 8-cylinder engines from the mid-90s use a multi-coil ignition system, where an ignition coil is mounted directly over each spark plug. This design eliminates the need for ignition wires and distributors, with their attendant caps, rotors and other mechanisms. The ECU uses signals from crank position sensors to trigger timing and spark sequences. Due to the elimination of components, reliability is increased. With one coil for each cylinder, a no run situation due to coil failure is eliminated since all the ignition coils would need to fail at the same time for the engine to become inoperable.
Checking for a bad coil is not difficult. To do this, remove any cover from the ignition coils with the engine off. Then, release the clips for each coil’s signal wire plug. Unfasten the clips only. Do not remove the signal wire plug. Start the engine and starting from a particular coil, remove the signal wire plug. If the engine starts misfiring, this indicates that that particular coil is in working order. Repeat this test for all the ignition coils, working systematically. Use insulated gloves when performing this procedure to eliminate the chance for an electrical charge from the coil jumping to your hand. It’s not a pleasant experience, to say the least. When you find an ignition coil that makes no difference to the engine’s idle when the signal wire plug is removed, you will have found the non-working ignition coil.

I just hit 101k miles, the plugs are not the original and are the bosch platinum 4 plugs..... and what is OVP if you dont mind me asking...

[m5james]

Slow down and lets start over....

1) You say you replaced only one of the camshaft position sensors, and you used aftermarket ones. I can guarantee you that you're going to continue to have problems, so put the old one back in, reset the codes, and have them re-read and report what you get. CPS will give it's own specific code, and of the codes you listed, none of them mentioned CPS. You've got random misfire codes and fuel cut codes, so what prompted you to replace only one of the CPS' and what made you determine what side?
2) What did you do check for air leaks...spray carb cleaner, smoke machine at a shop, etc? A visual examination may help a little, but I guarantee there will be leaks that you'll never even see until you smoke test the truck.
2) Start the truck, unplug your MAF and see if it runs better.

After you've done this, let me know.

[icexx99]

Originally Posted by m5james

Slow down and lets start over....

1)What engine do you have, and what year is your X? Do us all a favor and fill out your Signature so we can at least starting helping you appropriately and know what you're working with.
2)You say you replaced only one of the camshaft position sensors, and you used aftermarket ones. I can guarantee you that you're going to continue to have problems, so put the old one back in, reset the codes, and have them re-read and report what you get.
3)Start the truck, unplug your MAF and see if it runs better

After you've done this, let me know.

1)2001 X5 4.4i V8, Sorry about the signature I'll get on that...

2) Yes I replaced one and I'm going to order an OEM asap, I would have put the old one back in but i threw it out 2 months ago when I changed the sensor, I have a scanner so I read them myself...

3) I tried the unplugging the MAF already, after a few seconds the exhaust smelled like rotten eggs, so i plugged it right back in, surprisingly it didnt set off a CEL which did seem kind of weird...

[m5james]

Sorry, I noticed after I posted that you'd written the year and engine in your original post. I edited my post and you beat me to it, so re-read it. Either way, still a good idea to create a signature just for little details like that for the next time.

Go ahead and order two, either from the dealership or www.autohausaz.com as they've worked out perfectly for me...just stay away from the eBay stuff. I'm a BMW indy and I've had nothing but problems with them.

Honestly, if you plan on keeping this truck for a while, I'm going to recommend some things that I consider to be regular maintenance simply based off your mileage. This may have some or no relation to your issue, but as I said, if you're keeping it, you should do them anyways. I recommend ponying up the $160 for both Bosch PRE cat 02 sensors while you're at it as they have about a 100k service life. As for your plugs, head to your local Autozone and pick up the proper NGK plugs for around $70 total...ditch those Platinum +4's. Fuel filter couldn't hurt either, and it's fairly easy to get to along the frame rail.

Unplugging the MAF should have cause the CEL to kick, but maybe you just didn't do it long enough. The exhaust smelling like eggs could be failed cats, but then again it could have just been running really rich and smelling nasty because of the MAF being unplugged, so it's kind of hard to tell. Another way to check the coils is to label them 1-8, then completely switch them around and see if the prior codes follow wherever that coil was moved. Having one coil fail is one thing, but having multiples tells me you have something completely unrelated to the coils happening here.

I'm still curious as to how you checked for air leaks. I think you'd be surprised how well some of those things can hide. A smoke machine will do wonders for finding leaks, and air leaks will definately cause lean issues and cause all kinds of havoc.

[_XS3C_]

Originally Posted by icexx99

I just hit 101k miles, the plugs are not the original and are the bosch platinum 4 plugs..... and what is OVP if you dont mind me asking...

OVP = Overvoltage protection relay !

The overvoltage protection relay (OVP) provides system power to a buss that supplies the CIS-E electronic control unit, the ABS electronic control unit, and also the idle speed control (ISC) valve, throttle valve switch (TVS, located on the throttle valve shaft end) and microswitch (on the throttle linkage). The OVP contains a zener diode that will trip the relay off if the zener breakdown voltage is exceeded. This will protect the microelectronics in the ABS and CIS-E control units from damage due to an overvoltage condition.There is also a 10 amp fuse in series with the relay contacts (mounted under a clear plastic over on top of the relay) that will open if buss current exceeds ten amps, which could be caused by a short to ground anywhere on the buss.Since all the cold start functions are provided by the "E" portion of the CIS-E system, a car with a faulty OVP or a problem that causes the OVP to trip off will be very difficult to start cold. If you do manage to get the engine started, the ABS warning light will be illuminated due to no power, and there will be no idle speed control either cold or hot. Probably the easiest way to check if the OVP relay is providing power is to remove the connector from the microswitch and check it for voltage with ignition on. If none is present, the OVP could be tripped due to a system fault or not functioning due to an internal fault.

Also on the check list:
ICV = Idle Control Valve - [ rotary solenoid valve that opens and closes
in response to a signal from the ECU and provides a 'fine' adjustment to the idle. -[ but not sure if the ICV is the same as it is on the MB's, same for the CIS-E from the above OVP info ...]


It is great idea as James above did suggested to check out for vacume leaks !


101k miles - Nice !

[icexx99]

Update****

I labeled the coils on the left side 1 through 4, picked up a OEM CPS this morning from BMW, they only had 1 in stock so I replaced the aftermarket with the new OEM, i switched coils #1 wit #3 and #2 with #4, started up truck ran fine for a few seconds had a weird long 4-6second crank to start.. it started to feel like it was going to die at idle so i started giving it gas and after a few seconds it came back to life and once it hit over 2k rpm it was running terrible and BAMMMM CEL started flashing, I pulled the codes and I got a misfire on cylinder number 1... so im guessing its the plug since I had a misfire on cylinder 1 before i moved the coils.. what bugs me is, why would an 8 cylinder truck have that hard of time running with only 1 cylinder misfiring? hmmmm and m5 i only did a visual air-leak test and then a carb cleaner...

[icexx99]

Another Update****

I thought i had it down to the spark plug so i figured one last test to see now if i move the spark plug with the coils remaining in place will the misfire move...
NOPEEEE I got a flashing CEL, with 4 codes this time
p1341 multiple misfire,
p1343 cylinder 1 misfire
p1351 cylinder 5 misfire
p1345 cylinder 2 misfire

This truck is driving me nuts, I plan on selling once its fixed...