Diag help? Dealer has no idea!

[HellRazor35]

2007 X5 E70 3.0 91k

Daughter is at school with the X5 a few weeks ago has to have it towed to the deal and have the Waterpump and Thermostat replace. Then a week later when the weather started to get colder it started running rough. They finally it would stall when coming to a stop at a light.

Now it starts and rough idles, throws a check engine and goes into limp mode and dies.

So back to the dealer and they had to replace the all the plugs as they said they were fuel fouled to get it to even start and are still not able to keep it running more than a few minutes

Saying they ended up doing a compression test and leak down.

3 of the 6 cylinders were between 60 & 90. Then did a vacuum check and this I did not understand. Said that air pressure was coming out of the gas caps when it was removed??

Said that they can try and use some special additive that could help with the compression to at least get is running so they can further diagnosis the issue and that possible that the bad leakdown was a Red Herring???

Any thoughts on this. Really frustrating as I am a plane flight away from all this

Any thoughts or experience with something like this would be great

[HellRazor35]

What about a bad Purge Valve being stuck open? Will this not create a vacuum leak, misfires and hard starting/running?

[Purplefade]

Bad purge valve will usually, in my experience, cause a vapor lock and no start situation until the pressure bleeds off. That being said, give us some info on tour car, year, engine, etc and ask the dealer for the specific codes that they pulled - ask them for a full report - you paid for it. Post that here and we may be able to figure out more

If they frown at providing that detail, remind them that you paid for the diagnostic work and if they still give you grief... maybe find another dealer.

Your issue, with the current info could be numerous things unfortunately.


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[HellRazor35]

2007 X5 E70
N52N
91k miles

Was a local BMW dealer lease and was re-certified and then bought again and then traded in. Was bough from a local mom/pop dealer
Have all records and was serviced at the local BMW dealer it was bought from so no red flags

Ran a scanner on it and no stored codes returned...only issue that was noticed was the whistling, that would randomly happen once a week...which is the damn CCV which is built into the Valve cover

Agreed, I will defiantly will try and get the codes
When asked was told that its has some VANOS codes and he was suggesting that poss timing issue?

They are EST time and I am PST so tomorrow I will call and ask that they provide a diag report

East Lansing, MI area only has the one dealer and the local mom-pop shop wanted to charge me $650 over what the Okemos BMW dealer charged me to replace the waterpump and thermostat. Go figure

So dont think I have much of an option. Frustrating not being there and have to do this in another time zone and over the phone

But thanks for trying to help!

[Purplefade]

Oh that stinks, working across time zones, remote from an issue you can’t even see is a mess for sure... sorry about that. Keep us posted and we’ll help where we can.

In regard to the Vanos, it controls timing advance and it is acting up, it can cause all kinds of drama... the good news, I’ve had Vanos issues before and (thankfully) was able to resolve them with a thorough cleaning, keep us posted on those codes and we’ll go from there - good luck


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[HellRazor35]

Right, if she was home I would be cleaning known issue parts, replacing the valve cover.

Unfortunate thing is I dont think that the $tealer is going to want to clean the Vanos Solenoids and filter, or ICV valve...they are going to want to replace with new.

Would the DISA throw codes?

[Purplefade]

As far as I know you might see a code only if the DISA failed but as I understand the DISA it really “only” modifies the intake “length” to affect engine torque at a given RPM, IF that the issue, unfortunately..., it’s probably only a small part of it. I’m guessing not DISA.


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[ard]

I recalled you name and the situation from before...the shop all the cool kids went to was paradoxically more expensive than the dealer....


Anyways...onwards!





This is a **BMW** dealer offering to put additives in the gas to get the compression up??!??!?


The fact that you are told 'some vanos codes could be a timing issue' is just nonsense.



Frankly I wouldnt trust their numbers. (not sure if they requestd a comp test or you did. I wouldnt have paid for that at this point...)



Without getting a true and accurate report of codes- EACH and EVERY time they are pulled- you are pissing in the wind.


The whistling sure seems like a specific symptom that should nail it down.


But we need codes...chasing a VANOS service based on that fragment of a diagnose seems iffy. And a bad vanos or clogged vanos solenoid doesnt cause whistling.

[HellRazor35]

Right ya the initial water pump/thermostat issue...and it was not a shop all the cool kids went to...if it was they would have gotten it right


Anyways...onwards!

Yes I did not order the comp/leak test, need to get a straight answer as to why they are going down that path when they have codes for the vanos and what they are


The whistling is a know issue of a failed CCV in the valve cover and is a vacuum leak for sure..

Bottom line is that I am going to be paying out of the A$$ for this repair

I have no other choice

But I agree that this is a dealership that is suppose to have all the fancy scanners/tools

It just sucks knowing that if she was home I could resolve this myself and not pay them to figure it out

[crystalworks]

Sorry to hear. A 91k E70 3.0 is due for all kinds of service. Including the VC you mention. As above, specific codes are needed. Without codes everything is just throwing out WAGs.