I think the E53 can smell money... (Codes abound)
 

So minus the transfer case scare back last week which doesn't seem to have come from anywhere, got it up in the air and could not spot a leak or trace of oil/ATF, must have been from the Wife's CRV which has been parked and moved around occasionally due to being on it's last leg. Thank goodness.

Moving forward getting all the bills paid I get a phone call that the X5 has died several times and is rumbling like a rodeo while picking the kids up from school...
Get the computer hooked up to it... (Just an OBD reader, not INPA mainly because I don't know where to buy it) and I have codes galore.

What do you guys think?

After clearing the codes out, staring the vehicle it's still misfiring sounds like I am listening to some bass heavy rap on the inside,

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...psyixi2dv8.jpg

https://i284.photobucket.com/albums/...sbpneywg2.jpeg

I'd start with a smoke test. If no vacuum leaks... move onto the o2 sensors... and then finally check the catalysts. How many miles on this X5?

I hade 80% of the same codes on a 2001 I just bought and it was the fuel filter.

Probably on to something there... for starters... I know I have the smaller bellows hose on the intake boot patched up with some gasket sealer... might have finally came loose. It was shredded when I got it. Sealed it when I bought the car since I read horror stories on here about purchasing non OEM and didn't have the extra to toss it at the time.

Had to take off the intake to replace the whole CCV system and went ahead and replaced all the seals and vacuum lines in a shotgun restoration to eliminate any potential problems down the road. So more than likely that intake boot since it is after the MAF and had to be removed while in such a delicate state.

Planning to do a smoke test on it tomorrow, just didn't have time to get down to the shop today.

As of this afternoon she's got 253,369 Miles.
Mystery Service History -- With one BMW service record from 2011 at 118k miles where they replaced the water pump and recommended the VCG be replaced due to some oil in the spark plug wells, but the owner declined on the latter. Needless to say I ended up replacing this myself a few months ago... along with pretty much any DIY you can find on this E53 Forum, short of the Oil Pan Gasket... which I am dreading if I ever have to do.


You know I ran some UV dye through the gas tank when I first got it... kept dying on me with 1/4 tank left and missing like crazy when below half a tank... turned out to be the fuel siphon jet o-ring... which AndrewWrynn had an awesome DIY that saved me there... but I was worried the bottles of UV dye I put into the tank might have done the fuel filter in. After the o-ring was replaced everything ran like clockwork. That being said I am pretty sure it's the factory fuel filter from the date stamp of 02/00 on it.... So very well could be on the table as well.

Great suggestions guys, thank you for your time.

Will post updates tomorrow afternoon.

FPR/fuel filter should last 250-300,000 miles it's huge, when researching for my fuel system thread I found a dozen examples of somebody replacing the fuel filter which seemed to solve the problem to only punt the problem a few months because the real problem was a soft fail electric pump. When the pump gets old it will produce slowly less and less pressure and the symptoms mimic a failing fuel pressure regulator or clogged filter, neither of which is ever likely. At 300,000 miles it's more likely the 2nd or 3rd electric pump is wearing out than the fuel filter is clogged. (though it's at the cusp of about even odds the FPR could be failing)

If you get a dip in pressure that recovers under WOT (wide open throttle) i would suspect the FPR but if the pressure stays a little low under WOT I would suspect the electric pump.

I had a BMW Fuel Pump put on it right when I bought it in pursuit of the fuel issue that your Siphon Jet O-Ring DIY fixed for me. Is this the pump you're talking about? Or is there another one? I can't say for sure if it cleared up under WOT, wife pulled it over and shut it off and let it sit for a few minutes then nursed it home.

https://www.bavauto.com/bmw-fuel-pump-16116755043

Yes that's the fuel pump. Now in my case I can swap with wife's car virtually any part to root through problems.

I would get a fuel pressure gauge and measure under load and verify if you are getting constant pressure or not.

I had a fuel pump fail after ten months so anything is possible but I'd proceed with knowledge. With a new fuel pump if pressure isn't maintained then it's likely the FPR had failed.

I can see where it might have died already. Thankfully that BMW has a warranty on their parts... otherwise I would have went cheaper.

Though the darnedest thing happened this morning. I expected to fight it it on the way to a meeting a few miles down the road... but after clearing the codes and letting it sit over night, it drove like a new vehicle. Which makes me lean toward that vacuum leak... not sure if it will happen at warm / hot again but running cold... perfect.

Thoughts?

Vacuum leak won't cause a meltdown in performance. You'll get codes warning you you are getting bad efficiency.

If you get enough misfires in a particular cylinder, the brain will shut off that cylinder and your performance will go to hell instantly and typically stay that way until you clear the codes.

Try some full throttle acceleration runs and see if you get a misfire code. When this happened to wife's X5 last year it turned out to be bad plugs. It got so bad at the end she could only drive about 6 miles before having to pull over and reset the codes.

I would buy/rent a fuel pressure gauge and see if you are losing pressure at high Fuel demand, also if you get the errors on one or two cylinders, swap some coils and plugs so see if the problem moves.

It's Bucking like an ISUZU Rodeo sold by Joe Isuzu because you have misfires with fuel cutoff. Shutting and restarting the engine does it run better? If it does you need to find out why you have the misfires.

The cat efficiency could be your Cat is going south and I don't mean Florida.

Shutting down the engine and restarting the engine will clear the misfire counter in the DME (Or do you call it a ECU?). No need to get a code reader to clear the code.

What caused mine to do that was water in the fuel in my opinion.

I put a bottle of heat brand water remover in it and it helped a bunch and replacing the fuel filter finished the fix.

I may of had all those codes you have but I know I had most of them. It was spewing codes like crazy. The heat stuff isn't going to hurt anything and is dirt cheap and it never hurts to change the filter which probably has never been changed before.

Cant guarantee a fix with this of course but none of these suggestions will hurt anything :)

In the Midwest our fuel has heet built in in the form of 10% alcohol. Basically we have about 2-3 bottles of heet per gallon of gas. Humidity from the air will get sucked Into the gas tank as it empties so that can cause problems if the water isn't disolved into the gas to be consumed.

I was pretty sure a restart didn't clear my limp home caused from misfire. I was able to reset while driving and have it clear the code and limp mode

Did this come on gradually or was it running fine and the missing started all of a sudden?

On a side note my codes came back after a drive this morning but the car ran great. Maybe a bit of a misfire on first cranking it but otherwise great.

The misfire and lean were the only codes this time but again the car drove fine.

I tested for fuel pressure and its perfect so I guess I have a vacuum leak. Didn't want to leave my "its fixed" comment without noting still having issues.

I would suspect dirty injector over a vacuum leak if you are getting lean code and misfires.


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It could be injectors but on all of the bmw's I have fixed this on its been air flow meter or vacuum leaks so far.

Also it only does the misfire on first crank up. If I clear the codes while driving the only thing that comes back is lean codes on bank 1 and 2 no matter how far I drive it.

Drives great just the codes. Remember this the same car that had this for an intake boot on it.....

Also it has a k&n air filter. So if the same intelligence was used oiling that filter that did that intake boot repair I can just picture how bad the air meter got hosed down with oil.

Numbers look good on the scan tool for the air meter so far though.

#13 Fraking Corn Syrup.......

I miss MTBE gas. It's been so long I cannot remember the specifics, but fuel economy and power was so much more nicer on MTBE gas. Yes, I know there are places that sell race gas - Not looking to go that route.

You guys posted like crazy while I was working today… so I opened a word document to reply to you all! LOL

Sadly, I didn’t get time to run by the shop and get the smoke test done or fuel rail pressure done… Dad owns a full-service shop so thankfully I have access to anything and everything, just have to make time to get down there.

As I drove around town today in variable styles, getting down on the throttle and driving casually, nothing seemed to recreate the issues from yesterday. Clearing the codes and letting it sit overnight seems to have rooter the gremlins out for the time being. Back to the drawing board…

Sadly just shutting it off and then turning it back on didn’t fix it, even clearing the codes and letting it sit for five minutes and turning it back on still made it rough. But as mentioned above, letting it set overnight after clearing the codes worked for now…

I put a bottle of HEET with Seafoam in the tank two weeks ago before we had the cold snap come through to make sure I didn’t have any water in the lines, but good thought. Fuel Filter option still on the table…

Just came out of absolutely nowhere. I had some misfiring issues a little while ago due to a bad ground on my banks, but that’s the last I saw of anything.

Did it pop up just after the work you did?

Nope. Hadn't touched a single thing for weeks and put a few hundred miles on it since I did anything.

I've been getting codes again mostly just after a rough start. last time It was fouled plugs. Code on one cylinder repeatedly so I'm going to pull the plug and clean and swap the coil with a pull from a different car.


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