No start after injectors removal 2012 35D
 

Problem was resolved by manually pulling the vacuum from each line. Thank you for all the help.

You need to bleed the system completely of air. I had to replace my rail pressure sensor prior to my x5 being sold, and the car wouldn't start after. The injectors just won't fire if there is no fuel pressure.


follow the instructions for bleeding the fuel system and you should be good

Thank you, is anybody has the picture of it, can you post it please?

May wanna check out this thread, just went through this myself. Ended up bleeding with a vacuum pump then running through the ista test. I also hadnt fully seated my crank position sensor so may want to also double check all connections.


https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1712938

Thank you, I’ll take a look at that.

Took 2 battery charges to get it primed. You have to crank for a long time. 10 seconds with 15 minutes in between. Took a couple of hours- if you can watch rail pressure you can get a feel how successful you are.

Thank you for the e90 thread. Downloaded Ista+, performed the bleeding procedure twice, cranked it once for 30 seconds-had a little sputter(we are moving somewhere), on the second time it fired up very roughly, ran for 10 seconds and died. After that crank and no start again. The only code is the same one from before for the fuel rail pressure on start. I bled the system again through the system-nothing(every time I hear the pump activating in the back).

I removed the supply line to check the fuel-pouring at crank, removed the return line and pouring too at crank. Cracked the first injector fuel line as the manifold is on and it’s the only one I can get to and the was some bubbling and fuel coming out the first time, but after that first rough idle I cracked it open again a few times and while the bleeding system is going I don’t really see fuel pouring.

Again, no start just cracking and the same code. Could it be the fuel pressure sensor or valve? As I get the fuel supply as stated above just not into the rail or combustion chamber for some reason?

Did anybody have to deal with failed/failing hpfp? It seems like I have fuel everywhere before the hpfp and nothing in the rail after as I described above. Tested the actual values while crancking and I get consistent 1300-1400psi actual value with required 6500 psi...

Could be wrong, but my suspicion is that you still have air in the system. When I removed my fuel injectors as part of valve cover gasket replacement, I loosened the connection between the high pressure fuel pump and the high pressure accumulator. It is labeled 14 in this realoem link. So I loosened that nut and cranked the engine until I had fuel bubbling up around the threads. At this point you should have eliminated all the air up to the accumulator. Then I tightened that nut down to the proper torque with a fuel line socket. Even with the accumulator filled, there will still be air in the individual hard lines leading to the individual injectors. So it still took me roughly 20 seconds of cranking after I had filled the high pressure accumulator before the car started.


Another thing to consider is that you might have overtightened one or more of the lines going to the individual injectors. I have read elsewhere that if overtightened then fuel flow is essentially cut off. Did you use a fuel line socket that allowed you to torque it properly? If you are using a line box wrench and not checking torque it would be easy to make a mistake. With 2 connections for each fuel line going to each injector - 2 times the 6 injectors is twelve connections, plus the connection number 14 noted above makes 13 possible problem points. Any one of them if overtightened might be causing the problem.


Good luck - hope that helps.


Stephen

Thank you, I did remove the rail line #14 when removing the valve cover, I’ll try to crank the car with it loosened, thank you for the suggestion. I’ve never had this much trouble getting the air out of the system, it shouldn’t be that hard to do it. Attached is the fuel rail reading on start up.

https://imgur.com/a/hz28Gpj

Not trying to be annoying, but did you use a fuel line socket and torque wrench?

Not at all, I’ll crack the #14 open and crank it to see if any fuel come out and until ten and retorque the lines to spec I did it by hand before. Do you know the factory specs?

So if I crack the metal feed line open and see no fuel after few cranks it’s the pump? Is there a way to resistance test it on the prongs?

23 NM (17 ft-lb).

And this is an Amazon link to the fuel socket kit I used.

You only need the 17 mm socket, but I'm a sucker for adding tools to the tool box.

FYI - here is a link to a forum posting that had a lot of good information on the task. It's for a 335D, but the engine (M57) is very similar. Some differences in the engine bay, but no difference with the fuel injectors themselves. Posts 22, 38, and 39 will sound famiiar to you. If nothing else, it's nice to know you're not alone!

The fuel line socket is a big help - too much torque and you may cut off fuel. Too little torque and you have a leak and can't sustain pressure. As noted in post 39 - a quarter turn can make the difference.

No idea about how to check the hpfp. However, I have seen so many discussion points about the difficulty of cranking after injector replacement, with eventual success after lengthy bleeding efforts, that I am still >90% confident that is your problem. Trying to nail down how to do that properly delayed my working on the valve cover replacement for at least 6 months. Even being really anal about bleeding and torquing I was still very nervous when it came time to start the engine. In my case, fortunately, it wasn't a big deal.

Good luck.

I was looking at the diagrams and there’s also a flow control valve on the back of the hpfp and pressure control valve on the rail, since there’s no fuel past the pump, how plausible would it be that the flow control valve on the back of the pump is bad? Or pressure control valve on the rail..

Again the only code I have is 4B90 rail control pressure monitoring at engine start.

My money is still on air and/or connector torque issues. The modern diesels require such high pressures that very small leaks will reduce pressure to the point where there's no ignition.

Assuming you never touched the metal fuel line end that actually connects to the hpfp, I would revert again to loosening the #14 nut on the fuel accumulator. Bleeding/cranking should get fuel bubbling around the threads - though as I recall it did take a total of 30-40 seconds of cranking before getting the air out and fuel coming out. Then you'll want to make sure all of the other twelve connectors are torqued correctly. And then (in my case at least) it will take another 30 seconds or so total cranking time before it starts.

Only after doing the above would I start delving into other aspects of the system.

Attachment 78274
Check these two connectors, reseat both. Make sure fuel connections are tight. I used a ground down 17 mm, no fancy tools. Run the referenced ISTA test as many times as necessary. I think I cranked for a good 30 minutes. You will get it started. Positive thinking doesn't hurt either. Good luck.

Also reseat fuel sensor on the back of the rail.