sputnik

Diesel engine! After a disastrous oil level increase last November and costing me over 7000 euros to fix, I have now a new engine with just 4000Km life.
Last November I was driving when I noticed white smoke and a loss of power, then the engine started to rev itslef to oblivion. I managed to stop it not before twisting the con rods and damaging the pistons. The cause was an increase in the sump oil level. I found a salvage engine with just 4000Km on the clock. Now I am keeping an eye on the level weekly but.... this weekend I found that the level has risen again and I just removed about 1 liter of oil from the engine sump which was over the max. I have just done 895miles.
I have spoken with some poeple and I learnt that this could be coming from the diesel particulate filter clogging up.
The ECU is programmed to perform the filter regenerating cycle after a given mileage and agressive driving. Driving in Malta- short distances and limited agressive driving capability, delays or prevents this regeneration taking place.
Have a freind who had a Zaphira with the same problem who imported his car from UK to Malta had the same problem. He was told that cars sent to countries doing short distances are provided with a different software. After this change- his car is now fixed. My BMW came from UK. MY QUESTION does BMW do different ECU software for cars sent to uk and cars sent to Malta? Any help appreciated!

jdoe1

If the particulate filter is clogged the engine just loses power, it does not rev out of control nor produce extra oil. The phsysical requirements for a regeneration sequence (coolant and exhaust have to be hot enough) are the same in the UK or Malta so a software change is unlikely to make a difference since regeneration won't work if the filter is not hot enough.

What you have to ask yourself is: where did that extra liter of oil come from?

There's only so much liquids in the engine so unless someone is secretly adding oil to your engine, it has to be either coolant or diesel that's making the oil level rise. Coolant in the oil is fairly obvious when you drain it so that leaves diesel.

The problem probably has to be with something you did not replace when you put in the new engine. A stuck or leaking injector, for example, could possibly pump enough diesel into the cilinder that it would leak down into your sump.

hibberd

These engines have a highpressure fuel pump and this pump is designed so that when the pump leaks it leaks diesel to the sump. This would cause the sump level to rise and what you have experienced. Did you replace the HP pump seals when you had the motor replaced or did the motor come with this too?

J-535D

I had the same problem and noticed that the oil level increased when DPF regenaration was cancelled.
Both thermostats were faulty and I got them replaced and have not had the problem since.

I'm 100% sure that the problem is related to DPF regeneration. Check the engine temperatures as they need to be correct for DPF regeneration to work and get the thermostats replaced if needed.

The dealer told me that the high pressure pump could be causing the problem, but then the oil level should increase steadily, not suddendly jump.

The oil in my car was tested by Castrol, but the did not say what was mixed with it. But it has to be diesel as the other fluid levels did not drop. I had this problem for couple of months and had to get the extra oil removed from the engine couple of times before the problem dissappeared when the thermostats were replaced.

turboawd

i've seen stuck or cracked fuel injectors leak diesel in the crankcases of other diesel brands. definetly change the oil asap, since its diluted.

sputnik

I will answer jdoe1 and hibberd.
Perhaps I am misunderstood. The engine did not rev out of control by the particulate filter getting clogged (jdoe1) but by the oil level in the sump rising dramatically which then causes the engine start running on the sump oil instead of its fuel, thus turning off the key was helpless.
Now there are a couple of reasons how this oil got increased in level. Water is not the case as the oil had no traces of water in it. The expense was so high that I found a salvaged engine with just 4,000 miles on it and fitted it in complete with pumps and injectors. So basically I have another entire engine.
This time, I am monitoring the oil level weekly as I definitely would not go through it again. Having said all this, When I stripped the first engine, I suspected that there might have been a diesel leak as Hibberd suggested as the area of the pump drive sprocket looked so clean which suggests that diesel might have been coming out of the pump shaft.. That is one theory but finding a second engine and getting this happening (this second engine is nearly new) is a bit remote, though not excluded 100%
Now I come to the diesel particulate filter. This filter picks up diesel fumes and regenerates itself periodically.
This is an article in the daily telegraph concerning this happening to Mazda cars reproduced hereunder ;-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/...trollably.html
In Malta there is no way we can drive like you can do in UK- so I am told particularly GM cars have different ECU software for countries where these distances are impossible to achieve. They have a different software to enable the diesel particulate filter to regenerate itself much easier. I definitely would like to know what BMW do. Jdoe1 says that software for UK and Malta cars is the same. Where did you get this information?

My suspicion is on the Diesel particulate filter since as somebody commented, I have been monitoring the oil weekly and it jumped in one week in volume by 1.5 liter.....
I will have this checked as this guy who had the same problem suggested....


?The DPF is both passive and active. In passive mode it burns off particulates through heat generated by the engine and exhaust system, so will do this on fairly long motorway journeys at 2,000rpm-plus.
It also has an active function, where extra diesel is injected into the combustion chambers to create enough heat to burn off the particulates as it is exhausted.
If it doesn?t burn completely, the excess diesel sinks into the engine sump where it contaminates the lubricating oil and raises the level.
Since diesels are compression-ignition engines, once this level gets too high they will start running on their own lube oil and can only be stopped by stalling them or by stuffing the air intake with rags (which few people are willing to do against a raging engine). ?

Bob525D

This is an interesting issue, it may well be related to overcooling and the DPF not completing its cycle. I believe the cycle involves an increase in fuel to the engine to raise the temperatures to an adequate level for the crap to burn off, so with this in mind how wise was it for BMW to delete the temperature guage from the dashboard when they designed the E60. The temp guage is essential in a car to make the driver aware if the engine is overheating \ overcooling, incidentally overcooling also leads to increased fueling and more smoke hence a clogged DPF.

The thing that worries me is that the dealer told me that the E60 doesn't go through thermostats, i recon that people aren't noticing their engines running too cool due to the missing guage.

To summarise then the root cause is most likely overcooling.

I guess its another to be thankful for with this forum for making us aware of these issues.

sputnik

sputnik

:thumbsdown: it is really shameful of BMW to say the least, that such a vehicle is not equipped with at least an oil level sensor which disables engine starting when the oil level reaches a certain point. The results are catastrophic for the engine and I have seen videos on U tube on BMW vehicles running out of control with this issue, until the cylinder head blows off. I was really scared with the engine revving. Just opened the bonnet and walked away from the car. When I removed the ignition key and the vehicle kept going I could not believe my eyes and had to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming. Really scary!
I was contemplating fitting a sensor in the oil dipstick even running a small LED which shows that the level has gone up.
This issue is really common. A week before somebody else in Malta had the same drama as people called me to tell me about it!

Bob525D

I am sorry for your troubles, i hope you get it sorted out soon. I am toying with trading my 525D in for a 3.0 Z4 just in time or the summer, the problem i have is i love the car but cant afford both and stories like this scare me.

I wonder how many diesels are out there running too cool and overfuelling as a result, both my stats were away when i bought my car but to be honest without this forum i wouldnt have known. Whenever i hear a hum from the exhaust I put it in sport mode and keep the revs above 2K rpm for the remainder of the journey.

On another thought has anyone every raised the overcooling issue with BMW, I might send an email to them about it to see what their response is.