benjihana

Hey guys, a little bit frustrated here. Over the past month, my '06 530i (N52 engine) has rough idled on startup and a few times it would stall and die after a few seconds of startup. After this, I began throttling the car a bit when I started it. Otherwise, the car drove fine. About two days ago, I started the car and had heavy vibrations, and the Service Engine Soon (SES) MIL popped up. Even while driving at higher RPMs and speeds, the car was barely guzzling forward with very intermittent RPMs and fluctuations. I went and had the code read at Autozone, and was only told a Cylinder 4 Misfire. In hindsight, I didn't have him verify if there were multiple codes, he seemed less than thrilled to have to read my car anyway. I am at ~89k miles, bought the car at around ~67k, and was unsure on the status of the spark plugs, but figured that they had not been changed from the original plugs, and they were well overdue to be changed. I also thought a bad plug could cause the 4th cylinder misfire, so I was attempting to knock out two birds with one stone.

I went ahead and changed all six plugs, and didn't see any noticeable damage in the ignition coils, but the SES lamp and rough ride persisted. I went ahead and popped off the cover and swapped ignition coils 3 and 4 with 1 and 2, as I thought I might have a faulty coil. After doing this, I went to Autozone, had the codes read, and there were now eight codes, including multiple cylinder misfires and the generic Multiple Random Misfires code. I'm thinking that I want to rule out faulty coils, as I doubt that they've all gone bad, and I've narrowed it down to the MAF or the vaunted adjuster unit on the intake manifold. I need help locating and determining where both are on this vehicle, and whether or not there could be other potential reasons for the vehicle to behave in this manner. I'm currently running BG 44K injector cleaner (well-respected) through the current tank of gas in case I have valve issues on the fuel injection side, but I'm leaning more towards a pressure/vacuum issue causing the misfires, particularly based on the startup.

Any ideas are appreciated.

pauliehcfr

If it was a MAF problem, it would most likely have set a code for the MAF sensor. You can roughly check it by tapping gently with the handle of a screwdriver with the car running. If the idle smooths out, its most likely a bad MAF sensor. If it stays the same, continue trouble shooting. I would venture to say its more of a fuel delivery issue. As you can see, there have been many problems with the fuel pumps on these cars. If you are handy, you can check the fuel pressure at the fuel rail. I am not to sure, but they used to have a connection to ta into the fuel rail to hook up a fuel pressure tester. I am also not sure what the pressure is supposed to be, but I'm sure with some research or even th dealer may be willing to look up the specs. From what you are explaining, it seems like the motor may not be getting the correct amount of fuel.

mr_grinche

Hi There,

sorry to hear about your problems. However I have had exactly the same issues and have a 525 with the same engine see previous posts below (That nobody replied to!) . Also a number of my work colleagues have had the same issues with their cars. I brought my car to my local BMW dealer the other day with this and they told me that I needed to replace 2 solenoid Valves in the engine. They quoted me ?350 for the fix. I told them to contact BMW and ask them for a contribution as a lot of people have had these issues. They said they would mail BMW.

I picked my car up today and the problem has been fixed. Furthermore Murphy and Gunne in Dublin then told me that BMW had agreed to pay 100% of the cost of the parts and 50% of the cost of the labour. Needless to say I am delighted with the outcome and suggest the same parts might need replacing in your car. I hope this helps you?

Regards,

Grinche








Guy's,

I am hoping somebody can help me with this and I hope I am not repeating somthing that has already been discussed etc. On Christmas eve I was driving my car in traffic and all of a sudden the EMK light on my dash came on and the car started to shake violently from side to side. I had the car in D at the time and it ended up cutting out the engine. I restarted the car and it was the same, shuddering and shaking and cutting out. When I got on to the motorway the car seemed to behaving itself okay and I drove for 10 miles or so but when I slow down in traffic the car does exactly the same thing and cuts out. I called a buddy and he reckoned it was a coil. I lef the car over christmas without driving it and when I stated car again eml light is off and car is driving smoothly.

Last week it started doing the same thing again exactly the same shuddering and the eml light comes on. By the time I made my buddys place the light was off and engine running smoothly again. He could not diagnose problem, but reconed it was not the coils. I booked car in to the dealer in Dublin but on my way into the garage the same problems started again, they have to get back to me with the diagnosis.

I have spoken to two other 525 drivers this morning and they tell me the exact same thing happened to them and that the garage could not diagnose the problem. In both cases the garage said it was a Lambda sensor and they replaced these and problem came back within a month. Another dealer changed the spark plugs in the car and alledly this worked? The dealers did not give reason for problem in any case.

I am wondering if anybody has had this problem and knows what was wrong and what was done to rectify the issues?

Thanks

Grinchce



just got a phone call from my SA in the dealership and he tells me that my car needs two solenoid valves. He said that these parts are necessary to open up the engine valves and give the car power. Forgive me I have never heard of these parts. He informs me that he does not have these parts in stock but he will order them. The cost is going to be ?350 fitted.

Has anyone else heard of these parts and a solution to this problem?

Thanks

Grinche

pauliehcfr

I can agree with that post. Those solenoid valves I believe vary the valve timing to increase power at lower RPM's

benjihana

Thanks for the ideas guys - I'm going to have a BMW tech friend diagnose it and see if we can't figure out what's wrong. Where are the valves on realoem so I have an idea of their location/etc?

05545i

It definitely could be a VANOS issue, seeing as you already changed the plugs. Does the car feel like it has a "dead" skip? Or just a rough idle? Try cleaning the MAF, although im sure thats not your issue. Any engine noises associated with the poor running condition?

I can check all data for you tomorrow to see if there are any TSB's about this issue.

I know there is one for the V8 engines reguarding the valvetronics