spelham

Hi All,

2006 E60 530d

My local mechanic has just removed my swirl flaps and replaced with PMW blanking plates.

He said everything went back without a problem, started the car and all was well.

I then took it for a drive and noticed loss of power, plus some 'kangarooing of power'. Foot down and 40 MPH max (I assume limp home mode), then the engine warning light came on and I get emissions alarm on the display and told to contact BMW.

I have taken it back to him, but when we opened the bonnet there was smoke. He said it was oil leaking - not good!!!!!!!!!!
(Note: Not bucket loads of smoke, but enough to be noticiable and I would have thought plenty to set off the emissions sensor).

The thing is I am trying to work out where the oil leak is. He only removed the manifold as shown by PMW, replaced the flaps with blanking plates by following instructions provided by others and put it back together.

Can anybody think of anything that may have been done in error to cause an oil leak or cause the emissions alarm? He is now taking it apart again, but basically I am petrified that something real bad has happened. Any help/guidance would be appreciated. To reduce my heart rate if nothing else.

Thanks in advance.

Steve.

mmitev

I am far from expert on these things, but the symptoms remind me of a very scary breakdown of mine (2004 530d) which turned out to be a 5-minute fix:
On the highway my car lost power and went into limp mode; I opened the hood - there was a bit of oil on all parts between engine and radiator, and there was some kind of light smoke, presumably from the oil on the heated engine parts?

The roadside assistance arrived and it turned out that the big hose that supplies air from the turbo to the intake manifold had snapped out of the bracket at the front end of the intake manifold. This hose supplies air mixed with oil to lubricate the turbo or some other parts, which was the reason why everything had some oil sprayed on it. The engine had gone in limp mode automatically when it sensed loss of pressure. The hose had snapped off because the previous mechanic was not diligent enough when attaching it. It was reattached in 5 minutes and no problems since.

Let us know what was wrong in your case.

Anzafin

I would also give a vote for the charged air hose coming into the intake manifold from the radiator. There's always some oil in these tubes and if there's a leak or the hose hasn't been attached correctly, some of this oil will spread all over the engine bay.

It could be the charged air hose coming into the EGR valve in front or the re-circulated exhaust gas tube coming from the left:


- Antti -

spelham

Hi Both,

I think you have cracked it. I told the mechaninc and it was exactly what you said. He has now refitted it and the car goes like a rocket ship once more. Only one problem though: The Engine Management warning about EMISSIONS won't go out. I can got to BMW and they will charge £50 to reset. I can go to BMW and they may say something else is wrong - and to be honest I wouldn't know if they were telling the truth or not. I am assuming you had a warning light of some sort come on. If so, how did you get rid of it?

Anzafin

Good to hear you worked it out.

The message very highly came because of the loose hose, and if that's the case, it will go off after a while. You will just have to drive the thing...

spelham

mmitev: You have the same car as me. Did you also get an emissions warning light? My car is back together, offending pipe firmly clipped into place and power restored, but I still have the emissions warning and it won't go away.

Anzafin

The emissions warning will not appear if the removal has been done correctly. I'm pretty sure yours came bacause of the loose hose. If it doesn't go away, go for a dealer or some independent and get your error memory erased. If the warning came for some other reason, it will come back.

You should check all the electric plug connections. I got the emissions warning once when the plug on top of the EGR thermostat wasn't completely pushed in.
It took a day or two before the message went away, but it went.

mmitev

No, i did not get this light.

I can't remember if I got any message and what, as I was so stressed that my turbo had passed away lol! And the assistance guy has probably resetted it while he was working on the car.

But there are lots of people that have removed the flaps and they got no warning light, so I would tend to think that our Finnish guru is right.

Regarding reading error messages I would just find a good independent garage that will do this stuff for a fraction of the BMW fee AND tell you the truth

If you are based in the UK let me know and I will try to find a link with a UK forum thread with many independent BMW shops that are worth visiting.

mmitev

Well, here it is I am quite surprised myself, but I was able to dig this out in the time frame of 2 minutes. (hint: it was not in my bookmarks )..

http://www.unixnerd.demon.co.uk/garages_seng.html

I have visited two highly recommended shops from the list in the area of High Wycombe, and I would trust these guys with my life

spelham

Hi All,

God I am a right old women (apolgies to all old women who drive bimmers )

Car is all better now - hooray!!!!

My indy borrowed a diagnostic unit and reset the emissions alarm. I was fairly convinced he had sorted it last night when he refixed the turbo/manifold hose correctly and the car went from 'Millenium Bug' to 'Millenium Falcon' straight away. But the emissions light still had me worried.

Anyhow today I have been giving it a tonking and everything is great and no reoccurence of the warning light.

No doubt I'll find something else to panic about tomorrow. Ah! I already have - my wife wants a fence putting up and if I don't do it, I'm dead .........c'est la vie

Cheers all who helped.

Steve.