[mragarg]

Hey everyone,

I've been having a lot of issues with my car for the past few months, constantly taking it back into the shop and paying money to get things fixed.

It all started after I got my rear differential bushing replaced. I've noticed that the idle was rough and the car had some stuttering when slowing down or driving at low speeds.

Took it to the dealer and he said there's water in the fuel and to refuel it. So I emptied the tank and refueled it a few times and still had issues. Then an article came out saying that the gas station I go to had water in their fuel for a few weeks and I stopped going there.

A drivetrain malfunction eventually came up and idled really rough. Took it to the dealer and they charged me $300 to get the VANOS reprogramed and then said my turbo elbows need to be replaced. Called BMW USA and they covered half the cost of replacing the elbows. However, I still have the same issues. I read the forums and strongly believed it was the fuel injectors. But as the dealer replaced them, they said to have run the diagnostics (fuel injector tests) and it passed it all. The car drove nicely, but then 200 miles after getting the car back, I get a drivetrain malfunction, the first CEL light and extremely rough idle. After I parked it and started it again after a few hours, I get this loud popping noises from the exhaust that sounds like misfires.

What should I do? I do plan on towing it to the dealer but I'm tired of spending money to fix the same issue.

Here is the Youtube Video of the sounds from the exhaust.

[535_BiTurbo]

its running rich. thats unburnt fuel igniting in the exhaust. pull the plugs and check for fuel wetness/smell

[mragarg]

Originally Posted by 535_BiTurbo

its running rich. thats unburnt fuel igniting in the exhaust. pull the plugs and check for fuel wetness/smell

Running rich? Sorry, quite new to cars still, especially BMW. So would this be a call for new sparks or something? Note that the car only has a little under 45k miles

[ezaircon4jc]

So the -TU is having the same issues as the N63?? Interesting...

[mragarg]

Originally Posted by ezaircon4jc

So the -TU is having the same issues as the N63?? Interesting...

That's what it seems like. I barely drive the car hard (I did at like 20k miles but no more).

[NinetyEight740]

It’s definately misfiring. Not uncommon. Judging by the fact that the exhaust isn’t smoking, I’d lean towards a set of ignition coils. First step would be as said above, pull coils and plugs and see if you have any signs of a failed injector. If no plugs are fouled out or wet, replace coils.

[535_BiTurbo]

Yea OP definitely has a coil/plug issue.

[addy27]

My drive train malfunctions were primarily coils but the dealer couldn’t figure out which one as the misfire kept dancing around different coils. Once I replaced all 8, knock on wood, no DTMs

[badblack550xi]

also make sure to check your PVC for cracks.

[mragarg]

Dealer said it's the fuel pump. What's PVC?

[V8LIFE]

What’s the build date? Plug and coil issue are pretty common on 50i engine.

[mragarg]

June 2013 but it's LCI and has N63TU

[Mitchell431]

I have a DTM light misfire and cylinder shutdown only in 1&3 I've done bav auto upgraded coils OEM spark plugs and now injectors (only bank 1) did have a stage 2 tune but DTM happened prior also but would go away after shutting the car off and would come back under boost. Car is a 2016 550i any insights?

[krautmeister]

Is there a severe power loss? I thought it was coils too but it ended up being high pressure fuel pump on my N63.

[Bimmerroad]

I discovered that Drive train malfunction may come up for almost any little hick up.

After several months fixing little issues here and there (spark plugs and ignition coil were one of them) , I decided to bite the bullet and go for a full open heart surgery.

Sometimes drivetrain malfunction comes and go, but rest assure it is just a matter of time that it will return at full force, and it is hard to guess what could be, it can be almost anything, from ignition coil to a simple hose crack. You can burn your brains and read the hell out on the internet, it will only make you panic. It is infinite all the potential problems.

The stealership will more likely to run a code diagnostic, sometimes it is helpful and narrows down the potential problems, most of the time is not, it only raises potential issues that may be or may not be part of the solution but not the cure.

Recently I found out that my vent connection line was broken in half, yet it could not be seen, I stumbled on it by accident. My problem could've been multiple problems happening at once, if all had been addressed by the stealership , it would've cost $10 k for sure.

I had the usual Turbo oil burning which spilled all over, I decided to fix myself, it is a hell of a job.

In the process I found at least 10 potential problems that could cause Drive train malfunction, from carbon build up on sensors, dirty Throttle, bad spark plugs and ignition coil (ignition coils and spark plugs are fairly easy to replace, no need to pay thousands of dollars to stealership)

One important thing if you have turbo, DO NOT turn the ignition off immediately after stopping the car, let idle for 1 to 2 minutes. It will help to prevent the oil boiling, look it up, there are tons of information on it out there, most people are not aware of it.

Burnt oil is a common problem with turbo and stealership are not wrong to charge you a small fortune, it is a nightmare to reach the areas to investigate and since sometimes is impossible to know for sure where the leak is and also because the oil burning cause a lot other potential near future problems, stealership have no choice but replace most of the parts related to the turbocharger, see video below. I can't bad mouth stealership for charging the hell out it, who would do such job for little money?

By the way the vent valve connecting line will brake easy, and fairly easy to be missed. Just by work around it or near it like replace air filters may cause damage. I know because I found one damage and the other I damaged myself inadvertently when removing the air filter housing.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....9L._SX466_.jpg

If the stealearship tells the customer the truth, we are unlikely to believe, because most of us are idiots.

Turbo is fairly simple to maintain, but hard to get to it. Turbo is more likely to cost you a bundle because most people are unlikely to know how to minimize problems.

If your bimmer is approaching or is over 40k miles, if you cannot or will not maintain it properly and I do not mean just taking to stealership to do regular maintenance, better replace it, there are thousands of problems waiting to happen, most people are reactive. Of course, very few people have are mechanically inclined and have tools and a garage, which pretty much put people on the path to spend more than the car is worth in repairs.

If I had to sell my bimmer today, it would have to be worth at least additional $10k due to all preventive work I did and would save the future owner $30k, obviously nobody will pay as all will look the body condition as the only criteria to buy a car.

[Cali8055]

On this matter of the breather hoses , there’s one of the hoses that has an arrow . How do I remove this part. ? Without damaging it . It looks like this sort of but has an arrow

[Thecastle]

You don't it comes as an assembly. You replace the whole thing. Its not meant to be disassembled, you can try by cutting the ring. Trust me if its been on the car awhile the plastic has turned to crap and you better off replacing the whole thing. I just replaced mine this weekend. Along with the other breather hose.

[xxpanipuri]

All the suggestions above are great, but you may also want to try running some of the liquimoly additives

for oil and gas

There is also a DI injection cleaner (that has a different formulation for DIRECT INJECTION motors).

I'm a huge fan of LiquiMoly products, as it meets strict European standards (stricter than US) and it helps offset the not so good quality fuel we get here.

I would run a few tanks of the DI Injectron Fuel system cleaner.

Then follow with the engine flush (2 bottles) and let it run for 20m (from cold start) and then drain the oil, and fill with fresh liquimoly 5w-40.

then with the new oil add in the motor oil saver. (i'll alternate between ceratec and motor oil saver)

my 2014 550i has 76k miles and i do the above 2x a year (which for me is around 5-6k miles). (i also do 6k oil changes!)

these cars are highly engineered, and any little deviation from that can cause other issues and you can be chasing your tail.

The additives + frequent oil changes is cheap insurance vs constantly chasing down issues.

lastly DRIVE THE SHIT OUT OF it....if you're commuting in it alot, then make sure to do an 'italian' tune up 1x a week.

Drive for about 4 miles to make sure everything is properly warmed up (oil/coolant/diff/trans), and drive her like you stole it. that also helps keeps things running right

just my $.02, an ounce of prevention goes along way