E92 330i (N53) - Advice for engine problem
Discussion
Hi all,
I was hoping someone here might have some insight into an issue I have with my car at the moment, any help would be very welcome!
The car is a BMW E92 330i N53 engine. It has 71-72K on the clock. No modifications to the car to my knowledge, regular oil changes since I've owned it.
The issues started a couple of weeks back, I was driving in the evening around 7pm in 3rd or 4th gear going up hill if it makes any odds. At around 5K RPM, the engine seemed to hit a flat spot, by this I mean foot was to the floor or close enough but suddenly the car stopped pulling, the revs were steady. I geared up instinctively as it almost felt like it was on the rev limiter (no bouncing of revs though)
Anyway, this happened a few more times, always in 3rd or 4th gear, always seems to be around 5K rpm (give or take ~500rpm).
One evening the same thing happened and for better or worse rather than ease off or gear up I kept my foot planted, the engine warning light flashed a few times then came on solid, once pulled over the car was idling poorly (misfiring). After restarting the engine it was running fine again (to my knowledge!)
Next day I took it to my local guy who put in an OBD reader and it came up with the following codes in the ECU
A0B5 - Road Speed Signal Sensor
2AEC - Nitrogen Oxide Sensor Self Diag.
29D1 - Combus. Misfire Cyl 5
29D2 - Combus. Misfire Cyl 6
29D0 - Combus. Misfire Cyl 4
29CC - Combus. Misfire Several Cyl.
He wasn't sure what the underlying issue was, I've since spoken to a BMW dealer who were frankly useless. I've put some Slick 50 fuel treatment in as I was wondering if an injector was clogged, it's made no noticeable difference and the fault described above still occurs.
This issue is intermittent, I cannot constantly produce this fault but the criteria in which the fault occurs always seems to be as I've described above.
I've also since found out the N53 had a recall on injectors, at least 5 injectors were replaced under warranty according to BMW, I'm unsure on the 6th one (or which cyl that actually is)
I'm stuck at the moment as I use the car for track days but if it's likely to be a large bill I'd sooner P/X it in than drop a tonne of money replacing random bits in the hope it'll resolve the issue, I'm hoping someone hear has some insight greater than mine? (I'm not very mechanically minded!)
Many thanks for reading!
Sean
I was hoping someone here might have some insight into an issue I have with my car at the moment, any help would be very welcome!
The car is a BMW E92 330i N53 engine. It has 71-72K on the clock. No modifications to the car to my knowledge, regular oil changes since I've owned it.
The issues started a couple of weeks back, I was driving in the evening around 7pm in 3rd or 4th gear going up hill if it makes any odds. At around 5K RPM, the engine seemed to hit a flat spot, by this I mean foot was to the floor or close enough but suddenly the car stopped pulling, the revs were steady. I geared up instinctively as it almost felt like it was on the rev limiter (no bouncing of revs though)
Anyway, this happened a few more times, always in 3rd or 4th gear, always seems to be around 5K rpm (give or take ~500rpm).
One evening the same thing happened and for better or worse rather than ease off or gear up I kept my foot planted, the engine warning light flashed a few times then came on solid, once pulled over the car was idling poorly (misfiring). After restarting the engine it was running fine again (to my knowledge!)
Next day I took it to my local guy who put in an OBD reader and it came up with the following codes in the ECU
A0B5 - Road Speed Signal Sensor
2AEC - Nitrogen Oxide Sensor Self Diag.
29D1 - Combus. Misfire Cyl 5
29D2 - Combus. Misfire Cyl 6
29D0 - Combus. Misfire Cyl 4
29CC - Combus. Misfire Several Cyl.
He wasn't sure what the underlying issue was, I've since spoken to a BMW dealer who were frankly useless. I've put some Slick 50 fuel treatment in as I was wondering if an injector was clogged, it's made no noticeable difference and the fault described above still occurs.
This issue is intermittent, I cannot constantly produce this fault but the criteria in which the fault occurs always seems to be as I've described above.
I've also since found out the N53 had a recall on injectors, at least 5 injectors were replaced under warranty according to BMW, I'm unsure on the 6th one (or which cyl that actually is)
I'm stuck at the moment as I use the car for track days but if it's likely to be a large bill I'd sooner P/X it in than drop a tonne of money replacing random bits in the hope it'll resolve the issue, I'm hoping someone hear has some insight greater than mine? (I'm not very mechanically minded!)
Many thanks for reading!
Sean
Thanks for the reply Phil.
Yes, this engine has known issues with injectors, cool packs and I believe the high pressure fuel pump! Good buy, eh?
Possibly a silly question but will a BMW diagnostic really offer much more insight? The garage I use have a fairly sophisticated bit of kit by the looks, I can't confess to know the brand but it wasn't a ten quid eBay jobby!
When I spoke to BMW they said the next steps would be to run a diagnostic but admitted to me they wouldn't get anything additional compared with the codes id already obtained and they would take it for a test drive... I don't think they're likely to hit 5k rpm in 3rd let alone 4th to re create the issue ! For the grand price of around £90 if I recall correctly.
Not sure I want to part with the cash unless I know it's likely to be beneficial and from the BMW guys own comments, they wouldn't be - his actual suggestion was to wait for it to go to a hard fault - also not really a great idea in my view !
Thanks
Sean
Yes, this engine has known issues with injectors, cool packs and I believe the high pressure fuel pump! Good buy, eh?
Possibly a silly question but will a BMW diagnostic really offer much more insight? The garage I use have a fairly sophisticated bit of kit by the looks, I can't confess to know the brand but it wasn't a ten quid eBay jobby!
When I spoke to BMW they said the next steps would be to run a diagnostic but admitted to me they wouldn't get anything additional compared with the codes id already obtained and they would take it for a test drive... I don't think they're likely to hit 5k rpm in 3rd let alone 4th to re create the issue ! For the grand price of around £90 if I recall correctly.
Not sure I want to part with the cash unless I know it's likely to be beneficial and from the BMW guys own comments, they wouldn't be - his actual suggestion was to wait for it to go to a hard fault - also not really a great idea in my view !
Thanks
Sean
philmots said:
Clear all codes. Run it for a bit and then read them again using the proper BMW diagnostics..
It will probably pin point the issue more accurately.
I'm sure this engine had issues with coils going?
^ This It will probably pin point the issue more accurately.
I'm sure this engine had issues with coils going?
the road speed one may be nothing more that spurious, the amount of Beemers I see with spurious fault codes due to flat batts poor jump starts etc 
always keep a copy of the 1st read out & then clear fault codes and start from scratch 
Sounds familiar to the issues I had. Mine had previously had the injectors replaced under warranty but that doesn't mean they won't go again. My problem started like yours, got worse over a couple of weeks and I ended up needing most injectors and coil packs replacing... fortunately under warranty.
Gr44 said:
Thanks for the advice all... I'll spend some time with it this weekend and see if I can narrow it down at all!
Where in the country are you? Someone may be able to recommend a good in dependant with the right gear who'll plug it in for around £40.It will be completely different to even the sophisticated non specific ones.
My garage have a £5000 Snap on one that showed up nothing on my old car, plugged it in with Autologic and the list was as long as your arm!
I had the same issue on the same engine.
All coil packs and injectors replaced plus HP fuel pump and it was only just OK.
Fuel made a massive difference, BP and any supermarket fuel except Tesco Momentum were no use and would bring on the EML every time.
Shell V Power was most reliable but ESSO's posh fuel was OK also.
Apparently it's something to do with sulphur in the fuel.
If it were me I'd fill up with Shell VP and get it sold.
All coil packs and injectors replaced plus HP fuel pump and it was only just OK.
Fuel made a massive difference, BP and any supermarket fuel except Tesco Momentum were no use and would bring on the EML every time.
Shell V Power was most reliable but ESSO's posh fuel was OK also.
Apparently it's something to do with sulphur in the fuel.
If it were me I'd fill up with Shell VP and get it sold.
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