E63 630i issues again

[Lee630i]

Luckily I still love this car, but it's getting hard to hide the financial commitment in bloody repairs from the better half. In 8 months I have spent a bomb but keep telling myself it's worth it as its such a clean unique car that still looks great.

Drove out on my normal commute this morning, car was still cold and whilst going up a hill at a low speed, gradually increasing the load on the throttle it felt like the gearbox was confused between second and third and wouldn't commit to a gear. Knocked it over to manual and took control of the paddles to help it up the hill. Power was sapped, engine sounded like a bag of spanners and when I stopped at a junction it was vibrating and hunting all over the place.

This then smoothed out and it went away..

Question here is last time I had a coil pack fail it went totally, engine light came on and was clearly on 5 cylinders. Had very similar characteristics but this time it felt a bit gearboxy aswell, was it just that it lost power on the hill and didnt quite have the oomph to get into third? No engine light either.

I have ordered a coil pack any way and the car was fine on the commute home tonight

Does this sound like coil pack gradual failure? Can they gradually fail? My only experience is of them packing up all together.

Thanks all 😬

[Court_S]

Have you got a code reader? Sounds like it might be a wise investment.

Is yours an N53 powered car?

[d_a_n1979]

Lee630i said:

Luckily I still love this car, but it's getting hard to hide the financial commitment in bloody repairs from the better half. In 8 months I have spent a bomb but keep telling myself it's worth it as its such a clean unique car that still looks great.

Drove out on my normal commute this morning, car was still cold and whilst going up a hill at a low speed, gradually increasing the load on the throttle it felt like the gearbox was confused between second and third and wouldn't commit to a gear. Knocked it over to manual and took control of the paddles to help it up the hill. Power was sapped, engine sounded like a bag of spanners and when I stopped at a junction it was vibrating and hunting all over the place.

This then smoothed out and it went away..

Question here is last time I had a coil pack fail it went totally, engine light came on and was clearly on 5 cylinders. Had very similar characteristics but this time it felt a bit gearboxy aswell, was it just that it lost power on the hill and didnt quite have the oomph to get into third? No engine light either.

I have ordered a coil pack any way and the car was fine on the commute home tonight

Does this sound like coil pack gradual failure? Can they gradually fail? My only experience is of them packing up all together.

Thanks all ??

As Sam's said Lee, time to get a code reader

Creator C310+ is great, c£50 and small enough to keep in the car. If you wanted a more powerful version, then the Autophix 7910 is a good investment, that's c£110

Both on Amazon.co.uk

Really handy to have it, more so for stuff like this

[Charlie Croker mk2]

Where are you in the UK i can scan it for you ( free ) if you are near Manchester ? When were the spark plugs last changed Worn plugs with wide gaps could cause coil problems but could also be your original issue .

[Lee630i]

Charlie Croker mk2 said:

Where are you in the UK i can scan it for you ( free ) if you are near Manchester ? When were the spark plugs last changed Worn plugs with wide gaps could cause coil problems but could also be your original issue .

Thanks, I'm in south east London! Bit of a trek. Looking at the service records the spark plugs were done 18k miles ago. I have done one coil pack, I think I bought a car at 'that age' where everything gets done or passed on again. It's on 90k

There's a guy at work who going to lend me his code reader if I drove in to work Friday, will run it and see what it does. Ideal world it will tell me what cylinder I had a misfire on to I.d the coil

[Lee630i]

Court_S said:

Have you got a code reader? Sounds like it might be a wise investment.

Is yours an N53 powered car?

Yea N53

[Court_S]

Lee630i said:

Yea N53

Could a failing NOX sensor be causing the issue? It’s hard to say without a code reader….I’d have offered but I’m still too far away.

Good luck getting it sorted.

[bmwmike]

Court_S said:

Lee630i said:

Yea N53

Could a failing NOX sensor be causing the issue? It’s hard to say without a code reader….I’d have offered but I’m still too far away.

Good luck getting it sorted.

Needs codes read or more likely live data. Id suggest ISTA over a code reader but anything is better than nothing. NOx sensor fault doesn't cause rough running afaik. Mine failed silently.

[g3org3y]

d_a_n1979 said:

As Sam's said Lee, time to get a code reader

Creator C310+ is great, c£50 and small enough to keep in the car. If you wanted a more powerful version, then the Autophix 7910 is a good investment, that's c£110

Both on Amazon.co.uk

Really handy to have it, more so for stuff like this

+1 If you're in/around North Essex, more than happy to chuck my code reader on your 6.

[Lee630i]

Thanks all, yes agreed I will purchase a reader! Car still fine at the moment but driving to centre parcs in a weeks time and loading it up with bikes via a Sarris bike rack.

[Lee630i]

Hi all

Just to add to my worries, on a cold start the car lurches forward sometimes. Almost like I've had a little bump in the back.

Normal on the zf6?

[Court_S]

Lee630i said:

Hi all

Just to add to my worries, on a cold start the car lurches forward sometimes. Almost like I've had a little bump in the back.

Normal on the zf6?

I don’t think tars normal at all. Neither of my ZF6 equipped cars have ever done anything like that.

[bmwmike]

Doesn't sound right. Could the engine be surging and causing the buck or is it definitely the box?

[NiceCupOfTea]

I’m in SE London with a Creator C310 code reader - happy to help if you can’t beg/borrow/steal one yourself.

[g3org3y]

Lee630i said:

Hi all

Just to add to my worries, on a cold start the car lurches forward sometimes. Almost like I've had a little bump in the back.

Normal on the zf6?

Is that when changing up or down?

When was the gearbox last serviced?

[tgr]

I don't think that is unusual with the engine at higher idle on a cold start - but as georgy says a breadbox service could be worthwhile depending on how long you want to keep the car. Sounds like you have a lot more to sort out than just the gearbox however

[Court_S]

g3org3y said:

Lee630i said:

Hi all

Just to add to my worries, on a cold start the car lurches forward sometimes. Almost like I've had a little bump in the back.

Normal on the zf6?

Is that when changing up or down?

When was the gearbox last serviced?

I assumed that he meant whilst starting the car it lurched forward. I can sometimes feel the gear change when the ‘box is a bit cool and I use the paddles. Other than that is smooth.

[Lee630i]

Yes its on starting the engine it does it

[Magnum 475]

Lee630i said:

Yes its on starting the engine it does it

With the transmission in Park?? That’s definitely in need of investigation. I’ve never heard of a car attempting to move while in Park.

[g3org3y]

Lee630i said:

Yes its on starting the engine it does it

Ok, that's a bit weird. Occasionally when cold the first shift (typically 2-3 as iirc the box usually starts in 2) can be held onto longer than expected and as it shifts up that can be a touch jerky (apparently it's held to warm up the cats quicker), but I've never heard of lurching just on start.

bmwmike said:

Doesn't sound right. Could the engine be surging and causing the buck or is it definitely the box?

^Wot he said.