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[MorganSA]

Hi all

Long time browser, never registered. This is always the go to forum I've found for technical support, and the dearth of information is absolutely astounding.

In South Africa, Cape Town, have a 2013 pre-LCI F10 M5 in Alpine White (currently broken) and a 2009 E63 M6 in Silverstone Metallic (currently in storage).

Awesome forum, look forward to partaking where I can.

Morgan

[ruben356]

Originally Posted by MorganSA

Hi all

Long time browser, never registered. This is always the go to forum I've found for technical support, and the dearth of information is absolutely astounding.

In South Africa, Cape Town, have a 2013 pre-LCI F10 M5 in Alpine White (currently broken) and a 2009 E63 M6 in Silverstone Metallic (currently in storage).

Awesome forum, look forward to partaking where I can.

Morgan

Welcome, beautiful cars, both in their respective ways. What is going on with the F10 that it is currently broken? Hope you can get it back on the road soon, or I would pull the E63 out in the meantime

[MorganSA]

Hi Ruben, thank you for the welcome and the compliments. The issue with the F10, where to begin haha. It's currently man down with a consistent DTM issue, I've been diagnosing for about two months now, finally think the culprit is a faulty secondary O2/lambda sensor (I'm running catless DPs on my car with a tune). But the error has been there since I did the DPs so thought nothing of it. Removed the fuel rail, swapped fuel pumps from bank 1 to bank 2, replaced a fuel pressure sensor, and today after a bit of research it looks like my faulty O2 sensor is the cause of my DTM issue (this after extensive fuel pump testing with ISTA). So with any luck it'll be rectified in the next day or two.

As for the E63, that's currently sitting in another city collecting dust. How sad!

[AlisterB]

Welcome Morgan.

Hopefully you can get the issue(s) with the F10 sorted soon and have it back on the road.

[MorganSA]

Thank you Alister, hopefully by the end of this week. Got a new O2 sensor yesterday, it's a Bosch universal O2 sensor that needs some sight modification. About a third the price of the BMW one. So keeping my fingers crossed that I have finally found the solution.

This is a great forum, the amount of information available is insane.

[ruben356]

Originally Posted by MorganSA

Hi Ruben, thank you for the welcome and the compliments. The issue with the F10, where to begin haha. It's currently man down with a consistent DTM issue, I've been diagnosing for about two months now, finally think the culprit is a faulty secondary O2/lambda sensor (I'm running catless DPs on my car with a tune). But the error has been there since I did the DPs so thought nothing of it. Removed the fuel rail, swapped fuel pumps from bank 1 to bank 2, replaced a fuel pressure sensor, and today after a bit of research it looks like my faulty O2 sensor is the cause of my DTM issue (this after extensive fuel pump testing with ISTA). So with any luck it'll be rectified in the next day or two.

As for the E63, that's currently sitting in another city collecting dust. How sad!

What tune do you have? I was under the impression that most tunes take care of the O2 sensor issues/lights, and only use the primary sensors and not the secondary/catalyst sensors. I too am running catless DP's. I think i have only gotten a DTM error once, i had a weird like bucking and sudden loss of power while on the highway. It was very quick and random, startled me and pulled over to read the codes, as the check engine and DTM flashed and went away immediately. It had a HPFP code logged but not active, has never happened again.

Hope that fixes your issue so you can get back to enjoying the car, good luck.

[MorganSA]

Originally Posted by ruben356

What tune do you have? I was under the impression that most tunes take care of the O2 sensor issues/lights, and only use the primary sensors and not the secondary/catalyst sensors. I too am running catless DP's. I think i have only gotten a DTM error once, i had a weird like bucking and sudden loss of power while on the highway. It was very quick and random, startled me and pulled over to read the codes, as the check engine and DTM flashed and went away immediately. It had a HPFP code logged but not active, has never happened again.

Hope that fixes your issue so you can get back to enjoying the car, good luck.

Hi Ruben, it seems it wasn't the O2 sensor after all, although the car is idling better now since I replaced it. I had mini cats installed in my DPs and never had any issues with the O2 sensors or performance degradation because of them. I suspect that mine failed due to age or something. My car has about 129500kms/83000mls on it. It's just in the last few months it's given me big problems.

However, the O2 sensor didn't fix the issue. I've got a hard coded DTM now. All my tests on fuel pumps etc. seems to show my pumps are working fine. But, I suspect I have leaking valve cover gaskets. I removed my plugs this weekend to check the gaps and they were covered in oil on the cylinders 3,4,5 and 6. So after some research it seems that I need to replace those next. Waiting on the gasket arrivals from BMW and will be doing that in the next short while.

[ruben356]

Originally Posted by MorganSA

Hi Ruben, it seems it wasn't the O2 sensor after all, although the car is idling better now since I replaced it. I had mini cats installed in my DPs and never had any issues with the O2 sensors or performance degradation because of them. I suspect that mine failed due to age or something. My car has about 129500kms/83000mls on it. It's just in the last few months it's given me big problems.

However, the O2 sensor didn't fix the issue. I've got a hard coded DTM now. All my tests on fuel pumps etc. seems to show my pumps are working fine. But, I suspect I have leaking valve cover gaskets. I removed my plugs this weekend to check the gaps and they were covered in oil on the cylinders 3,4,5 and 6. So after some research it seems that I need to replace those next. Waiting on the gasket arrivals from BMW and will be doing that in the next short while.

That's a bummer man. The valve cover gaskets seem to be a big PIA for these cars, hopefully that sorts it out. Have you done any kind of vacuum leak test, preferably with a smoke machine?

[MorganSA]

Originally Posted by ruben356

That's a bummer man. The valve cover gaskets seem to be a big PIA for these cars, hopefully that sorts it out. Have you done any kind of vacuum leak test, preferably with a smoke machine?

I haven't actually. But I think I may as well do the gaskets anyway, even if it were precautionary. There's a fair amount of oil burning off somewhere, can smell it and there is a lot of smoke coming from the exhausts, more than a catless DP should I think. I can actually see me doing a full top end refresh on the car, looking at the turbos as well. Driving my wife's car has been a lesson though and does make me appreciate the M5 so much more.

I am just amazed at how fast it all went downhill. This year alone I've done the plugs, the coils, the auxiliary water pump, the fuel pressure sensor, the O2 sensor, the turbo cooling lines, the intercooler boost pipes, it's never ending.

[MorganSA]

So I thought I'd update, because now I am at a loss. The last post I was about to undertake the replacing of the VCGs. Well that's done. And what a terrible job it was too. After replacing the gaskets, reassembling etc., the car started first time no issues (after the fuel pumps had primed and what not). But the car is STILL misfiring. I replaced the coils (again) with OE Bosch units, still misfiring. The weirdest part of it all? Not a single error in ISTA+ or on Carly. Not ONE. So I am beginning to think the worst now, that the engine in this car may be done with. And if that's the case, there's going to be a lot of parts for sale soon.

[ruben356]

Originally Posted by MorganSA

So I thought I'd update, because now I am at a loss. The last post I was about to undertake the replacing of the VCGs. Well that's done. And what a terrible job it was too. After replacing the gaskets, reassembling etc., the car started first time no issues (after the fuel pumps had primed and what not). But the car is STILL misfiring. I replaced the coils (again) with OE Bosch units, still misfiring. The weirdest part of it all? Not a single error in ISTA+ or on Carly. Not ONE. So I am beginning to think the worst now, that the engine in this car may be done with. And if that's the case, there's going to be a lot of parts for sale soon.

That's a bummer man. Have you done compression and leakdown tests? If not I would probably start there. As well as drain oil/drop pan if you can to inspect for any metals possibly. Look through your wire loom as well, i would think it should throw codes, but if the car sits a lot might have rodents or something damaged some of the cables.

[MorganSA]

So I got it running. After doing the valve cover gaskets, fuel pressure sensor, plugs, coils, fuel pump gaskets, new O2 sensor, new fuel injector decoupling elements and turbo gaskets on the air channel side it's running. Took me 4 months worth of work and diagnosing (doing a little here and there) but finally today after replacing the turbo gaskets she fired up, ran some diagnostics, had a discharging battery which made it a bit lumpy then took it for a drive and hey presto. Running smooth as silk now. Was really worried that the engine had blown but it seems that wasn't the case. Now just a steady break in period and I think it'll be right as rain.

[M5Rick]

Yeah the rocker cover gaskets replacements mean a lot of removal and time consuming work,with all the other things like might as well do the plugs and coils also on the way. When I think back to my classic TR6 that r/c gasket took under 10 minutes to change and plugs were a cinch lol

[MorganSA]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Yeah the rocker cover gaskets replacements mean a lot of removal and time consuming work,with all the other things like might as well do the plugs and coils also on the way. When I think back to my classic TR6 that r/c gasket took under 10 minutes to change and plugs were a cinch lol

I had to learn on the fly as there's not a well documented process to do it so l do a write up about the process so maybe someone has a bit of insight if they're going to undertake it. Many times I wished it was an old E30 engine lol. But it was a hell of a process. Just very relieved I didn't break anything in the process. Lost a fair few sockets though.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by MorganSA

I had to learn on the fly as there's not a well documented process to do it so l do a write up about the process so maybe someone has a bit of insight if they're going to undertake it. Many times I wished it was an old E30 engine lol. But it was a hell of a process. Just very relieved I didn't break anything in the process. Lost a fair few sockets though.

Indeed even that bracket that runs across the rear top of engine that holds the ecu's? looks a PITA to even remove.

[JoepM5]

Welcome, beautiful cars!!

[ruben356]

Originally Posted by MorganSA

So I got it running. After doing the valve cover gaskets, fuel pressure sensor, plugs, coils, fuel pump gaskets, new O2 sensor, new fuel injector decoupling elements and turbo gaskets on the air channel side it's running. Took me 4 months worth of work and diagnosing (doing a little here and there) but finally today after replacing the turbo gaskets she fired up, ran some diagnostics, had a discharging battery which made it a bit lumpy then took it for a drive and hey presto. Running smooth as silk now. Was really worried that the engine had blown but it seems that wasn't the case. Now just a steady break in period and I think it'll be right as rain.

Awesome man, glad to hear it. Now back to enjoying the car.