[mol]

2011 e90 diesel, 56k miles, no performance mods. As of last night, I started smelling raw diesel from the top end of the motor, coming straight into the cabin. Pulled the cover and inspected fuel rail with a flash light, no visible fuel spraying. Doesn't appear to have an air leak from the box, but while accelerating a large sucking noise can be heard from the passenger side of the vehicle. Both symptoms began at the same time.

Not sure where to go from here...hopefully someone is familiar with this issue and can advise? Thanks!

[TorqueAddict]

There can be a few reasons, but most probable ones are cracked EGR cooler/gasket, or the gasket in between DPF and the turbo.

[Yozh]

do you mean diesel fuel smell or an exhaust smell?

[mol]

Raw diesel fuel, not burnt

[Hoooper]

someone just recently had an issue with the fuel return line leaking. They said it was very hard to see, so possibly when you looked you missed it? Return line comes off the end of the rail at the end near the firewall, which means it is probably pretty difficult to see without taking the intake or some other parts off

[TDIwyse]

Might also want to look at the hoses (item 5) that give the pressure differential of the DPF.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...87&hg=13&fg=15

Since you're hearing an usual sound from the passenger side during acceleration, and smelling something like fuel, these might be damaged or loose (and are in the right area you're hearing the new sound). When the car does post injection to heat things up, and if one or both of those hoses came loose or melted or ... it could smell like raw fuel.

[mol]

Awesome, thanks for the suggestions guys...haven't had the time to get to it yet today. Had to drive all day (as I do every day), and was not able to use the AC because it was pumping the diesel fumes straight into the car. Not so fun on a 90* day!

I'll keep you all posted.

[mol]

Everything I'm reading and most of the symptoms seem to point to a cracked EGR cooler...seems like this is a recurring issue in both the 335 and the X5?

I'm assuming the cooler is the small canister at the back left of the motor, tucked conveniently underneath the cowl...I can see a good bit of diesel/carbon buildup on this (if it is what I think it is)...or is this the actual recirculation valve?

Forgive my ignorance here, this is my first experience with this particular motor, and only second with a turbo diesel (the other being inside of an engine bay 3 times as large as the E90's)

Not sure if my erg valve was replace under the recall or not, will find out tomorrow.

Where are you all going for OE parts?

[skychismo]

Originally Posted by mol

Everything I'm reading and most of the symptoms seem to point to a cracked EGR cooler...seems like this is a recurring issue in both the 335 and the X5?

I'm assuming the cooler is the small canister at the back left of the motor, tucked conveniently underneath the cowl...I can see a good bit of diesel/carbon buildup on this (if it is what I think it is)...or is this the actual recirculation valve?

Forgive my ignorance here, this is my first experience with this particular motor, and only second with a turbo diesel (the other being inside of an engine bay 3 times as large as the E90's)

Not sure if my erg valve was replace under the recall or not, will find out tomorrow.

Where are you all going for OE parts?

The EGR cooler is right on the front of the engine. Very easy to get at. Here is a picture.

[skychismo]

Here is a pic of it.

[mol]

Meh, never mind...don't think it's the cooler. The sucking noise is at the rear of the engine bay and apparently the cooler is attached to the front of the exhaust manifold? I've found a few others that reported exhaust from the engine bay through the air ducts and the remedy was a replacement turbo, crushed washer caused exhaust leak.

Maybe this is exhaust I'm smelling and not raw diesel as I initially thought. I think I'll go buy a pack of smokes tomorrow and try to track this leak down

Edit: didn't see your post, thanks for the pic! Yeah that can't be the culprit.

[skychismo]

Originally Posted by mol

Meh, never mind...don't think it's the cooler. The sucking noise is at the rear of the engine bay and apparently the cooler is attached to the front of the exhaust manifold? I've found a few others that reported exhaust from the engine bay through the air ducts and the remedy was a replacement turbo, crushed washer caused exhaust leak.

Maybe this is exhaust I'm smelling and not raw diesel as I initially thought. I think I'll go buy a pack of smokes tomorrow and try to track this leak down

Edit: didn't see your post, thanks for the pic! Yeah that can't be the culprit.

The sucking sound and the diesel smell could be unrelated. I'm new to these diesels, but on turbocharged engine sucking sound under throttle are usually associated with a turbo leak somewhere.

[mol]

Originally Posted by skychismo

The sucking sound and the diesel smell could be unrelated. I'm new to these diesels, but on turbocharged engine sucking sound under throttle are usually associated with a turbo leak somewhere.

Makes sense.

I'm assuming they're related because they started at EXACTLY the same time, though I suppose coincidence could have reared it's annoying head.

I need to find out whether the warranty I have on this car can be used nationwide. Travelled a ways to get the one I wanted, and it's not CPO (a short coverage period with a couple hundred dollar deductible this particular dealer provides with most of their cars). I'd prefer to not drop $1,500 on the rear turbo

[mol]

I was a little mean to it before replacing the tires...but I'd be surprised if a few small burnouts would eat a turbo on this car

[skychismo]

Originally Posted by mol

I was a little mean to it before replacing the tires...but I'd be surprised if a few small burnouts would eat a turbo on this car

No, that won't wreck a turbo unless it was done on a cold engine. I believe these cars use Garret turbos which are very high quality. Dead turbos won't make sucking sounds, they'll whine or rattle.

[mol]

Found the culprit...don't know how I looked right over it so many times. Melted line from the pressure sensor. The nearest parts were in KY, hopefully theyll be here tomorrow.

[mol]

On a separate note...

Who thought it was a good idea to have this car's intake sucking very hot air directly off of the rear of the exhaust manifold?

[Hoooper]

Originally Posted by mol

On a separate note...

Who thought it was a good idea to have this car's intake sucking very hot air directly off of the rear of the exhaust manifold?

its an emissions "benefit". My understanding is it helps warm the engine faster, just like EGR also does

[TDIwyse]

Originally Posted by mol

... Melted line from the pressure sensor...

Nice. Do I get a 6 pack for guessing the cause correctly (post #6)?

If you don't want to smell exhaust while waiting for replacement part, you can use the correct diameter high temp fuel hose (or similar).

[TDIwyse]

Originally Posted by mol

On a separate note...

Who thought it was a good idea to have this car's intake sucking very hot air directly off of the rear of the exhaust manifold?

Isn't there a spring/baffle type structure on that path? It seemed to me like that was an emergency type of air source in case something plugged the main intake path. Thought it was like that so the system would notice a significantly higher intake temp at the MAF so it would know something was obstructing the main air inlet. But that was just a guess for why it was there...

[mol]

Originally Posted by TDIwyse

Nice. Do I get a 6 pack for guessing the cause correctly (post #6)?

If you don't want to smell exhaust while waiting for replacement part, you can use the correct diameter high temp fuel hose (or similar).

Which is why I was all the more confused...I was SURE I had stuck my head back and inspected as thoroughly as possible, with a friend revving the motor. It got VERY hot but apparently I was blind as a bat and l looked right past this!

Originally Posted by Hoooper

its an emissions "benefit". My understanding is it helps warm the engine faster, just like EGR also does

Interesting...

[mol]

Originally Posted by TDIwyse

Isn't there a spring/baffle type structure on that path? It seemed to me like that was an emergency type of air source in case something plugged the main intake path. Thought it was like that so the system would notice a significantly higher intake temp at the MAF so it would know something was obstructing the main air inlet. But that was just a guess for why it was there...

Looks to me like it's the only intake, but I was initially thinking something along those lines, as well