[fordperf]

I am having problems with my 2009 335xi. The previous owner had the recall done for hpfp and injectors, I was told. Since then I have had it in to replace the intake and exhaust VANOS solenoids, which went bad. About 2 weeks ago I had some fuel pressure sensor go bad, which threw it into limp mode, had that replaced.

In the last 48 hours, twice I have had the engine just die at low speeds. I mean straight to 0 rpm, and then catch itself and jump back up to idle. The nav screen goes black and 'reboots' to the BMW letters.

In the last 2 months or so, the car has sometimes idled rough. It feels like it hiccups ever so slightly during hard acceleration. Hesitates at low rpm. *I* notice it, and it bothers me.

I am writing up a text file of issues to hand to my service rep, but so far it has thrown no codes for me to see (unless they are just logged internally). The last time the engine died on me (this morning) it doesnt go into limp mode.

Is this the misfire/hesitation problem I am reading about here? Even on the 'new' injectors (p/n ending in 261) and new hpfp? What about these 'even newer' injectors (p/n ending in 079) -- should I be inquiring about them / demanding all 6 be replaced with them?

The car is now dangerous to drive because I now know I can lose engine at any speed, with only a hope it will self-recover. Thoughts?

[fordperf]

Also I was told during the last visit 2 weeks ago, my car was upgraded to the latest software, if that helps:

ISTA/P 49.3.002
ILEVEL e89x-13-03-504

[j1gilles]

Sounds power supply related to me...? Did you have the battery cable recall done?

[335okc]

Originally Posted by j1gilles

Sounds power supply related to me...? Did you have the battery cable recall done?

+1

[fordperf]

Yes I had the cable recall done about a month ago. The only way that would impact any of this is if they screwed that up and it's shorting or having grounding issues.

[fordperf]

UPDATE: I had the engine die on me on the way to work, just rpm drop to zero then back to ~600 rpm. The nav rebooted too. I still drove it to work because I needed to be in.

I came out to the car AFTER work, and it was STONE DEAD. No doorlocks, no interior lights, wouldnt start, just a completely dead car as if it had no battery in it.

I popped the hood to look under it (out of habit) and realized wtf was I going to do under there, so I closed it. Went back into the car, and I had interior lights! I tried to start the car, and it went dead after a half crank. Something drained the car all day. Slamming the hood may have jiggled something, so now I am thinking a bad ground from the battery cable recall.

A friend comes to jumpstart me, but I try to start it normally one last time and, lo and behold, it starts right up. The nav screen lights up like Christmas saying "Start-off assistance inactive!", "Set date and time", and "AWD and DSC malfunction!"

I let it idle about 20 mins, turn it off and restart it ok. I decided to try and drive it home. On the ride home I called my dealer, secured an appointment that night for ~7pm, and I drove the car straight to the dealer and got a loaner.

I sat down with a SA (not my usual SA, he is out for the week *naturally*) and went through the whole story. The engine dying, the hpfp/injector recall, vanos solenoids, etc. I was pleasant but made sure they knew I was an unhappy BMW customer with a $50k paperweight.

She looked up my injector/hpfp recall work (Jan 2011) and for some reason it was written in German in the RO. It said '4 injektoren' or whatever. I asked "why do I have 6 cylinders yet only 4 injectors were replaced?" She said they only replace the ones that threw codes. I said ok, but now I am driving around on 2 potentially bad injectors that were recalled already, why is that ok? She said if they threw codes they will be replaced with 261 injectors. I said why would I want the last 2 replaced with injectors that have been end-of-lifed already by BMW? I said I wanted them ALL replaced with 079 injectors. She says she has to see if injector codes were thrown and if so that opens up some options, a full 079 replacement possibly one of them. I asked for in writing a visual confirmation of the p/n of all 6 injectors.

She also was going to waive my $50 deductible for CPO repairs, which, well ok.

So I picked up my loaner, and that was that. They now have my car for better or worse.

EDIT: the SA said all the errors thrown on the screen after starting were normal for how the car behaves when a new battery is first put in. As soon as I drove away, all those errors went away except for 'set date and time'...

EDIT2: she also mentioned that if my problem isnt solved that we can open a PUMA case, and she explained what that was. It was nice that I didnt have to threaten with that, she seemed on-board.

[marv85]

Thank God you have CPO... everything will be sorted out eventually. used cars are used cars.

I just sold my previous E90 335, which behaved over the years. the car never complained, misfired, had a dead HPFP etc... he calls me and says the clutch is dead... I know the clutch was perfectly fine, so what happened? may be it's just bad luck. Something always happens when you buy a car lol

I bought my new car (see sig) with 15k miles. A week later I had a leaking injector lol...

[fordperf]

I bought mine in Jan 2012 with 24k miles on it, and I just turned 41k. I see people have complained about valve coking but I didn't bring that up yet, I wanted to see what they found out on their own.

[fordperf]

Just to keep a running tally, the things I know which have been replaced:

• VANOS solenoids (both intake and exhaust)
• HPFP (recall, Jan 2011)
• 4 injectors (recall, Jan 2011)
• battery cable (recall, April 2013)
• low pressure fuel sensor (April 2013)

[fordperf]

This just in, my SA just called me. I am getting a new (2nd) HPFP, and a new battery cable. They have not gotten to injectors yet but if codes were thrown they are going to get looked at.

[marv85]

Originally Posted by fordperf

This just in, my SA just called me. I am getting a new (2nd) HPFP, and a new battery cable. They have not gotten to injectors yet but if codes were thrown they are going to get looked at.

more free stuff

[j1gilles]

I knew it had something to do with that F@cking recall!

[fordperf]

Actually to be fair, she said "fuel pump" and I just assumed HPFP. I emailed her for explicit clarification. Maybe it was the LPFP.

[j1gilles]

Above you wrote "battery cable????"

[BMWM.D.]

I was thinking it is most likely related to the battery cable recall that was done. It's actually a pretty invasive repair, especially if someone who isn't very experienced performs it. I suspect in the long run, it will cause more problems than it prevents. That's my personal 2-cents after doing probably 100 of these recalls myself.

Your issue sounds like a loose/poor connection. It's possible the crimp wasn't done right during the recall, or the cable wasn't secured properly to the back of the junction box. Could even be as simple as someone leaving the negative cable loose. Good luck with it.

[fordperf]

Originally Posted by j1gilles

Above you wrote "battery cable????"

Yes as per the latest recall. Why?

[fordperf]

I shot her a quick email asking if it was the HPFP or the LPFP, and she confirmed it is the low pressure pump being replaced and not the HPFP.

Also she said that all 6 injectors are being replaced. However she did not say that all 6 were being replaced with the 079 injectors (but I assume so, I already had four 261 injectors -- why would they replace those four plus 2 more with more obsolete injectors? But I will wait till I hear explicit confirmation from her.)

[fordperf]

Originally Posted by BMWM.D.

I was thinking it is most likely related to the battery cable recall that was done. It's actually a pretty invasive repair, especially if someone who isn't very experienced performs it. I suspect in the long run, it will cause more problems than it prevents. That's my personal 2-cents after doing probably 100 of these recalls myself.

Your issue sounds like a loose/poor connection. It's possible the crimp wasn't done right during the recall, or the cable wasn't secured properly to the back of the junction box. Could even be as simple as someone leaving the negative cable loose. Good luck with it.

I have not come across a good description of what the battery cable recall involved. Personally I just imaged a short 1 foot cable and a connector being replaced, but your description sounds more involved. Does anyone have any pics or info on this cable replacement?

[j1gilles]

The injectors or the fuel pump(s) would have nothing to do with the nav screen resetting or even the car completely dying... Im sure it was/is the cable causing your problem, probably why they are replacing it

[fordperf]

Originally Posted by j1gilles

The injectors or the fuel pump(s) would have nothing to do with the nav screen resetting or even the car completely dying... Im sure it was/is the cable causing your problem, probably why they are replacing it

Well she said on her voicemail that the end connectors were loose and so they redid the connections. However the invoice doesnt mention this at all..

[fordperf]

Ok so I got my car back and WOW it is like a different car. It idles so smooth you can hardly tell the car is running. Acceleration is smooth like glass, no low-end hesitation (beyond bmw's drive-by-wire hesitation found on all their cars now). No hesitation on low acceleration when the wheels are turned.

Here is a breakdown, straight from the invoices, that they replaced:

ENGINE:

C/S CAR STALLED OUT WHEN DRIVING THEN STARTED BACK UP. REBOOTED THE IDRIVE SCREEN. NO INDICATORS ILLUM ON THE SCREEN. HAPPENED 3 TIMES IN 2 DAYS. PLEASE CHECK
FAULTY FUEL PUMP
WAIVE CPO FEE. CUST WAS JUST IN TWICE THIS PAST MONTH FOR RELATED ISSUES
VERIFIED CUSTOMERS CONCERN. CONNECTED VEHICLE TO BATTERY CHARGER AND NO FAULTS WERE FOUND. NO NOISE WAS HEARD FROM FUEL PUMP. CHECKED POWER FROM EKPS AND HAD GOOD POWER AND GROUND.
R/R FUEL PUMP AND TEST OPERATION. VEHICLE NOW STARTS AND DOES NOT STALL. TEST DROVE VEHICLE. NO MORE ISSUE FOUND.

PARTS: (1) 16-14-7-163-298 REPAIR KIT, FUEL PUMP

So that was part of the low end hesitation, it seems my LPFP was bad. that p/n is for a new LPFP replacement. I assume "R/R" means something like 'request for replacement' ? Does 'no noise heard from fuel pump' mean it was stone dead, or that it wasnt making any out of the ordinary noises.. oh well, it's gone now! Also, I think "C/S" is short for something like "customer says".

BODY ELECTRICAL:

C/S WHEN GOING TO START CAR AFTER WORK TODAY THE CAR WAS COMPLETELY DEAD. HAD TO JUMP BATTERY.
BATTERY IS OK
NO ISSUES FOUND. CAR STARTED FINE
BATTERY STATE OF CHARGE AND STATE OF HEALTH BOTH OK
NO CORRECTION MADE

Now that says they tested the battery and it was ok, which is good. But no mention of the cable connectors that my SA said were redone. Could they have been redone and not listed on the invoice?

ENGINE:

C/S CARS BEEN MISFIRING AND NOT DRIVING THE SAME SINCE INJECTORS AND FUEL PUMP DONE AT OTHER DEALERSHIP ABOUT 2 YEARS AGO. CUST WOULD LIKE INJECTORS CHECKED.
FAULTY FUEL INJECTORS
VERIFIED CUSTOMERS CONCERN. VEHICLE IS RUNNING ROUGH AT COLD STARTS. CONNECTED VEHICLE TO BATTERY CHARGER AND NO FAULTS ARE STORED REGARDING CUSTOMERS CONCERN. PERFORMED MULTIPLE TEST PLAN AND FOUND HIGH PRESSURE FUEL INJECTORS FAULTY. R/R ALL INJECTORS WITH UPDATED PART AND PERFORM CALIBRATION TO DME. TEST DRIVE VEHICLE. NO LONGER RUNS ROUGH.

PARTS:
(6) 13-53-7-564-751 DECOUPLING ELEMENT
(6) 13-53-8-616-079 INJECTOR

So that is the big one, I got my all 6 new injectors I wanted! I dont know why they said no faults were found, it had to throw something because of rough idle, right? Also I had to look up what a 'decoupling element' is, and apparently its just a round bracket thingy for holding something with the injectors in place, nothing interesting.

So I must say, I was treated great at my dealer. They waived the CPO fee, were totally nice and pleasant (not to mention she is super cute ), and I made the case that I didn't want end-of-life injectors put back in my car and I got all new 079's.

As of right now my car now has zero problems that I can feel, and it is even more fun to drive than ever

[marv85]

awesome new car!