Carbon Buildup

[X5patX5]

This to me is a great thread with a lot of good information. I have the same problem but the total opposite, loads of power with loads of black smoke, but i will try out a few of the above and see what happens.

[dark_stranger]

i thik there is a company called teraclean or something that clears carbon depostits.

[X5patX5]

[quote="dark_stranger"]
i thik there is a company called teraclean or something that clears carbon depostits.
[/quote]

Do you know anyone who has used them and the results they had. My mate had his X3 done a couple weeks ago which was suffering from smoke and lack of power and it fixed the problem, but this was done by a mobile unit at a cost of around £300, that includes the treatment followed by new oil and oil filter which is not to bad, but his X3 has a DPF and my X5 being an early model does not have a DPF.

I have also heard some people say the results can sometimes be negative and make the symptoms worse 

[mark hamster 28]

@ 7builder... So whats happened in last month ?  new car ?  X5 ?

[7builder]

[quote="mark hamster 28"]
@ 7builder... So whats happened in last month ?  new car ?  X5 ?
[/quote]
Hi Mark, a bit of a long story but in a nutshell I traded in the X5 and put a deposit down on a 2011 Kia Sorento on the weekend and looking to pick it up this coming Saturday. That was the plan until I read lots of horror stories last night about stability issues especially when towing a heavy twin axle caravan. So after a good heart to heat with the wife last night I called the garage this morning and pulled out of the sale. I might get my £200 deposit back but I was willing to lose that in the circumstances but will know more tomorrow when the sales director calls me back.
So having considered buying new on finance and looking at second hand motors I am still currently a BMW owner and it looks like I wil continue to be so for the foreseeable future. We decided to go ahead and get the gearbox sorted and keep the X5 then gamble that nothing else major goes wrong with it. With that in mind I called Jason at Chiptune today and booked the car in for this Saturday and will leave it with him to give it a thorough going over. We had a long conversation about the faults and he is not convinced it is the gearbox at this stage but I can't see what else it could be. Anyway I hope to know what is wrong by middle of next week and how much it will cost to put right.
I must admit that it was with some reluctance that I bought the Sorento as the build quality inside was not on par with the X5 (the new ones are fantastic though) and the 2.2 diesel was not a patch on the 3.0D in the E53 so I am not too worried about pulling out.
I decided to move away from X5 ownership because I was worried about it becoming a bottomless money pit but have decided to throw caution to the wind and stick with it. I love the X5 and really hope i am making the right decision but I guess only time will tell.
I'll let you know what Jason finds next week.

[Horizon]

Just a quick note regarding the later model Kia Sorento . My wife has a horse and was thinking of getting a new shape Kia Sorento, when she looked into it they have gone from a 3.5 tonne model 2009 MY to 2.0 tonnes towing capacity, so beware if you have a trailer or van that's plated above this. She ended up getting an 09 Sorento which had the 3.5t limit as the horse trailer was plated a 2.5 t.
Most mid sized MPVs are 2 T now I think, not man enough for a horse trailer or maybe big twin axle vans.
The Kia looks a bit plastic, but have a 7 year Warranty, so can't be that bad, be nice if Beemers had a 7 year warranty

[Steamyrotter]

Or even considered a life time being in excess of that........

[mark hamster 28]

OK, Lets hope its not as bad as you thought mate ! Thanks for keeping us upto date, Mark

[X5patX5]

This is going to sound really silly but my mate had an X5 that was not changing gear properly and coming up with Trans Fail Safe. He sold it to another mate of mine who bought a brand new battery and it cured the problem (worth a try). Your in good hands with Jason.

[7builder]

My battery has been playing up recently but I have had this problem since I bought the car and I don't get any error messages or warnings at all.
I spoke to Jason today at it has got him stumped at the moment. He has never seen this problem before and is still trying to determine if it is an engine or transmission related problem. He has updated the engine and gearbox firmware to the latest version as this has never been carried out on my X5, but that didn't help. He has remapped it to see if that changed anything. It went like a scalded cat apparently but it still hesitates before launching itself off from a standstill. He explained that if he tries any of the gears with his foot on the brake then accelerates he would expect the car to rev to about 2000 rpm and try to pull away but it just bogs and sits at about 800 rpm.
The transmission fluid level was topped up with 2 litres of fluid as it was low but again, no improvement. He said the pressures in the box all check out ok and there are no faults on diagnostics even when looking at live data during a test drive. The box seems clean with no leaks or obvious issues so he is still not sure what is causing the car to bog down and lose power under load.
I have a feeling this is going to be a very expensive exercise when all is said and done. 

[X5Sport]

Torque converter?

[7builder]

[quote="X5Sport"]
Torque converter?
[/quote]
That's where my money is. I'll keep you posted.
On the plus side Jason reckons it is quite gutless when pulling away. I have never known any different so if it does get sorted and it is chipped the difference should be night and day.

[7builder]

[quote="X5Sport"]
Torque converter?
[/quote]Car fixed and back on the drive now and X5Sport you were correct it was the Torque Converter, amongst many other things. So if you are sitting comfortably I will begin as this saga is an epic one with the X5 at Jason's for 3 weeks.

But first of all a cup of tea.

Back soon

[7builder]

So, I dropped my car off at Jason's 3 weeks ago so he could investigate the ongoing problem with pulling under load and its general reluctance and lack of power.

Various systems on the car were tested to investigate whether the lack of power was caused by an engine related system and a number of issues were found and rectified. Software systems were updated and an aggressive map was added to specifically increase the torque to see if this would overcome the hesitation and lack of power. In a nutshell, it didn't. During this stage of the investigation it was found that injector 4 was FUBAR'd and replaced. This did improve things slightly but also had the effect of sorting the problem I had starting (would turn over 6 or 7 times before firing into life) and the issue I had where the car would judder when sat at the lights or at a junction in drive with my foot on the brake pedal.

All of these issues were resolved by Jason as soon as he found them but in general it still didn't fix the problem it went in for so it was now time to focus on the gear box. The first issue discovered was the transmission fluid need topping up to the tune of 2 litres. This was done and still no improvement. It was at this stage that Jason noted that the gearbox was much newer looking than anything else under the car making him suspicious that it had been replaced at some stage. The torque converter was looking to be the main culprit now and there were a couple of scenarios running around Jason's head by this point. It was possible that a re-con gearbox had been fitted and the original torque converter re-used. Or the replacement gearbox was a backyard mechanic special that had been cleaned, painted and passed off as re-conditioned. Either way it was becoming clear that the previous owner had experienced some sort of transmission problem, tried to fix it without success and got rid of it PDQ as a result.

So the gearbox was dropped and the torque converter removed. It was taken to a specialist who cut it open to inspect it for problems. At this stage it was discovered to be a 2 year old reconditioned unit by German manufacturer LuK which was interesting. On cutting it open they found that the set of friction plates inside were severely misaligned and only the very top of the plates had been making contact and as a result had burnt badly. It looks like it was a rogue unit that had not been reconditioned properly. A new torque converter was fitted but apparently if my torque converter had checked out ok the specialist had the tooling to weld it back together and refitted it to my transmission. 

Whilst the transmission was out Jason carried out other work on it and a brief summary of some (not all) of the work Jason carried out on my car is as follows:

1. Carry out diagnostics and software update on DME & EGS Control Units
2. Check gearbox oil level and top up with 2 litres
3. Carry out leak off test on fuel injectors
4. Remove inlet manifold and replace injector No.4
5. Replace 7 missing inlet manifold spacer seals
6. Remove gearbox and replace torque converter
7. Strip down gearbox oil pump and examine
8. Strip down valve body, clean and fit seal kit
9. Fit new gearbox oil filter, sump gasket and oil pipe seals
10. Add 9 litres of transmission fluid (£198.00)
11. Refit gearbox

At this stage the car was taken for a test drive and all previous problems were found to be fixed. I picked the car up today and I must say the difference is unbelievable. There is no more hesitation and the car now drives and reverses up kerbs with ease. The ECU has been reworked by Jason as well and this has transformed the previously asthmatic OAP into a fire breathing monster. Really, the acceleration in fcuking unbelievable. I can now spin the wheels of a 2.5 ton 4x4 from a standing start and mid range acceleration on motorways is epic. Jason really has done a sterling job in completely transforming my X5 and I am very happy indeed. Friday morning I will be towing the caravan down to Devon so that will be the final litmus test but somehow I don't think there will be a problem (fingers crossed).

The final bill for 3 weeks of Jason's time, expertise and parts? £2635.88

[mark hamster 28]

I just love happy endings