“Fuel Inject.System” / limp mode issue.

[dubwud]

Good afternoon XDrivers.

Last night whilst driving my X5 fairly ambitiously as I was pulling out from a side road on to a national, the car suddenly bogged down and lost all power. This was followed by a “Fuel Inject.System” message appearing on the dash, and clouds of black smoke pluming from under the engine compartment.

I managed to drive the car to the destination, and had a good look underneath but couldn’t see where the smoke was coming from. It smelt thick and burning with either diesel or oil.

The car has since been ok. Each time I start the car the same “Fuel Inject.System” message appears. Sometimes the car is still in limp mode, other times it drives fine. But since last night I have not seen the smoke again.

The car is a 2005 E53 3.0d with 125k on the clock.

Further to this, I’m not entirely sure if this is related or not. But back in October of last year I saw a similar smoke pluming from under the engine and through the vents in the bonnet after driving the X5 hard along some country lanes. I didn’t see any messages and the other than the smoke, the car seemed fine. But I’m beginning to believe this may have been the start of this issue.

I’ve searched through a few threads and found the issue could be many things. So any help on this would be greatly appreciated, Jack.

Also, can anyone recommend a diagnostic kit? I’ve been looking at the BMW Scanner 1.4.0 to play with a few of the settings on the car. Would this be able to read fault codes too?

[fenj66]

as you, i gave mine a good welly last month and got the same"fuel inject system" message flash up.
the car carried on running as normal though - no issues at all.
for days, the warning message wouldnt go away. but i managed to use my scanner to clear the error and its never appeared again and still running just fine. i never knew what it was about. but having a scanner is definatley handy!

[dubwud]

I've driven the car again today for a good 20 miles and it drives perfectly fine. There's no smoke but the "fuel inject system" message is still displayed. There seems to be a smell of burning whenever I get out the car, but nothing like it was yesterday.

[sprintman]

sounds like you need to change the fuel filter!!-mine did exactly the same and when i changed the fuel filter (pig of a job)it cured it-turns out the fuel filter had never been changed!! even with full BM S/H if you do yours cut the the old fuel filter up and check out how much crap is in it!!

[dubwud]

Thanks for the response sprintman. Did you also have the same issue with smoke?

Did you change the fuel filter yourself? If so, did you have any issues with stopping air from entering the system or maintaining pressure? I think this is my cheapest option so I’ll start here and see if that clears the fault.

I’ll post the results of the old filter here.

Jack

[dubwud]

Afternoon XDrivers.

I managed to diagnose the fault this weekend. As it turns out, one of the T pieces connecting the low pressure fuel return pipe on the injectors had broken. Causing the braided hose to come lose, which was weeping diesel on to the exhaust manifold. This is probably why I occasionally smelt burning in the past.

I’ve ordered the part from BMW which should be arriving later this week. Hopefully this will resolve the issue.

Thanks all for your suggestions / help.

[dubwud]

As an update to this:

I've fitted the replacement part and all seems well. However last night the engine smoked again and smelt of burning fuel. It was difficult to see where the smoke was coming from, but it seemed to be coming straight up. So there may still be a leak coming from somewhere and the fuel is being flashed off the manifold. Are there any common causes for this? Or something I should look for? The recently fitted pipes are dry.

When looking in the engine bay after turning the car off, the Webasto heater was humming loudly, this began as a quiet hum which got louder and louder. The Webasto was also very hot. Is this normal?

Further to this, I left the inlet covers off after replacing the hose (with the intention of ordering a new air filter and breather - since I was there anyway). And the engine is making a very loud air 'whoosh' sound when the revs drop after letting off the accelerator. Again, is this normal? and am I only hearing this because the engine and inlet covers are removed or could this be a relating issue?

As always, any guidance appreciated.

[X5Sport]

The Webasto starts quiet until ignition and then gets louder.  It's a diesel powered water heater so it will get hot!

If you haven't got a full seal on all the fuel pipes then you will get smoke.

Smoke could also be a manifold, seal, exhaust issue.  The manifold is the common one.  The 'whoosh' is most likely the turbo unloading as the throttle closes.

[dubwud]

Thanks for the response.

I checked the Webasto after driving the car. So it wasn't during ignition. I'm only querying it because I changed the distribution connector which feeds the Webasto with fuel.

Could the issue be related to the crank breather separator filter? It's currently uncovered. My thoughts are that the oil could be pushing its way past the filter. I'll check the manifold and exhaust in the light tomorrow. Are there any common areas within the manifold which I should check? Or any signs to look for?

Yeah, I assumed it would be an air dump. But it's insanely loud. To the point where pedestrians would looked haha.

Thanks again for the help.

Jack.

[X5Sport]

Did you hange the Webasto connection for a direct replacement or something else?

The crankcase breather is a vortex device to spin oil out of the gas and you would need a lot for it to be a problem.

You could just have unburnt waste still on the various bits of the engine, and that cover is designed to mask a lot of the noise so it could just be that.  It is officially marked as a soundproofing cover.

If the manifold is a source then you need to look for cracks - which may be on the underside - but they will be more obvious as the engine noise will change I think, in a similar way to blown silencers.  Any sign of sooting is a clue there is a problem.  You will need a make-up mirror to be able to see things.

[dubwud]

I replaced the overflow and distribution piece (items 10 and 9 respectively on the image below). Hose 1 feeds the Webasto. I disconnected this hose as the distribution piece end, and just let it hang there whilst changing the part.



There was a lot of pressure under the oil cap whilst the car was idling. To the point where you could visibly see the air escaping as the cap was undone. This has lead me to replace the breather filter on the assumption that it wasn't breathing properly. I've not removed the filter yet, the part is still on the way. But there's little chance that this could be the cause?

Excellent. I'll give the exhaust a good look over in the light.

[X5Sport]

Has it got a foam breather or the later vortex one?  The foam ones are definitely a problem and should be replaced....which it sounds like you are anyway.

The crankcase is at positive pressure (though it shouldn't be very hig) when the engine is running so you will get gas escaping, hence it having a breather system.

[dubwud]

I'm not entirely sure which system it has. As far as I'm aware it's the foam breather. Part number 11127799225. The car is a 2005 model. I'll get it replaced as soon as the new filter arrives (if it's right haha). Thanks for the help.

[dubwud]

So I got round to replacing the air and oil breather filters this weekend and I put the inlet back together. So far the car has been running much better, the oil cap still seems to be at quite a high positive pressure but overall the car seems healthy! Thanks all for the help!

[dubwud]

I’ve been running the X5 without issue for a couple of weeks now and everything seems to be fine, no smoke or anything. However I do occasionally get a burning smell coming from the engine after a long drive. I can’t tell where it’s coming from, even if I open the engine bay. I usually only catch the smell if I walk in front of the car directly after turning the engine off. Is this normal? Or could there still be an issue?