[Sicis]

Hello fellow bimmerheads. This is my first post but i have been reading this forums for diagnosing my car and diy already for a long time.

I'm proud owner of E93 N53B30A Manual from 2007 with 209k km's, have had it for 1.5 years since 178k. I have quite a list of things what has been fixed and changed, but before that i'd better describe the problem i've been trying to wrap my head around.

My car is suffering from low rpm hesitation and bugging under load/WOT. 2nd gear <1500rpm; on higher gears, if it gets near 1000-1200rpm zone then even 1/2 throttle, can make the car start shaking violently, downshifting is must then.. and there is some hesitation and throttle response lag in the whole 1.5-2.5k range, but further it goes almost flawless with a slight power dip around 3,5k. Though it feels like it is lacking a little bit power. I have inpa and ista, and only code i have is 3104 stratified charge, uneven run (though i have had this foult coming back constantly since i installed noxem, even when the car has been running at it's best since it's been in my possesion, think it needs software update, but it doesn't bother me i simply ignore it).

So a 'little' service history (excl oil changes, filters, brakes etc):

181k Injectors all 6 index 11 done at bmw (because of warranty), did the spark plugs myself, and additionaly CPS which also died literally a day before appointment. (Since i purchased the car it was suffering cold start misfires, fuel leaking on plugs) Apart from NOX codes car was running ok.

196k 7 month ago. Pretty much the same problem i'm having now occured back then. It started with low rpm bogging, i ordered all 6 Delphi ignition coils and cleaned the MAF(with no succes). In the period of waiting for coils to be delivered, one cylinder shut down from misfire and started working after a while on same driving session(w/o restarting the car), i moved the coil, and the misfire followed the coil, though it took 2 days almost 150km's for it to happen. Either way i replaced all the coils, and the low rpm hesitation was gone.

196k NOXEM installed, adaptations resetted.
198k ABS pump repaired - car was running perfect and i had my cruise control for 5k km roadtrip to Portugal

206k October DME (MSD80) 2x Mosfets were blown (Cyl 1 and 5) car couldn't be started and was towed home, thankfully i had just left home to work, made maybe 1km Sent the DME for repair. When reinstalled, had a misfire which was expected, interestingly coil 6 was fried, so i threw in one of the old Bosch coils, still had them laying around, though was not sure whichone threw a code. But with the first coil car was running good, but not for long, the hesitation and bugging returned after couple weeks. Tried to switch to other old bosch coil - no improvements, felt even worse and the next day i came all the way from work to home misfiring, took another coil, hesitation is still there, but doesn't lead to cylinder shutdown or misfire code. It's hard to believe that all of the Bosch coils are deffective and even 1 between the rest of Delphi's would create such a hesitation and bugging.

I have had experienced some ticking noises on idle time to time when it's warm, but recently not for a long time, maybe because of lower temperatures in winter. But i do believe that's just normal noise which piazo injectors make.
I do have recently noticed some periodic whistle/hiss on a warm idle, not very loud, around intake manifold. When i open oil filler cap car starts idling harder and louder, but the cap is not being sucked with vacuum, so i think my CCVV should be in order, will do more testing on that when i'll replace that one Bosch coil to new Delphi, still needs to be ordered.. My driving sessions are long enough to heat up the oil to optimal temps. Btw oil consumption is basically none, per 10k km's i lose like half a liter at most, which is really surprising, after stepping from 2 e46's which where leaking through all possible sides. Also the idle is perfect, so i asume the sparkplugs are not swimming in oil and the valve cover gasket is still holding up.

I don't really have a great confidence that the one coil will be the culprit, i do hope for it though. As much as i was reading on forums for experiences, i start to suspect that i may need to clean the intake valves. As i just spent 500 on winter tires, don't really have hundreds to throw out for walnut blasting. So my plan now is to order new Delphi coil, new spark plugs, tb and valve cleaners and intake gasket set. I will start by cleaning vanos solenoids, throttle body. Testing disa valves with inpa, when pulled out from manifold. And as last pulling the manifold off to clean the valves.

What would be recommended to pre-purchase before pulling off the manifold? For example vent hose for ccv? Right? What else? If you have gone through a similar route as i am on, I would appreciate if you would share your experience. Thanks for reading!

[Sicis]

Regardless of many responses /sarkasm/
I'll report how it's going. So today again my cyl6 got a misfire and cylinder shutdown. After restarting the car at traffic light, it was running ok and no CEL.

Still haven't made an order for the coil. I want to make a bigger order, and lately have had some spending done
But i decided to put another used Bosch coil in cyl 1 and Delphi in cyl 6 (in case i get another misfire and it will show cyl 1 then i know for sure that all of my Bosch coils are garbage..)
So i went for the testdrive and it was running absolutely crap. Quickly put another one, and now it runs way better but the bogging on wot is still present.

I also decided to check how are the sparkplugs looking. I noticed some oil sitting in a hole between cyl 2 and 3, and both sparkplugs from cyl 2 and 3 had quite an oil on the threads(body was kind of clean, can't see in pic. Socket..) as well some in the ignition coil holes. I suppose i'm looking at changing valve cover gasket Is there by any chance possibility that the oil could have gotten there by some spillage? I noticed that there was some oil around the filler cap and kind of leading to that hole/pocket between the cylinders. I know it probably sounds stupid

[E90325iSLO]

oil definetly gives problem to ignition coils on N53. iwould sort the valve cover gasket first,buy some new coils along with new NGK(bosch isnt ok for N53) spark plugs,if that doesnt solve your problem it could only bee the injectors

[E90325iSLO]

Also, check if engine runs in Stratified mode. Homogenouus and homogenous lean modes,along with lambda errors can also lead to uneven idle,misfiring etc..

[Sicis]

Originally Posted by E90325iSLO

oil definetly gives problem to ignition coils on N53. iwould sort the valve cover gasket first,buy some new coils along with new NGK(bosch isnt ok for N53) spark plugs,if that doesnt solve your problem it could only bee the injectors

But if the oily spark plugs would cause an issue wouldn't i be getting misfires for those particular cilinders? (2 and 3). I have NGK spark plugs, the right ones. They actually were looking quite decent after 28k km. Idle is perfect and i have no oil consumption problem (don't need to top of between oil changes, maybe half liter gets burned per 10k km). As mentioned on my original post, injectors have been all changed 28k km ago. Stratified mode were switching on, tested it after noxem installation and readaptation. Didn't check for how long can it hold the stratified mode though. I'm 90% sure the cause will be the crappy Bosch coils.. I'll report when i replace with new Delphi.

But still thanks for relplay.

[E90325iSLO]

Are you looking misfires through INPA? if so,inpa can show misfires on the cylinder where there actually isnt any bimmerprofs have whole blog about this (i know stupid from INPA). I hope its ignition coils my friend,because you cant get any injectors for N53 anymore in Europe atlest for now.. there are 16000 in back order and not one has been made yet . I barely got myself index 11 genuine new bmw injecotors last week,payed them 380€ a piece, from Croatia with help of a friend who is in tight connection with VDO,and BOSCH inporter for euroope...

[Sicis]

Originally Posted by E90325iSLO

Are you looking misfires through INPA? if so,inpa can show misfires on the cylinder where there actually isnt any bimmerprofs have whole blog about this (i know stupid from INPA). I hope its ignition coils my friend,because you cant get any injectors for N53 anymore in Europe atlest for now.. there are 16000 in back order and not one has been made yet . I barely got myself index 11 genuine new bmw injecotors last week,payed them 380€ a piece, from Croatia with help of a friend who is in tight connection with VDO,and BOSCH inporter for euroope...

Yes i use INPA, sometimes Ista just to scan through all the modules. I was thinking index 11 are reliable. I let Bmw change them to have a warranty, it is quite a robbery, but since they cost me over 1.5k € i figured spending 300~€ extra for work is worth it. I don't recall how long is the warranty 1 or 2 years, but i have them now for ~18 month. If the new coil and plugs won't help guess i'll need to contact them and ask to check them if they are still under warranty. But if there is such a shortage they probably won't be willing/able to help me :
Btw what are the issues with index 11? Do they start leaking like the old ones or is it something else. I'm pretty sure mines aren't leaking. Had a harsh experience next morning after i purchased the car

[E90325iSLO]

I highly doubt its injectors again.. Probably plugs or coils really. I had index 01 sincer car was new 2008. It did very low mileage - 70kkm but anyways its still 14 yrs so if index 11 only hold for a year or two then fuck bmw 😂

[0l0dom0l0]

The first thing is to check your ECU is running the correct software and update if necessary.

Once this is done out, you need to replace the valve cover and gasket as an assembly. Don't bother with replacing just the gasket, if the gasket has failed it is most likely caused by a failed CCV. Get genuine BMW parts for this.

I would recommend doing a walnut blast. I did this to my N53 at 35k miles and the valves were surprisingly dirty.

It is unlikely to be your coils if they are new, but I got 6 new Bosch coils for mine, not delphi, as per the recommendations on bimmerprofs.

Once this is done you need to clear all faults and check you have no NOX errors. If you have NOX errors, you need to repair your NOX sensor (if the fault codes are sensor related). If you having the NOX aging code, you can replace the NOX catalyst in ISTA or fit a NOXEM.

Then you need to re set all adaptions, including for the NOX system, and then re learn the adaptions following the procedure on bimmpeprofs.

[Sicis]

Originally Posted by 0l0dom0l0

The first thing is to check your ECU is running the correct software and update if necessary.

Once this is done out, you need to replace the valve cover and gasket as an assembly. Don't bother with replacing just the gasket, if the gasket has failed it is most likely caused by a failed CCV. Get genuine BMW parts for this.

I would recommend doing a walnut blast. I did this to my N53 at 35k miles and the valves were surprisingly dirty.

It is unlikely to be your coils if they are new, but I got 6 new Bosch coils for mine, not delphi, as per the recommendations on bimmerprofs.

Once this is done you need to clear all faults and check you have no NOX errors. If you have NOX errors, you need to repair your NOX sensor (if the fault codes are sensor related). If you having the NOX aging code, you can replace the NOX catalyst in ISTA or fit a NOXEM.

Then you need to re set all adaptions, including for the NOX system, and then re learn the adaptions following the procedure on bimmpeprofs.

Please read my first post. I have bimmerprofs noxem, and re-adaptions done. CCV is good. No idle issues, no oil consumption. I had 6 new Delphi coils and car was running perfect. After 2x mosfets were blown and ecu repaired. One coil was damaged. So I threw in old bosch. After 2 weeks or maybe even sooner car started acting up. The same way it was doing with Bosch coils before i changed them to Delphis. It was just hard to believe that all of them were defective. Going to place an order for new coil today. And yeah bimmerprofs confused me about Delphi/Bosch subject as i read everywhere else that Bosch are trash. And there has to be reason why Bmw switched to Delphi..

As for valve cover gasket i read somewhere that oil spillage while changing oil can cause the same situation. Next time i'll use canister. And will keep an eye how my plugs look. I checked them yesterday cyl 2 was clean, cyl3 a little bit on the thread, but I didn't manage to clean the ignition coil chamber as good as cyl 2. Don't know if one day and maybe 60~70km drive would be enough to draw conclusions just yet.

[0l0dom0l0]

Sorry I re read your post.

You should try an ECU update and walnut blast. Then re learn the adaptions again. This is important after the ECU update and walnut blast as the intake valves will have some deposits on that when removed will change the airflow into each cylinder.

I think the giveaway is your uneven running fault in stratified mode. There is a specific section on this on bimmerpfos which lists updating your ECU as a cure.

The coil situation is confusing, I agree. But BMW could have switched for a number of reasons, most likely due to cost. I am running 6 bosch coils with no issues at all. These are the later part. The earlier bosch coils were problematic.

With the N53 everything needs to be in order, they are very fussy.

[Sicis]

I'm happy to give an update. Yesterday finally received 2x new Delphi ignition coils (one for reserve). Autodoc takes a while.. Drove the car today to work and back and there is no bogging or hesitation anymore.
So the culprit was Bosch coil. Was hard to believe that only one would make it such an issue, and also the fact that all of old bosch coils were already defective.

Back to the Delphi coils. So i ordered both times Delphi coils from Autodoc under the same article (picked it up from order history). As i had putted in the new coil i noticed that thisone has white filling and the otherones has black (see pic). Earlier i had read some people claiming that Delphi suplies normally bmw with white filling and the black can be knock-offs (or vica versa might be the otherway around).
Anyone here with a knowledge that could confirm on that?

[Sicis]

Originally Posted by 0l0dom0l0

Sorry I re read your post.

You should try an ECU update and walnut blast. Then re learn the adaptions again. This is important after the ECU update and walnut blast as the intake valves will have some deposits on that when removed will change the airflow into each cylinder.

I think the giveaway is your uneven running fault in stratified mode. There is a specific section on this on bimmerpfos which lists updating your ECU as a cure.

The coil situation is confusing, I agree. But BMW could have switched for a number of reasons, most likely due to cost. I am running 6 bosch coils with no issues at all. These are the later part. The earlier bosch coils were problematic.

With the N53 everything needs to be in order, they are very fussy.

Hi, so yesterday another ignition coil died. After work had a rough start uneven idle and misfire, restarting car didn't help. Had to drive over 20km from work to home misfiring. The coil was completly dead not like the Bosch's being deffective but still functional, which probably had over 100k km on them unlike this Delphi which survived only 15k km. Good that i had one new one as a reserve, but i expect that the others will start failing soon enough, so i'm considering giving new Bosch coils a chance.

Regarding ECU update. Not quite sure how to recognize the software version, is it this? E89X-08-09-520 or 7561719 or whichone? (Added pics) Either way it is old.. since 2008.

So i contacted somebody from local fb group over updating the dme. He said he flashes msd80's software from e61. Does it make any difference? Mentioned to him that i have a plan to clean the intake valves, and he recommended to do it before update. I suppose it shouldn't really matter as long as i reset adaptations after cleaning the intake valves, right?
My plans are going slow - not really much time neither funds since recently became a father.

[0l0dom0l0]

I used winkfp to do mine. It wasn't very enjoyable and I had some errors after but I got there in the end.

I expect the DME calibration from the E6 is the same but I would ask why he can't flash the E8x version?

Are you sure that your ECU was repaired properly? Have you considered getting another one re programmed to the car? You should not be killing coils that quickly.

[Sicis]

Originally Posted by 0l0dom0l0

I used winkfp to do mine. It wasn't very enjoyable and I had some errors after but I got there in the end.

I expect the DME calibration from the E6 is the same but I would ask why he can't flash the E8x version?

Are you sure that your ECU was repaired properly? Have you considered getting another one re programmed to the car? You should not be killing coils that quickly.

Well the shop (ACtronics) that did the repair is quite reputable and works only with dealers and garages, i had brought it in one garage and asked them to send it out. I did ask them to replace all 6 mosfets, but i'm not sure if they done that or only damaged ones. If i'd open it up to check i'd void the warranty..

15 k for a coil is indeed not normal. There's a reason to wonder if the Delphi coils with black filling are actually genuine. Might be knock-offs.

Oh also when i changed the coil i decided to give a throttle body a cleaning. Removed also big DISA and run a manual test via Inpa it seems to be operating pretty fine and the rubbers seemed nice and soft, a little bit oil came out of the manifold though when removing it. Didn't get to pull out small disa, there is a way by loosening the alternator, but it seems that alternator is being held by alu bolts (blue color on them) since I didn't have a replacement bolts i decided to just leave it. Will check when going to pull manifold off to clean the valves. Planning to soak them in valve cleaner and scrub as good as i can. Walnut blasting is a little bit too expensive for my current situation, i'd rather sweat my ass whole day than pay over 500€

[Dormermike]

Just stuck some new delphi coils in mine - all six were white, as were the six delphis that came out.

Replaced mine because of a slight misfire when cruising on the motorway when the engine is hot, but its improved throttle response from idle too.

[Sicis]

Originally Posted by Dormermike

Just stuck some new delphi coils in mine - all six were white, as were the six delphis that came out.

Replaced mine because of a slight misfire when cruising on the motorway when the engine is hot, but its improved throttle response from idle too.

How many km/miles you had on your old Delphi's? My first died after 10k km but due to mosfet failure. And second one 15k and it just died on engine startup. What is strange or maybe coincidence but all the time it's from 6th cylinder. Even when Bosch coils started to not perform well, first misfire was thrown on 6th cyl. If i switch the coils the misfire follows the coil though.

[Dormermike]

Check there is not a wire pinched. I noticed the six coil wiring was stretching the #6 injector wires when I just did mine. They had approx 40k on them, one might have been original so 78k.

Must be a way to check resistance to see if they are ok

[Polariscon]

Just wondering, did you sorted and what was the issue?
Thanks