[Spun Crankhub]

I had a good run, almost 4k miles with no problems, but today while going to accelerate past a slow car on the freeway I got the dreaded limp mode/reduced power symbol on the dash. Last time this happened I scanned codes and they were misfires, and ended up being a bad hpfp.
Tuned BMW's can be so frustrating. Might be time to move onto something new.

[thomas88162]

Have you had your software updated? I thought the HPFP issues were dead and buried after the update on the software and the part itself.

[Lifted07Duramax]

I wish we all knew why some could go for thousands of miles with no issues and others cant seem to catch a break

[Spun Crankhub]

Originally Posted by thomas88162

Have you had your software updated? I thought the HPFP issues were dead and buried after the update on the software and the part itself.

Is this a BMW update? ill have to look that up, and maybe have it taken care of when I go in for the battery cable recall.

[Spun Crankhub]

Originally Posted by Lifted07Duramax

I wish we all knew why some could go for thousands of miles with no issues and others cant seem to catch a break

The price we pay to have ridiculously fast 6 cylinder turbo cars I suppose. Youre one more post to 1000, congrats.

[thomas88162]

Originally Posted by MontegoChris

Is this a BMW update? ill have to look that up, and maybe have it taken care of when I go in for the battery cable recall.

Yes, this is a BMW software update. I would certainly make sure that it is updated because apparently the old software didn't supply fuel properly with the LPFP causing air cavitation on the HPFP, causing failures.

[smallseafishie]

It could be a slew of other things aside from the HPFP. Bad plugs / coilpacks / injectors are other possibilities....

I wouldn't jump to conclusions quite yet.

[ErzenE92]

my 09 335 coupe is currently at the dealed and has been there for 5 days. I know this weekend was a holiday weekend but I was told on Saturday that they needed more time to figure out why I had a misfire in the #1 cylinder.

[John 070]

Sometimes I find our cars mysterious. Based on the mass hysteria, I purchased a 7/100 factory extended warranty. It's going to expire totally unused. Then I read the threads about spark plug replacement, and people break the coil packs, plugs get stuck in the head, cars run rough after the change, one person even said you need to set the adaptation. I DIY my plugs yesterday, nothing breaks, and it runs like a champ on Bosch not BMW plugs (green vs. blue). Is my car an anti-BMW?

[Augster]

I incorrectly jumped to the conclusion that it was my HPFP as well when the half-shaded engine warning light would come on: if light acceleration to 3,500-ish the light would remain on but no limp mode; if under hard acceleration to 4,000-ish the light would flash and car would go into limp mode. Everything cleared when engine turned off. Other than that, engine seems to run just fine and I've driven two different, several-hundred-mile-long round trips that so long as I kept below 3,500 RPMs drove just fine.

I went to dealer to get it troubleshooted and after tearing out a few things to get to the root cause, determined it to be the "other" common problem of a failing waste gate on one of the turbos that when it started to truly boost would cause the fault.

Turbos are out of warranty, but though I'm bummed about the turbos going bad before I expected it, it's a perfect excuse to upgrade to Vargas stage 2 turbos! Actually, I'm quite excited of the prospects as this was my end goal eventually; it's just now the timeline has been moved up. Luckily, I can still drive the car while I collect the full package: turbos, HPF intercooler, Active Autowerke's exhaust, Cobb tuner.

[John 070]

Originally Posted by Augster

I incorrectly jumped to the conclusion that it was my HPFP as well when the half-shaded engine warning light would come on: if light acceleration to 3,500-ish the light would remain on but no limp mode; if under hard acceleration to 4,000-ish the light would flash and car would go into limp mode. Everything cleared when engine turned off. Other than that, engine seems to run just fine and I've driven two different, several-hundred-mile-long round trips that so long as I kept below 3,500 RPMs drove just fine.

I went to dealer to get it troubleshooted and after tearing out a few things to get to the root cause, determined it to be the "other" common problem of a failing waste gate on one of the turbos that when it started to truly boost would cause the fault.

Turbos are out of warranty, but though I'm bummed about the turbos going bad before I expected it, it's a perfect excuse to upgrade to Vargas stage 2 turbos! Actually, I'm quite excited of the prospects as this was my end goal eventually; it's just now the timeline has been moved up. Luckily, I can still drive the car while I collect the full package: turbos, HPF intercooler, Active Autowerke's exhaust, Cobb tuner.

Just curious when out-of-warranty.....how do they confirm the wastegate, there is no code, correct? Or was there a misfire? Because you scanned it yourself...and what did they charge for the diagnosis, like $120?

[Augster]

Originally Posted by John 070

Just curious when out-of-warranty.....how do they confirm the wastegate, there is no code, correct? Or was there a misfire? Because you scanned it yourself...and what did they charge for the diagnosis, like $120?

I was having problems getting a fully functioning INPA setup working on my Windows 7 x64 (tried different installs from different sources, and I think I just need to reinstall Windows to start from a clean slate since "uninstall" apparently did not truly clean out all traces of previous installs) so I bit the bullet and yes paid the dealer $180 to troubleshoot because I was anxious to know the root cause of my warning light.

According to the Service Advisor, the "codes" they scanned indicated the turbos were the culprit (actually, I now recall him mention vacuum related issues to the wastegates) and they tore out whatever they could to get as close to the turbos to examine their function and inspect them as close as possible in order to verify their disgnosis. Now, whether those codes were truly turbo-specific codes or whether they were other codes that were symptomatic of turbo-related issues, I do not know. Whenever I get my INPA/DIS setup sorted out (and actually learn how to use and interpret the results displayed), I will examine whatever codes that show up whenever I trigger the warning light.

EDIT: Regarding the INPA/DIS, what I'm actually planning on doing is setting up a different laptop to run Windows XP as this seems to be the ticket for running as flawless a DIS installation as possible. DIS seems to be the best diagnostic tool for "dummies", but runs in a virtual machine that requires a fully functioning INPA/EDIABAS installation. Not only that, but I can run a mostly English version of NCSExpert, whereas with the x64 compatible version of NCSExpert, the actual program is still in German even with the English config translation text file installed.

BTW, even with the 3,500 RPM wastegate issue, the car has way more power than my 2003 325i; there doesn't seem to be any performance issue and pulls nicely until I hit that 3,500 threshold. Of course, no WOT for me until I replace the turbos...