[Daaaaaaaan]

Fuel in the cylinder could be due to a valve jammed closed: no fresh air or no exhaust = no/poor combustion. Broken rocker arm is another possibility.

Rocker arms and valve springs should be able to be inspected once taking off the valve cover, but replacing them requires the head to be removed, *I think*.

But we're not there yet: a compression test is probably in order.

Once you get to the point of doing a compression test, I'd do a last more conclusive test to rule out electric issues, I would remove the fuse powering the fuel pump, pull the coil and plug out and try to start the car and see if it's sparking.

The sparking should visible even in daylight. You'll need a friend to push the start button while someone watches the plug, but maybe a cell phone camera could record it if you're stuck solo.

Only problem with removing the valve cover is if you don't have the ability to DIY the head remove to replace a broken spring/rocker, you'll need your vehicle towed unless you want to put it back together. I personally did drive my vehicle under low load to my mechanic before removing everything, but it is (theoretically) risky to drive it in this state.

[bsmoov]

Yeah it looks to be the valve is jammed closed because it’s in the closed position and fuel it pooling on top of it and none of the other cylinders on the intake side has that…

[NZE90]

Maybe the valves aren't opening due to a mechanical issue like broken intermediate lever spring.

Or the injector ground wire is shorted to earth and injecting fuel permanently. This is highly unlikely though. You would have a lot of black smoke if this were the case.

The ticking isn't just lifter tick is it?

[Daaaaaaaan]

I wonder if whatever broke was caused by a VANOS issue. Or maybe the VANOS was acting up as whatever in cyl5 started progressively failing. You got the SES light, suggesting a VANOS issue (see if you can pull BMW-specific codes from the DME with a BMW-specialized scan tool to see if there's a 2A82 or 2A87), and that caused something to go out of balance? Or maybe a partially fractured rocker arm (or something else on cyl5) caused the VANOS to go funky until it finally failed.

SES comes and goes with VANOS issues. But maybe the VANOS was fine but unbalancing itself.

(sorry, lots of redundant sentences there)

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...32779-8218.pdf

From what NZE90 is saying, this page can be helpful if you remove the valve cover: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1621705

Intermediate level spring should be DIYable

[NZE90]

Originally Posted by Daaaaaaaan

Intermediate level spring should be DIYable

Yea they are doable in place but really fiddly if you don't have the proper tool.

[bsmoov]

The tick maybe lifter tick.

I just reinstalled the manifold and moved my new injector from cylinder 5 to cylinder 6. Started the car and same as before. Shaking and feels like it’s running on 5 cylinders. Read codes, same thing. Misfire cylinder 5.

Took off ess for fun. Started the car and it idled even worse and completely shut itself off. There were ess codes. Plugged it back in and cleared codes, now I’m back to square one.

[bsmoov]

Would oil in the ess connector cause this? how about the valvetronic motor gasket?

[NZE90]

No and no. You said in a previous post the valves on that cyl aren't opening, so i would be removing the valve cover to see why they aren't opening.

[bsmoov]

Originally Posted by NZE90

No and no. You said in a previous post the valves on that cyl aren't opening, so i would be removing the valve cover to see why they aren't opening.

Ok I’ll remove the valve cover this weekend.

[Daaaaaaaan]

Any updates?

[NZE90]

Have you fixed the issue yet?