[Jet1990]

Hi All,

I'm pretty sure my HPFP is about to die, however it would be good to get others opinions on this.

Current situation:
57 330i N53 on 96k
Brand new injectors and coils fitted 20k ago
High pressure fuel sensor fitted 20k ago
Water pump changed 10k

Pre existing known issues:
Nox cat "ageing"

I was driving the car along the motorway nice and easy when i got the need to suddenly boot it. Around 5 miles later the half engine "check engine" light came on the I drive - the car didnt seem to lose any power but at the moment when the warning came on the car did a bit of a jerk (almost like i tapped the brakes)

Turned the engine off and restarted it and everything seemed fine. Same warning and brief jerk occurred twice in the next 24hrs.

Since then I've had a BMW tecchie (a friend) look at it and it was displaying the 29F2 "Fuel high pressure system fuel pressure" fault code and hes told me its time to change the pump before it totally goes and leaves me broken down somewhere.

Since then the car seems to hesitate slightly upon start up but no signs of limp mode or anything.

Just wondering if anybody else has had this issue or something similar.

I dont want to spend upwards of £1000 changing the pump if it ends up being the sensor maybe? or something else?

[therealdb1]

Have you actually checked the fuel pressure?

I would have thought a knowledgeable BMW "friend" would have suggested that before shrugging his shoulders and recommending that you throw a heap of money on a pump that you may or may not need.

Unfortunately, it seems to be common practice these days for so called trained technicians, for all marques not just BMW, to replace expensive parts at the customer's expense in the hope of curing the fault rather than proper logical diagnosis and fixing the fault first time potentially with cheaper bits.

[Jet1990]

Car is currently at my local BMW garage for diagnosis. I've explicitly asked them to perform an actual mechanical pressure test apart from a electrical pressure test.

Price I've been quoted from bmw

£156 per hour diagnosis
£156 for a software update
£825 for the HPFP (worst case scenario) which includes fitting and VAT.

They mentioned something about wanting to change the HPFP rail sensor before testing the pump so we'll see what happens.

[Dormermike]

825 incl fitting and presumably 2 year warranty is not bad, thought it would be well north of 1k! I thought it was near enough £800 for the part. Still a painful lump to swallow. Hope you get it sorted etc.

[Jet1990]

slight update. Little bit frustrating.

Their technician has been on the car most of the day and cant find a fault with the HPFP or a fault code stored (thats my fault, i cleared the fault codes and have driven it sensibly to make sure the half engine light hasn't come on since it first occured)

They said based on what im telling them about the long cranks in the morning and the other symptoms its most likely the HPFP intermittently playing up and it just so happens that it was performing well today so i bit the bullet and told them to replace it anyways. Once they fit the pump they'll test the injectors just for peace of mind but they should be good as all 6 was replaced 25k ago.

[aaronblack]

Originally Posted by Jet1990

slight update. Little bit frustrating.

Their technician has been on the car most of the day and cant find a fault with the HPFP or a fault code stored (thats my fault, i cleared the fault codes and have driven it sensibly to make sure the half engine light hasn't come on since it first occured)

They said based on what im telling them about the long cranks in the morning and the other symptoms its most likely the HPFP intermittently playing up and it just so happens that it was performing well today so i bit the bullet and told them to replace it anyways. Once they fit the pump they'll test the injectors just for peace of mind but they should be good as all 6 was replaced 25k ago.

If you've index 11's you should be ok. My N53 is still on index 3's and 9's and it's just started to play a little.

Mind me asking which bmw you took it to? The price for HPFP and fitting seems pretty good as most N54 users report north of 1k as said above

[therealdb1]

Originally Posted by Jet1990

slight update. Little bit frustrating.

Their technician has been on the car most of the day and cant find a fault with the HPFP or a fault code stored (thats my fault, i cleared the fault codes and have driven it sensibly to make sure the half engine light hasn't come on since it first occured)

They said based on what im telling them about the long cranks in the morning and the other symptoms its most likely the HPFP intermittently playing up and it just so happens that it was performing well today so i bit the bullet and told them to replace it anyways. Once they fit the pump they'll test the injectors just for peace of mind but they should be good as all 6 was replaced 25k ago.

Rather you than me mate! Not sure I buy the intermittent pump explanation still you're getting a new one now anyway.

As for injectors it seems age is more important than mileage as there were many improvements over the years. You want at least index 11 for peace of mind but depending how long it took to complete those 25k miles you may still have earlier ones fitted.

25k is about 10 years of motoring to me as I only have 36k on the clock from new now!

[Jet1990]

Sorry I should have clarified. I got the new injectors and coils replaced in 2016 under warranty along with a high pressure fuel sensor.

Car is with bmw leeds.

[Phil325i]

I would urge you to find an indy who can give your car a full engine-on diagnosis, using the latest BMW software. I had a similar hesitation/jerking issue (though not the starting problem) and the diagnosis revealed a faulty low pressure fuel pump controller. Something I'd never have spotted without the diagnosis...

[Jet1990]

Originally Posted by Phil325i

I would urge you to find an indy who can give your car a full engine-on diagnosis, using the latest BMW software. I had a similar hesitation/jerking issue (though not the starting problem) and the diagnosis revealed a faulty low pressure fuel pump controller. Something I'd never have spotted without the diagnosis...

From what bmw told me they couldn't find anything wrong with the low pressure fuel side.

Pump has been fitted and is apparently running fine but first thing I'll be doing is taking it onto the motorway to give it a bit of a thrashing to see if the same thing occurs that happened with the old pump.

[Jet1990]

Got the car back. Everything seems to be fine.
No hesitation in starting.
When I would rev the car I could hear a bit of a squeak in the fuel line - this has now gone. Gave the car a nice blast and it's running nice and smooth.

[aaronblack]

Originally Posted by Jet1990

Got the car back. Everything seems to be fine.
No hesitation in starting.
When I would rev the car I could hear a bit of a squeak in the fuel line - this has now gone. Gave the car a nice blast and it's running nice and smooth.

Good to hear, out of curiosity with the old pump were you able to hold your rpm, for instance keep it at 1k, or would it jump down and back up again?

[Jet1990]

The revs would hold fine. The problem came under load at around 3k and above. The initial fault and judder came when I used the kick down acceleration on the motorway.

I was reading one of the bimmprofs blogs on this and the nominal pressure should be around 200bar and 5bar for high and low pressure and they should drop below these values for more than 5 secs. In idle put the pedal to the floor til it reaches 6k revs and then release. If the high pressure takes more than 5 secs to level out then thats signs of a hpfp issue which is what happened to mine.