[srrav1981]

Hi all, I'm a long-time lurker, first time poster. I'm stuck with a problem and need advice on O2 sensor problems. It’s a long story (sorry no pictures) and detailed hoping someone can share their knowledge on this. I’m an e90/n55. Basic mods no JB4 or Tunes. Not sure if it matters but Injen CAI, ARM 5” FMIC with hose upgrade, ARM charge pipe. (These have been on the car a long time)

I spent hours researching these errors but there is not much out there for them and nothing that is making sense for what's going on.

I went to a cat less VRSF down pipe a few months ago. I got the expected error for cat efficiency and after a month or so of driving like that I decided I was going to keep the downpipe on the car and bought the VRSF O2 sim/fix (same as ******) and installed it inline on the downstream O2 sensor side. I didn’t touch the DME side of the connection or harness anywhere. I installed a removable plug on it so I could easily disconnect it when I wanted and made another plug to plug into the "signal" wire so it wouldn't stay opened. I just tapped into the + and - wires so the power was never interrupted. I did this with the battery disconnected from the car and the sensor unplugged from the harness. I followed the diagram I found on the ****** website and triple checked it with their written instructions. After connecting it, it lights up like expected, blinked constantly and appeared to be working as it should. That being said, immediately after the first start up I got a manifold pressure too high CEL error which came back after clearing it every time on every start up. I never touched anything intake side and thought it was odd but the o2 sim was the only thing I had changed.

I took it to an indie shop a few days later for a scheduled oil change and had them look at it to make sure the PCV diaphragm didn't decide to die on me or I disconnected a vacuum line by accident somewhere. They did a smoke test and actually found a small leak on hose going to my charge pipe. So I actually had a leak but the system was saying my manifold pressure was too high compared to suction?
They removed the o2 sim (this left the signal wire disconnected in the connector I added but left power to the o2 sensor) and the pressure error went away. Drove 20+ miles with no issues. They then plugged my o2 sim back in and never got the manifold pressure error again but now it started giving an o2 sensor ground short error. We checked all the wiring, and nothing had worked its way lose on the o2 cable or sim cable, nothing touched positive to negative or anything. Checked the fuse for the o2 sensors and it wasn’t blown. They said %99 of the time the ground short error on an o2 sensor just means it's gone bad. So I replace the downstream O2 sensor thinking it was just time for it to go. I only replaced the rear one. I went with the Bosch with the factory connector on it. I never added the VRSF o2 sim back in.

After driving for about 10 miles I now get these two errors.

2D13 Heating probe on the catalyst, Function: internal resistance is too high.
2D22 Lambda probe downstream of catalyst, electric cable disruption.

Due to the resistance error and what I could find online about it usually indicates a problem with the sensor, a wrong sensor, a cheap sensor or subpar sensor that the computer doesn't like, I got a 2nd brand new Bosch sensor and installed it. I confirmed the part number on the Bosch website. Again it has the factory connector on it so I never spliced it or touched the wiring on it. At this time I also decide to put the Stock downpipe back on incase this is it's way of not liking the VRSF downpipe and, the same exact errors after driving it about 10 miles. I've driven about 70 miles on the 2nd new o2 sensor and every 10 miles or so they come right back after I clear them. I've removed the battery cable for 30 minutes letting things reset and use Carly for BMW to read and clear codes and they keep coming back.

I checked the wires on the DME side from the connections and they appear to be fine. they are not lose in the connector, don't appear to have been damaged by anything anywhere and again that side of the wires have never been touched other than maybe the engine cover hitting them when removing it but I can’t imagine it could have cut them somewhere and if so, I doubt they would give these errors.

One thing I found odd using Carly is if I go into the main diagnostics function of the App is gives me the 2d13 and 2d22 codes with those descriptions. I can easily clear them, rescan and they are gone until I drive it again but if I go into the OBD part of the Carly app it gives me these two errors:

OBD permanent code: P0141 O2 sensor heater circuit (bank 1 sensor 2)
OBD permanent code: P0136 O2 sensor circuit (bank 1 sensor 2)

I’ve never once had to use the Carly OBD option before. I've always just used the main diagnostics. When I clear them from the main diagnostics option they are gone on the rescan in the main diags options. If I try and clear them in the OBD option, they never go away. It's like Carly can't actually clear them with the OBD feature. I hear the car clicking while it's trying to erase the codes but when I reconnect and go back in they are still there even if I never start the car. So if I'm clearing them wrong please let me know. I don’t see anyway to “select” the codes in the OBD function to tell it I want to erase them so I’m assuming it’s going to try and erase them all no matter what.
I also used an older OBDII/CAN scanner I use for other cars, got the 2 errors but with a generic description and was able to clear them with it but Carly OBD function still sees them. Almost like Carly is looking at a snap shot and not current data. Not sure if that's helpful to the issue but thought it was odd. Even if I clear them in the main Diagnostic menu of Carly, when I go into the OBD function they are still there.

So I guess after all of that the questions are
Did I do something wrong or am I missing something somewhere when clearing the codes?
Is it possible I got 2 bad brand-new sensors, from 2 different parts stores giving the exact same errors?
Should I replace the upstream sensor? It’s still the original factory one.
Could the VRSF/****** O2 sim have damaged something in the DME?

Thanks for any advice you can give. Other than the CEL and these errors the car actually runs perfectly in everyway.

[zman187]

Did you ever figure it out? I'm having the same issue and also had the VRSF o2 sim at one point.

[spd3]

Bump, I dont have the O2 sim, but got this issue & have replaced O2's twice & visually inspected the O2 wiring in engine bay. Thinking next step is continuity checking the wires between O2 harness connector & DME, but still am searching for a Wiring diagram.

Please let me know if you found out your issue!