[bavaddict]

<Sorry for this long post, but I am trying to give as much info as possible and hoping for someone to chime in>

Hello Experts:

This morning I ran into CEL with half engine light combined with violent shaking along + white smoke and a tone of gasoline smell. I drove the car about a 1km after seeing all this happen and then parked it. And 12 hours later, the garage still smells of gas and even the inside of car smells of very heavy gas. I just now got the codes read and I have:

P0172 (Bank 1 system too rich)
P0300 (Cylinder Misfire Detected Random Cylinders)
P0301 (Cylinder 1 Misfire Detected)
P0302 (Cylinder 2 Misfire Detected)
P0303 (Cylinder 3 Misfire Detected
P0139 (O2 Circuit Slow Response (Bank 1, Sensor 2)
P3284 (????? no idea what this is)

Some Chronological Background:

1) Before today, I have been having the cold start rough ideal issues for past 3-4 months with P0172 only and sometimes accompanied with P0300/P0301/P0302/P0303. And to remedy that I replaced the coils and sparks and reset the P0172 code that I always got along with the rough ideal in the mornings. The rough ideal usually always happened in the morning i.e. a true cold start and then would not happen throughout the day (till next morning).

2) Since problem was still there took the car in to local Indy and he convinced me that its the intake and I need Walnut blasting done (which is due and that's why I figured that can wait). His rationale was, which sounded plausible, not enough air making in to cylinder and more fuel is being injected so therefore I am getting P0172.

3) I continued to reset the CEL with code P0172 (Bank 1 Too Rich) and hoping to look into it a bit later. Finally, this past week took the car in for BMW diag thinking I should just confirm that its not the HPFP and they diagnosed it as leaking fuel injectors and to replace plugs (because they are soaked in fuel).

4) And then finally this morning all hell broke loose. And this is just after ordered my fuel injectors and new spark plugs.

Related Maintenance History:

-2012 - HPFP and Injector recall was done (all 6 replaced)
-Spark plugs were done about 5000 KM ago
-Oil change done every 12.5K KM ~ 7500 Miles

My questions are:

1) Since its been many months and I didn't quite got the root cause of the problem i.e. fuel injectors in time, have I caused potential catastrophic failure of the primary or secondary catalytic converters?

Perhaps this is what P3284 code is for?

2) Given the situation is there something I can do to be proactive and not cause the problems to get worse i.e. somehow further cause damage to the catalytic converters? OR, the catalytic converters are strong enough to take some beating. What am I asking is can I start the car up to place it in a location where I will perform the plug and injector replacement at my buddy's workshop?

3) Is there anything else you guys can think of that I need to do before I do the injectors?

Thanks everyone.

[bavaddict]

btt....

[335NJ]

Sounds like a bad O2 sensor, at least that's what I'd start with. Also symptoms of injector related problems, but they're fairly new.

[dbond]

Repace injectors before you hydrolock and bend connecting rods. Also, change oil as it has tons of gas in it by now. Cats is your least worry.

[bavaddict]

Originally Posted by dbond

Repace injectors before you hydrolock and bend connecting rods. Also, change oil as it has tons of gas in it by now. Cats is your least worry.

Thanks dbond.

That reminds me, couple of times I heard loud noises like someone banging two metal pipes. Does this noise mean that I *may* have bent the connecting rods? What should I feel/look for if I have bent connecting rods?

In your opinion I should not drive it even to place the car properly in its position where I will replace injectors?

And I suppose before I start working on injectors, I should just do an oil change then do the spark plugs/injectors? FWIW, I did check the oil level just before turning the car off and it was right where it should be @ Max.

Also, I just opened the oil cap and yes it reeked of gas and saw bunch of black residue on the cap.

I am now totally paranoid

[bavaddict]

sunday bump...

[dbond]

If you had a bent rod you would not be here wasting time. Your problem is one or several leaking injectors. Troubleshooting is simple: do cold morning start, run engine for a few seconds, shutdown and expect for foiled/wet spark plugs.

[bavaddict]

Thanks dbond. I have replaced the injectors and spark plugs now.

Wondering if the fuel from leaky injectors is still in the cylinders after car sitting in garage for 2 days now? Or, it has exited via exhaust valve into exhaust man?

I am trying to figure out how to avoid any detonation that will cause the bent rods?

Logically, if my understanding is correct, if I just leave the power to injectors and spark plugs disconnected and attempt to crank the engine, the left over fuel will just exit via exhaust valves and no detonation will happen that may cause me headaches (when I reconnect the power to injectors/spark plugs)? OR, the fuel has leaked out of the cylinders and I have nothing worry about?

Also, after smelling via the oil cap, it smells very heavily of gas. Something I have never experienced. Safe to say that I will first do the oil change?!?

Finally, anything else experts recommend I would be all ears.

Thanks to all for helping.

[bavaddict]

^^^^ Or maybe I am over thinking things (mostly because of my limited knowledge)?

Tx.

[dbond]

I doubt there is so much gas in cylinders after sitting for a while. It's all drained down to crankcase. But if you want to be safe:

1. change oil.
2. remove spark plugs and turn engine a few times.
3. put it all together and start the engine

[bavaddict]

Originally Posted by dbond

I doubt there is so much gas in cylinders after sitting for a while. It's all drained down to crankcase. But if you want to be safe:

1. change oil.
2. remove spark plugs and turn engine a few times.
3. put it all together and start the engine

Thanks dbond for your help! Finally all done. Flushed the oil couple of times with few cranks in between (both batches of oil smelled of gas very heavily), then followed by new plugs and injectors. Everything seems to running fine now, except engine oil is running a about 10 degrees hotter. Any ideas what could cause this? Could be related?

FWIW, I have not coded my injectors just yet and ideal is now dead on @ 700 RPM (before ideal was @ 650 RPM).

Will post pic of my old injectors and plugs later as well.

[GSB]

This is a very old thread, but this is one of only two places on the internet where I've found anything that describes the issues I've gone through. I am very grateful to bavaddict and dbond, whose information helped me to find and fix the problem. I'm including my experience here, in order to help others who may have to face this.

I experienced misfires that became steadily worse over the course of several months, until the engine began bucking and stalling while cold. The "Service Engine Soon" light was permanently on, and ultimately, the computer began shutting down cylinders, even banks of cylinders, which creates a severe engine shake, white smoke from the tailpipes, and a loud clucking noise from the engine that sounded like the timing chain hitting the housing. After pulling over and restarting the engine several times, the problem would clear up and the engine would run smoothly again. Until one day, the dreaded whistling sound began... at first, only at cold starts, and lasting just a few minutes.

The "whistle" is actually a very loud, high-pitched whine emanating from the top of the engine. White smoke poured out of the tail pipes as the engine misfired and shuddered violently. Even though my car had been taken in for the injector recall, I still suspected that the injectors were to blame because the smoke was pure gas vapor, and the engine consumed huge amounts of gas while in this condition. As the engine warmed up, the whistling would stop, but the smoke would continue for a long time as the unburned gas that had been pumped into the exhaust system slowly evaporated or burned away. It took several restarts before the engine would run smoothly again. Then, a few days later, the whistling and misfiring would not quit, even after the engine had warmed up, and the smoking was prolific. The engine consumed a quarter tank of gas in 15 minutes of idling. Two stripes of raw gas began to condense on the driveway behind each tailpipe, and a gray sludge of gas and water began dripping out of the tailpipes. I used a stethoscope to try to identify the exact location of the loud whining/whistling sound, but that method was inconclusive. The injectors were obviously stuck wide open and pumping raw gas through the engine, but the sound could not be pinpointed to the top of the injectors. It seemed to be loudest at the plastic intake manifold, possibly the sound of injection occurring inside the cylinders while intake valves are open. These injectors are piezo devices, capable of very high frequency operation. The ECU uses high frequency PWM signals to drive them, and for some reason, the injectors and/or ECU were in a very unhappy state.

I read the fault codes many times to look for confirmation of the cause, but they were totally unhelpful. The codes only reported the following:
P0300 - "Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected"
P0301/2/3/4/5/6 - "Cylinder 1/2/3/4/5/6 Misfire Detected" (every cylinder)
P0172 - "System Too Rich Bank 1"
P0174 - "System Too Lean Bank 2"
P142E - "Manufacturer Control" (Possibly Pressure Too Low in High-Pressure Fuel System)
P3284 - "Manufacturer Control" (Unknown, but often thrown in cases of severe misfire or bad firing order)
P3090 - "Manufacturer Control" (Possibly High Pressure Fuel Pump Failure)

I then set about replacing the injectors and spark plugs. They were all pretty badly fouled. I bought index 12 injectors on eBay and used the BimmerGeeks Protool app to code the new injector calibration values into the ECU. Afterwards, I cleared all fault codes and started the engine. The engine ran pretty roughly, with serious misfires and a flashing "Service Engine Soon" light for quite a while as it cleared the gas fouling in the cylinders. Eventually, the misfires cleared up, but the smoke became worse and worse, with the most toxic burning smell I've ever experienced in my life. Aside from the smell of burning gas and oil, there was a potent smell of burning sulfur that made me feel very ill. The white smoke poured out for an hour and the trees in the neighborhood slowly disappeared in a dense fog of vapor and smoke. It was so bad, in fact, that someone called the fire department. I suspect that the majority of the smoke came from slowly burning the gray sludge of gas and water that had saturated the exhaust pipes, turbos, catalytic converters, and mufflers. Eventually, the gray sludge evaporated, leaving only a black, oily deposit in the pipes. Once the smoke had finally cleared (still smelling pretty toxic), the engine ran relatively smoothly until the computer suddenly shut down some of the cylinders again.

I decided to suck an entire can of Seafoam through the intake system in an attempt to clean any residual deposits and carbon that had built up as a result of the poorly burned fuel. In the middle of the night, I then drove the car out on the highway for an hour, slowing way down, then flooring it all the way to redline, over and over. Many fault codes popped up. I kept clearing them until eventually, the number of codes diminished, the misfires went away, and finally, the "System Too Rich Bank 1" and "System Too Lean Bank 2" codes went away. The engine ran smoothly again, but one new fault code remained - P0030 - HO2S Heater Control Circuit Bank 1 Sensor 1. All of this abuse must have killed one of my heated upstream O2 sensors.

This weekend, I replaced both upstream O2 sensors. That last fault code went away, the ECU began to learn the new trim values, and the engine is now running more smoothly than it EVER has. I do worry about the catalytic converters, because the most common cause of catalytic converter failure is unburned fuel entering the exhaust system. :-(

Just for reference, my car is an 08 E92 N54 335i manual transmission (I bought it pre-owned, with CPO warrantee). From the very beginning, the car suffered with a cold start misfire. This was particularly noticeable while accelerating gently. When I took the car in for the injector recall, I reported the misfires. They replaced 4 out of 6 injectors, so I ended up with two different injector revisions - index 5 and index 9. The misfires continued unabated, and the dealership claimed that this was "normal". I replaced all of the spark plugs and ignition coils twice, but the misfires continued. Based on experiences in the forums, I decided that it must still be an injector issue. I couldn't afford to replace the injectors, so I drove it that way for 6 years, all the while, replacing dozens of other expensive things that began to fail. The infamous water pump with a molding flaw in one corner that is prone to cracking, cracked on three different pumps, and spewed all of the expensive coolant. Then that useless rubber gasket around the oil filter housing and turbo intercooler housing failed, leaking oil into the coolant and all over the serpentine belt. The belt suddenly shredded and turned into a birds-nest of rubber threads that jammed the pulleys and tensioner. I replaced the oil filter housing gaskets, serpentine belt, tensioner and pulleys, and spent weeks flushing the oil out of the cooling system. However, the oil had already damaged rubber hoses and seals throughout the cooling system and crumbled plastic hoses and fittings everywhere. One cooling system component after the next failed and spewed my expensive coolant, time after time. The radiator, hoses, seals, plastic fittings and pipes all needed to be replaced. Now this. I'm sick of it. But the car is driving like new again. It's a love/hate relationship for me.

[SnowRacer]

The loud whistle sound you describe sounds like the CCV crankcase valve. There are some videos on YouTube where you can listen to the sound to see if it's similar to yours.

Depending on the year, sometimes the CCV is built into the valve cover and requires replacing the whole cover to fix. There's a flexible diaphragm inside the CCV which tears and causes the whistling sound. It can also lead to large smoke clouds at wide-open throttle and sometimes at startup.

There is also CCV hose that goes from the intake manifold to the valve cover that is prone to cracking and can cause the same sound/issue. There's a smaller vacuum line that goes from the intake elbow right upstream of the throttle body to the CCV that could also cause it to be inoperable.

[GSB]

Thanks SnowRacer. Thankfully, I have no cracked hoses or torn diaphragm in my crankcase valve. After replacing the injectors, the whine/whistle sound disappeared for good. The whistling only occurred while the injectors were stuck wide open and raw gas vapor was pouring out of the exhaust. The moment the injectors started performing normally, the sound went away. Eventually, the injectors failed permanently, and the whistling continued indefinitely until I replaced them. Only two other people on another forum have described the same symptoms that I did.

[Welcome to NBA Jam]

If they were in the garage while it was smoking like that, they might be. Otherwise, your cats are probably just fine. It might not be a bad idea to take them to the vet just in case.

Also, your catalytic converters are probably still good.

[GSB]

Haha! Thankfully, I have no cats. But I do have two catalytic converters. I hope you're right. So far, the engine is the happiest it has EVER been. No more fault codes or misfires. :-)

[Jayc2617]

First of all, Sorry to revive an old thread!!

I signed up just now to thank everyone in this thread for their input, your knowledge and experience have helped me diagnose and fix my recently purchased 07 335i.

To help anyone else who experiences I’ll detail my symptoms..

Bought the car in May 2020 from a wholesaler, upgrading from an e46 325ci I thought I had hit the jackpot. Car ran great (to me) had no rattle in the turbos full service history (less repair/warranty work receipts) and only a couple of simple things to fix.

The car had a leaking ofhg and valve cover, it was obvious the moment I popped the hood but being relatively easy fixed I bought it anyway knowing I would change these almost immediately. The car ran great for a couple of weeks, put about 1000km on the car before the cold start misfires began. First time was leaving work one evening (coming into winter in aus) car stumbled and through a cel. I didn’t have an inpa cable at the time so turned car off and back on and all was well, didn’t think anymore of it as the car ran great.

Couple of days later had the same symptoms one morning before work, was a little worse and took a couple of restarts to smooth out. At this point I read the forums and figured it’s either a symptom of the valve cover or leaking injector. I pulled the plugs - few of them coated in oil. I cleaned the plugs and coils up and all was well for a few days. Figured problem solved. Booked in with my local bmw Indy to have work done due to work schedule not allowing me the time to do myself. A day before it was going to go in I was driving and lost all power steering, got the smell of power steering fluid and drive car straight home. The high pressure hose from pump to rack had blown at the crimp. Absolutely random! I had noticed the steering was heavier than the e46 but figured this was normal.

I took the car in and waited weeks for the part. Turns out the filter in the ps reservoir has diintegrated and clogged the hose and buildup of pressure blew the line. I purchased a used rack and pump in the interim to change them out since it was unknown if any material had damaged the originals. Got the car back and all was good. New vc new ofhg new rack new pump new plug and could car ran well.

I went on a trip doing about 2000km over 5 days got home and next morning the misfires were back!!

At this point I knew it figured either injector or a bad plug or coil, swapped plugs and coils around issue went away until one day I was driving home from work and got the half engine light and really bad misfires. Restarted the car and again all was good!

Didn’t drive for a couple of days and then when I started the car on a Saturday I was getting cell and half engine light and the loud whistle from engine bay. Car smoothed out and started pouring out white smoke from the exhaust. Fearing the worst I went on a journey though many forum posts and found myself here!

I pulled all codes and had misfires on 4 and 5 as well as fuel pressure plausibility and o2 codes. Pullled plugs and cylinder 5 plug was covered in fuel. Reading more posts I feared I had done permanent damage and was at risk on spun bearing or hydro lock causing a bent rod.

I immediately ordered 3 index 12 injectors (car had index 8) and new plugs etc.

I changed the oils as a precaution replaced the injectors and plugs checked everything over and fired her up. Car runs perfectly smooth right though warm up cycle for the first time since I’ve owned it. I coded the injectors and took it for a drive, blew a little smoke for about 2km and it’s been gone since. Car runs better than ever!

Thank you again everyone, I am in debt to all of you I just hope my experience helps the next guy who comes across this problem.