02A99 on N63

Mayuiers · 07-27-2021, 05:44 PM

I was wondering if some of the gurus within the forum might be able to help me.

My 2011 X5 5.0 (N63) came up with a Reduced Power error on the screen. I ran Carly and found a 02A99 error (which translates into an exhaust correlation issue). Most everyone suggests that the fix is replacing the Vanos solenoids. I purchased a new pair and replaced the passenger side, but noticed that the solenoid in the engine was not OEM. That leads me to think that the driver's side may have also been changed out prior to me owning the car. It's a bit of a pain to get to the solenoids, so I held off on diving into to swap out the remaining part and tried to clear the error with hopes that I got lucky. Unfortunately, I was not lucky and the error came back almost immediately.

I'm going to go in and swap out the remaining exhaust solenoid, but thought I'd ask the experts a couple of questions...

1. Is it possible to determine which bank is faulty with a 02A99 error?

2. If the problem is not the solenoids, what might be the next part I should examine? (My friend who was a BMW mechanic and an annoying know-it-all suggests that the problem is oil pressure slipping past worn ledges. I've heard of that problem on the 6 cylinder engines, but not on the V8s).

3. Carly is nice for small issues, but it's fairly limited. Is there a better diag tool that is still reasonably priced?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Sophisticated Redneck · 07-28-2021, 05:28 PM

I went through something similar and decided just to replace all four solenoids, they all seem to fail in close timing to each other and its quite a bit of work to get to them. If however you don't wish to buy all four and replace, you need to load up ISTA and grab a D-CAN cable to access the advanced testing procedures, it will show you exactly what is going on with each Solenoid and how far out of spec each one is.

Mayuiers · 07-28-2021, 11:28 PM

Thanks Redneck. I was able to get the 2A99 code cleared. It turns out that not only was the one of the VANOS solenoids was bad, one of the replacement solenoids was bad, as well. I returned the part to my dealer and that fixed the issue.

I'm now facing a new issue, however. I'll post a new thread so that others can search for and follow it should they have the same problem.

07-27-2021, 05:44 PM	#1
Mayuiers New Member 0 Rep 8 Posts Drives: BMW X3, X5 Join Date: Aug 2019 Location: Portland iTrader: (0)	02A99 on N63 I was wondering if some of the gurus within the forum might be able to help me. My 2011 X5 5.0 (N63) came up with a Reduced Power error on the screen. I ran Carly and found a 02A99 error (which translates into an exhaust correlation issue). Most everyone suggests that the fix is replacing the Vanos solenoids. I purchased a new pair and replaced the passenger side, but noticed that the solenoid in the engine was not OEM. That leads me to think that the driver's side may have also been changed out prior to me owning the car. It's a bit of a pain to get to the solenoids, so I held off on diving into to swap out the remaining part and tried to clear the error with hopes that I got lucky. Unfortunately, I was not lucky and the error came back almost immediately. I'm going to go in and swap out the remaining exhaust solenoid, but thought I'd ask the experts a couple of questions... 1. Is it possible to determine which bank is faulty with a 02A99 error? 2. If the problem is not the solenoids, what might be the next part I should examine? (My friend who was a BMW mechanic and an annoying know-it-all suggests that the problem is oil pressure slipping past worn ledges. I've heard of that problem on the 6 cylinder engines, but not on the V8s). 3. Carly is nice for small issues, but it's fairly limited. Is there a better diag tool that is still reasonably priced? Thanks in advance for your help!
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07-28-2021, 05:28 PM	#2
Sophisticated Redneck Lieutenant Colonel 1416 Rep 1,564 Posts Drives: 2012 BMW X5 50i Join Date: Jul 2018 Location: CA iTrader: (0)	I went through something similar and decided just to replace all four solenoids, they all seem to fail in close timing to each other and its quite a bit of work to get to them. If however you don't wish to buy all four and replace, you need to load up ISTA and grab a D-CAN cable to access the advanced testing procedures, it will show you exactly what is going on with each Solenoid and how far out of spec each one is.
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07-28-2021, 11:28 PM	#3
Mayuiers New Member 0 Rep 8 Posts Drives: BMW X3, X5 Join Date: Aug 2019 Location: Portland iTrader: (0)	Thanks Redneck. I was able to get the 2A99 code cleared. It turns out that not only was the one of the VANOS solenoids was bad, one of the replacement solenoids was bad, as well. I returned the part to my dealer and that fixed the issue. I'm now facing a new issue, however. I'll post a new thread so that others can search for and follow it should they have the same problem.
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