1st problem with my X5M

[mrpcar]

Recently I've noticed that tail pipe bumper area was getting dark from the exhaust (white car), and today I noticed that there were "smoke" coming out of my left tail pipe. Car all warmed up of course.

Took it to the dealer and told the shop foreman that I suspect I have a leaky injector. He said it's impossible and never seen one.

4 days later they did find one leaky injector #8. Replaced it under warranty.

Gas mileage picked up now averaging 14.2 instead of 13.2. Car feels much faster.

Anyone ever had a bad injector?

I've noticed on several X5Ms that the tail pipe area is darken from exhaust, I am curious how many people also have injector issue but just didn't know.

FWIW, the car idles, drove perfectly, the power felt a little down but I thought it was because of the summer gas. Beside the light smoke from the tail pipe I could not tell there was something wrong with the car. The tech said he was able to pull a misfire code from the DME but it only occurred once so did not trigger CEL.

[CMBeamerM5]

Interesting, glad you had the issue corrected the first time you brought it in to the dealership.

[serge1]

My 35d diesel has the pipes darkened form exhaust, but not the bumper itself.
It's actually more than darkened - there's either brown crust, or the chrome peeled off.

[Jimshorts]

I just got a CEL yesterday after driving 500 miles. Truck drove like a champ the whole ride then I got to my buddies and started running rough. Scanned it and it came back with a code that my 1st cyclinder is misfiring... Planning on taking it in this week should be covered under warranty.

[mrpcar]

With the engine running see if you can see white smoke coming out of the exhaust pipes (car warmed up of course).

[1HOT BMR]

Originally Posted by serge1

My 35d diesel has the pipes darkened form exhaust, but not the bumper itself.
It's actually more than darkened - there's either brown crust, or the chrome peeled off.

It's "brown crust" and this stuff will take care of it easily:

[Dansarkis]

Originally Posted by mrpcar

With the engine running see if you can see white smoke coming out of the exhaust pipes (car warmed up of course).

Any other way to tell?

[Jimshorts]

Originally Posted by mrpcar

With the engine running see if you can see white smoke coming out of the exhaust pipes (car warmed up of course).

No smoke... Took it into the dealer and they couldn't figure it out yesterday. Found some other that have had these issues and looks like most of the time it was the coils going. Should hear back from the dealership on Tuesday I'll let you guys know what it is. The codes were p112f and p0301.

[mrpcar]

Update.

Soon after the dealer replaced the 2 injectors the blackness on the bumper came back, so I suspect I still have other injectors that were also defective.

Took the car back to the dealer but they wouldn't do anything because they couldn't get a miss fire code readout on their computer, told me in order to come back if the problem gets worse. Well, it did. The defective injectors started to drip a lot after shut off, so the result were long cranking interval on the next start because the fuel line were probably low on fuel and pressure.

This time around the dealer was able to pull some miss fire codes (But no check engine light) and decided to replaced all the injectors. When I asked what could have caused this issue? They said that they have seen quit a few of these injectors gone bad on these cars recently (direct injection issue?), said may be there were a bad batch of them. Got the car back yesterday, car felt very slow and sluggish. I wonder if they wiped the DME and started fresh from factory default values. However now the car starts immediately after pushing the start button.

Coincidentally when I was at the dealer I saw another white X5M, and the bumper area around the exhaust tip was also blacken.

BTW, the 2013 328i they gave me as a loaner was very cool. Engine very responsive, it actually felt faster and more responsive than my X5M. Only things I didn't like was the steering wheel position (No matter how I adjusted) blocks part of the dash digital readout. I didn't like the start/stop function. The steering feels very light at high speed, kind of like a caddy. Other than that, it was great, and I got an average of 30 mpg.

[mrmomo313]

Originally Posted by mrpcar

BTW, the 2013 328i they gave me as a loaner was very cool. Engine very responsive, it actually felt faster and more responsive than my X5M.

dang man, if that 328 feels faster than your M there is something terribly wrong!! hopefully your truck will start running smoothly with the new injectors

[5seriesHB]

do u have any aftermarket parts on ur X or a tune?

[Brian@MWP]

I am close friends with a BMW tech and hes said the injectors are a common problem!

[mrpcar]

No aftermarket parts, everything 100% stock. Except, angel eye and headlight upgrade. Oh yeah and the DVD in motion unlock (software).
I am beginning to wonder if this has anything to do with the brand of gas or is because California gas blend. Since I've been using Costco gas, but so does all of our other 4 cars in the house.

[Brian@MWP]

During the winter season gas companies use different detergents and other additives because of the cold weather. I have see first hand a lot of rough running issues this winter due to gas! Best recommendation, use only top tier fuel BP or Shell!

[mrpcar]

Originally Posted by Brian@MWP

During the winter season gas companies use different detergents and other additives because of the cold weather. I have see first hand a lot of rough running issues this winter due to gas! Best recommendation, use only top tier fuel BP or Shell!

That's the thing, car runs great once it's running. The only thing I've noticed is the hard starting or irregular starting sound. But that's after the injectors went bad. I want to know what's causing the injectors to go bad?

[Brian@MWP]

After talking to many people that i know personally who work for BMW the only thing that they have been told is it a engineering flaw and with bad gas to top it off its a loosing battle. I am just waiting for the first performance company to come up with a bulletproof upgraded injector!

[mrpcar]

Originally Posted by Brian@MWP

After talking to many people that i know personally who work for BMW the only thing that they have been told is it a engineering flaw and with bad gas to top it off its a loosing battle. I am just waiting for the first performance company to come up with a bulletproof upgraded injector!

I think adding high pressure direct injection and high chamber turbo charged pressure doesn't help either. I think a lot of people may have this issue but since there are no ill signs of car running rough they may have not notice this issue. Like I've said I've notice many X5M with blacken bumper in the exhaust tip area. And it's not suppose to do that.

[Brian@MWP]

I agree 100% .

[mrpcar]

Update: After several hundred miles the M is performing like it used to. Responsive and fast. I guess the dealer must have reset the adaptive values after the injector replacement so it went back to DME default.

[SalsaCD]

Hi mrpcar,

Did you get to the bottom of the black smoke issue? My X5M is having all 8 injectors changed due to excessive black smoke.

[mrpcar]

Originally Posted by SalsaCD

Hi mrpcar,

Did you get to the bottom of the black smoke issue? My X5M is having all 8 injectors changed due to excessive black smoke.

Problem went away after all 8 injectors were replaced, and then the performance started to deteriorate after awhile, during recent major service dealer said they replaced all the spark plug said that was part of the service.

Car performing again, and bumper staying clean so far.

[Phipsibear42]

Yea, I had all 8 of mine replaced with plugs right before the 50k warranty was up lol And the car runs great!