Help me solve 30FF / Reduced Power

[Thecastle]

Originally Posted by Sophisticated Redneck

Sorry to hear you had to let it go but understandable, you did everything you could and pretty much only thing left was to pull the engine and replace the lower intakes and that would have cost another 2-3k. I don't know what the previous owners before you did to that M, but I have a feeling it involved pissing off a supernatural entity because DAMN did that truck have issues.....

Can't go wrong with a 3500 as a tow rig, you can tow just about anything now and not worry about it.

I seem to have about a 50-50 track record with BMWs. Some are totally trouble free during their stay with me, even some that are known for being troublesome. Some like the 4.8i/335D/X5M frequently broke in expensive ways. My 2016 550i, 2013 MiniCooper, and 2020 X3 3.0i have all been totally flawless. The X5M is actually in really good shape, garaged its entire life, interior is excellent, still smells new inside. Mechanically its supposed to be the most reliable V8 E70, I'd say it was about equal to my 4.8i.

This was a 1 owner car before I purchased it over 5 years ago. Here is the car up for sale, along with the carfax. https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/b...-29d53c983579/

The primary purpose of the M for me as to be a backup work vehicle for when my bucket truck was broken and a tow vehicle for our travel trailer. That's where the problems all where was while towing. It was highly annoying to have to pull over multiple times during a 150 mile trip and restart the car because of reduced power mode. We drove from Houston to Fredericksburg 350 miles round trip and triggered it 6 times, which makes not even able to maintain highways speeds while towing.

We went overkill the other way. I purchased a used 2019 RAM 3500, SRW with the HO Cummins. It wont be as fast as the X5, but it should be reliable (I hope). The reason for the Ram 3500 mainly was it is a mega cab, had some mods including a topper we liked, had the HO Cummins, and just under 4000lbs of payload.

[JohnelP]

Either the car was miraculously fixed over night before putting it on sale, or ... ohhh. You would expect that from a small used cars dealer, not from a big dealership.

[JohnelP]

Hi,
I know this is more rhetorical now, but I bumped this information in the N63 engine description.

HPI Limp-home mode
If a fault is diagnosed in the system, such as e.g. failure of the rail pressure sensor, the volume control valve of HPFP is de-energized (of the high pressure fuel pump) ; the fuel then flows via a so-called bypass into the rail.
In the event of HPI limp-home mode, turbocharging is deactivated by an opening of the wastegate valves.
Causes of HPI limp-home mode may be:
• Implausible rail pressure sensor values
• Failure of volume control valve
• Leakage in high pressure system
• Failure of high pressure fuel pump
• Failure of (fuel) rail pressure sensor

=====================================.
Admit some error codes should have been visible if this condition was really the case, but I think when looking at these things we should be prepared to accept we get hit in one place, but hurts somewhere else

[Thecastle]

Originally Posted by JohnelP

Either the car was miraculously fixed over night before putting it on sale, or ... ohhh. You would expect that from a small used cars dealer, not from a big dealership.

Lol, all dealerships

My former 2011 X5M is being sold by an AutoNation Acura dealership. AutoNation is the biggest dealer chain in the country I believe.

The car's in perfect condition other than this, and a normal driver will not see this problem, unless maybe they live in Colorado, or tow a trailer.

[BXMMMMMW]

This just happened to me over the weekend on I-77 going through the Wytheville tunnel (up a long grade). I plugged in my Scantool OBD and it showed no codes. I had issues with my CCV lines in the past and even then turning the car off and back on would clear the issue for awhile.

Interestingly, my son was watching the boost on Torque while I was driving and I was still getting 17" in reduced power mode. Even in that mode I had no trouble keeping up with traffic in the mountains. When I finally pulled over and restarted the car, the engine light went away and I made it the remaining 300 miles without issue.

This car is not my daily driver and has always filled me with anxiety as the repair/reliability horror stories are never ending. Like yours, mine is in excellent shape inside and out and I was just returning from a run up and down the Tail of the Dragon in NC/TN. The car was made for that type of driving and handled it like a champ. Ear-to-ear smiles for the whole 11 miles of twists and turns. So I am also considering selling mine (only I'll go FSBO because it's worth so much more than $17k), but it's so much damn fun...

I think I'm just commiserating. I actually got on to look for brake rotor/pad recommendations.

Cheers!

[Dawgz]

Originally Posted by BXMMMMMW

This just happened to me over the weekend on I-77 going through the Wytheville tunnel (up a long grade). I plugged in my Scantool OBD and it showed no codes. I had issues with my CCV lines in the past and even then turning the car off and back on would clear the issue for awhile.

Interestingly, my son was watching the boost on Torque while I was driving and I was still getting 17" in reduced power mode. Even in that mode I had no trouble keeping up with traffic in the mountains. When I finally pulled over and restarted the car, the engine light went away and I made it the remaining 300 miles without issue.

This car is not my daily driver and has always filled me with anxiety as the repair/reliability horror stories are never ending. Like yours, mine is in excellent shape inside and out and I was just returning from a run up and down the Tail of the Dragon in NC/TN. The car was made for that type of driving and handled it like a champ. Ear-to-ear smiles for the whole 11 miles of twists and turns. So I am also considering selling mine (only I'll go FSBO because it's worth so much more than $17k), but it's so much damn fun...

I think I'm just commiserating. I actually got on to look for brake rotor/pad recommendations.

Cheers!

What state? I'm selling full front brake maintenance setup.

[BXMMMMMW]

I'm in NE Ohio

[Thecastle]

Thanks for commiserating! I had some really excellent mechanics, and myself spend months/years troubleshooting the car. The car ran a ton better after all of our efforts, and the 30FF was a lot less frequent, but we never fully solved the problem. We found a ton of small things wrong as you would on a 11 year old car, but no silver bullet, except trading for a new car. The M appears to have found a new home with someone, I genuinely hope they enjoy it, it should be an excellent car for someone who doesn't tow.