2013 X5M - Hesitation During Acceleration + Smoke After Idling

[laselvasurf]

Over the past 5K miles I've noticed an increasing hesitation while accelerating. It almost feels like wheel slip, but the RPMs dip. It typically happens during medium load at from 2000rpm all the way up to red line. If I floor it, or use launch control it's hardly noticeably at all. It's most noticeable when going to pass at around 35-40MPH and wanting to accelerate to 80MPH. It really feels like it's chugging along.

I also recently noticed that the vehicle smokes a bit after idling, or sitting in traffic. Here is a video I recorded this morning after letting it sit for about 15 minutes while drying it off. Oil temps were just below 210, so the vehicle was warmed up.

https://youtu.be/D9YS5diizhc

Brief vehicle history:
About a year ago I had a rod bearing failure. I had the engine rebuilt by Ghassan and my local shop did the installation. The total cost was just shy of $30K including quite a few extra things to give me more performance options, and take care of any future maintenance needs. Basically everything under the hood that could fail, was replaced. I've driven about 7.5K miles since the rebuild, the first 2000 were very relaxed break in miles and I've been increasing the work since. At around 3500 miles after the rebuild, I did the 3rd oil change and started driving harder. That's when I noticed the hesitation. I recently checked on the vehicle with carly and found the error shown in the image attached to this post.

Any input on what might be going on would be greatly appreciated! I've spent a lot on this vehicle and just want it to be right. Thanks!

[TwinSnailz]

Did you check the intercooler water reservoir? Boost leak within intercooler or the turbo seals are bad. Assuming that ghassan had installed new valve seals, those are the only thing that I could think of that can put out massive smoke like that.
Bad throttle body can cause lagging unable to downshift to bring up rpm.

[laselvasurf]

Originally Posted by TwinSnailz

Did you check the intercooler water reservoir? Boost leak within intercooler or the turbo seals are bad. Assuming that ghassan had installed new valve seals, those are the only thing that I could think of that can put out massive smoke like that.
Bad throttle body can cause lagging unable to downshift to bring up rpm.

Thanks for the response! I just checked the intercooler reservoir and it is just above max, so I don't think that's it.

I also contacted Ghassan who said this after I asked specifically about valve seals: "Yes they are replaced and all cylinder heads are inspected and vacuum tested before assembly." He also said that "Bad valve stems usually will smoke all the time at idle"... Which I've definitely seen on other BMWs while in traffic.

I did notice the smoke issue before the rebuild too, though I figured it was valve seals at the time and didn't think much of it. There weren't too many parts that got reused without getting rebuilt. That said, I wonder if the injectors are failing? They definitely got re-used and I've read that they can cause smoking and acceleration issues.

[TwinSnailz]

Symptoms of rich fuel is more of a dark smoke. Which at that rate will trigger a cel. What you have is clearly white/blue smoke. Burning oil or coolant will not trigger any cel. Rebuilding your turbo seals is pretty easy straight forward if you decide and can’t troubleshoot any further.
I would say borescope the cylinder but cylinder 1 and 5 will always have the most oil crud due to the pcv throwing back into the intake and the cyclinder closest to the throttle body will suck up the oil.

[laselvasurf]

Originally Posted by TwinSnailz

Symptoms of rich fuel is more of a dark smoke. Which at that rate will trigger a cel. What you have is clearly white/blue smoke. Burning oil or coolant will not trigger any cel. Rebuilding your turbo seals is pretty easy straight forward if you decide and can’t troubleshoot any further.
I would say borescope the cylinder but cylinder 1 and 5 will always have the most oil crud due to the pcv throwing back into the intake and the cyclinder closest to the throttle body will suck up the oil.

Thanks, that definitely makes sense. I am definitely burning a bit more oil that I think I should. I'm at around a qt every 1500ish miles depending on how I drive.

I had both turbos rebuilt by turbo labs of America during the rebuild, so I doubt that's the issue unless they messed something up.

What would seeing in the cylinder with a borescope tell me, or what should I specifically be looking for? I apologize novice question, I'm mechanically inclined, but this engine is well beyond my comfort level!

[TwinSnailz]

Well then that points back to combustion chamber. Pull plugs and check for white chalky residue as a start.

[Thecastle]

Looks like bad valve stem seals at a min from the video. Thats the normal test, let the engine warm up fully, idle for 5 minutes. Floor it and if you see a smoke screen, its valve stem seals. Looks exactly like what your video shows. I've had them too (not on my x5m) on my 4.8i.

The other thing that can be bad is a scored cylinder wall. Thats what you're looking for with the borescope.

It could also be a problem with the CCV check valves, vacuum leak, and etc. worth replacing to see if it fixes the smoke.

[pearlpower]

Generally, not always, but generally, smoke after idle for several minutes would be the valve stem steals. White smoke upon deceleration would be intake leak such as hoses, boots, etc. Mine smoked substantially, like yours, and I replaced the intake boots. Not a hint after.

[laselvasurf]

Originally Posted by pearlpower

Generally, not always, but generally, smoke after idle for several minutes would be the valve stem steals. White smoke upon deceleration would be intake leak such as hoses, boots, etc. Mine smoked substantially, like yours, and I replaced the intake boots. Not a hint after.

Thank you for the response! I checked everything I could see relatively easily and couldn't find anything that looked off. I'm dropping the vehicle off Monday at the shop that put the rebuilt motor back in, hopefully they'll be able to get to the bottom of it!

[laselvasurf]

Originally Posted by Thecastle

Looks like bad valve stem seals at a min from the video. Thats the normal test, let the engine warm up fully, idle for 5 minutes. Floor it and if you see a smoke screen, its valve stem seals. Looks exactly like what your video shows. I've had them too (not on my x5m) on my 4.8i.

The other thing that can be bad is a scored cylinder wall. Thats what you're looking for with the borescope.

It could also be a problem with the CCV check valves, vacuum leak, and etc. worth replacing to see if it fixes the smoke.

Thank you for the detailed responses! It definitely looks like valve stem seals to me as well... The rebuild is under warranty for two years, so hopefully if that turns out to be the issue Ghassan would take care of the repair free of charge.

[laselvasurf]

Quick update...

My X5M started making a loud popping sound when accelerating quickly. It sounds like a subdued backfire. I thought starting with plugs/coils would be a good idea so I pulled the plugs this weekend and found 3 of them to have a very strong gas smell. I drove the truck Saturday night and did the plugs first thing Sunday morning. I checked the service records and the injectors were replaced by BMW 11/2013 when the vehicle had 26K on it. I'm contemplating taking it to the dealer to see if they will do a replacement under the extended warranty for the injectors. Does anyone here have recent experience with that? Anything I should or shouldn't say when I talk to the SA? I read the thread from 4-5 years ago and it was super helpful, but I know things can change.

[laselvasurf]

Another update...

I took the vehicle to the dealership and they said the backfire noise I'm hearing is actually the transfer case. They quoted $4670 to replace it, which I declined. I drove it home and have to say that the noise is definitely getting far more consistent. It's a loud pop, almost sounds like someone is hitting piece of steel with a metal hammer. The intensity varies and it seems to primarily happen when accelerating at lower speeds(under 50).

I'm taking it back to the original shop on Monday as the vehicle is pretty much un-drivable at this point and I'm running out of options. I looked all over and couldn't find much info on transfer case failures in late model E70s. It seems that they had issues with the earlier models, but by 2012 the updated version was solid.

[pdX5M]

Originally Posted by laselvasurf

Another update...

I took the vehicle to the dealership and they said the backfire noise I'm hearing is actually the transfer case. They quoted $4670 to replace it, which I declined. I drove it home and have to say that the noise is definitely getting far more consistent. It's a loud pop, almost sounds like someone is hitting piece of steel with a metal hammer. The intensity varies and it seems to primarily happen when accelerating at lower speeds(under 50).

I'm taking it back to the original shop on Monday as the vehicle is pretty much un-drivable at this point and I'm running out of options. I looked all over and couldn't find much info on transfer case failures in late model E70s. It seems that they had issues with the earlier models, but by 2012 the updated version was solid.

If you download and flash xDelete it may help you put off replacing the transfer case for a while. You will be driving in RWD only but my guess is you wouldn't be dealing with the noise anymore.

[TwinSnailz]

Originally Posted by 2011e70

Cant find a write-up on rebuilding the turbo seals. Do you have a link. Appreciated.

It’s pretty much the same as any other turbo, if you had previously done one. I got the kit from turbolab under gt22 kit. The only difference is that our turbo spins reverse compare to the traditional ones , this means that the compressor wheel nut is not reverse- counter clockwise to remove. So marked a line from compressor ->nut->shaft to realign it afterwards. Reuse the stock nut because the nut included in the kit is a reverse thread. Unless you request them for a pair.
Also the turbine side doesn’t have a wrench pitch for you to hold it down while you remove the compressor nut. I just wrapped it with electrical tape and a rag with a locking pliers to keep it from scratching. Very simple and straightforward.

Edit: “ This is for the S63 turbo” not for n63(in terms regarding compressor nut)

[laselvasurf]

Final update!

I ordered a rebuilt transfer case from TCBMWX5 inc for $1750 including shipping and had my local shop to the replacement. It cost $1K in labor and fluids. The crazy thing is... The hesitation issue is gone. Zero. I'm shocked to be honest. I thought for sure it was a misfire or something, but apparently a failing transfer case can also cause hesitation issues(at almost all speeds).

Thinking back, the only oddity when it came to the issue was that the RPM would jump a bit when the hesitation would happen. This would hint at something slipping, rather than a misfire. When I first noticed this, I didn't think much of it, but looking back it makes perfect sense. The hesitation issue also seemed to go away completely over 100MPH, which also makes sense as the transfer case becomes more or less irrelevant at higher speeds.

All in all, I'm ecstatic. The vehicle is finally running @100% and feels absolutely amazing!

[Sophisticated Redneck]

Originally Posted by laselvasurf

Final update!

I ordered a rebuilt transfer case from TCBMWX5 inc for $1750 including shipping and had my local shop to the replacement. It cost $1K in labor and fluids. The crazy thing is... The hesitation issue is gone. Zero. I'm shocked to be honest. I thought for sure it was a misfire or something, but apparently a failing transfer case can also cause hesitation issues(at almost all speeds).

Thinking back, the only oddity when it came to the issue was that the RPM would jump a bit when the hesitation would happen. This would hint at something slipping, rather than a misfire. When I first noticed this, I didn't think much of it, but looking back it makes perfect sense. The hesitation issue also seemed to go away completely over 100MPH, which also makes sense as the transfer case becomes more or less irrelevant at higher speeds.

All in all, I'm ecstatic. The vehicle is finally running @100% and feels absolutely amazing!

Did it feel like a "tugging" sensation, almost like when pulling a trailer that would come and go rapidly? If so I had similar thing happen to me, felt like a engine miss but I never notice much change in rpm and I've worked on cars all my life and never felt an engine miss like this, it really confused me at the time. Never any codes.

I was about to do the valve stem seals and replace all the Injectors, hpfps, spark plugs, various sensors, etc as part of a 150k mile update anyway so I didn't stress much as I figured whatever it was I was replacing so much I thought for sure it would fix it.

Imagine my surprise when it didn't... Ultimately a code finally popped in the transfer case, "set torque point request". I learned that a great way to test your transfer case is to simply pull it's fuse, truck defaults to 2wd mode (which is alot of fun btw). No more "missing".

Changed its oil and Was able to recalibrate through ISTA (foxwell nt510 does NOT do a true recalibration I learned). I was lucky as this fixed it and truck would now drive fine but found ultimate cause was from cheap-ass Hankook tires not being the circumference they are advertised on the rear tires, this caused excessive slip in transfer case, in turn causing it to lose calibration, forcing computer to get stuck in loop of trying to set the torque request for the front wheels but not meeting it, resets itself, and trys again.

"Engine miss" symptoms appear as the the transfer case applies power to front wheels, then disconnects over and over in this endless loop.

Cheap tires can cause an "engine miss" on BMW's. Fun stuff.

[laselvasurf]

Originally Posted by Sophisticated Redneck

Did it feel like a "tugging" sensation, almost like when pulling a trailer that would come and go rapidly? If so I had similar thing happen to me, felt like a engine miss but I never notice much change in rpm and I've worked on cars all my life and never felt an engine miss like this, it really confused me at the time. Never any codes.

I was about to do the valve stem seals and replace all the Injectors, hpfps, spark plugs, various sensors, etc as part of a 150k mile update anyway so I didn't stress much as I figured whatever it was I was replacing so much I thought for sure it would fix it.

Imagine my surprise when it didn't... Ultimately a code finally popped in the transfer case, "set torque point request". I learned that a great way to test your transfer case is to simply pull it's fuse, truck defaults to 2wd mode (which is alot of fun btw). No more "missing".

Changed its oil and Was able to recalibrate through ISTA (foxwell nt510 does NOT do a true recalibration I learned). I was lucky as this fixed it and truck would now drive fine but found ultimate cause was from cheap-ass Hankook tires not being the circumference they are advertised on the rear tires, this caused excessive slip in transfer case, in turn causing it to lose calibration, forcing computer to get stuck in loop of trying to set the torque request for the front wheels but not meeting it, resets itself, and trys again.

"Engine miss" symptoms appear as the the transfer case applies power to front wheels, then disconnects over and over in this endless loop.

Cheap tires can cause an "engine miss" on BMW's. Fun stuff.

Crazy story! That makes total sense though... The feeling was more of a jump than a tug. The RPMs went up sharply and slightly when the hesitation would happen. It felt like it was lurching forward more than being pulled back.

[quick]

Originally Posted by Sophisticated Redneck

Cheap tires can cause an "engine miss" on BMW's. Fun stuff.

There's a reason they are cheap son and now you know why. We haven't even talked about the performance, stability/braking and all that yet.

[Ahmedbmwx6me71]

I need a help
I have x6m e71 2013 ,
I checked log error and found :"charging pressure control, boost pressure too low" 0030FF and 310B: Boost Pressure Control 2, Plausibility Fault.
what will I do ?

[525DA_touring]

Check all underpress Lines

[yeeterspooky]

Originally Posted by Ahmedbmwx6me71

I need a help
I have x6m e71 2013 ,
I checked log error and found :"charging pressure control, boost pressure too low" 0030FF and 310B: Boost Pressure Control 2, Plausibility Fault.
what will I do ?

I had those 2 exact codes. For me, my vacuum canister was unplugged and it was causing a vacuum leak. Check your vac lines/pump.