Most liked posts in thread: 2004 R53 (re)Build Thread

I'm nearly out of bullets now. Here's what I've done today, but the spoiler alert is that nothing has changed - I still get trouble code 0302 for misfire cylinder 2 after doing the following:

• checked the codes again to be certain I knew where we were starting. Had two codes: '0302 Misfire Cylinder 2' and '0313 Misfire detected with low fuel'
• cleared those codes and confirmed they were gone from the computer
• tested the cylinder 2 spark plug for spark. Pulled all four plug wires, then removed the spark plug from #2, plugged it in to the wire boot, put the plug near a metal screw on the intercooler bracket and my son cranked the engine just two or three time, long enough for me to see the spark. Was a nice blue/white spark. I think I can finally rule out electrical problems and I'm good with my ignition coil and plug wires.
• pulled the fuel rail and swapped fuel injectors 2 and 4.

We put it all back together, and could immediately hear the same rough idle and audible misfire, which I expected. My hopes were pinned on the code reader returning a 0304 Misfire Cylinder 4 but no luck - got the exact same code for Misfire Cylinder 2 even with the number 2 injector plugged in to cylinder 4 now.

I've ruled out spark. I believe we have ruled out air, thanks to the valve job and the fact that while I keep trying to find a vacuum leak from a disconnected vacuum line, can't see anything amiss with any connection anywhere. I feel like I'm left with fuel as the problem, but swapping injectors did nothing, so I have to be missing something... which I just got an idea from Lee (getting some offline help now!) It could very well be the electrical signal to injector 2 itself. So, next up I will test that electrical connector to be sure it is actually sending electricity to the injector. As usual, I have to move on to other things today, so this is yet another To Be Continued. Hopefully I can check it tonight or one night this week and report back.

 

I didn’t, and that is such an easy variable to test out I’ll do that as well. Truly at the point of willing to try just about anything.


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Good point. Now that think about it more, could it be that the light reads a signal at first and then doesn’t just because the ECU is doing it’s job and shutting down that injector because it has detected a misfire?

If that’s the case then this isn’t caused by an electrical problem, probably, and is something mechanical since I’ve confirmed that I get a spark.

The spark plug resistance idea is worth pursuing. I didn’t swap plugs last night after testing the injectors. I should just pull them and test the resistance of each to see.

I’m also going to figure out how to check the pins in the ECU that correspond to the injectors. I saw a post on a different forum regarding that, didn’t fully understand it but I’ll find it again and see if I can figure it out.


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Hi guys. Sorry for going dark. Mainly there has been no progress, but also, my Tapatalk app started firing off notifications for any new posts, I couldn’t figure out how to make it only notify from what I was following like it always had, so I turned notifications off completely. Then didn’t think to check manually for new posts in here. Didn’t mean to disappear.

I decided to let the dealer look at it. I got it to them last Friday, and they’ve really been great. The service advisor understood where I’m coming from that I just want diagnostic help, so they got into it. I just got a update today in the form of inspection videos from the mechanic. The news is not good, but I didn’t connect with the advisor on the phone for more detailed follow up, we missed each other’s calls.

The tech did a lot of testing and ruled out wiring, DME, plugs, ignition, injectors, and fuel pressure. All of those check out a-ok. And of course he confirmed the misfire on cylinder 2.

Compression tests were unbelievably bad... he did dry and wet:
Dry, cylinders 1-4 = 50/30/45/50 psi
Wet, cylinders 1-4 = 70/60/80/100 psi
Should be between 130-195.
These low readings are what my mechanic got, crazy low. Testing at home I got 130 and above. So I’m doing it wrong or my tester is bad I guess.

then he did a leak down test:
Cylinders 1-4 = 15% / 10% / 5% / 10%

I don’t know the context of the leak down numbers yet. Guessing they are not good either.

then he had video of air pressure hooked up to cylinder 2, and there’s a loud air leak from the crankcase.

then he zoomed in on the camshaft to show a worn lobe. Also visible damage on the cam roller, gouges. Finally he said the lifter on cylinder 2 needs to be replaced.

I’ll be able to connect with them tomorrow and talk through it, get more details. All in all it’s expensive news, if not dire news.

I did talk to the DetroitTuned guys a few weeks ago. They were stumped on the phone with all the info I had at the time. Once I get the full story from the dealership tomorrow I’ll probably talk with DT again and try to figure out what I’m going to do. As in, fix it or give up. I really don’t want to quit after getting this far.

I have been really happy with the dealer service department this week though, and surprised by that.

 

This is just fantastic. Completely agree. Me and my car-guy (and a car-girl) friends often lament where things seem to be headed with car culture, but I'm not so sure it's all over just yet... my son is 18 and we're having a great time, if stressful, sorting this car out. He absolutely loves the car, and he's such a stoic, almost emotionless type of personality, that it means A LOT that he's got this interest in it. Then the other end of the spectrum, I'm 45, and spent last Sunday with my dad, who's 74, getting his 1965 Austin Healey leak-free (for now!) and out on the road. Cars are just good.

 

Okay now I’m following you all. I was airbraining on what is really a bigger underlying problem here - the low compression and that whooshing air. Dealership did not talk about what all that might mean - worn out rings, bore, etc... so I guess they were just going after the $2200 to fix part of the problem.

They gave me 9 pages of estimates for everything. The last page is an estimate for a new engine - $11,000 lol.

I picked up the car. Weirdly it felt great to drive it again while knowing what’s wrong now. Better than wondering and worrying. I’ll call them tomorrow and ask more about the compression test and leak down numbers and what that might really mean. Seems they’re showing they recognize that by giving me an estimate for a new engine.

this is crazy, I’m actually considering that used engine and learning how to do it. We have a backup car to drive from the in-laws... hmmm

 

It’s $1,000 off! I’d be crazy not to take advantage of this incredible offer!

Have thought about this nonstop since Thursday, talked it over with my son and several of my car buddies. Here’s where I’m at: we want to keep the car, keep it safe and keep it running... decently. We’re going to replace the cam and the lifters and eliminate the misfire. Then, we’re just gonna roll with this low compression thing.

I’ll get the leaks sorted, going to need help with the rear main seal, but then it will be back to being more usable. I know this probably sounds a bit half-assed, but I just don’t have the time to dedicate to a rebuild or replacement. I would actually love to do it, but now is not the time.

so maybe I’m putting a ticking time bomb together. The compression issue just seems like something we can live with for a bit. Or it will die completely in a month, I don’t know...

I’ll be shopping for the cam and lifters and associated bits tomorrow, and hope to get them in the car next weekend.

 

I have ordered the new camshaft and rocker arm, and I hope to get them in the car on Saturday and have a smooth-idling R53 by Saturday evening. I just threw another chunk of phone support time in a Detroit Tuned cart and called Mike - those guys are so helpful. I wanted his advice on all these most recent developments, regarding my idea to fix the misfire while knowing I have the low compression readings from the dealer (but remembering that my compression readings at home were in the normal range). His theory is that it's possible the tech at the dealer had inadvertently flooded the cylinders with fuel which stripped all the oil out, causing the low compression. I know I flooded it when I was doing all my spark plug/injector/electrical signal testing, but that was a few weeks ago. Wouldn't think that would still be sloshing fuel around, but it wouldn't have to if the tech did the same thing (he tested everything I tested with injectors and signals etc, so now that I think of it, it's definitely possible).

Anyway, I'll update again when I get these new parts in. Please cross your fingers and your toes, hold your breath, count backwards from 1,000, dance under the full moon, whatever it takes to send my car good vibes for the final attempt.

 

camshafts seem to be unobtanium these days... surprising how many are out of stock with no ETA, found one that's ready to ship in.... August...

I have one in a cart from Autohaus AZ, $593 after shipping (annoys me to pay shipping, so used to no one else charging shipping when spending this much)

OR

Allmag has three used ones, each for $179. One looks really bad but the other two look good. But there are only three photos each. After all I've been through... am I an idiot if I try to save $400 at this point? I think I probably would be. May as well spend the big bucks on the real thing. On the other hand this engine could give up in six months...

edit: bought the new one, original BMW/Mini part. Can't stand the thought of this not working and wondering if it's because I put in a used camshaft with its own issues. back to waiting again...

 

oh yeah I'm absolutely replacing the cam and the rocker, no concern there. As you point out, I've already had all of that out and back in with no problem, I just didn't what I was looking at to catch the fact that they weren't in good shape and were probably the actual cause of the misfire to begin with. My hand-wringing yesterday was around saving money on used versus new camshaft since they're so hard to find in stock. Ended up buying the brand new one.

Replacing the engine is the one that feels far beyond me, at least with the amount of time it would dominate in my already-minimal free time. One day, one day...

 

yeah I feel good about Allmag. I think it will be fine. I really did try to find aftermarket, but it looks like (from what I can find at least) there was only one OEM supplier, AE, and they may not be operating anymore. No one has any ETA on their backordered stock. So my failed orders were all BMW original parts. Detroit Tuned sells a performance cam from RMW, but it would require a tune. I spoke to Mike up there and even he was like "I would understand if you don't want to put any more stress on this engine after all this." He was reading my mind. I don't think this sucker needs more performance. Just using all four cylinders would be nice thankyouverymuch.

 

used camshaft from Allmag arrived today and wow did I make the right decision. Thing looks brand new. I look forward to pulling the current cam and comparing them closely. Once I identify the worn spot on my original cam I'll post a comparison photo here. But so far, full marks to Allmag for what appears to be very high quality part for an extremely good price.

 

hey I'm equally impressed if you just read through this massive thread and all its twists and turns!!

Yeah I'm more than mildly worried about how off the timing is. I think it is one tooth off, maybe possibly as much as two. Although I'm actually having a hard time visualizing how I messed it up. I left the chain on the cam sprocket, it never slipped while I did the cam work. I put in the cam and rockers and tightened them down. Then I went to pop the sprocket back on the new cam, with chain still attached and in place, but I'd placed the camshaft just barely off rotation to match up the little peg with the slot on the sprocket. So I rotated the crank while suspending the cam sprocket and chain, to rotate with the crank, until I had aligned the sprocket with the cam. Shouldn't that actually be in time? The crank didn't move independently of the cam sprocket or chain.

I had removed the chain tensioner to do this - is it possible it hasn't sprung open again and would that cause a problem with the camshaft position sensor's reading (to cause the error code)? I pushed in the plunger before re-installing the tensioner, but I don't have a tool that made me think I could safely do the lever-ing thing to press the chain into the tensioner to release it. But I didn't do that back in February either when I put in the new timing chain and associated parts. The tensioner should open on its own, right?

We drove the car for about one mile last night - a half mile away from home to realize there was definitely a problem with a loss of power and the half mile back to park it. Never got out of third gear so speeds were low. Should be fine. Hilariously, right before we took the car out to test it, I moved our van out of the way to get the Mini out of the garage, and managed to slam my thumb in the door of our van - big huge heavy door on a Kia Sedona! So I'm kind of one-handed for today at the very least, and probably not picking up a wrench to sort out the timing for a few days. I swear everything in this thread makes me sound like the most scattered absent-minded fool to ever look at a car, much less to try and fix one!