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My r53 was bought new in '05. It has around 130k miles on it. Done quite of bit of mods over the years some bolt ons myself, and I change the oil/filter and sparks, but I'm not mechanic. After years of little to no troubles the end of this year has been horrible.
I would say the beginning was in the fall. I've had an after market cat on the car for years, the CEL usually on because of it, but this year for the first time I went into EML limp mode after hard acceleration. Won't get into the missteps I took to try to remedy at first but ended up finding out in October that my cat and o2s were all fouled up along with a cracked valve cover. One of the o2s was all sooty. I guess I should have rechecked that CEL. Car was in rough driving condition and the shop basically recommended factory o2s. Got my valve cover replaced, factory o2s, and I went with a gesi cat per Jan from RMWs recommendation(great price) since he tuned my car years ago..
Car was fine until I had another EML limp episode. Mind you I finally just ordered an ob2 scanner yesterday so codes I always had to go somewhere(should have ordered one years ago). Code was indicating possible damper failure so Jan recommended a new damper and new TMAP. I went with new ATI super damper first.
Car seemed fine until I had the TMAP installed the other day along with an oil housing gasket since my local mechanic I've been using recently suggested it might be the source of an oil leak I've had for a bit. Now the car is stumbling but not going into EML limp. When I give it gas above 3 to 4k the engine starts to stumble. Also, I don't know if its because I'm super sketched by my car now, sometimes I stumble from stop engaging first gear, and have to finesse it to get going. CEL is on but haven't had time to check the code yet which I will when I get the ob2 scanner tomorrow. I'm going to have it checked by the mechanic again also once I get the codes.
I did a visual check on the sparks and they seem fine even though spark plug 2 housing well has a tiny bit of oil in it but not on the igniting head of the plug itself. I just changed plugs and oil and filter in November. Haven't changed the wires though since I got the MSD coil and wires in '14-15 if I remember correctly. Local mech thinks my current issue maybe ignition related. I'm thinking also could it be fuel pump related? Pump is still stock? I think I'm going to order new wires in the mean time. Any thoughts?
Update 17:01
Tried running the engine up in idle. No stumble. Put into gear, engine stumbles after 3-4k. Also, just to double check the TMAP goes near the air intake right? I have a CAI and I see one of the MAP sensors to the left of the box which I believe to be the TMAP. Is that right?
Last edited by polepino; Dec 29, 2018 at 02:03 PM.
Reason: update
Lol. That description isn't helping, It still is kind of confusing. Just simply, is the TMAP sensor in the general area of the right side of the engine next to the CAI/OEM air intake, in between the engine and the intake, in front of the brake fluid reservoir? I see one of the sensors.
just went to advanced auto to get my codes checked.
P1239 is all i got.
thoughts? should I replace the MAP too?
Got me thinking maybe install was put on the wrong part? Or maybe I ordered the wrong part. Is there a way to check if the sensor is a TMAP or not vs the MAP through the part itself? I ordered from WMW the post supercharger TMAP.
Last edited by polepino; Dec 30, 2018 at 11:50 AM.
P1239 refers to the map sensors. Pressure too low. Check all your contacts and make sure they are clean and good. Check your battery voltage. Should be 12v or better with car off. Running voltage of alternator should be about 14. Bad batteries can cause lots of issues.
P1239 refers to the map sensors. Pressure too low. Check all your contacts and make sure they are clean and good. Check your battery voltage. Should be 12v or better with car off. Running voltage of alternator should be about 14. Bad batteries can cause lots of issues.
Hm. I changed my battery back in 2014 if I remember correctly. I did check the battery in the back. Connections are fine but there is a little bit of water in the well of the compartment. It was raining a lot here the past few days. Come to think of it, the day i had the TMAP installed it was raining and when i picked up the car, there was a leak coming from the airbag sensor right above where the seat lights are. Literally had water dripping down to inbwtween where my cup holders where. Mech said to check my sunroof drain to see if it's clogged. I know water and electric dont mix.
Last edited by polepino; Dec 31, 2018 at 04:45 AM.
Yep you better address that leak right away. It can also run down the side by the A pillar and get into the connections behind the passenger and drivers side kick panels. Definitely check the drains.
Yep you better address that leak right away. It can also run down the side by the A pillar and get into the connections behind the passenger and drivers side kick panels. Definitely check the drains.
If the drains are located in the tracking areas of the sunroof near the front of each trach then they look clear to me, I did a really quick visual inspection, it was dusk though. No water pooling and I saw both left and right holes. Not sure if there are other drains.
It usually isn’t clogged drains, it’s the rubber tubes connected to the drains come off and the water drains down the pillar to the carpet, damaging the BCM module on the passenger side in the process. There are four drains, two in the front and two in the back. You can see where the water drains in the rear at the top when you open the hatch. Most people secure the tubes with a small hose clamp or zip tie when reattaching.
It usually isn’t clogged drains, it’s the rubber tubes connected to the drains come off and the water drains down the pillar to the carpet, damaging the BCM module on the passenger side in the process. There are four drains, two in the front and two in the back. You can see where the water drains in the rear at the top when you open the hatch. Most people secure the tubes with a small hose clamp or zip tie when reattaching.
Ran the car a little bit today and tested a few things. 1st gear, I can romp on it all the way up to 5k no problems. Problems start after 2nd gear when I accelerate hard. When I gradually accelerate I can get up passed 4k no problems.
Have you checked the BPV as suggested by ItsmeWayne?
I haven't. I'm not a mechanic so I'd need the mechanic I'm using to check. Is there anyway for him to test without opening the car up or is a visual inspection the only way?
I ran some water on the front two drains. Both had the water exiting the bottom near the tires.
It still would be a good idea to secure the drain tubes when you have some time to prevent issues in the future.
In the rear, sources besides the hatch seal and SR drains are the third brake light and hatch handle. The seals shrink over time and leak. I just replaced the handle seal because of this. I first noticed it when water was leaking on the micro switch popping the hatch by itself. Sometimes the solenoid would continually pop with the hatch already released.
I probably should change the title a bit. Did another test today after my new sparkplug wires were put on. Car is stumbling/misfiring on quick heavy load, even in neutral. Gradual increase in gas pedal its fine. However, when I blip the pedal hard it sounds like I hear sucking air and then stumbling. Planning to go to mech tomorrow.
Another interesting thing I did was actually try to find both sensors in broad daylight. I just have been so busy I haven't had time to check. I now see the front TMAP and the MAP between the air box and the supercharger. The "MAP" I see says "Continental" and Made in China. That's totally strange.
The BPV is likely the culprit as brought out in this thread already. It's attached to the super charger cold air intake horn (the right one if you're looking straight at the engine). It's not too difficult to remove by yourself and you'd save some money just pulling it off to check whether it should be replaced or not. I would highly suggest checking out Mod MINI on youtube. He's the one that got me started with working on my own MINI. It ended up being much easier to do than I ever imagined. Here's a link to his video on replacing the BPV:
pic of the sensor between the air box, am I looking at the map sensor location? Looking down, airbox is on the bottom of the pic. I thought the map and tmap should both say BMW on them? wth I will say this, when I first got the tmap installed the installer put the sensor on the wrong location and I had to drive back to get them switched back. He had to leave and had one of his guys do the switch. Maybe he put in the wrong part?
The BPV is likely the culprit as brought out in this thread already. It's attached to the super charger cold air intake horn (the right one if you're looking straight at the engine). It's not too difficult to remove by yourself and you'd save some money just pulling it off to check whether it should be replaced or not. I would highly suggest checking out Mod MINI on youtube. He's the one that got me started with working on my own MINI. It ended up being much easier to do than I ever imagined. Here's a link to his video on replacing the BPV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc-QevsM4QI&t=3s
Hm.. looks like I need to take off the valve cover. I live in a condo and my car is out in the parking lot. In the meantime, I watched the video and saw where he tested the BPV by sticking his hand down underneath the supercharger horn. I tried it out and felt a decent amount of resistance. I depressed it and let it go and it snapped back.
This isn’t going to help solve your problem, but for the future, most of not all hesitation related problems are related to fuel, ignition and/or air. If you can eliminate the ones that are not the problem you are left with the culprit that you can narrow down to a specific part or adjustment. Good luck!
I went ahead and looked at it again today and realized it seemed like a pretty easy take out and replace for the MAP. The Chinese model sitting in place of where the OEM bmw made part was bugging the hell out of me, it just didn't look right. I think my mechanics guy accidentally misunderstood the instructions because he gave me the OEM map sensor back and I didn't realize it at the time. I did some research earlier today on the parts numbers and found this https://www.detroittuned.com/mini-map-sensor/ the TMAP part number ends in 679 and the MAP ends in 648. I had the 648 part number in my hand and the installed TMAP sensor on the front of the car seemed new so I decided to switch out the Chinese part for the OEM part. VOILA! NO MORE HESITATION/STUMBLE!
The bad news.... I ended up overtightening one of the map sensor screws and the head popped off. 🤦🏽 That map better last me the rest of the life of the car.
the offending part. wth is this?! I can't even find the part number on the web.
So I just got both my sensors in the mail today and my TMAP looks like this too. The MAP looks like the stock one though. The parts number is right there in your photo (0872679). Has there been some kind of
update in what’s being manufactured as OEM? I specifically ordered the OEM part and got this TMAP. It has a different type of opening where the sensor takes its reading. Haven’t installed it yet but don’t really want to.
It still would be a good idea to secure the drain tubes when you have some time to prevent issues in the future.
