[Ilma]

What Irony!

Not only is your car f***ked, apparently so is your Iphone.

If it wasn't for bad luck, seems you wouldn't have any at all.

So what does that diagnosis mean when all cylinders are not holding pressure?

[JeffL]

"accidentally" crash it into a tree, light it on fire, collect insurance, win.

[ridin135]

I would get it tested somewhere esle

[OpenFlash]

Originally Posted by Ilma

What Irony!

Not only is your car f***ked, apparently so is your Iphone.

If it wasn't for bad luck, seems you wouldn't have any at all.

So what does that diagnosis mean when all cylinders are not holding pressure?

It most likely means that he dealership didn't bring the engine to top dead center when doing the leakdown. The likelihood that 1/2 of the cylinders show higher leakage than the other half screams improper leakdown procedure. As suggested before, go to a proper shop for a proper leakdown. You dealership's service dept seem like they are knuckleheads and just want to start replacing things arbitrarily on your dime. The initial headgasket diagnosis was laughable.

Shiv

[OpenFlash]

Originally Posted by Ilma

What Irony!

Not only is your car f***ked, apparently so is your Iphone.

If it wasn't for bad luck, seems you wouldn't have any at all.

So what does that diagnosis mean when all cylinders are not holding pressure?

It most likely means that he dealership didn't bring the engine to top dead center, or even fully up to temp before doing the leakdown. The likelihood that 1/2 of the cylinders show higher leakage than the other half screams improper leakdown procedure. As suggested before, go to a proper shop for a proper leakdown. You dealership's service dept seem like they are knuckleheads and just want to start replacing things arbitrarily on your dime. The initial headgasket diagnosis was laughable.

[spdu4ea]

attack of the triple posting iphones!

[dzenno]

For some reason forum is posting duplicate posts, sorry.

I just talked to Rocco@RMP Motors after the dealership visit. He said that the numbers from the leak down test as well as the compression test are totally off, complete BS and impossible for my car that runs as well as it does after the initial cold start. According to Rocco, if there really was a problem with the headgasket and the car was put under load, pressure difference between the combustion chamber (200-250psi) vs. the coolant system (~20psi) would most likely cause the coolant cap to blow off and I'd have coolant all over the engine bay. Considering the car never overheated in the 2 years I had it, never had a low coolant light come on (or low coolant in the reservoir), these leak down test and compression test results look totally fabricated. Showing 28% on cylinder 6 when HOT while in reality misfires happen only on morning cold start on 1-3 just doesn't look right at all. Too bad I paid $290 CAD for this and the compression test to be done, live and learn.

When I think back about the things I've done to/on this car that were recommended not to be done, the only one that stands out is using leaded race gas (vp116 very last time) that may have damaged 1 or more injectors. Dealer replaced plugs, WOOO-fu*kin-HOOOO, so those are now new, but I'll have to check those as well and see what they did, maybe they just said they replaced them...unbeliveable...

Here's a couple funny details in all this. Once we were done talking, Rocco came out to the car to see it, popped the hood the screw holding the coolant tank was missing (not there, gone, guess they forgot to put it back, why the hell would they even touch it??) AAAANDDD the cap on the coolant tank was totally unscrewed, just sitting loose on top of the coolant tank, geeeezzz, what a dealership experience

I'll wait for the misfire to happen again and when/if it does I'll leave the car at RMP for an overnight diagnostic (coolant and fuel system test) and go from there...many of you were right, this was definitely a "ride" and a half from the dealer..f* em!

[Irishace]

That is disgusting behaviour from the dealer. Unbelievable. I will be getting my 20k oil changes from them and nothing more. What a joke.

[Mike@N54Tuning.com]

Sorry to hear about the dealer experience. At least you're in good hands now.

Mike

[Jed]

Damn, dude! That sucks! Who and where is this dealer so that people know to avoid them?

[bulldog_yyc]

You're in good hands with Rocco - straight up honest guy with a ton of experience. Hopefully, the fix is a simple and cheap one.

Originally Posted by dzenno

For some reason forum is posting duplicate posts, sorry.

I just talked to Rocco@RMP Motors after the dealership visit. He said that the numbers from the leak down test as well as the compression test are totally off, complete BS and impossible for my car that runs as well as it does after the initial cold start. According to Rocco, if there really was a problem with the headgasket and the car was put under load, pressure difference between the combustion chamber (200-250psi) vs. the coolant system (~20psi) would most likely cause the coolant cap to blow off and I'd have coolant all over the engine bay. Considering the car never overheated in the 2 years I had it, never had a low coolant light come on (or low coolant in the reservoir), these leak down test and compression test results look totally fabricated. Showing 28% on cylinder 6 when HOT while in reality misfires happen only on morning cold start on 1-3 just doesn't look right at all. Too bad I paid $290 CAD for this and the compression test to be done, live and learn.

When I think back about the things I've done to/on this car that were recommended not to be done, the only one that stands out is using leaded race gas (vp116 very last time) that may have damaged 1 or more injectors. Dealer replaced plugs, WOOO-fu*kin-HOOOO, so those are now new, but I'll have to check those as well and see what they did, maybe they just said they replaced them...unbeliveable...

Here's a couple funny details in all this. Once we were done talking, Rocco came out to the car to see it, popped the hood the screw holding the coolant tank was missing (not there, gone, guess they forgot to put it back, why the hell would they even touch it??) AAAANDDD the cap on the coolant tank was totally unscrewed, just sitting loose on top of the coolant tank, geeeezzz, what a dealership experience

I'll wait for the misfire to happen again and when/if it does I'll leave the car at RMP for an overnight diagnostic (coolant and fuel system test) and go from there...many of you were right, this was definitely a "ride" and a half from the dealer..f* em!

[02themax]

Told you since page 1 to go to a different mechanic... Hope things work out bro.

[Bigslick2332]

If your car runs fine after it finally cranks, high-pressure fuel pump is my guess. I've replaced a hand full for an extended crank time problem....... Just my $.02.

[Vudoo4u2]

good to see you are in good hands now!

get that hpfp checked out!

[dzenno]

Originally Posted by Bigslick2332

If your car runs fine after it finally cranks, high-pressure fuel pump is my guess. I've replaced a hand full for an extended crank time problem....... Just my $.02.

no extended cranks ever, engine turns over right away but it exhibits a rough idle on cold start...

[OpenFlash]

Good to hear your in good hands. Getting a dealership to troubleshoot a visibily modified car is nearly impossible since they tend to ignorantly point fingers at parts that don't have "BMW AG" stamped on them. This is why I would never trust them to do a compression or a leakdown test. The results are indicative of a tech who has never done one before and a service manager who just wants to replace your engine.

On a similar note, I have a customer who was getting misfires/rough running a couple years ago. The dealership blamed it on his exhaust systema and made him pay several thousand dollars to restore his warranty and reinstall orginal exhaust/cats. The problem still persisted. Then they concluded that he needed new turbos and a new engine and was facing a $20k bill. I pleaded with him to drive up to norcal (from socal) and did a quick diagnostic. Discovered that one of his o2 sensors was bad. $180 and 2hrs later, his problem is solved and never had a misfire again. It would have been a happy ending if he didn't already have to spend all that money on factory exhausts and cats. Yeeesh...

Long story short, go to a proper performance shop when diagnosing performance issues on a car that is visibly modifed or out of warranty.

shiv

[dzenno]

I'll be leaving the car overnight tomorrow at RMP for an overnight diagnostic. Last night I tried resetting lambda adaptation using the BT tool to see what would happen this morning. I had my friend to go inside the car and start it while I was in the back looking at the tailpipes. When the car was started it misfired on cyl 1-2-3 as usual on cold starts but there was NO white smoke from the tailpipes when the car was JUST started. I then asked my friend to hit the throttle a few times and I saw white smoke but there wasn't a lot at all, to my inexperienced eye/nose looked whiter than typical but i couldn't smell a sweet smell of coolant that you guys have been mentioning.

Why would smoke only come out when hitting throttle on cold start in neutral and not at all when the car is just started without touching throttle (its catless i was expecting some smoke)..

[Ilma]

Originally Posted by dzenno

I'll be leaving the car overnight tomorrow at RMP for an overnight diagnostic. Last night I tried resetting lambda adaptation using the BT tool to see what would happen this morning. I had my friend to go inside the car and start it while I was in the back looking at the tailpipes. When the car was started it misfired on cyl 1-2-3 as usual on cold starts but there was NO white smoke from the tailpipes when the car was JUST started. I then asked my friend to hit the throttle a few times and I saw white smoke but there wasn't a lot at all, to my inexperienced eye/nose looked whiter than typical but i couldn't smell a sweet smell of coolant that you guys have been mentioning.

Why would smoke only come out when hitting throttle on cold start in neutral and not at all when the car is just started without touching throttle (its catless i was expecting some smoke)..

Same thing happens to my stock 135i.

Just this morning I started it up and went to open the trunk. There was no smoke.

A minute later, when I blipped the throttle a couple of times, I could see the condensation plume in my mirror.

Takes a few mintues for things to get hot enough to vaporize I would think

[onefastman]

I think that is about right, every car I have owned does it and you see it all the time. My last 911 pushed out what looked like white "smoke" when started and for a few min. What you have to look for is whether it is indeed smoke or something else. If it is smoke then you have an issue but if the exhaust disipates soon after and does not linger than you are ok.

[dzenno]

it does dissipate almost right away..k, good..thanks

[gamblestolen]

ouch!

[02themax]

Any update on this...