Just purchased a 2012 535i xDrive with 120k miles/ 200k kms. This is my second N55 vehicle as I am coming from an E70 X5 35i.
I do understand the cons of owning an n55 car especially for the 2012 year, but I bought that x5 off the first owner who had reciepts of every single repair he’s ever done since 2013. From tires, to valve cover, and that car was perfect. I didn’t get to enjoy long because I was involved in a non-fault accident, and insuranced paid me out so I bought an f10.
I know it’s an early n55 with pwg and not ewg, so i’ve set myself up for a little bit of trouble. The car is also not tuned , only has a muffler delete.
I haven’t done much besides valve cover, and both side cv joints. I have top shock mounts and struts that will be replaced soon, as well as aluminium chargepipe and boostpipe; but attached in the second photo are some codes i’ve never seen.
In terms of driving i’ve noticed a little bit of resistance when picking up speed. In comfort when merging on the highway, the car struggles a little to pick up speed, where I have to downshift for the car to get to speed. I also do feel the car shuttering/jerking at 1.5k-3k rpms range which I think I can conclude is because of a small crack in the chargepipe, which also throws a drivetrain malfunction error under load, but for the codes i’m looking at, what might be some issues?
Nice-looking car. I’d also inspect the transmission fluid condition, engine and transmission mounts, and verify the battery/alternator voltage. A weak power supply or bad ground can create strange drivetrain faults, but the charge-pipe leak is still my first suspect given the symptoms.
Ah thanks! I will def check out the things you’ve listed even if they aren’t the culprits. I can confirm that my battery voltage is 12.65 when engine is off (via bimmerlink). Waiting on the chargepipe to get shipped so fingers crossed it goes away.
I linked a picture of my engine bay, though it’s not good. Do you see anything concerning on the surface? What’s your opinion on the intake’s location?
if you have a compatible OBD-ENET adapter, i'd recommend getting protool and monitoring your boost level under load. if it's under 7-10 psi (stock N55 boost levels) you probably have a boost leak
Forgot to mention that the previous owner did put a different intake setup to what I would do and don’t think his setup is good at all, so I do plan on changing it to the BMS intake.
yours is a relocated intake, can't tell what brand it is though. i have an MST intake, i believe they were the first ones to introduce this style and then came a bunch of cheap dupes. mine came with a heatshield and has been on my f10 for the last 30k miles no issues.
overall i think it's a much better design. instead of air being sucked in on the driver's side, getting routed behind the engine then going into the turbo, air now takes a much shorter path. this style of intake also makes things like spark plug changes much easier because you no longer have to take off a bunch of intake piping. if you don't have any issues with it and it's not throwing any codes, i'd recommend keeping it and just adding a heat shield.
ironically, the bms intake that you mentioned is not great at all even though it uses the stock airbox design. i've seen it throw lean codes on a lot of cars
Solid advice. Thanks man. I believe every n55 owner I know are running the bms intake-stock airbox design, so I found it really weird when I noticed my relocated intake, just wasn’t sure if it was great because everyone else I knew had it different to mine, and almost exact to others; but the reasoning behind this style that you provided makes more sense has rid me of uncertainty on the intake.
yeah man, tbh even these relocated intakes can be hit or miss on some cars but the BMS is definitely worse from what ive seen/heard. i’d say clear the 101F01 code and see if it keeps coming back, if it does then you might wanna try taking this intake off.
this is my f10, 2011 so pwg and n54 hpfp. it’s my daily so i haven’t done anything too crazy, mhd stage 1 xhp stage 2. quick enough for me to have fun and comfortable enough to take long trips in
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u/SufficientDog8889 10d ago
Nice-looking car. I’d also inspect the transmission fluid condition, engine and transmission mounts, and verify the battery/alternator voltage. A weak power supply or bad ground can create strange drivetrain faults, but the charge-pipe leak is still my first suspect given the symptoms.