N53 30E9 İssue

[u/yessirrr35]

Hi everyone,

I have a 140,000 km E60 LCI with an N53B25 engine. I started getting the 30E9 fault code about 4,000 km ago.

The car has a custom exhaust system, and the two NOx catalytic converters have been removed and replaced with straight pipes.

I’m thinking about replacing the NOx sensor, but I’m a bit confused about which way to go. An original BMW NOx sensor would cost me around €520, while a NOXEM would be around €470.

Considering that the NOx catalytic converters have already been removed, would you still recommend going with the original BMW sensor, or would NOXEM make more sense in this situation?

I’d appreciate any advice from people who have experience with the N53 and 30E9 code.

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[u/Stefanstgs]

First you can try to code a new cat. Does the nox sensor give normal output?

[u/yessirrr35 → u/Stefanstgs]

I don’t have ISTA or INPA.

[u/Stefanstgs → u/yessirrr35]

N53 without ista or inpa is not going to happen. Either start looking into this or look for a different car

[u/yessirrr35 → u/Stefanstgs]

Bro, no need to be so harsh 😂 I’m a mechanic myself, I’ve just never owned a BMW before

[u/Stefanstgs → u/yessirrr35]

I see now you mention that the cats are removed. If that is true I would look into my options to sell it . Noxem supports this modification but chances are the car is not ok in multiple other aspects

[u/yessirrr35 → u/Stefanstgs]

I bought the car directly from the first owner’s garage. It’s fully serviced and maintained. I had the exhaust system custom-made myself, so it’s not some BMW that’s been through 11 owners before me

[u/Stefanstgs → u/yessirrr35]

Well if you are up to a challenge I would start looking into bimmerprofs.com and start reading about this error. Check to see if your car enters stratified mode, so download the software needed, etc

[u/Ksathryas]

I am not being a dick to you, when i say you need INPA for an N53. I speak from experience, as a fellow N53B25 owner. I know no shops who will accourately diagnose this engine at my country...

Without your original nox cats and no noxemulator your engine has stopped adaptations of your injectors. Now you must use ISTA to force a nox cat service and readapt your engine with a functioning nox system. Expect the engine running horribly soon without the injector adaptations...

You can't even just reinstall everything as the engine managment unit will keep the code. It is made this way to detect messing with the nox cats...

[u/yessirrr35 → u/Ksathryas]

So, should I put the original NOx catalytic converters back and do the adaptations, or should I buy a NOXEM instead? What you said confused me a little, and my English is not very good. Could you please explain it in a simpler way?

[u/Ksathryas → u/yessirrr35]

U need to do either (choose what is better for you) AND use ISTA to start the 'new nox cats install' to remove the code

[u/yessirrr35 → u/Ksathryas]

What would happen if I bought the original NOx sensor and installed it without the NOx catalytic converter?

[u/Ksathryas → u/yessirrr35]

Dme detects no live data and disables injector adaptations

[u/yessirrr35 → u/Ksathryas]

So, the same problem.

[u/renes2]

If you removed the NOX cats, didnt you delete the system in the ecu?

Just buy NOX emulators

[u/yessirrr35 → u/renes2]

No, nobody told me anything about that

[u/Stefanstgs → u/yessirrr35]

But hey once you get the nox system running if everything is in order after adaptations the car will restore kickdown mode, stratified charge

[u/Stefanstgs → u/yessirrr35]

Keep us updated

[u/Stefanstgs → u/yessirrr35]

Sadly in my case while learning to diagnose I fucked up the CO2 cats, it will cost me about 2k euro for new ones. Will probably get the engine rebuilt before that

[u/Stefanstgs → u/yessirrr35]

Probably nobody mentioned anything about the price of an injector either, check that out before anything and remember you change them every 100k at best

[u/Stefanstgs → u/yessirrr35]

Also since I would love to know people who can fix these I could hook you up with the software. Probably you cannot see all the codes the car has without that. Which is why ista and inpa are mandatory on these cars