Valvetronic deactivated- MAYDAY

[Felipekv]

Hello fellas, hope you are doing well, certainly you are and more than me..


I've just came from the workshop (an indie very recommended), because I wanted to check the valvetronic, as you probably know we suffer from issues and my case was not the exception, I have the CEL 2E0F (valvetronic deactivated) in my 135 n55 2013, so I asked to the workshop to check it, they said me that the CEL keept appearing, so they tried to calibrate the valvetronic with a launch scanner, the car didn't responded at all to the cycles, the RPMs didn't moved at all, noting happened, the old CEL stayed but also a new CEL (can't remember the code but something related to misalignment) appeared, they recommend me to come next week in order to use the official scanner and check what was wrong... But here comes the worst part....


I leaved the workshop and the car had no power, the rpm increased and increased but without getting faster and neither shifting ( in that exact moment i knew that i was totally f#&ed) ... After some driving the car just went to safe mode and I stoped at the middle of the highway almost praying to not be crashed... I turned off and on the engine, it started, I went back to the workshop office, they tried to calibrate again the valvetronic without sucess, we went together to check the car, which appeared to be better, but again, the power loss is significant... So I left the car hoping that my workshop discover what happened.


Considering that

1- My valvetronic doesnt make any weird noise, the car was pulling good before but with a CEL (valvetronic deactivated)
2- Even that they tried twice to calibrate the valvetronic it couldn't be done, there was no rpm fluctuations during the process

What do you think guys?, I'm really worried about all of this.



Really appreciate your support

Felipe

[tracer bullet]

I am going to guess that the eccentric shaft is frozen in place and the entire Valvetronic system is not working correctly. It could be just the motor or the DME that tries to control it all. Exactly which would have to be determined but likely one or more of those things.

I've got 2 BMW's, 135i and X3, both with N55, and both have had the eccentric shaft freeze up. Sucks because I have low miles, annual oil changes, ensure I warm the car up when driving, and so on. I mostly had the rattle noise but sometimes the cars would die at street lights. Lucky for me they always started right backup.

[bbnks2]

this gets posted daily... search...

It's likely that the valvetronic acutator died. extremely common. happens all the time on N52 and previous generations. The problem on an n55 is that you need to remove the valve cover and two injector wells to service it which is annoying. replace the valvetronic actuator. When that dies the valves will be stuck at minimum lift meaning no airflow through the engine. The car may not even idle at really low lift values.

You shouldve just unplugged valvetronic instead of trying to actuate it via software... when the dme sees valvetronic not working right it disables it with the valves at maximum lift. the car continues to drive fine with disabled valvetronic. Then when you cleared codes the car tried to use valvetronic again and it probably failed at minimum lift hence why now it doesn't drive right now. You can manually set valvetronic to max lift with an allen key (google/youtube it) but sounds like you're better off just taking it to a shop to have the actuator replaced.

[Felipekv]

Originally Posted by bbnks2

this gets posted daily... search...

It's likely that the valvetronic acutator died. extremely common. happens all the time on N52 and previous generations. The problem on an n55 is that you need to remove the valve cover and two injector wells to service it which is annoying. replace the valvetronic actuator. When that dies the valves will be stuck at minimum lift meaning no airflow through the engine. The car may not even idle at really low lift values.

You shouldve just unplugged valvetronic instead of trying to actuate it via software... when the dme sees valvetronic not working right it disables it with the valves at maximum lift. the car continues to drive fine with disabled valvetronic. Then when you cleared codes the car tried to use valvetronic again and it probably failed at minimum lift hence why now it doesn't drive right now. You can manually set valvetronic to max lift with an allen key (google/youtube it) but sounds like you're better off just taking it to a shop to have the actuator replaced.

Thanks a lot for your response mate, sorry because i didn't search it 😞, I'll try to see if the shop can actually do this, lift the valvetronic at its max lift.

Do you know if it's dangerous to drive it like that?, i mean, is there a risl driving with the valvetronic more time like that?

[drwillb]

I went through all this a few months ago. The eccentric will need replacing. The DME sees increased current demand in the VVT motor from increased resistance in the eccentric movement. This causes the DME to shut down the whole system. You'll need to replace the eccentric and might as well do the motor since you're in there.

[Felipekv]

Originally Posted by drwillb

I went through all this a few months ago. The eccentric will need replacing. The DME sees increased current demand in the VVT motor from increased resistance in the eccentric movement. This causes the DME to shut down the whole system. You'll need to replace the eccentric and might as well do the motor since you're in there.

And we are talking about... How much... Aprox?...

[bbnks2]

Originally Posted by drwillb

I went through all this a few months ago. The eccentric will need replacing. The DME sees increased current demand in the VVT motor from increased resistance in the eccentric movement. This causes the DME to shut down the whole system. You'll need to replace the eccentric and might as well do the motor since you're in there.

eccentric shaft failure is rare. There is nothing to fail. it's basically a cam shaft. maybe clean out any gunk in the roller bearings but Ive never seen the shaft itself be a source of failure. it's always the valvetronic actuator and sometimes the DME gets killed too.

Manually setting the eccentric shaft tto max lift requires drilling a hole through the valve cover. It's relatively easy. Like I said, search on youtube. The car will run fine without valvetronic. It controls airflow with the throttle plate liker an n54. It might idle a bit lumpy and you might see a bit less mpg but otherwise I drove months like that just fine.

[Felipekv]

Originally Posted by bbnks2

eccentric shaft failure is rare. There is nothing to fail. it's basically a cam shaft. maybe clean out any gunk in the roller bearings but Ive never seen the shaft itself be a source of failure. it's always the valvetronic actuator and sometimes the DME gets killed too.

Manually setting the eccentric shaft tto max lift requires drilling a hole through the valve cover. It's relatively easy. Like I said, search on youtube. The car will run fine without valvetronic. It controls airflow with the throttle plate liker an n54. It might idle a bit lumpy and you might see a bit less mpg but otherwise I drove months like that just fine.

I drove like that for months without any issue, it was an stupid idea to ask to scan it and try to calibrate the valvetronic

[drwillb]

Originally Posted by Felipekv

And we are talking about... How much... Aprox?...

I did all the work myself and used ISTA for the run-in process. Parts alone was about $1200, not including the new valve cover.

[drwillb]

Originally Posted by bbnks2

eccentric shaft failure is rare. There is nothing to fail. it's basically a cam shaft. maybe clean out any gunk in the roller bearings but Ive never seen the shaft itself be a source of failure. it's always the valvetronic actuator and sometimes the DME gets killed too.

Manually setting the eccentric shaft tto max lift requires drilling a hole through the valve cover. It's relatively easy. Like I said, search on youtube. The car will run fine without valvetronic. It controls airflow with the throttle plate liker an n54. It might idle a bit lumpy and you might see a bit less mpg but otherwise I drove months like that just fine.

Failure may be rare but it happens. The roller bearings are in plastic clam shells that get hard and brittle. Believe it or not, there is a lot of forward-backward slop in the eccentric and this leads to wear at the bearing journals. Mine was very badly worn at one of the journals with a sliver of metal from the eccentric ready to fall off.

ISTA is your best friend. Believe what it is telling you. I did the valvetronic motor reset 3 times before the whole thing went into shut down mode.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by drwillb

Failure may be rare but it happens. The roller bearings are in plastic clam shells that get hard and brittle. Believe it or not, there is a lot of forward-backward slop in the eccentric and this leads to wear at the bearing journals. Mine was very badly worn at one of the journals with a sliver of metal from the eccentric ready to fall off.

ISTA is your best friend. Believe what it is telling you. I did the valvetronic motor reset 3 times before the whole thing went into shut down mode.

This is crazy. Reminds me of the Ducati debacle when they used chrome plated rocker arms. The chrome plating would flake off and circulate through the engine. It seems the valvetronic issue with the N55 is a possibility where as the rocker arms for that generation Ducati engine is inevitable.

Sometimes I want to beat some sense into these engineers.

[Felipekv]

Update!

The shop found the problem, it was the valvetronic fuse that was blown, when they called me and said this I was almost jumping of happiness, so yesterday i took the car from the shop, they changed the fuse and recalibrated the valvetronic, 440 usd it costed, anyway, far less than I expected.

😅

[tracer bullet]

Originally Posted by Felipekv

Update!

The shop found the problem, it was the valvetronic fuse that was blown, when they called me and said this I was almost jumping of happiness, so yesterday i took the car from the shop, they changed the fuse and recalibrated the valvetronic, 440 usd it costed, anyway, far less than I expected.

😅

Nice! That would explain the lack of noise, it wasn't even trying to move to begin with. Thanks for the follow-up, future readers will want to know things that worked for people.

[dtla1]

Originally Posted by Felipekv

Update!

The shop found the problem, it was the valvetronic fuse that was blown, when they called me and said this I was almost jumping of happiness, so yesterday i took the car from the shop, they changed the fuse and recalibrated the valvetronic, 440 usd it costed, anyway, far less than I expected.

😅

Good update! Do we know what fuse # this usually is?

[Felipekv]

Originally Posted by dtla1

Good update! Do we know what fuse # this usually is?

I asked them and they just said, "it's in the fuse box in the engine bay" and I said, OK, the true my friend is that I was just thinking about the invoice.. Lol

But here's another GREAT Part of my story, today I was driving normally and from nowhere appeared a checkengine light!!, I used the torque app to check the CEL and I have the P0420 catalyst system efficiency below threshold (bank 1), I cleared and scanned again after some driving , and now appears the same CEL but like "pending" without checkingine light. Is this another great news from my 135??

Does this means that I'll have to pay some bucks in a O2 sensor and labor to replace it??? Or maybe it's related to the valvetronic recalibration



I've just logged with torque my O2 voltage, in the first part the car was at idle (probably 600 rpm) and then I tried to keep the rpm in 2000, is it normal to have 0 voltage lectures?

[dtla1]

Our fuse box is behind the glovebox though? Unless they changed a fuse in the Control Box on the passenger side under the hood?

[bbnks2]

Originally Posted by dtla1

Our fuse box is behind the glovebox though? Unless they changed a fuse in the Control Box on the passenger side under the hood?

The "electronics box" inside the passenger side cowl compartment houses several fuses and relays. Three main fuses are valvetronic, injectors, and coils.

[Felipekv]

Originally Posted by dtla1

Our fuse box is behind the glovebox though? Unless they changed a fuse in the Control Box on the passenger side under the hood?

I was confuse as you, I don't know if I didn't hear correct or not.

Anyway by now I'm struggling to discover what is causing my new CEL, if it's the o2 sensor or the catalytic converter