HPFP Broken...... AGAIN!?!?!

[WishBone33]

So my HPFP already died on me once and BMW took care of it free of charge for me a few months ago so I was ok with it. I understand that sometimes automakers mess up but atleast BMW fixed it under warranty. BUT NOW....... something is wrong with my 135 again! I dont know if its the fuel pump but it seems like it is. My car started sputtering and shaking sometimes.... almost like a hicupp on friday night. Now its getting progressively worse and today the engine malfunction light came on. How do you mess up the fuel pump TWICE (if it is the fuel pump)??? Anyone else's fuel pump go out twice?

[Lester]

Unless they replaced it with a rebuilt old version instead of the new '885' series. In any case it is covered under warranty. How often do you fill your tank? Only when the light comes on or do you not let it get below 1/2 very often?

[WishBone33]

just depends. usually fill up right before light comes on. why?

[cagekicker]

hope all goes well

[WishBone33]

me too........ i have an appointment to get it looked at tomorrow. my service adviser called me after i made an appointment with the receptionist at the service dept and sounded like he was skeptical about my claim since they replaced my HPFP earlier.

[imported_mega]

Originally Posted by WishBone33

just depends. usually fill up right before light comes on. why?

some of us have a theory that running low on fuel (ie fuel slosh and air in line) or possibly picking up sediment from the bottom of the tank could be related to the fuel pump issues. Fuel pickup filters get the big stuff, but not everything

I still believe there's some external variables involved in these failures, maybe ethanol ?

pump cavitation is very bad, any air in the line will cause partial cavitation until the air is pushed out, maybe these pumps are susceptible to that type of damage

I don't know it's just a theory

[warmtoes]

There has to be some external factors involved as I've read quite a few times where people have had to change the pump multiple times where others never have a problem.

[WishBone33]

well i just got back from my service dept. my service advisor said he would have to contact BMW because we already changed the fuel pump out and put a new one in a few months ago and he said it has the "classic symptoms" of another fuel pump failure

[Mad Dragon]

Air and sediment don't occur. The fuel system isn't designed that way. I've opened up fuel tanks from the early 90's, and there's hardly anything in there.

[imported_mega]

Originally Posted by Mad Dragon

Air and sediment don't occur. The fuel system isn't designed that way. I've opened up fuel tanks from the early 90's, and there's hardly anything in there.

sure they do, if you run your tank empty, or low + corner you'll get air in the fuel lines

and for sediment, it comes from the gas station tanks

there's a reason our fuel tanks have a pickup filter before the fuel pump, I've changed fuel pumps and those things are straight up nasty with dirt from fuel

[pjdvd]

I posted similar questions in another thread but got no answers.

It would be great to see a poll of those with and w/o fuel pump problems.

Miles at time of failure (if you've had one),
Octane rating of fuel used (be honest),
Fuel company (Mobil, BP, Sunoco, Shell, etc.),
Typical amount of fuel remaining before fill-up (1/4, 1/8, light?)

[imported_mega]

can you do multi choice polls in here? It would only be good if you look at only people with failures first

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by imported_mega

some of us have a theory that running low on fuel (ie fuel slosh and air in line) or possibly picking up sediment from the bottom of the tank could be related to the fuel pump issues. Fuel pickup filters get the big stuff, but not everything

The fuel pump ALWAYS picks up from the bottom of the tank. Anything that settles to the bottom is going to enter the pickup.

[imported_mega]

Originally Posted by jeremyc74

The fuel pump ALWAYS picks up from the bottom of the tank. Anything that settles to the bottom is going to enter the pickup.

Most tanks have baffles that keep the junk away from the pickup, of course if your really low on fuel it'll slosh all around

I know for sure my tank has crap in it, when we had our fuel shortage last year the gas I had to put in did not look like gas, every gas station ran out so all the tanks had everything in the bottom stirred up


it could also be air in the line causing cavitation in the HPFP, if you have ever been around a high pressure pump that gets air in it, it's a scary thing. If your going down to the light turning on, you could easily get air in the line going around a corner

or as some have done, running it completely out of fuel

and we all know by now, when the hpfp detects a pressure problem, it does not stop you, you get to keep on driving

[WishBone33]

Well I got the call today...... apparently its a bad fuel injector this time not the fuel pump. Anyone else heard of any 135's with bad fuel injectors?

[imported_mega]

yep, it's fairly common, if you google it there's quite a few that have had bad injectors replaced

[WishBone33]

This is really bad. This is my first BMW i've ever bought and I've already had the HPFP replaced and now the injector and i've owned the car less than a year.

[My135]

I wonder whether the fuel injector was damaged while the HPFP was going out.

[WishBone33]

The injector went out last friday night........the fuel pump went out a few months back

[warmtoes]

Originally Posted by WishBone33

The injector went out last friday night........the fuel pump went out a few months back

True, but you have to wonder if the HPFP failure caused the injector to die quicker than it would normally and it took until now to fail.

[WishBone33]

I dont know but im pretty disappointed in the whole situation. I mean..... car is less than a year old and already had 2 major problems arise. My confidence in BMW is starting to go downhill

[imported_mega]

injectors can get burnt if the car runs too lean, this happens on a few different engine designs and is not that uncommon

it could have been what happened to yours, I would ask the tech if they know what would cause it, and why only that 1 injector and not the other 5