Any alternative to $3K worth of injectors?

[Converted1]

My 09 135i Cabrio with 55K is exhibiting signs of a bad injector. (a couple of rough cold starts, some mild smoke, fuel exhaust smell) While there are no CELs and it drives perfect, I don’t want to risk killing the cats or engine. I took a look and see I have series 7 injectors. I checked and it doesn’t look like my production date is covered by the SIB.

Is the best accepted way to fix this to by buy new series 12 injectors at about 3K, the installation and coding tools? Usually accept the BMW tax but having a hard time on this one. Doesn’t help the parts over doubled in price in the last 3 years.

Any guidance is appreciated.

[bnace10]

I'd look for a set of index 12 on Facebook groups that target N54, E90, E82 groups. Generally see used sets for closer to $1200-$1500.

Right here for $1200: https://www.1addicts.com/forums/show....php?t=1975920

[Converted1]

Thank you for the suggestion. Do the index 12 injectors commonly fail? Also concerned about properly replacing the ring and getting them to shrink and fit well.

Originally Posted by bnace10

I'd look for a set of index 12 on Facebook groups that target N54, E90, E82 groups. Generally see used sets for closer to $1200-$1500.

Right here for $1200: https://www.1addicts.com/forums/show....php?t=1975920

[bbnks2]

Originally Posted by Converted1

My 09 135i Cabrio with 55K is exhibiting signs of a bad injector. (a couple of rough cold starts, some mild smoke, fuel exhaust smell) While there are no CELs and it drives perfect, I don’t want to risk killing the cats or engine. I took a look and see I have series 7 injectors. I checked and it doesn’t look like my production date is covered by the SIB.

Is the best accepted way to fix this to by buy new series 12 injectors at about 3K, the installation and coding tools? Usually accept the BMW tax but having a hard time on this one. Doesn’t help the parts over doubled in price in the last 3 years.

Any guidance is appreciated.

Just buy used injectors for $50 and code them as you need them? No need to just jump to 3k index 12's. They've gotten so expensive because everyone is "upgrading" to index 12 as a preventative "mod" rather than replacing injectors because they've failed. Demand is high.

Replacing a single injector is not hard at all and protool can code it in about 30 seconds super simple. You just need the tool to compress the Teflon seal. I've never had an issue with removing old injectors by hand and reinstalling them by hand but they do sometimes seize up into the head... having the right tool doesn't help either in those cases...

You can mix up index's 1-10 no problem. Index 11/12 shouldn't be mixed with index 1-10 but some people do it and claim no issues... BMW says not to though and it's probably for good reason. Just always replace the Teflon seal and the compression ring.

[AshwinLB]

Another option is to just replace with index 12's in that bank, meaning 3 injectors. You can mix index 11/12 with index 1-10 as long as they are both not in the same bank.

Bank 1 - Cylinder 1, 2, 3
Bank 2 - Cylinder 4, 5, 6

For example you can run: 12, 12, 12, 7, 7, 7
But you cannot run: 7, 12, 7, 7, 7, 7

[Converted1]

I appreciate the feedback from you both. I know I can find used injectors or upgrade one bank but was hesitant to use sub index 12 as I would expect all of the index 7 to eventually fail over time.

My other concern is diagnosis. I only have occasional light black smoke and hesitation on cold start after sitting for a week. I would say one out of every 10 or 15 cold starts after a long sit. Also, I changed my plugs less thank 5K ago while doing my valve cover and didn’t see any evidence. All of the plugs looked normal. I only have one code, 2B2C
Ox2B2C high pressure fuel, plausibility, cold start. That doesn’t necessarily point to a specific injector issue.

I guess I have to pull all of the injectors, pressurize the system and see which ones leak?

Any other ideas on this are appreciated.

[AshwinLB]

How’s your high pressure fuel pump? There were a few revisions for it as well. Since you’re not getting a specific injector code, that would be my first thought. They are pricey though so not something I would just throw at it and hope it sticks. (even though that’s exactly what I did with my car lol but luckily it fixed limp mode issue)

I believe Rein also makes a replacement now that’s cheaper so we’re not stuck with just Genuine anymore, but not sure about Rein’s reliability.

[Petro135]

Originally Posted by Converted1

I appreciate the feedback from you both. I know I can find used injectors or upgrade one bank but was hesitant to use sub index 12 as I would expect all of the index 7 to eventually fail over time.

My other concern is diagnosis. I only have occasional light black smoke and hesitation on cold start after sitting for a week. I would say one out of every 10 or 15 cold starts after a long sit. Also, I changed my plugs less thank 5K ago while doing my valve cover and didn’t see any evidence. All of the plugs looked normal. I only have one code, 2B2C
Ox2B2C high pressure fuel, plausibility, cold start. That doesn’t necessarily point to a specific injector issue.

I guess I have to pull all of the injectors, pressurize the system and see which ones leak?

Any other ideas on this are appreciated.

Pull the injectors connect them back to the fuel lines and over cardboard. Cycle your fuel pump and see which ones drip. If you get occasional black.smoke it could just be one starting to leak and is a light drip, And Ive ran all combos together and if coded it doesn't matter if you mix 12's with anything else. I've run a 1,6 and 12 together and a 12, 10, 7 in the other bank all at the same time. I know a few people who have also with no issues. Plus many other combos. And index 12's are not miracle injectors. I've had a few leak on me. Luckily it was before fcp's change of policy.
$3k is ridiculous for new injectors.

[Converted1]

I pulled the plugs which are only like 2K old. Cyls 456 were pretty black, 4&6 were wet with fuel. I’m changing them all out to index 12. Bought them from a forumite who discounts brand new sets(found here on on the classifieds).

Just my luck, I recently threw away the only windows laptop(inpa) I had and I don’t own any android devices to code them(protool). What a pain in the ass. Really surprised Clarly and Bimmercode don’t offer injector coding.