BMW 525D E60 - Loss of Power

Snowman81

I hope somebody can help.

I recently purchased a 2004 BMW 525 with 65,000 miles on the clock. I was driving on the motor way and all the power went the car would not acceleration. The revs would not go above 2,000, after a couple of minutes of crawling the car just stopped and a small about of smoke came out of the front of the car.

I have it with a good local mechanic today and he thinks that the cat is gone. He took the two of them off and they are completely blocked. He is currently in the process of try to clean the cat and he also changed a gasket at the front of the car that is connected near the turbo.

Is the cat likely to be the source of the problem? There are no errors showing on his computer.

I forgot to mention that the emissions light came on a few days ago prior to the car stalling completed. It had previously struggle on take off but after a while the power came back., I had this checked with a BMW specialist and he could find no problems...

Mr Benevolent

When was it serviced last? What's you driving style, what kind of mileage do you do and is it long distance, stop-start or both?

Unusual to see the cat going in an '04 diesel. When the mechanic said the cats were blocked, does he mean collapsed internally or were fouled by carbon? Ironic, as most diesels don't need cats to pass the NCT. The BMW mechanic should've spotted the problem, but who knows what was really wrong. Either way, prepare to bend over if the car needs 2 new cats! The cat wouldn't be on the list of error messages, it's not an electronic part as such. The mechanic would need to troubleshoot the problem, but it be anything from overfuelling spiking both cats (expensive) to... well, lots of other things.

macnab

Just a thought but did you check the oil level. If the turbo was on the way out or had a leak it could be allowing oil into the combustion chamber which might block the cat.

bigroad

If some or one of the inlet swrill flaps broke this would cause something like this.Is your car manual or auto.

bmw535d

what about the micro fliter in bmw exhausts? go through your i drive and check the service items, check when the micro particulate filter was last changed? when they are changed they are reset to 50,000 miles but can last well over than if your a long distance driver or alot shorter if your a school run driver.

Technoprisoner

these cars suffer from a crank case breather problem....they clog up and end up blowing the turbo but give similar symptoms to what you have described....bmw had to change there service intervals to include this once they discovered the problem and now there is a modified part to replace it....its worth taking a look to see if this is your problem

Snowman81

Confab wrote: »

When was it serviced last? What's you driving style, what kind of mileage do you do and is it long distance, stop-start or both?

Unusual to see the cat going in an '04 diesel. When the mechanic said the cats were blocked, does he mean collapsed internally or were fouled by carbon? Ironic, as most diesels don't need cats to pass the NCT. The BMW mechanic should've spotted the problem, but who knows what was really wrong. Either way, prepare to bend over if the car needs 2 new cats! The cat wouldn't be on the list of error messages, it's not an electronic part as such. The mechanic would need to troubleshoot the problem, but it be anything from overfuelling spiking both cats (expensive) to... well, lots of other things.

I had it serviced when i bought it. which was about 6 weeks ago. i have hardly driven in it since i got it because of all the snow. I never drove it hard. most of the driving i have done was on the motorway very little urban driving. not sure of exactly what is in the CAT.

Snowman81

bmw535d wrote: »

what about the micro fliter in bmw exhausts? go through your i drive and check the service items, check when the micro particulate filter was last changed? when they are changed they are reset to 50,000 miles but can last well over than if your a long distance driver or alot shorter if your a school run driver.

Nothing showing up on i drive with regard to the micro filter. it say that there is 50,000 kms until it needs to be changed.

Snowman81

macnab wrote: »

Just a thought but did you check the oil level. If the turbo was on the way out or had a leak it could be allowing oil into the combustion chamber which might block the cat.

Oil level is fine

Technoprisoner

just had a read back at your symptoms and your mechanic mentions the cat....he is probably refeering the the diesel particulate filter.....these things dont like short small journeys and do clog up.... what is need every once in a while is a good hard drive.....these need to get up to temputure to work properly so it is adviced to bring them onto a motorway and drive them in lets say 3rd or maybe 4th high up in the revs for a good few miles...saabs can be put into a diagnostic mode for this and the exhaust does be glowing red while it goes through the motions. these are new to the scene and not many mechanics are up to scratch on how these work.

Snowman81

Technoprisoner wrote: »

just had a read back at your symptoms and your mechanic mentions the cat....he is probably refeering the the diesel particulate filter.....these things dont like short small journeys and do clog up.... what is need every once in a while is a good hard drive.....these need to get up to temputure to work properly so it is adviced to bring them onto a motorway and drive them in lets say 3rd or maybe 4th high up in the revs for a good few miles...saabs can be put into a diagnostic mode for this and the exhaust does be glowing red while it goes through the motions. these are new to the scene and not many mechanics are up to scratch on how these work.

Do you know if they can be cleaned or do they need to be replaced? any idea of cost?

Technoprisoner

they have their own cleaning cycle and as i said usually high revs for a good few miles so the exhaust is nearly glowing...these systems use a fluid called eloy fluid. it is usually stored in a seperate tank and is added to get the combustion temps up to clear the DPF. each car has a different way of doing it. replacement with an aftermarket DPf can range anywhere from 700+vat upwards depending on the car. a quick google search shows that once the car is driven over 50kmh for more than 20 minutes it kicks in http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=115735

bmw535d

Snowman81 wrote: »

Nothing showing up on i drive with regard to the micro filter. it say that there is 50,000 kms until it needs to be changed.

since your car was serviced 6 weeks ago the mechanic probably just reset all the service reminders in one go, something i can do with no tools in the hidden menu of the dash. so id still say its the diesel particle filter clogged with ****e.

Piri

Snowman81 wrote: »

Do you know if they can be cleaned or do they need to be replaced? any idea of cost?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-525-530-2-5-DIESEL-PARTICULATE-FILTER-EXHAUST-/190463753751

Technoprisoner

no point going and buying a dpf ....try the regeneration first

bmw535d

try going on to a motor way or national route and stay as close to 100kph in 3rd or 4th gear after the car is well warmed up.basically a long consistent high rev will start the regeneration process, as you want to get the exhaust glowing red to burn all the soot out.some times when you car has gone to far with out a regeneration kicking in you have to go get it reset and do it then.
try it yourself first, it will only cost you a few gallon of diesel.some people have taken them off and cleaned them with petrol buts its a dirty job.