Official S65 Injector Failure Thread

Thanks - replaced injector in #6 and tech says engine running fine. Shop is recommending doing the other 7 injectors but I'm going to take it home and see how it runs for a while, the installed cost is $300 each!

jvictormp - I shut the engine down myself. No hydrolock fortunately. It turned over fine just didn't fire. I had nothing in iDrive throughout. But seeing other posts, even attempting to start seems to be a bad idea.

OMG just found this thread, never knew injectors was a problem. Should I be worried. 2011 with 130k, just bought it 6 months ago, been taking care of mintenance slowly, today I replaced my bed sending unit and now the car won’t start, it cranked but won’t start. But I kept clearing the random misfiring codes and kept trying to start it. The few times it ran, it ran rough, smelled and smoked. I think I pretty much damaged my engine, trying to start it 😭. I will check the cylinders tomorrow.

BimmerRob08 wrote

A buddy up here where I live Is retired operator and told me that all the different fuel trucks that service this area and the different gas stations, ie. shell, Sinclair, Smith’s, all fill up at the same fuel point in Reno. So Is this a sales pitch that Shell is supposed to be better than some other fuel? Sounds crazy but that’s what he used to see while on the job. So if that is indeed true, then is 7/11 gas worse or better than shell for example?

The base fuel is often the same, but brands often add their own additives at/after picking up. The additives can make a big difference. So, yes, the fuel is almost completely the same by volume, but the performance difference can be significant, especially over time.

BimmerRob08 wrote

Anyway, is bad gas, bad gas at some stations vs other brand names? Bad gas to me Is one that is old as hell our contaminated. They all have detergents and other cleaning properties, as they advertise.

They all have detergents, but they don't all have the same level or quality of detergents. Some brands just barely meet the federally mandated minimum; others adhere to Top Tier Gas standards, which are much higher; a few go beyond even that.

You're right that none of this matters as much as whether the gas is stale or contaminated.

Jbonly21 wrote

OMG just found this thread, never knew injectors was a problem. Should I be worried. 2011 with 130k, just bought it 6 months ago, been taking care of mintenance slowly, today I replaced my bed sending unit and now the car won’t start, it cranked but won’t start. But I kept clearing the random misfiring codes and kept trying to start it. The few times it ran, it ran rough, smelled and smoked. I think I pretty much damaged my engine, trying to start it 😭. I will check the cylinders tomorrow.

We only have speculation as to why yhese failures occur. The fuel filter is on the intake side of the fuel pump and fairly coarse. It’s labeled lifetime but filter medium breaking down and ending up causing a failed open condition is one possibility for these. Mine has 145k miles and I have replaced all injectors with new and added an nrw in line fuel filter. You could replace the fuel pump fuel filter unit but the in line kit at the engine is a cheaper and probably more effective option so wouldn’t go that route (although I did personally early on).

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-inline-fuel-filter-kit-nrw-design-s65pff

Pull the Injectors and #1 was leaking, hopefully the engine is still good.

BashBosh wrote

Thanks - replaced injector in #6 and tech says engine running fine. Shop is recommending doing the other 7 injectors but I'm going to take it home and see how it runs for a while, the installed cost is $300 each!

jvictormp - I shut the engine down myself. No hydrolock fortunately. It turned over fine just didn't fire. I had nothing in iDrive throughout. But seeing other posts, even attempting to start seems to be a bad idea.

Yeah, attempting to start was what killed my engine. Had I just replaced all the injectors right after the symptoms, I'd be now with a good KW coilover and some 359m wheels on hand with the money I spent in the replacement engine.

About not replacing the other 7 injectors, I don't think that's a good route. If one failed, it means, whatever the root cause of failure is (if pump suction filter collapsing or old time-built debris getting loose in fuel lines) it happened to all of them, but only one got stuck until now.

Don't run that risk anymore. Change all of them. The next time you may not have the same luck you had this time.

I bought a new set of 8 bosch injectors on ebay (US) for below 400 USD last month. No need to pay for genuine.

I had #5 open locked a few weeks ago. Removed it, clean it and was working fine on the bench. As soon as I pressurized it, it locked again. Bought Bosch from a Bosch distributor; there are tons of counterfeited units on the web.
Fuel injectors are time-related parts, so usually when one goes bad, the others may follow suit, so replace them all.

My engine is done, me trying to restart it killed it. What are my options for the block? Thanks in advance.

Time to stroke it! The forum way™

Jbonly21 wrote

My engine is done, me trying to restart it killed it. What are my options for the block? Thanks in advance.

I'm sorry mate. Made that mistake too. You'll turn around.

Maybe you can re-hone it if the scores are fine enough, but the cost of disassemble is high. If you can find a used engine (check cylinder walls and crank rod journals), I think it will be financially wiser.

I feel like I just dodged a bullet after reading this thread. My car went on limp mode with strong fuel smell. And I still drove it home although I was only a mile or so away. I tried to diagnose it myself and started the car a couple times too. End up sending it to a shop to find out that one injector was stuck and flooding the engine with fuel. Luckily, it didn’t hydrolock, my engine is safe.

Question to those of us here who have experienced this failure:

Anyone been doing regular used oil analysis prior to the failure? Might be interesting to see if it showed any warning signs (e.g. fuel dilution going up, viscosity going down, inexplicable increases in wear metals).

EDIT: "regular" as in "multiple times at regular intervals," e.g. at every oil change. That can catch patterns that a one-off report might miss, even if it's done very recently.

I actually did oil analysis 3k-4k miles before injector failed. Blackstone did say that my oil contained a "mild" amount of fuel. However, they said it could be due to me taking sample when oil was cold. and suggested me to check again in 2k miles. At that moment, I didn't think it was a problem....

andym3 wrote

I actually did oil analysis 3k-4k miles before injector failed. Blackstone did say that my oil contained a "mild" amount of fuel. However, they said it could be due to me taking sample when oil was cold. and suggested me to check again in 2k miles. At that moment, I didn't think it was a problem....

Was that a one-off analysis, or had you been doing it regularly?

Blackstone's method of estimating fuel dilution is pretty inaccurate. It's basically okay for distinguishing between "catastrophic" and "not yet catastrophic", but not much beyond that. If they said they found any fuel, I'd bet there was actually a lot.

IamFODI wrote

Question to those of us here who have experienced this failure:

Anyone been doing regular used oil analysis prior to the failure? Might be interesting to see if it showed any warning signs (e.g. fuel dilution going up, viscosity going down, inexplicable increases in wear metals).

I did one in July and there were no signs, oil analysis came back great.

oh man, seeing an "excellent" report, then to have the engine died within 6 months is pretty scary.

Don’t use an N=1 to make any judgements about wear over time.

I think piezoelectric valves either work or they don't. I don't think they gradually develop a leak like rubber seals or gaskets do. So injector stuck open failure would be sudden and oil analysis would not help.

Redd wrote

I think piezoelectric valves either work or they don't. I don't think they gradually develop a leak like rubber seals or gaskets do. So injector stuck open failure would be sudden and oil analysis would not help.

Are these really piezoelectric injectors? I thought that was a DI thing.

IamFODI wrote

Are these really piezoelectric injectors? I thought that was a DI thing.

My bad. You're right, I assumed the S65 injectors were piezo, but they might be solenoid.

I'm pretty sure they are solenoid, as are all port injected injectors AFAIK.

Took my engine apart and this is the damage.