Anyone owns a CBU (grey import) E60 LCI with N53 engine here?

[aoch88]

Hey guys, I posted a thread last night but not sure what happened as it's missing Perhaps someone deleted it or a database restore was done? Anyway, does anyone here owns a E60 LCI model (Japan/UK) with N53 engine?Apparently N53 is a direct injection engine that does not have valvetronic. This engine requires low sulphur fuel (Euro 4M and above) which Malaysia is lacking behind. This means that our fuel contains too much sulphur for this engine and would potentially BLOCK, CLOG UP the injector in the long run. Note that this is not about the octane/RON levels but the sulphur contents.Any ideas how we go about this? Mine is LCI N53 from UK and I'm a bit worried because replacing all injectors would easily cost RM4-5K. It can be prevented if we can find Euro 4M fuel (unfortunately it's impossible now in Malaysia) so can the injectors be cleaned or anyone of you have problems so far?

 

[affan66]

not sure. I was looking for one but could not find one in time before Raya last year... Didn't know of these limitations. I do know the 525 N53 comes with a 3 liter block though

 

[cafee]

I tried asking once, no reply too -
http://www.bmwclubmalaysia.com/forums/showthread.php?39313-N53-Engines&p=592419&highlight=#post592419

Hi all,

Backside itchy, was looking around the car dealers for an upgrade and came across a few UK spec unreg/recon cars.

There are many newer 2008+ E60s , X5s out there being brought in, and if I am not mistaken these are all running on the N53 Engines. (Confirmed by VIN check and the different engine sound)

BMW Malaysia has maintained the N52 engine even for the F10. They only use the N53 on the F10 535i, where the engine application involves a turbo charger. The better burn of the turbo charged engines reverses the effects of the high sulfur on the Direct Injection Engines.

Question is, What are the effects of our high sulfur fuel on the Direct Injections NA engines ? Has anyone any experience with a N53 engine in Malaysia?

I read that the Piezo Injectors have a history of clogging up due to dirty fuel/water vapors.

Anyone care to comment?

P.S. Wikipedia says N53 engines are also not used in the US/Australia.

 

[aoch88]

Thanks bro cafee and this was exactly what I read too. My car is a N53 and now I'm worried of all these unnecessary problems. Piezo high pressure injectors are not cheap btw Unfortunately no one here could help shed some light or even real life experiences.

 

[affan66]

lucky i didn't get one with an N53 engine

 

[aoch88]

No ideas how bad the damage would be and I also came to know that it's impossible to remove the injectors to be cleaned. If it's stucked, time to replace

 

[noobie]

not sure. I was looking for one but could not find one in time before Raya last year... Didn't know of these limitations. I do know the 525 N53 comes with a 3 liter block though

previously when i was looking around for e60, a few dealers warned me of this... they told me in a general statement, UK 3.0L engine is not compatible with the petrol that we have here. i don't really know what they meant. But they adviced to skip the 3.0L. Recently i was a AB and again i was informed of this issue. The technical guy also told me that a few dealers(recond dealers) came to them asking to resolve this issue as their customers were facing some problem with the engine. The local BMW don't have a solution on this.

 

[aoch88]

I believe so too but looking at the number of UK LCI being sold locally, it should be quite substantial but I'm not sure how many of them are facing issues with the engine/injectors? Although direct injection is very sensitive towards high sulphur fuel, there are some tolerance level. It doesn't mean the moment you put in our fuel, the engine go bonkers. That's why my question is really about how long the injector can last before it clogs up and how can we prevent or slow down the process.

Bear in mind that most recond cars have very high mileage but they have been re-clocked to lower mileage. As these cars have high mileage, the injectors would probably be clogged with carbon at the first place and our high sulphur fuel made it worse and killed it even faster.

 

[dzuljazz2001]

I believe so too but looking at the number of UK LCI being sold locally, it should be quite substantial but I'm not sure how many of them are facing issues with the engine/injectors? Although direct injection is very sensitive towards high sulphur fuel, there are some tolerance level. It doesn't mean the moment you put in our fuel, the engine go bonkers. That's why my question is really about how long the injector can last before it clogs up and how can we prevent or slow down the process.

Bear in mind that most recond cars have very high mileage but they have been re-clocked to lower mileage. As these cars have high mileage, the injectors would probably be clogged with carbon at the first place and our high sulphur fuel made it worse and killed it even faster.

:listen: .... :4: ..just to highlight ... the Euro 0-Euro 6 has little or no significant to sulphur content in either petrol or diesel. It actually determines the emissions of Nitrogen Oxide (NOx), Total HydroCarbon (THC), Non-Methane Hyrocarbons (NMHC), Carbon Monoxide (CO) Carbon Dioxide (CO2)and other particulate matters (PM) regulated for most vehicle type. In simple term, the European Emmision Standards. i.e the acceptable limits for exhaust emissions of new vehicles sold in EU member states.

Whether our petrol or diesel has significantly high sulphur content, it has not yet to be documented. As in the case of Australia and North America, test was done and had shown that it has exceeded the minimum recomemnded level of sulphur content thus making it not suitable to the N53 engine......

I will share more if my findings on the sulphur content in our petrol and diesel is made avail to me ... :4:

 

[aoch88]

:listen: .... :4: ..just to highlight ... the Euro 0-Euro 6 has little or no significant to sulphur content in either petrol or diesel. It actually determines the emissions of Nitrogen Oxide (NOx), Total HydroCarbon (THC), Non-Methane Hyrocarbons (NMHC), Carbon Monoxide (CO) Carbon Dioxide (CO2)and other particulate matters (PM) regulated for most vehicle type. In simple term, the European Emmision Standards. i.e the acceptable limits for exhaust emissions of new vehicles sold in EU member states.

Whether our petrol or diesel has significantly high sulphur content, it has not yet to be documented. As in the case of Australia and North America, test was done and had shown that it has exceeded the minimum recomemnded level of sulphur content thus making it not suitable to the N53 engine......

I will share more if my findings on the sulphur content in our petrol and diesel is made avail to me ... :4:

Actually it does While the whole point of this "European Emission standard" is to reduce emission, the key to achieving this is also to have a cleaner fuel. It's impossible to achieve that sort of emission standard if you have bad fuel. The car engine only burns the fuel to generate power, it has no function to clean it or acts like a refinery. You can find more details here:

http://www.dieselnet.com/standards/eu/ld.php

Fuel standards comes in tandem with fuel regulations. If you look in detail these fuel regulations, it states precisely what you need to achieve a particular EURO compliance fuel standard. The "M" at the end of it means "Modified" because not all countries can follow the exact formula if we take into account the weather and other factors. That is why many countries uses Euro 2M, Euro 4M, etc.

It is also true that petrol companies do not publish the actual sulphur content in their fuel but adhering to a particular EURO standard means you need to follow the minimum requirements for it. That said, you will never find a EURO 4 compliance standard with sulphur content of more than 50ppm. Here is also another good read:

http://www.google.com.my/url?sa=t&s...sg=AFQjCNGF9uTU3U3rsg4nbYDwe-A6C0Ldyw&cad=rja

I hope this helps

 

[dzuljazz2001]

:4: u r correct in many ways my friend :4: ... :top:

basically whatever the Euro fuel produced, the set maximum content of sulphur in petrol or deisel has to meet the required standard i.e =/< 10ppm S (2009 being the latest). Be it Euro 1 0r 6, thats the maximum accepted in EU - (your link referred).

What I am implying actually, was the standard set (latest being 2009) and no matter which Euro # you are producing (diesel Euro 0-6) the allowable emmission has to meet the required standard.

As per your link (I concur), however "sulphur-free" do not mean it is free of sulphur. Fuel can never be free of it as decreasing the sulphur content will also decrease the lubricity of the fuel (minimize the content of sulphur is the only solution), thus additives have to be added (more cost) to make it commercially viable. So, a standard is put in place (with the max of 10ppm / S) ...

My reasoning of the Euro 1-6 is just to highlight what "Euro 0 -6" stands for and that is "the acceptable emmision of NOx, THC, NMHC, CO, CO2 and other PM" regulated for new vehicles (be it Modified or Non-Modified :4.
If you look at the spec-sheet closely, these emmission are mandatory items that has to meet the standard set. No S is noted as it has been the industry understanding to comply to the set requirement without question .... :4:

Cheers bro and I do stand corrected (sharing is caring) :top:.

 

[aoch88]

No problem and you have good points there too boss The actual problem is direct injection prefers low sulphur fuels of 50 ppm and below. Malaysian fuel is 500 ppm and below which isn't anywhere near that Even Thailand is Euro 3 but we're still on Euro 2M.

 

[B33mEr]

I guess the alternative for N53 would be using the best fuel available which is Shell V-Power Racing and nothing else.

 

[dzuljazz2001]

No problem and you have good points there too boss The actual problem is direct injection prefers low sulphur fuels of 50 ppm and below. Malaysian fuel is 500 ppm and below which isn't anywhere near that Even Thailand is Euro 3 but we're still on Euro 2M.

:top: ..agreed :4: .. but rest assured, we are getting better as the need is there for us to meet that required standard ......

 

[terencehilary]

Hi guys, my current 525i 3.0lit also on N53.... omg...

 

[aoch88]

Hi guys, my current 525i 3.0lit also on N53.... omg...

Don't worry brother, I'm with you, haha. So far I think everything still ok? I read around and it takes some time before the injector dies off.

 

[hky]

Would those injector cleaner that you pour inside the fuel tank keeps the injector clean?

 

[aoch88]

I heard that the injector cleaner doesn't work for direct injection. I've called BMW technical and the customer service says they'll check with the engineers and come back to me.

 

[hky]

Forgive me for my ignorance, but isn't gasoline also injected in Direct Injection Engine? I believe the injector cleaner won't work if you intend to clean the deposit built up on the top of the valve, as the gasoline is directly injected to the combustion chamber.

 

[aoch88]

I understand your point but having read around and participating in UK/US based BMW forums, it seems that these cleaners would work fine for normal engines but not in the case of direct injection. Apparently the mechanism and science works differently. The clogging is on the injector and not the combustion chamber.