Car was running too perfect...I had a feeling it would not last.

[matreyia]

Situation: Morning, went for a drive - multiple WOT, multiple pulls, long and short durations in all driving modes. Car ran flawlessly.
Just a couple of hours ago...around 7pm... drove on highway, made a WOT pull in grandma mode from 70mph...car goes into check engine light and misfire on cylinder one.
Then it went away... so I parked and read the faults...nothing except for misfire cylinder one code.

Restart and drove home. When driving normal, accelerating conservatively, car is flawless...but any time I press the pedal semi firmly or firmly to accelerate quicker than normal...it goes into misfire cylinder one. Right before misfire, it shudders and shakes.

Specifications of Car:
new two step colder ngk plugs at .22
PR Coils
BMP billet manifold with port injection
AIC6
BPM4 EKPM UNIT UPGRADE
stage 3 lpfp Precision Raceworks
2 ccans
plugged ports
29psi
Pure stage 2 hiflows
relocated inlets
aluminum outlets PSP
Flex Fuel
full tank e85

Here is the log.

 

[fmorelli]

Since you were in there recently, I would check coil wiring and coil seat on plug, then check that plug is torqued, then pull plug and inspect. But you're probably already there.

Filippo

 

[matreyia]

Since you were in there recently, I would check coil wiring and coil seat on plug, then check that plug is torqued, then pull plug and inspect. But you're probably already there.

Filippo

STFT shows lean and rich, at one end, then suddenly rich. But I will check the mechanicals.

 

[matreyia]

Since you were in there recently, I would check coil wiring and coil seat on plug, then check that plug is torqued, then pull plug and inspect. But you're probably already there.

Filippo

Switched spark plug wires from cylinder 1 and 2 and misfire went away. No leaks under engine in any hoses, plug had zero stains and looked like I just installed them. Literally no smoke stains anywhere.

So I ordered a back up set of sparkplug wires from Precision Raceworks. Will replace wire from bank 1. It was a little blackened from heat damage.

 

[doublespaces]

If you didn't solve the problem already, upload the log to the datalog section: https://datalogs.spoolstreet.com and then post the BB code back here in a reply.

 

[matreyia]

If you didn't solve the problem already, upload the log to the datalog section: https://datalogs.spoolstreet.com and then post the BB code back here in a reply.

Hide legend Reset zoom

 

[fmorelli]

Switched spark plug wires from cylinder 1 and 2 and misfire went away. No leaks under engine in any hoses, plug had zero stains and looked like I just installed them. Literally no smoke stains anywhere.

So I ordered a back up set of sparkplug wires from Precision Raceworks. Will replace wire from bank 1. It was a little blackened from heat damage.

Let's hope it was something simple and stupid, and thus solved. These gremlins can be a bear.

Filippo

 

[DCook]

Switched spark plug wires from cylinder 1 and 2 and misfire went away. No leaks under engine in any hoses, plug had zero stains and looked like I just installed them. Literally no smoke stains anywhere.

So I ordered a back up set of sparkplug wires from Precision Raceworks. Will replace wire from bank 1. It was a little blackened from heat damage.

I had several issues with the original v1 wires. I went through probably two sets. Switched to the new v2 boots and havent had issues. Also could of been the possibility of knockoff 95770s too. Another thing is use plenty of dielectric grease. And check your connectors, one of the end pins kept getting pushed out and had shit connection.

 

[matreyia]

I had several issues with the original v1 wires. I went through probably two sets. Switched to the new v2 boots and havent had issues. Also could of been the possibility of knockoff 95770s too. Another thing is use plenty of dielectric grease. And check your connectors, one of the end pins kept getting pushed out and had shit connection.

Oh yeah, I know about the connectors. I made that error already last year. The connectors never come off the coils no matter what now. But the plug wires...they do burn easily. And no worries about knock off plugs or lack of dialectric grease.

 

[matreyia]

I had several issues with the original v1 wires. I went through probably two sets. Switched to the new v2 boots and havent had issues. Also could of been the possibility of knockoff 95770s too. Another thing is use plenty of dielectric grease. And check your connectors, one of the end pins kept getting pushed out and had shit connection.

What happened that you went through two sets?

 

[DCook]

What happened that you went through two sets?

Either from the wire pulling out, or the clip got stuck on the plug ripping the wire, or the top rubber boot would rip, or the good ones would be expanded they dont seal on the plug anymore. Ive noticed the clips were way too tight on v1 than v2 so they made it harder to come off. I'll be going on my 5th motor and dozens of plugs. So, I've put them to the test.

 

[doublespaces]

I'll be going on my 5th motor and dozens of plugs. So, I've put them to the test.

Five? Ouch.

As for the log, looks like a bunch of unburned air gets through on bank 1, it may have just been a finicky wire like you're saying.. I've found they do need a little attention. I have v2 boots and for the most part they've been fine, have to grab them with needle nose some times and pull them back down so they make contact.

 

[DCook]

Five? Ouch.

Yep. 3 have been running 33+ lbs on stock internals. #4 head lifted on 40lbs on antilag, pulled the 11mm helicoils out of the block, so the forged setups getting switched to a second block aka #5. Thats how i learned from limited info do not helicoil your rear 9mm bolts.

So, thats how i experienced the whole pr plug wire scenario haha.

 

[Jeffman]

Wow, this sounds a lot like the misfire problem last year, which was solved when I discovered the crumpled plug wire connector. And guess who led me to the solution ? Haha!

Help / Advice Sought: PR Coils ignition Codes and Misfires

Well my cylinder 2 electrical problems have returned. :coldsweat: It started a few months ago. Started to get 2E19 DME Firing Cyl 2, especially after the engine had completely warmed up and idling or driving slowly in a parking lot or garage. At the time spark plug 2 was only hand right. Code...

bmw.spoolstreet.com

 

[fmorelli]

I had several issues with the original v1 wires. I went through probably two sets. Switched to the new v2 boots and havent had issues. Also could of been the possibility of knockoff 95770s too. Another thing is use plenty of dielectric grease. And check your connectors, one of the end pins kept getting pushed out and had shit connection.

This is my own personal pet peeve. Just one guy's take, so FWIW. I got off of 95770's and went to the NGK 97506. 95770 is a 1-step colder plug, 97506 is 2-step colder plug. This has NOTHING to do with why I run the latter (but is often the comparo discussed). Here's my reasoning on running the 97506:

On these cars it is not unusual that we pull a plug here or there, because we need to check something (the nature of running modded turbo cars). The 95770 uses an aluminum crush washer. Aluminum crush washers are use once washers - they deform and then are no longer a crush washer. The NGK 97506 runs a solid copper washer.

When I ran 95770's I ran into issues with contamination in the spark plug shaft. These were plugs installed, removed, reinstalled with a calibrated $200 torque wrench, on a sub-30k mile car. Removal and reinstall happened as a natural part of building the car (working plug gap, checking burn pattern, etc). I had to carefully go through and complete clean the spark plug land in the shaft so there was a perfectly clean seating area for each plug. I could only surmise that I had issues with multiple uses of the aluminum crush washers on the 95770's. I can't prove it. I may be full of it. But that's the best I could conclude.

What went in after are 97506. Of course been smooth sailing since. As an aside, I also went to a compression threaded method of setting spark plug gap, using a threaded gap tool. I found my usual method of tapping with a brass hammer and feeler gauges not consistent enough. These cars can be very gap picky. I found the threaded gap tool in conjunction with feeler gauges far more consistent in setting gap.

Take my comments with a grain of salt - that's my experience and observations.

Filippo

 

[DCook]

This is my own personal pet peeve. Just one guy's take, so FWIW. I got off of 95770's and went to the NGK 97506. 95770 is a 1-step colder plug, 97506 is 2-step colder plug. This has NOTHING to do with why I run the latter (but is often the comparo discussed). Here's my reasoning on running the 97506:

On these cars it is not unusual that we pull a plug here or there, because we need to check something (the nature of running modded turbo cars). The 95770 uses an aluminum crush washer. Aluminum crush washers are use once washers - they deform and then are no longer a crush washer. The NGK 97506 runs a solid copper washer.

When I ran 95770's I ran into issues with contamination in the spark plug shaft. These were plugs installed, removed, reinstalled with a calibrated $200 torque wrench, on a sub-30k mile car. Removal and reinstall happened as a natural part of building the car (working plug gap, checking burn pattern, etc). I had to carefully go through and complete clean the spark plug land in the shaft so there was a perfectly clean seating area for each plug. I could only surmise that I had issues with multiple uses of the aluminum crush washers on the 95770's. I can't prove it. I may be full of it. But that's the best I could conclude.

What went in after are 97506. Of course been smooth sailing since. As an aside, I also went to a compression threaded method of setting spark plug gap, using a threaded gap tool. I found my usual method of tapping with a brass hammer and feeler gauges not consistent enough. These cars can be very gap picky. I found the threaded gap tool in conjunction with feeler gauges far more consistent in setting gap.

Take my comments with a grain of salt - that's my experience and observations.

Filippo

I have actually had a couple come loose, the 95770s, causing a misfire during a race. So its possible you are correct. I dont really torque mine, but tighten the shit out of them. Whether that makes a difference, youd think it would just smash the aluminum ring again. But, on this go around i switched to the new plug that replaced the 95770, didnt have any issues but only got one use out of them since the head lifted. But they weren't loose upon removal. Actually tight as shit.

I run the ebay plug gap tool, like you posted. Just couldn't justify a 20$ difference between the bms and ebay. Same thing, put it in and push it down with a set screw and recheck with feeler gauges. The old method doesn't really work with a hammer, they are picky you are correct. My car wont function properly anything more than a .017 gap.

I guess my ways are the "slap the shit in and send it". Which isnt good but it works enough lol.

 

[White Sands]

Does anyone else notice that at 3490 RPM something strange happens with the STFT's and the AFR's on both banks?
STFT's go to 0 and AFR's go out of balance even though still accelerating..... It also takes ages for your bank 1 & 2 to go to fuel cut off.

 

[doublespaces]

Does anyone else notice that at 3490 RPM something strange happens with the STFT's and the AFR's on both banks?
STFT's go to 0 and AFR's go out of balance even though still accelerating..... It also takes ages for your bank 1 & 2 to go to fuel cut off.

I think he went into open loop and thats why STFT is 0. Apparently he's got ignition coil/harness issues and thats what he's diagnosing as far as I can tell.

 

[matreyia]

Wow, this sounds a lot like the misfire problem last year, which was solved when I discovered the crumpled plug wire connector. And guess who led me to the solution ? Haha!

Help / Advice Sought: PR Coils ignition Codes and Misfires

Well my cylinder 2 electrical problems have returned. :coldsweat: It started a few months ago. Started to get 2E19 DME Firing Cyl 2, especially after the engine had completely warmed up and idling or driving slowly in a parking lot or garage. At the time spark plug 2 was only hand right. Code...

bmw.spoolstreet.com

Does anyone else notice that at 3490 RPM something strange happens with the STFT's and the AFR's on both banks?
STFT's go to 0 and AFR's go out of balance even though still accelerating..... It also takes ages for your bank 1 & 2 to go to fuel cut off.

I noticed weird stft going on but have no idea why. Installed fresh plug wires. So far no misfire...but will do some logs in normal vs. Wot and post soon.

 

[fmorelli]

But they weren't loose upon removal. Actually tight as shit.

Well if you've done enough plugs and work on cars enough you can get in the zip code. Quarter turn or so once it starts to feel different.

But aluminum head with steel plug ... I dunno ... I have a Timesert setup for spark plugs in my toolbox. Thus far in my life I pooched a BMW airhead cylinder, and the cylinder on my Kohler Twin. Both dumbass moves. My son pooched his 318ti cylinder head. But honestly all of them were just dumbass initial threading, not over torquing.

I run the ebay plug gap tool, like you posted. Just couldn't justify a 20$ difference between the bms and ebay.

Yeah I don't have the BMS one - I was lazy and it was the first link that came up. Same stuff .

Filippo