N55 Turbo Side Intake Progress

wheela

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Another update: got to finally use the smoke machine and oh man is that a game changer! In short, there was a good size leak at the TIC/coupler connection, various leaks on my intake setup, and a major leak from the turbo area. In order to do the TIC fix I needed to pull the silicone inlet off which I wasn't looking forward to, but after I got the TIC stuff handled and back on the car I took the opportunity to smoke it with just the adapter piece that bolts into the turbo (the piece the silicone inlet clamps to). Using the intake cone adapter I shoved it in the inlet piece and smoked it and there were no leaks! I couldn't believe it! As happy as I was to see no leaking, I'm equally embarrassed my "mystery" leak has been the inlet the whole time smh... In my opinion it just goes to show how poor fitting the E series inlets seal to the turbo.

View attachment 67917

But anyways, once I established no leaks I knew I just needed to shore up the inlet side and make sure to connect it properly. Starting with this, I found a lot of leaking where I shoved the 3.5" elbow into the inlet. To seal that up I used Flex Paste and I have to say it did an amazing job! I also needed to use an oversized o-ring on the OCC adapter so it sealed better on the PCV port on the inlet.

View attachment 67918

Once those were done, I took my time and carefully got the inlet back on the turbo and smoked again to make sure it was still leak free and buttoned the car back up. I took out to work this morning and while it's feeling the peppiest it's ever felt (since no leaks), its still throwing the damn lean codes: 2BC0 and 2C42 :rage: To recap, there are brand new O2 sensors, hpfp, spark plugs, and MAF on the car. Before throwing more money at replacing other sensors I'm going to smoke the exhaust system and see if any leaks show. I'm wondering/hoping if that pot hole jarred a connection loose that's causing it. I've literally never seen my car get smoke tested and not show any smoke and it currently baffles me that it's finally there but throwing lean codes. I thought it would be a vacuum leak but I can't find any now. The shop I went to owes me a follow-up smoking so I'll go there again to have a second opinion and extra set of eyes on it.

I'll keep this thread posted on what ends up resolving the lean codes and once I have actual logs verifying my WGDC issues are over I'll post those up as well. Thanks to everyone for your insight and suggestions throughout this process!

Edit to add I checked out my PCV heater and mine is not easily usable :( Not sure what happened, but mine was cut off so I don't have a good way to just slap a hose on it and incorporate it into my inlet. I may look into it further but we'll see.
That's awesome you got those leaks sorted!

Regarding the persistent lean codes, had your tuner updated the HFM tables for having your MAF in that adapter piece vs. the stock air duct?
 
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Alturiak

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Nice update and great news regarding the leaks. Do you have a log post leak fix with the codes occurring?
Too much traffic this morning, but I already know there needs to be a fueling adjustment because my hpfp is crashing again at the onset of WOT in 4th and higher gears. Doesn't help much that while all this is going on the first logs with E85 haven't been done yet. I may bump back down to E40 (what my tune is technically for at the moment) and see what it does. Don't really feel like going back to paying over $6/gal for gas though lol. I'll post a log as soon as I have something useful to show.

That's awesome you got those leaks sorted!

Regarding the persistent lean codes, had your tuner updated the HFM tables for having your MAF in that adapter piece vs. the stock air duct?
I wish I knew that answer but unfortunately do not. He could have (and may have), but I think for the most part he was adjusting the fueling biases to put less demand on the hpfp. What does HFM stand for?
 
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wheela

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Too much traffic this morning, but I already know there needs to be a fueling adjustment because my hpfp is crashing again at the onset of WOT in 4th and higher gears. Doesn't help much that while all this is going on the first logs with E85 haven't been done yet. I may bump back down to E40 (what my tune is technically for at the moment) and see what it does. Don't really feel like going back to paying over $6/gal for gas though lol. I'll post a log as soon as I have something useful to show.


I wish I knew that answer but unfortunately do not. He could have (and may have), but I think for the most part he was adjusting the fueling biases to put less demand on the hpfp. What does HFM stand for?
HFM stands for Hot Film Mass air flow. It's the table that calibrates your MAF sensor to read correctly in whatever duct it's installed in. I haven't used it yet, but ideally if your trims were good on the stock intake, and you changed your intake and trims went off, then you'd know it was because of the new intake. To correct your trims, you'd adjust the HFM table until your trims were good again, basically re-calibrating your MAF sensor to the new intake plumbing. I believe you'd increase values in the table in areas where your DME is adding fuel, and vice-versa if there are any areas where the DME is pulling fuel.

Edit: Since leaks in your intake can throw MAF off, your're in a good spot to do this now that you've squared away the leaks.
 
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Alturiak

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So are you running straight e85 on an e40 tune?
I know I know... lol

Right when this happened I was supposed to get a couple initial logs to bump up from E40 to E85. I will go down to E40 in a couple days just to go back to a baseline and rule out the fueling change as a culprit. I've never suspected this as the cause though because I've never had lean codes when switching from pump gas to E40.

I took the car for logs last night and am currently suspecting the hpfp from FCP Euro I swapped out may have been a dud unit. There have been several mornings since that swap the car has long cranked and during last night's pulls, the pump would crash at the onset of any good boost (18+psi). I'm too lazy to post the log on datazap right now but here is the csv. Nothing particularly useful besides seeing the hpfp crashing but let me know if anything else sticks out to you.

After reviewing logs before the pothole happened, my LTFT was around ~3.6. After the pump went in and before the loose/off intercooler couplers were discovered, the LTFT went up to ~8.5. Then after new O2 sensors went in and the loose couplers were fixed (but before the cut one was discovered), LTFT was at max 15. From here the cut/torn coupler was replaced, and all the intake and other various leaks were fixed. My path forward at the moment is to replace the hpfp again, replace the oil cap (mine is slowly leaking and according to the tech code list can be a cause for the code), replace the boost solenoid (unrelated but might as well while I'm doing things), replace the TB gasket (not a suspect but again won't hurt), replace the vacuum line from the pump to the valve cover (the only line I haven't replaced yet but also not a suspect), and I will smoke test my exhaust system to see if there was anything about the O2 sensor job I didn't do correctly. Exhaust leaks pre sensors can cause the code as well so I'd like to rule that out, even though my AFRs looked decent in the logs. Once the new parts are on I'll make the mixture E40 just to be safe on that end; hopefully will have further updates after this weekend.
 

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houtan

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I wouldn’t touch anything until you have the correct fuel for the tune. The fuel volume going from e40 to e85 is vastly different I would expect your rail pressure to crash. My recommendation would be to fill up with e40 and get a log.


Here is the log.

 
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wheela

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I know I know... lol

Right when this happened I was supposed to get a couple initial logs to bump up from E40 to E85. I will go down to E40 in a couple days just to go back to a baseline and rule out the fueling change as a culprit. I've never suspected this as the cause though because I've never had lean codes when switching from pump gas to E40.

I took the car for logs last night and am currently suspecting the hpfp from FCP Euro I swapped out may have been a dud unit. There have been several mornings since that swap the car has long cranked and during last night's pulls, the pump would crash at the onset of any good boost (18+psi). I'm too lazy to post the log on datazap right now but here is the csv. Nothing particularly useful besides seeing the hpfp crashing but let me know if anything else sticks out to you.

After reviewing logs before the pothole happened, my LTFT was around ~3.6. After the pump went in and before the loose/off intercooler couplers were discovered, the LTFT went up to ~8.5. Then after new O2 sensors went in and the loose couplers were fixed (but before the cut one was discovered), LTFT was at max 15. From here the cut/torn coupler was replaced, and all the intake and other various leaks were fixed. My path forward at the moment is to replace the hpfp again, replace the oil cap (mine is slowly leaking and according to the tech code list can be a cause for the code), replace the boost solenoid (unrelated but might as well while I'm doing things), replace the TB gasket (not a suspect but again won't hurt), replace the vacuum line from the pump to the valve cover (the only line I haven't replaced yet but also not a suspect), and I will smoke test my exhaust system to see if there was anything about the O2 sensor job I didn't do correctly. Exhaust leaks pre sensors can cause the code as well so I'd like to rule that out, even though my AFRs looked decent in the logs. Once the new parts are on I'll make the mixture E40 just to be safe on that end; hopefully will have further updates after this weekend.
I believe e85 needs about 30% more fuel than straight gas, so if you're tune is set up for e40 (0 ltft on e40), but running e85, I'm guessing your ltft would bump up around 15% to compensate. With stft alway fluctuatimg, that's probably close to the edge of throwing lean codes depending on conditions?
 

houtan

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Just a heads up on leaving the pcv heater connector unplugged. The battery drain issue must’ve been a jb4 nuance. I have left mine unplugged for a week and didn’t start my car until today and it started right up. Hopefully that is not a fluke but seems to be a non issue.
 
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Alturiak

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Quick update: fuel is now E40 and the LTFT is still climbing to max value when I stopped to monitor it. Haven't driven much on it though so I'll try to get a log on my commute back home after work today. If nothing looks improved I'll move forward with the hpfp and other items change tomorrow.
 

houtan

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Quick update: fuel is now E40 and the LTFT is still climbing to max value when I stopped to monitor it. Haven't driven much on it though so I'll try to get a log on my commute back home after work today. If nothing looks improved I'll move forward with the hpfp and other items change tomorrow.
If the rail pressure is not crashing let’s see a 3rd gear log. Would like to see what your STFT looks like.
 
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Alturiak

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Took the car out for some logging last night and I'm pleased to update there are no lean codes being back on E40! Though my LTFT at idle seems quite high hovering around 13-13.5%, and during full WOT is around 8.5%. Unfortunately I can't find any logs from idle from a couple months ago to compare that value, but I'm confident it would be lower than 13% at idle, since at WOT it was ~3.5%. Car was ripping through the gears though and I wasn't dealing with the hpfp crashing which was nice, but I'd feel a lot more comfortable knowing the pump isn't on the edge of it's limits every time lol. I'll probably still swap to the new hpfp that arrived yesterday and see if it lowers the LTFT at all back to what it was before. I'll send my logs over to @Twisted Tuning again and hopefully get a base E85 tune we can build off of.

That being said, I am disappointed there did not seem to be an appreciable difference in either my boost numbers or WDGC values after clearing up every leak on the car. I may try actually pressure testing the system now that the turbo inlet isn't leaking, but I think my turbo may just be a little long in the tooth to keep up with what it's being asked to do.

Here is my log from last night
Rich (BB code):
		
 

houtan

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The log looks fine to be honest. The turbo is tapped out which is the only thing that seems off. Are you at high elevation?

IMO, You should be able to easily Ramp up to 9.5 degrees timing which would help in the top end. But every car is different so would need to log it to verify.
 
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wheela

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The log looks fine to be honest. The turbo is tapped out which is the only thing that seems off. Are you at high elevation?

IMO, You should be able to easily Ramp up to 9.5 degrees timing which would help in the top end. But every car is different so would need to log it to verify.
What do you think of the stft going so much more negative than the ltft under boost? I'd assume that's suggesting a boost leak? Losing metered air, so pulling fuel out to keep on AFR target?
 

houtan

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To be honest, I don’t know what ltft is used for and don’t log it. But i guess I should find out!

I do log stft though. It could be negative for a few reasons but hard to know without knowing what the fuel scalars are set at and how much fuel is being added via PI.

His tuner will know what’s going on if he sees the log though.
 
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wheela

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To be honest, I don’t know what ltft is used for and don’t log it. But i guess I should find out!

I do log stft though. It could be negative for a few reasons but hard to know without knowing what the fuel scalars are set at and how much fuel is being added via PI.

His tuner will know what’s going on if he sees the log though.
I believe LTFT is basically a long term learned average of STFT for the given engine conditions that it adds (or subtracts if negative) onto the calculated fuel delivery amount before looking at actual O2 sensor feedback. Over time, LTFT should increment towards a point that drives STFT towards 0. So if LTFT is +8, and LTFT is -8, then the DME is saying i've learned I need to add 8% here, so I'll add 8%, but O2 says I'm too rich so I'll pull back out 8%. Since his negative STFT has bigger absolute value that his positive LTFT, he's net pulling fuel out compared to the target.

That's a good point about fuel scalars impacting it, I guess it only would suggest a leak if you're confident the fuel scalars are squared away for the fuel you're running. Maybe his scalars are just too small in this area for e40? Totally agree the tuner will know what's going on from the logs👍
 
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Alturiak

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The log looks fine to be honest. The turbo is tapped out which is the only thing that seems off. Are you at high elevation?

IMO, You should be able to easily Ramp up to 9.5 degrees timing which would help in the top end. But every car is different so would need to log it to verify.
No I'm slightly above see level in the San Fernando Valley north of LA.

I'm thinking the turbo is just old, or is having trouble reaching high boost not a sign of an aging turbo? It also sat off the car for close to a year which I'm sure wasn't great for it in case any seals or anything dried out in that time.

What do you think of the stft going so much more negative than the ltft under boost? I'd assume that's suggesting a boost leak? Losing metered air, so pulling fuel out to keep on AFR target?
My understanding from Justin on the STFT values is that he wants to see negative values here because that indicates the PI doing it's thing. He'll use the STFT values to adjust the controller tune. On my pump gas map he even adjusted it so that there's a small amount of PI happening so that the valves stay clean :)

But yeah I'm super happy the lean code condition was just fuel based and not some mystery issue that can never be found. Can't wait to get my tune wrapped up on full E85! Will update with those eventual logs when I get the tunes.
 
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wheela

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No I'm slightly above see level in the San Fernando Valley north of LA.

I'm thinking the turbo is just old, or is having trouble reaching high boost not a sign of an aging turbo? It also sat off the car for close to a year which I'm sure wasn't great for it in case any seals or anything dried out in that time.


My understanding from Justin on the STFT values is that he wants to see negative values here because that indicates the PI doing it's thing. He'll use the STFT values to adjust the controller tune. On my pump gas map he even adjusted it so that there's a small amount of PI happening so that the valves stay clean :)

But yeah I'm super happy the lean code condition was just fuel based and not some mystery issue that can never be found. Can't wait to get my tune wrapped up on full E85! Will update with those eventual logs when I get the tunes.
That's good news! Sorry, I keep forgetting your PI, I'm not too familiar with how PI logs should look.
 
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wheela

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@Alturiak thought I'd check in and see how your car is running? Are you still running this short intake with the re-located maf? I'm considering a kit with that style intake and was curious if it's been working reliably for you.
 
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