CEL NIGHTMARE HELP! p0491 code

Well just an update on mine... Since I started this thread! I 2 have fixed my issues! and only 4200.00 bucks in so far! ALL PARTS/TOOLS, doing all the labor myself Fun Stuff NOT

Hardest damn Engine I have ever put a wrench on!

Anyway I pulled my heads had them machined had to replace both exhaust cams from LACK OF OIL CHANGES PREVIOUS Owner of course...

Cams and Head work alone was 2500 out the door LOL heads look Brand new I must say but went ahead and have been replacing evering thing else that goes wrong on these cars around 100k too new belts, seals waterpump/ pipe / new idler pulleys all seals replaced on AC work new Guides chains tensioners you name it been replaced! lol

BETTER RUN GOOD THATS all I can say! Will post results got about another 20hr labor to go to finish doing it in my Garage has SUCKED to say the least and that engine is made to be dropped from the bottom and this repair out of the vehical ALL THOUGH it can and will be done in the car on mine lol

Originally Posted by MakaveliFaison

Here an update as promised, no p0491 has come back! Its almost safe to say its gone for good. Just wrote fa in the cas. Then the lma module to change my vo to its Euro counterpart which is gl61 for an 02 745i

Just tried PM'ing you Makaveli... but box is full

Can you provide any details on switching over to Euro? I'm to understand it resolved Secondary Air issues you were having and I need to do the same thing.

Any and all help would be GREATLY appreciated!!

Ok... :bump: ... Anyone have a link to the Euro to US conversion DIY Makaveli's referred to on BimmerForums??? Can't find it anywhere

I've had my 745i for 5 years now. Been dealing with P0491 and/or P0492 codes ever since I first bought it. I've changed both check valves, all hoses from check valves to the secondaray air pump, hoses from secondary air pump to air intake, and plastic hose under manifold. Went away for awhile, but always comes back. Long story short every other year I have to use my code scanner and reset the codes and complete the appropriate drive cycle to get all readiness monitors except the secondary air monitor to complete before the check engine light goes off. Just did this for the third time this morning. I still dread this even though I've done this 3 times now. As stated in this forum in the United States you can have 1 readiness monitor not complete for all 2001 and newer models. Just to clear a few things up the secondary air monitor and EVAP are the last two monitors to complete. Contrary to what is said there is no definitive set order on which completes first. Sometimes the secondary air completes first and sometimes the EVAP resets first. Which one resets first depends on how car is driven. That being said the secondary air monitor usually completes before the EVAP monitor. You'll need to complete the appropriate drive cycle to get the EVAP monitor to complete before the secondary air monitor. First thing you need to do is make the sure the fuel tank is between 1/2 and 3/4 filled. Monitor will not complete if fuel level is not at the appropriate level. Also the EVAP monitor will only operate during the first 30 minutes of engine operation. In order to complete the EVAP drive cycle cruise at 72 to 104 Km/h (45 to 65 MPH) for 10 to 15 minutes (avoid sharp turns and hills). I try to cruise at 63 mph just in case my speedometer is off. If you exceed 65 mph the monitor will not complete. If you do this the EVAP should complete. Theres is more technical information out there but thought I'd give the simplified version. I have more technical info about the drive cycle saved somewhere if anyone needs it. Would like to really hear more about the EURO conversion if anyone has more info.

I have the same error. Carbon build up, anyone know anything about the walnut shell cleaning/treatment and if someone in bc does it. Thx

i ve changed my o2 sensor and my 0492 code never came back on again! its been months!

belfast: there is one place in BBY that will "fix" the issue. PM me
(got this info from another member on here(roadfrog); however i never used their service yet.(didnt need to since my 0492 is gone!)

Well, since Makaveli's mia on this subject, and no one else seems to know.... Here's an update... Had a guy try to reprogram the FA string from GL61 to GL63 but received an error when trying to write it back using NCS Expert... HOWEVER, ever since doing that NO MORE P0491 / P0492 codes!!! Been 5 weeks now. For anyone in the Midwest, PM me and I'll give you the guys #... He also programmed up a bunch of other things like trunk close with fob, drl, etc.... And super cheap. He's outta Madison, but if you have a laptop, the cable and internet there should be no reason he can't do it remotely.

Well the good news for us in the Vancouver BC area, is that there won't be anymore Air Care after 2013. We may have dodged a large bullet there.

look at the n62 question? thread by robz_745. He and I have a fix for those codes without having to remove the heads. You need to soak the SAS chambers after the air valves, for about 3 days, with Seafoam and then use a wire to try and break up the carbon. We also used an air compressor to force the air through the SAS and to the exhaust manifold. Great smoke show,

Originally Posted by Medic67

Well, since Makaveli's mia on this subject, and no one else seems to know.... Here's an update... Had a guy try to reprogram the FA string from GL61 to GL63 but received an error when trying to write it back using NCS Expert... HOWEVER, ever since doing that NO MORE P0491 / P0492 codes!!! Been 5 weeks now. For anyone in the Midwest, PM me and I'll give you the guys #... He also programmed up a bunch of other things like trunk close with fob, drl, etc.... And super cheap. He's outta Madison, but if you have a laptop, the cable and internet there should be no reason he can't do it remotely.

Hey guys, I am sorry to revive an old thread but I have been doing my research on this issue as I have a 2004 545i (E60) and have been unable to find much info on the E60 forum.

I started getting the "Service Engine Soon" light along with an "increased emissions" warning a couple weeks ago so I took it to my BMW Tech friend. He ran the diagnostics and found the following:

27A0-DME:Fan Electronics Box
2761-DME:Secondary Air System, Bank 1
2760-DME:Secondary Air System Bank 2
27B8-DME: Differential Pressure Sensor

The pump for the Secondary Air system is working correctly and seems to be pushing enough volume out when needed (on cold starts only). So I had the valves replaced at the rear of the motor - there are two of them, and did all the hoses as well hoping that would take care of my issue. Well after a couple cold starts the SES came back so I actually took the car to a dealership just to see what they have to say. They are telling me that if the valves are new it has to be carbon buildup in the cylinders or heads where the valves lead into and the only way to fix this - which they say is an issue with the v8 - is to take the motor apart and remove the heads etc to send it out and get rebuilt/cleaned/honed... something like that. Quite honestly I think I zoned out at this point and stopped processing what they were saying.

AFter reading up a bit I see that this is an issue primarily on North American cars as the Euro spec cars do not use the secondary air system. I am trying to verify that the Euro programming works for this issue and that the car will still pass emissions... I live in the Northeast and would like to find someone near me or at least in the tri-state area that can do this. Any advice or info would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jay

The symptons are correct. If you have the low secondary air issue then there is carbon build up in the heads. My wife's car also blows smoke after a 5 minute idle which is caused by leaky valve stem seals which is a known issue.
We have been able to fix the codes by soaking the SAS chamber with a good carbon cleaner like Seafoam and use a wire and air compressor to try and get air going thru to the exhaust manifold.
I had reprogrammed the FA string to gl61 from gl 63 but that didn't fix the 0491, 0492 codes for me. A few people have claimed that this works but I haven't been able to confirm the fix.

Look up the thread by Robz_745 and that thread should help you. We have researched doing the valve stem seals and pulling the heads but the number of man hours are between 40-50 hours if you know your stuff.

The strange part is, that aside from the codes I am not blowing any smoke at all and there is absolutely no performance difference or issues to discuss. I'm not thinking I need a valve stem/ring job... I guess I could always try to do the reset procedure with the scanner when it comes time to pass emissions.... I was just thinking if there is a recode solution I would def be interested... Someone said Turner Motorsport does it... Anyone knowing this is true?

Turner Motor Sports has a fix for some BMW models but when I last check they didn't have the Shark Injector for a 7 Series.

Well I contacted Turner... Here is their response...
"we do not have any way to shut off the secondary air system on your car through SW..( just E39 m5)
Even if we did, that system would not be "ready" any longer... Some states allow one readiness failure and still pass. I am not sure what states do and do not.

The repair suggested is unfortunately the real way to fix the problem... Carbon"

Back to the drawing board I guess...

Funny thing is BMW redesigned the SAS on the 2006. I have a 2006 and my wife has a 2004.
When I check the ready monitors on my 2006 the SAS shows not available for that year. Obviously, there was a flaw in the design of the 2004.

Just flash your car over to EU3 emissions for your 745. It still checks the secondary air system but has a broader range that is accepted. EU2 is the one that doesn't check at all, can't find that one.

You mean flash your DME over, correct? Last time I checked into this it was a little more difficult than I anticipated. Needed a few software tools, ect..

BMW Coding was the site I went into. That was the next step if the seafoam trick didn't work.
Have you flashed your DME?

Originally Posted by MakaveliFaison

Just flash your car over to EU3 emissions for your 745. It still checks the secondary air system but has a broader range that is accepted. EU2 is the one that doesn't check at all, can't find that one.

Just to be clear, and yes I know I am in the e65 forum, I have a 545... and my understanding of the DME is that once its burned or flashed it is unable to be used or flashed again? Maybe I am completely wrong as I certainly dont know enough about any of this.

I am curious to know MakaveliFaison if you know of any solution to this issue on a 5 series?

I did research on this about a year ago and TerrePhantom who is very knowledgable told me that they couldn't
get the right match to flash the DME on my 7 series. You are able to flash about a dozen times but this wasn't an option on my e65. Is anyone out there that can confirm a flash on an e65?
Thanks,

I have v41 data files and I can post what each flash is for. If you open up the firmware files in a notepad the first couple lines will tell you what vehicle and engine it's fir and what region/emission.

As far as 5 series I believe those can be flashed also. Just limited

You were on the post on page to and said that all you need to do is change the vo to gl61. That didn't work for me so know your saying you need to flash the DME. I take it you have the daten files for WinkFP. When I looked at it they didn't have the info for the e65 series. Have you flashed the DME on an e65?

Changing to gl61 does change the settings as yout can see that your orange bar on startup is shorter. But to have full benefit of switching to euro you need to update your dme module. The engine files are in the Ek928 folder. It doesn't just say dme lol. Yay need to know what you are looking at with Winkfp. Also it stops you from flashing if part numbers don't match up. I had to modify hardware file to allow it to flash my transmission with sports mode can't remember if I had to with engine.

Maka do you remember which file under the ek928 worked on yours? i been trying to do this FOREVER and i do not know which one is for the euro3 DME.. our vehicles are nearly identical but i havent facelifted anything on it besides the MMI for my ipod interface and my nav unit
Edit:
Also ive already wrote FA from GL63 to GL61 in CAS and LMA
And if you could provide what setting you have un/checked? etc..
This info would be greatly appreciated.

Soon as I get home I'll give you the file name I used. While your doing that I'll give you the transmission module name took so you can add sports mode instead of l/d