1995 540i won't start

whats fogging oil?

It's oil in an aerosol can used in boat motors for winter storage. It prevents the cylinders from oxidizing.

Seafoam sounds like it would be worth a try....nothing to loose on that and 'if' this ever happens again we'll give that a whirl.

I've now got about 25 miles on the car since it's been up and running. All of that has been up and down my street and never more than 2 miles from my house due to the oil light coming on. As you know, I've suddenly got a bad case of the CARBON GRITS !!

I removed my oil pan AGAIN tonight.....this is the 5th time it's been off since I got the engine running. The first time yielded about 5-6 tablespoons of the carbon grit. This time I have about 1 tablespoon as seen in this pic :



The grit on the left side is what was in the oil pan....this is the smallest amount so far, about 1/5th of the original. The little pile on the right side is what was pulled out of the oil pump screen, that is the 'usual' and is how much it takes until the grit on the screen blocks off enough of the suction to activate the low oil pressure light. You can see my little paper clip scraper that you can see in the photo as well.

I strained my oil through a screen before pouring it back in and this time I replaced the oil filter as well. Hope this time it lasts for a few more miles . I do have some confidence that I'm gaining on it!

The real good news is that the car starts up perfectly everytime. I've only let is sit overnight so far though....still a little gun shy I suppose !

Rick in Ohio

Originally Posted by TemporarySanity

It's oil in an aerosol can used in boat motors for winter storage. It prevents the cylinders from oxidizing.

I think you have just knocked loose 15 years of crud with gasoline diluted oil from the attempts to get the car to run. I also think that continuing the oil change regimen is your only recourse short of tearing down the engine completely.

I am not sure if a heavy detergent like seafoam will make it better or worse?

I feel Seafoam would loosen up the years worth of carbon but may cause more issues because of it. If you do decide to use it, don't drive it while it's in the oil. Just let it idle for a while, then pull the pan to see if there is more junk.

Originally Posted by snowsled7

I think you have just knocked loose 15 years of crud with gasoline diluted oil from the attempts to get the car to run. I also think that continuing the oil change regimen is your only recourse short of tearing down the engine completely.

I am not sure if a heavy detergent like seafoam will make it better or worse?

Hmmmm ..... let's see ....... where have I heard something about putting a solvent in the oil to flush the crankcase ...... where oh where was that ...... as I recall it was proported to not cause any problems ......... hmmmmm ......... where was that

Anyway Rick, I tend to agree with sled about seafoam. I too think that your course of frequesnt oil changes and clean out action is the best one.

Which is EXACTLY why I noted early in the thread that fuel diluted oil in his car was dangerous to it, and it should be changed immediately. Turns out the gas in the oil IS causing problems, which is exactly why I am against solvents in the oil.

Seafoam is a detergent with years of good rapport. Much different than running diesel in your engine oil

Originally Posted by snowsled7

Which is EXACTLY why I noted early in the thread that fuel diluted oil in his car was dangerous to it, and it should be changed immediately. Turns out the gas in the oil IS causing problems, which is exactly why I am against solvents in the oil.

Seafoam is a detergent with years of good rapport. Much different than running diesel in your engine oil

What's your opinion on the seafoam... speaking of solvents in the oil...

You say "not sure if it still make it better or worse" it's a solvent in oil, no?

Sent from Joe's Galaxy SIII via BimmerApp

I can't say that I have ever used seafoam in my oil. It is a watery thin liquid, doesn't seem right to use in engine oil but it does have a good reputation.

I think seafoam is a detergent more than it is a solvent. Adding deisel or gas to the oil will break down and thin the oil. Seafoam, AFAIK, is just concentrated detergents that are already in your oil and gas. It gives you a heavier dose of what you are already using.

How much more crud do you want to knock loose? If the seafoam works and cleans out the crud even more, how many more oil changes do you want to do? How many more times do you want to clean the pick-up screen?

I realize the temptation is to say "until all the crud is out" but be careful what you wish for on a 15+ year old car. Many of those deposists were in there harming nothing. I would think just good regular maint once the bulk of the mess subsides would be what I would do rather than being on a quest to try and get it spotless.

Originally Posted by snowsled7

I can't say that I have ever used seafoam in my oil. It is a watery thin liquid, doesn't seem right to use in engine oil but it does have a good reputation.

I think seafoam is a detergent more than it is a solvent. Adding deisel or gas to the oil will break down and thin the oil. Seafoam, AFAIK, is just concentrated detergents that are already in your oil and gas. It gives you a heavier dose of what you are already using.

How much more crud do you want to knock loose? If the seafoam works and cleans out the crud even more, how many more oil changes do you want to do? How many more times do you want to clean the pick-up screen?

I realize the temptation is to say "until all the crud is out" but be careful what you wish for on a 15+ year old car. Many of those deposists were in there harming nothing. I would think just good regular maint once the bulk of the mess subsides would be what I would do rather than being on a quest to try and get it spotless.

Well said sled

I put a full bottle of sea foam and drove hard over 200 miles for an emergency trip. Changed my oil. Never seen anything like it. results nearly completly fillled the filter fins solid with dirt and carbon from previous owners lack of oil changes .Recommend using as a pre oil change flush after 50 miles of driving once a year.

Originally Posted by snowsled7

Which is EXACTLY why I noted early in the thread that fuel diluted oil in his car was dangerous to it, and it should be changed immediately. Turns out the gas in the oil IS causing problems, which is exactly why I am against solvents in the oil.

Seafoam is a detergent with years of good rapport. Much different than running diesel in your engine oil

I've been an e34 owner for 2 years approx. and now I have an e36 m52 engine with nearly 350.000 km.
One month after I bought the E36 which is nearly a year ago, I did a diesel flush.
I flushed the engine with 500ml of diesel.
I've done this on my e34 for 2 years with no problems.
I looked at the filter in my e36, saw that it was much more dirty than I expected, and so I decided to continue the flush with the same old oil but an extra 1.5 litres of diesel (for a total of 2 litres now) and a new filter.

I ran the car at idle for 30 more minutes, and then drained it. The new filter came out very dirty too. When I put in the new oil and a new filter, the car engine ran smoother. the old oil was not all that dirty but I wanted to change the oil because I had recently bought the car and this is something you just do.

I definitely feel that the OP in this thread should be doing some serious engine flushing with 2 litres of an engine flush he is comfortable with, and a new filter, NOT an old one, to avoid the problem that he talks about.

Originally Posted by Mamij

I've been an e34 owner for 2 years approx. and now I have an e36 m52 engine with nearly 350.000 km.
One month after I bought the E36 which is nearly a year ago, I did a diesel flush.
I flushed the engine with 500ml of diesel.
I've done this on my e34 for 2 years with no problems.
I looked at the filter in my e36, saw that it was much more dirty than I expected, and so I decided to continue the flush with the same old oil but an extra 1.5 litres of diesel (for a total of 2 litres now) and a new filter.

I ran the car at idle for 30 more minutes, and then drained it. The new filter came out very dirty too. When I put in the new oil and a new filter, the car engine ran smoother. the old oil was not all that dirty but I wanted to change the oil because I had recently bought the car and this is something you just do.

I definitely feel that the OP in this thread should be doing some serious engine flushing with 2 litres of an engine flush he is comfortable with, and a new filter, NOT an old one, to avoid the problem that he talks about.

take it away colin...



YOU are a robertofile.

The issue OP had with his car was that gasoline got in his oil. thats the problem, not the solution.

Originally Posted by Monsignor

take it away colin...



YOU are a robertofile.

The issue OP had with his car was that gasoline got in his oil. thats the problem, not the solution.

LOL spot on Joe ! Robertofile bwahahahahaha that's folio funnnyy ! Roflmao

Sent from my Desire HD using Bimmer App

The OP basically began an engine flush without realizing it, and I would say from my experience from my car when the engine is old and has alot of old sludge, due to use of non synthetic oil, you need to use alot of the flushing luquid, and a new filter during the flush, you can't load the engine by driving the car.
For me diesel is just another flushing luquid, which is cheaper than products off the shelf and I have tried this method on 2 cars with no problems, that is the e34 and this e36. I am happy my car runs alot better than used to before.
I'm not here to argue with anyone. I am just sharing my experience which I picked up here on the forums, I cant help it if this offends some people.

Hey guys,

I just wanted to give you ALL a follow up since I got the car running and had the issue of all the carbon grit in the bottom of the pan that was plugging up my oil pick up screen and causing me to lose ALL of my oil pressure .

I ended up having to remove the oil pan and clean out the oil pump screen 6 times . Each time I got less carbon grit than the previous removal and clean.

YES......my engine got a GOOD FLUSH without even trying. Me?.....I would NEVER flush my engine with ANYTHING if I had to go through this. Trust me that IF you get a bunch of junk down in the oil pan you WILL plug the screen BIG TIME I would have rathered if the carbon stayed on the inside of the engine cases where it wasn't hurting anything than to have knocked it all down into the pan.

So, I now have driven 300 miles since my last oil pan and filter removal. Since I got the car running it's running very smoothly and starts up as advertised. The new plugs are helping as well as the new crankcase vent and new fuel pressure regulator I'm sure. It's been about 10 degrees F here in Ohio the last few days. Although my car is kept in the garage it sits outside when I'm at my airplane shop. After sitting all day in the cold wind (wind chill -5 deg) it started right up both days....and I WAS a little nervous !!

I do have one code....it's the MAF. Although I've been driving the car for the last 3 or so years with the MAF sensor unplugged I just ordered a new one yesterday. I also ordered both cooling sensors as my engine temp gauge quit sometime during this fiasco . I figure I may as well replace them both.

All this because, since the car is back in business:

-I washed it.

- I cleaned the interior.

-I put in a new air freshener.

-I may as well make it 100% .

Nice to have my car back. I 'do' keep waiting for the 'ding' to sound and then see the oil pressure light come on again but for now it's hanging in there......guess I finally got all the carbon crud out of the engine. Matter of fact, I can tell that it's doing well as the oil light goes out by just cranking it with the starter like it used to. When it doesn't go out till the engine is running I know the oil pump screen is almost plugged .

And YES....the oil filter was replaced, but you have to remember that the oil pump SCREEN catches all of the crud from the oil pan first....NOT the filter. So you guys that 'think' your flush is washing everything to the filter are misinformed .

Thanks again guys.....looking back it was miserble but at present I learned a lot .

Rick in Ohio

MAMIJ,

Please read my post just before this one, you may pick up some useful info??

In short, I would be MUCH happier leaving the stuff in the engine where it wasn't hurting a thing. Just wait till you lose ALL OF YOUR OIL PRESSURE while your driving down the freeway shortly after your innocent engine flush and filter change. Trust me that you will not do it again .

Also, your oil filter is only picking up what squeezes through the oil pump screen and the oil pump. The big stuff is getting stuck on the oil pump screen. READ MY LIPS.....NOT A GOOD IDEA in my humble opinion.

Rick in Ohio

Originally Posted by Mamij

In fact, the OP's experience shows that engine flushing works for what it's worth. Would he rather put all the sludge back in the engine or is he happier with it out?
I know what my answer is if it was my car.

Just use 1 or 2 quarts of flush instead of one small bottle, a new filter, and only run the engine at idle. Simple.

Originally Posted by rv6rick

Hey guys,

I just wanted to give you ALL a follow up since I got the car running and had the issue of all the carbon grit in the bottom of the pan that was plugging up my oil pick up screen and causing me to lose ALL of my oil pressure .

I ended up having to remove the oil pan and clean out the oil pump screen 6 times . Each time I got less carbon grit than the previous removal and clean.

YES......my engine got a GOOD FLUSH without even trying. Me?.....I would NEVER flush my engine with ANYTHING if I had to go through this. Trust me that IF you get a bunch of junk down in the oil pan you WILL plug the screen BIG TIME I would have rathered if the carbon stayed on the inside of the engine cases where it wasn't hurting anything than to have knocked it all down into the pan.

So, I now have driven 300 miles since my last oil pan and filter removal. Since I got the car running it's running very smoothly and starts up as advertised. The new plugs are helping as well as the new crankcase vent and new fuel pressure regulator I'm sure. It's been about 10 degrees F here in Ohio the last few days. Although my car is kept in the garage it sits outside when I'm at my airplane shop. After sitting all day in the cold wind (wind chill -5 deg) it started right up both days....and I WAS a little nervous !!

I do have one code....it's the MAF. Although I've been driving the car for the last 3 or so years with the MAF sensor unplugged I just ordered a new one yesterday. I also ordered both cooling sensors as my engine temp gauge quit sometime during this fiasco . I figure I may as well replace them both.

All this because, since the car is back in business:

-I washed it.

- I cleaned the interior.

-I put in a new air freshener.

-I may as well make it 100% .

Nice to have my car back. I 'do' keep waiting for the 'ding' to sound and then see the oil pressure light come on again but for now it's hanging in there......guess I finally got all the carbon crud out of the engine. Matter of fact, I can tell that it's doing well as the oil light goes out by just cranking it with the starter like it used to. When it doesn't go out till the engine is running I know the oil pump screen is almost plugged .

And YES....the oil filter was replaced, but you have to remember that the oil pump SCREEN catches all of the crud from the oil pan first....NOT the filter. So you guys that 'think' your flush is washing everything to the filter are misinformed .

Thanks again guys.....looking back it was miserble but at present I learned a lot .

Rick in Ohio

I'm so glad for you Rick. This has been quite an ordeal for you. We have all learned from your experience and I thank you for sharing it.

I anticipate that your car will run better and get better gas mileage with the new MAF.

Props to you for hanging in there and working this out.

Moderated this thread. Cool it guys and focus on the issue at hand

thanks for the moderating.


"Cool it" - III

Originally Posted by rv6rick

MAMIJ,

Please read my post just before this one, you may pick up some useful info??

In short, I would be MUCH happier leaving the stuff in the engine where it wasn't hurting a thing. Just wait till you lose ALL OF YOUR OIL PRESSURE while your driving down the freeway shortly after your innocent engine flush and filter change. Trust me that you will not do it again .

Also, your oil filter is only picking up what squeezes through the oil pump screen and the oil pump. The big stuff is getting stuck on the oil pump screen. READ MY LIPS.....NOT A GOOD IDEA in my humble opinion.

Rick in Ohio

OP, I read your posts carefully. You are a great man I can see that. You beat more than one big problems in your car and I respect you. I would have given up. I am very sorry that you had the oil pressure problem on your car. The engine flush as it happened for you, clearly caused problems. I am agreeing with this, in case anyone is wondering.

Now, please take a look at this :



This is a commercial for Liqui Moly's engine flush product. LM is a top German company. They sell premium engine oils for BMWs, and their entire product range is designed for the premium car market. They have dozens of educated engineers and millions of dollars of research money and will test everything on all kinds of engines.
Any good company will first check if any new product they want to sell will cause damage. People will forget about a $12 bottle of flush that didn't really help, but they will beat your door if your bottle caused $500 worth of new car damage. Even if you have big disclaimers, the customer will tell everybody about it and your reputation built over years suffers overnight in the public.

There are no warnings on LM's flush bottle, except to run the engine at idle and to use a new filter. These are standard engine flush intructions. No warnings not to use it on old cars. STP and Amsoil are popular american companies, and they have been selling engine flushes for years also. Both ordinary people, workshops and forummers have been flushing engines for years and years, all over the world, with no problems.
More flush and filters is needed for a older, dirtier engine. I use diesel instead of LM because 2 litres costs $2 and 4 bottles of 500ml LM flush cost $50. Seafoam and other light oils are also costly and need to be repeated over several oil changes to have the same cleaning power as one single 2 litre flush. I have done this on my E36 with no problems.

Op, I am very concerned. Putting these facts together with your personal experience, I must think it is likely there was something extra going on in your engine that lead to this problem, and not just driving with the flush inside since you say that was not it. This is logical to ask when you consider everything. In fact, we are not so sure as to what was wrong with your engine to start off this thread. Nikasil problems don't happen suddenly, and seem to take months woth worsening engine problems before the engine stops fully. So I have doubts.
Perhaps there is something wrong with your oil pump, or your oil screen, or something else. Perhaps there was so much sludge that your engine was about to oil starve soon anyway. I am not sure. I respectfully ask you to think about this. You still have your car.

I don't mean to be rude but the fact is that engine flushing is well established to be safe to engines over years if instructions are followed. If it causes problems in your car, there is a good chance that there is something weak going on in your car, and it is important to find and fix that for if this is your main car. If you don't, something else may suddenly go wrong later on. Though I now drive an E36, I signed up with Bimmerfest many years ago after buying an E34. In fact, I went over to Germany to buy my E34 and drove it back home to Denmark ! I have been learning about E34s ever since. The E34 is not known to have problems with its oiling system normally. So OP, please consider. Thank you.

Originally Posted by _Ethrty-Andy_

Moderated this thread. Cool it guys and focus on the issue at hand

Yes, thank you for moderating the posts and refocusing the issue on the OP's car and the debate itself. I don't like being attacked for having a different opinion. I have received ridiculous private messages as well. Some people seem to treat the forums like their own private club.

And thank you for showing the difference between moderation and biased censorship. You did this even when it came to members well known to be your good friends. It is great that a new moderator has such integrity. Congratulations and best wishes on your promotion.

Hey Guys,

So the car is now back up to full speed and running good. No oil pressure light for over 300 miles and it goes out under starter power so it's looking good! Will NEVER flush a BMW in my life....NEVER....EVER....NEVER....EVER !!

Follow up:

I'm waiting for the 2 new coolant temp sensors....should be here Monday. But, they are only just to be sure everything is in order AND because the engine temp gauge went out during my fiasco....this will (hopefully) bring that back to life.

The new MAF sensor came today. You may remember that I've been driving with it unplugged for many years and the only code I had was for the MAF sensor.

- Put the new MAF unit in.

- Cleared the code and verified the 1444 code.

-Started the car and let it idle...it was very rough and I had to keep my foot on the pedal with a little feathering to keep it going. After 4 minutes the CEL came on.

-Shut down and checked codes and this time I had 2 oxygen codes. Cleared them and restarted then just took the car out for a drive.

-It ran like a sick dog....I mean really sick....no acceleration...rough as a corn cob.....really bad.

-Brought it home and it had every code you can imagine.

-Cleared the codes and restarted and took it for another drive. This time it was better but the CEL still comes on with a 1222 & 1213 and a oxygen sensor lean/rich control stop codes ??

I only had the MAF sensor code and it ran just fine.....install a new MAF and it runs like garbage .

Comments?

1-Just drive it for a while with the light on and see if it 'programs' itself?

or,

2-Unplug the MAF and just drive it like I used to and live with the CEL being on?

Rick in Ohio

when you cleared the codes, did you also reset the adaptions in the DME?

Negative, no clue what the 'adaptions' are in the DME or how to reset them.

I'm all ears though .

Rick in Ohio

Originally Posted by _Ethrty-Andy_

when you cleared the codes, did you also reset the adaptions in the DME?