Brought my 2010 E61 535xi to the dealership today for a check engine light that had appeared twice over the past two weeks and has since gone away. iDrive vehicle status and stalk check control show everything is OK. Today, the BMW dealer saw a catalytic converter fault and recommended replacing the cats, O2 sensors and vacuum line at a cost of $4,622 ($3,200 Parts & $1,422 Labor) Unfortunately, the car (purchased as a CPO) is at 86K miles, so it's past the 8 year/80,000 mile warranty which I believe the cats have. Anyone have this same issue repaired at an independent shop who could provide a baseline estimate? Also, how long can I go on driving with bad cats? On top of the above, they saw a leak at the valve cover gasket and a "crack" which they estimate at another $1,756 to repair. Looking at these numbers, I wonder if it's time to start shopping around for another car. Unfortunately, not too many touring choices out there.
The cracked valve cover is common and need to be replaced. I have not had many cats fail on your engine before. Do you have the faults they pulled?
Left a vm with the dealership, but no return call. Using a basic diagnostic tool, I received the following DTC I/M P0420 Catalyst Efficiency Below Threshold Bank 1 P0430 Catalyst Efficiency Below Threshold Bank 2 Rest of the scan tool read the following in order: MIL Off Monitors 0 INC 7 Ready Misfire Comp Catalyst Evap O2 Sensor O2 Htr Not sure what the 7 Ready refers to, but there was nothing listed under those category checks.
How many miles does your vehicle have? It's strange that both cats would fail at the same time especially if the light goes out as well. Have you ever had injector's leak badly? I would be curious to see what BMW faults they have in the vehicle a OBD2 reader can't read all of them just the ones that cause the light to be on.
Wagon has just under 86K. On 9/16/14 @ 50,773 miles, the dealership replaced all the injectors due to fault codes that showed misfires. After running a misfire test plan, they noted that the injectors were series 6 and they replaced all of them with the newer series 7. I had experienced a very rough idle, car bucking down the street and warning light, coupled with a rotten egg smell. Since that time, I've replaced front brake pads & rotors, thrust rod bushings, air filter, power steering fluid (60,136 miles), alignment & 2 tires (60,160 miles), coolant & oil chance (65,761 miles), brake fluid, oil change & replaced a leaking oil filter housing gasket (73,922 miles), low pressure fuel sensor (80,379 miles). Others have been daytime running light bulbs and a reprogramming of the automatic transmission, but I still have a thud maybe 3 times going from Park to Reverse into Drive, k-turning out of my driveway in the mornings, but that's for another thread
When ever unburnt fuel gets to the cats this can cause them to heat up to great levels and cause a melt down and cause the faults your getting. But at the mileage you had the injects done I would have thought if the cats got damaged you would have seen that already. See if you can get a print out of the faults the dealer pulled this would help in some of the diagnosis.
Th dealership could not reproduce the codes for me. Went to a local independent and while they saw the codes, they mentioned other factors could be in play. Before we went down the road of replacing cats and O2 sensors, they addressed other possible culprits and maintenance. 1. Cleaned the intakes of carbon build up (they mentioned the valves were pretty caked) 2. Replaced the cracked valve cover & gasket 3. Oil changed 4. Replaced spark plugs (complete oversight on my behalf not replacing them sooner. I believe the recommended interval on the 535xi is 45,000 miles) 5. Replaced the air filter We'll see how this goes with respect future codes over the Fall/Winter. In the interim, they noted that my third brakelight is not working (although not throwing a code strangely enough). After inspection, they said the culprit is a broken wire from the lift gate into the roof. Common problem area from what I've read and a bit of a PIA to fix. Some say it's just better to replace the entire wire bundle since they become brittle over time and are more susceptible in colder climates. Not sure I want to take on that DIY.
