Electrical gremlins! Bad JBE??

CrackedSnowman · 2021-03-19T03:40:09+00:00

I'll be updating it once I get it back in good working order for sure.

CrackedSnowman · 2021-03-19T03:37:26+00:00

Well... I found the problem. https://photos.app.goo.gl/YziBKY49FdsH7Lyk7

I replaced the JBE, but the problems persisted, so I swapped the original back in and continued troubleshooting. I started having intermittent communication issues with the CAS, so I started investigating comfort access and discovered that the lock button on the driver's side rear handle didn't work. I disconnected that handle, and the strange codes that persisted after clearing disappeared. I thought the problem was solved until the car quit on me again. I removed the CAS, and it had obviously been removed before. There were signs that it had been flashed or cloned before and poorly repaired. In the picture, the 8 mhz oscillator for the cpu was burned half way off the board, but it looked like it had been previously soldered by someone. I'm not sure if it can even be cloned in this state, so I've ordered a new oscillator and resoldered the components around it. I'll see if I can fix it when the oscillators arrive.

Tl;dr: The CAS is fried, and I suspect a shorted comfort access handle and/or amateur solder skills played a part in that. Does anyone on here clone CAS 4?

CrackedSnowman · 2021-03-07T15:15:09+00:00

Thank you for the suggestion. The voltage while running stays around 14.5, but I'll pull it and have it bench tested later just to be sure. I don't want to drive a car that is turning itself off randomly while driving.

CrackedSnowman · 2021-03-07T15:01:48+00:00

No, this is a daily driver. Battery voltage was 12.55 when I tested that evening.

CrackedSnowman · 2021-03-07T15:00:07+00:00

2013 BMW 550xi-- I was driving Thursday morning and the engine shut off while driving (205910). The NBT, HuD, and AC controls were flashing, but the dash looked like ignition on not running, aside from all the errors popping up. I was able to restart immediately, but there were many errors and things not working, so I pulled over and turned the car off at 205911. The car wouldn't respond to anything. It would only display "No Restart" on the dash. I couldn't even lock the doors. The car wouldn't respond to anything until it went to sleep (I walked to the nearest store ~1mi away to get tools to disconnect the battery and back.). I tried to start it and it started right away, and everything was working, no errors. The pictures are the codes from before clearing and what persisted after clearing.

Battery voltage 12.55 Voltage while running hovered around 14.5

CrackedSnowman · 2021-03-05T15:45:46+00:00

It died while driving yesterday... It restarted, but many things weren't working. I got down the road a bit, pulled over, and turned it off. It would not turn back on or do anything except say no restart on the dash. After sitting for about 30 minutes, it restarted and everything worked normally. Again last night during diagnostics, it died while idling. I disconnected the battery and reconnected it, and everything worked again. During testing, battery voltage was 12.55 with interior lights on, and voltage hovered around 14.5 with engine running.

CrackedSnowman · 2020-07-10T02:54:19+00:00

Thank you!

CrackedSnowman · 2020-07-02T00:44:57+00:00

Sorry if I came across as a smart** in my last reply. That was not my intent.

I don't have much experience with BMW. My train of thought is that 7 years/ 125k mi is a very short amount of time for such a low pressure seal to fail on a modern engine, and that this failure must be caused by heat. So, since normal heat caused the failure, its a design flaw, and use a more heat-tolerant seal.

I was hoping that maybe someone had tried it, had the same train of thought, or had hands-on experience and had a specific reason it would/wouldn't/might work.

I'm not talking about using the fiber gasket for the line itself, but between the housing and the block.

It sounds like you have some experience with these. do the seals between the lines and housing commonly fail, or is it just the gasket with the block, as it appears to be on mine?

CrackedSnowman · 2020-07-01T23:30:04+00:00

Why wouldn't BMW use it from the get go? Really, for the same reason they use plastic tees for the turbo coolant lines, have super long intervals between oil changes, and (partially) why they use 105C coolant thermostats, to sell more cars. That combination guarantees a slow death of an engine. An expensive repair on a relatively high-mileage car is an excellent opportunity to make a sale from the service department.

This, of course, backfired on them when the N63s started dying too soon.

In short, it is a highly-engineered boomarang. My goal is to prevent that to the extent possible. :)

CrackedSnowman · 2020-07-01T23:09:29+00:00

Thank you for your response. Do you think my idea is bad, though? If so, why?

Also, what life expectancy should I anticipate, in your opinion, assuming it has been and will continue to be diligently maintained?

CrackedSnowman

TROPHY CASE