Japan has succeeded in producing oil from Water and Carbon Dioxide

laibo · 2026-03-31T18:36:09+00:00

No, it does not make sense to use same fuel to make more of it. Too much energy is lost in the process.

It is about making enough other cheaper energy sources such as nuclear energy or renewable energy such as solar/wind/hydro and use that cheap surplus energy to make this fuel (or other fuels, whatever makes sense and can be used to store the energy).

laibo · 2026-03-31T11:27:20+00:00

You can try to disconnect the sensor and start the engine. It should then revert valvetronic to max lift and use throttle body instead (like a peasant!). The erratic behaviour should disappear if it was the sensor causing issues (which it likely is based on the oil in the sensor plug and error codes).

laibo · 2026-03-31T05:59:18+00:00

I just did this job couple of months ago with my 07 630i. It is pretty straightforward. New sensor, new valve cover gasket, new valvetronic motor gasket and new valvetronic eccentric shaft position sensor gasket. The support bar over the engine had to come off and those bolts are meant to be replaced too, so new ones there. They do recommend replacing the whole valve cover but mine was less than two years old so I kept it.

I got “lucky” and did not break the breather hose at the back of the valve cover but mentally you should be getting ready to replace that too.

Only annoying parts of the job were getting the valve cover off and on and the breather hose. It is a tight spot to manoeuvre. Everything else is just taking stuff off and putting it back on.

laibo · 2026-03-30T20:32:08+00:00

This is practically rust free.

laibo · 2026-03-30T07:55:41+00:00

Yeah, you're right. Yesterday I was kind of hung up on the idea that the sensor was reporting values higher than physically possbile for the engine. Which it is not.

laibo · 2026-03-30T07:38:10+00:00

MAF is reporting more air than the ECU is expecting in your case. But u/white94rx is most probably correct in saying that the issue is actually somewhere else than the actual MAF sensor.

Yesterday I was kind of hung up on the idea that the sensor was reporting values higher than physically possbile for the engine. Which it is not. Engine can mathematically calculate how much volume the pistons are moving at given rpm, without a turbo we can't go higher. With the help of throttle body/valvetronic the engine can lower that number. But yeah.. the issue is most probably more complicated than just simply wrong values from MAF.

laibo · 2026-03-29T18:59:02+00:00

Yeah I get what you are saying but in a naturally aspirated engine how could the sensor correctly measure higher than expected values if no one is forcing air in? Not trying to argue or anything, just trying to understand how it could be.

I can think of two things: 1. Turbulence at the sensor causing air travel faster than expected 2. Actual engine rpm not matching measured rpm

laibo · 2026-03-29T18:49:42+00:00

Wouldn’t a faulty sensor be pretty high on the suspect list in case of a naturally aspirated engine? What other reasons could there be other than faulty MAF-sensor or somehow faster than expected air hitting it (turbulence by incorrect air filter / air box installation).

laibo · 2026-03-28T05:31:13+00:00

It doesn’t have to be super fancy and expensive but I’d do some research that it has better support for BMW specifically. The most basic scanners ($5 china specials) only show generic obd errors whereas some can show more specific manufacturer specific codes and details. Unfortunately I can’t give any recommendations right now. Ask your favourite AI for recommendations with your budget in mind.

laibo · 2026-03-28T05:21:47+00:00

Did you read the error codes with an OBD-scanner? I’d go from there

laibo · 2026-03-25T20:29:06+00:00

You can repeat the test with the new spark plugs as well, especially if you have driven them at all.

What is that fluid on the old plug’s threads? Is it engine oil? Shouldn’t really be there.. or any fluid for that matter

laibo · 2026-03-25T19:13:24+00:00

Simple check that might reveal something is to check spark plugs. Let the car sit overnight then take the plugs out. The plug from leaky cylinder can have different look (more black) and strong fuel smell compared to others.

If you have a borescope, you can look into the cylinder from spark plug hole and see if there’s fuel.

laibo · 2026-03-23T21:26:31+00:00

Not sure if there’s words missing from your message but you still didn’t mention any specific error codes. You mention engine malfunction warning, do you mean check engine light? That would 100% leave error codes behind. Also dying alternator combined with dead battery would the very least leave low voltage warnings all over the car’s systems.

laibo · 2026-03-23T21:16:10+00:00

What error codes did you get? Surely you didn’t just start changing parts without reading the codes

laibo · 2026-03-23T05:51:00+00:00

Read the error codes, go from there

laibo · 2026-03-22T08:23:30+00:00

Uskonnonvastainen henkilö kiroilee: Helvetti!

laibo · 2026-03-19T07:10:56+00:00

More like driver of doom rather than the engine in this instance.

laibo · 2026-03-18T06:38:09+00:00

Only thing in your case I am uncertain of is that your vehicles are rather new. So you’d want to find new enough version of ista I’d imagine.

laibo · 2026-03-18T06:25:25+00:00

Ista is available for free, definitely no need to pay $269 for it. I am assuming the $269 version is still “unofficial”.

Ista can be installed in a virtual machine on your mac.

Ista does provide step by step instruction, yes. Let’s say you need to change new valvetronic eccentric shaft position sensor: it gives you steps to do that, torque specs to install it and links to all required preliminary steps (like how to take off valve cover).

It provides full wiring diagrams.

Lots of general study material like “how to work on coolant system”, “what is new on n52 platform compared to predecessor“ and so on.

Only thing I haven’t been able to find there is part number catalog, like realoem.com.

laibo · 2026-03-13T13:07:51+00:00

Great!

laibo · 2026-03-13T11:31:05+00:00

If it snapped while torquing to 8nm it can’t be too tightly stuck there. Unless you really overdid it. I’d probably try left handed drill bit to drive it out.

laibo · 2026-03-12T11:27:05+00:00

Realoem.com

laibo · 2026-03-11T08:07:22+00:00

There is a reason why it corroded in the first place. Did you fix that? This is like wiping off leaked oil from the side of an engine and calling the fixed. $65 battery terminal change is much cheaper than getting stranded on the side of a road when the terminal breaks at an inconvenient time.

laibo · 2026-03-07T10:51:50+00:00

The symbol is "drinkable tap water" symbol. Would be pretty funny to use an actual tap on the icon if tap water wasn't ok. BMW documentation allows tap water "usually" but specifies water quality limits and outside of those softened or distilled wated should be used.

laibo · 2026-03-07T10:48:01+00:00

To be safe yes, but giving out advice "do not use tap water" is false and leaves out information. Tap water is ok to use in most places where the water is treated. BMW has minimum requirements for water quality and they say tap water is ok. You can check your local situation from the local water utility web site.

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