2011 BMW X3 N52 Crank No Start

[@OtissSpunkmeyer]

This was the best hour I’ve ever spent watching a diagnostic video. So much to learn from. This is hands down one of if not the best diagnostics I’ve ever seen done. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@DTEAuto]

Thank you for that, I'm glad you found the video and got something out of it, thank you for watching

[@steverecchi265]

All i can say is, thank you , you rock, that was a fantastic example of diagnostic procedure. no guess work, i have never tested for the air intake side and that was the key. i have to also say thank you for showing the trick you learned with the numbers on the eccentric cam. the trick i will put into may bag and never forget it..btw i have been struggling with a customers n52 and that trick was the answer to putting an end to my chasing my tail for 3 days...you are my hero today...after wrenching on all makes and models in my shops over 35 years i have really not wasted 3 days of learning BMW systems i think i have discovered in my semi retirement what i want to specialize in. these awesome over built vehicles that go by the BMW name. it would be great to see the same things over and over again. and man have i gained a respect and appreciation for this brand. thanks again diagnostic guru.

[@DTEAuto]

Super glad to hear you learned something that benefited, I appreciate it a ton and thank you for watching!

[@dazeboy79]

One of the best diagnosis videos i have ever seen! It was a simple problem, but you did a great job going through the possibilities! 5 Stars Service and thank you for taking the time to explain the problem as well as how/why this can happen!! Cheers sir! Thank God for people like you!! You will be blessed for sharing your skill & this information!! Much appreciated!! Keep up the good work! I am novice mechanic and have an N52, but I've been stumped for a while and now I have new directions as a result of you So thanks again and have a wonderful day! Good Karma coming your way!! Also, great analysis and explanation of all the 4 strokes and what is happening inside this interesting valvetronic machine!

[@DTEAuto]

Thank you for that, I am happy to hear that you found the video interesting and helpful, and hopefully you can get your issue resolved soon with some of this newfound knowledge. Thank you for watching

[@OtissSpunkmeyer]

Dude my jaw dropped when you pulled that valve ground motor out. HOLY SHIT. I’ve never seen that happen.

[@DTEAuto]

same here, was my first time also!

[@eacherenkeka]

Awesome diagnostic my friend! Thank you for letting see what is going on in the engine that has everything to run but won't start! We learn what was the problem, but I appreciate the way you approached it and show us every little detail! A lot to learn in this diagnostic and more with this valvetronic system. Thanks again brother!

[@DTEAuto]

Thank you Keka!

[@buenobarronFunk]

I was dealing with the same crank no start condition for about a week and had the exact same issue lmao a snapped worm gear off the valvetronic motor, new valvetronic motor got me back on the road thank you so much 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽✅

[@DTEAuto]

Awesome to hear and glad you got it fixed!

[@danielxiong4118]

Do you need any tupe of calibration or just install and play

[@scottschantz2553]

Dude,, really glad you took the long route. So much was learned by the tests shown. You're a great teacher of the craft. Thanks again.

[@DTEAuto]

thank you Scott, I'm glad you enjoyed, thank you for watching

[@bobturnbull18]

Great job, man. I really appreciate you taking the time to go through this in such detail.

[@DTEAuto]

Thanks for the support and thank you for watching

[@DanB-l3l]

I'm finally getting the whole picture that nobody could explain before

[@DTEAuto]

Glad to hear that, thank you for watching

[@matthewdale174]

Appreciate the time you took to provide your thoughts and explanation A lot of useful info Dtech for the win Got to love valvetronic Nice correlating with the intake pulls and the incylinder

[@DTEAuto]

Thank you, Matthew, glad you liked it and thank you for watching!

[@matthewdale174]

Keep ‘‘em coming Like the tooling and expertise

[@prashanshan7125]

Great diagnostic work.! You deserve a medal 🏅..

[@DTEAuto]

Thanks Prashan!

[@DirtyWorm12]

Killer information, i love how you break down these waveforms and your analysis. Its very useful to see different problems on the scope

[@DTEAuto]

Glad to hear you got something out of it, check this one out I just put out, it has a lot of good info kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3bcfIafiduBftE

[@billshaughnessy3955]

never seen an n52 with the dme there before. another awesome video!! learned a ton. thanks for sharing!!

[@DTEAuto]

Yeah, me neither Bill, I was surprised but I'm glad to hear you learned something from it and thank you for watching

[@duanedonaldson2262]

I am glad you took the long way around as you were able to gather all the scope data for your library on this model so no worries, all I am concerned about is that I saw on a different channel, the guy was teaching DIYers on the video, doing it all wrong and ass-backward, while he was working in a paid shop and then on video, he said he had to go get another hour of diagnostic time. I hope you only charged the standard diag time for going straight for the code issue at hand, maybe 1 hour is fine if that is a minimum for you brother but we all appreciate all the extra effort put into this case study.

[@duanedonaldson2262]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gH_booOHrNqhrpI DiagnoseDan Valvetronic video.

[@DTEAuto]

Yes, I definitely got a lot of good data for sure, and I hope you got something out of it as well, thank you for watching

[@tintoverano]

hi, great video again - when the VVT motor is unplugged the DME switches to throttle control mode, meaning the throttle is opened almost fully, whereas in VVT control mode, the throttle is opened roughly 3mm to control idle and intake manifold pressure

[@JoelAutomotiveInaction]

Awesome case study

[@DTEAuto]

Thank you Joel

[@أيمنالسيدمحمدصفوت8560]

Always great explained as usual thanks man

[@DTEAuto]

Appreciate it! and thank you for watching

[@rogerh4815]

Initial assessment on my car - N52 2011 BMW X3, perspective or wisdom appreciated Could it be something other than engine damage? - "During testing we confirmed the customers condition of a crank no start. When cranking the engine had an audible inconsistent compression sound. We ran a vehicle health report and found a lot of codes in the DME. I cleared all the codes and cranked the engine, looking to see if any returned immediately and none did. At this point we performed a relative compression test synced with the primary ignition coil firing. I observed that the primary firing was after peak compression and that most of the cylinders in the engine had lower compression. Both of these signs pointed to mechanical failure. Next, we went in cylinder on cylinder 1. We found a maximum of 10psi of compression on cylinder 1. On an initial crank I would expect to see 50-70psi. I believe the chains to be stretched but will need to tear down to confirm. A bigger concern of mine is if timing jumped, was there valve train damage? We know that there is mechanical damage and at this point given the risk of internal repair we recommend replacing the engine assembly and then move the coils and plugs to the replacement motor."

[@rogerh4815]

Thank you. I have a car that just died while driving at highway speeds and would crank but not restart. It sounds like this vehicle but I also had other things going on, like intermittent oil pressure level sensor indicator but oil appears to be pumping when oil filler cap is removed to inspect flow or if faulty sensor. Will check visibility of numbers and status of worm gear.

[@rogerh4815]

Ordered sensor to replace. Hope it's just worm. Will follow up.

[@DTEAuto]

Hopefully you get yours resolved. Thank you for watching

[@rogerh4815]

@@DTEAuto here is the initial assessment from the shop, coils and plugs are new as I replaced them on 3/26/22 because originals were still in car - "During testing we confirmed the customers condition of a crank no start. When cranking the engine had an audible inconsistent compression sound. We ran a vehicle health report and found a lot of codes in the DME. I cleared all the codes and cranked the engine, looking to see if any returned immediately and none did. At this point we performed a relative compression test synced with the primary ignition coil firing. I observed that the primary firing was after peak compression and that most of the cylinders in the engine had lower compression. Both of these signs pointed to mechanical failure. Next, we went in cylinder on cylinder 1. We found a maximum of 10psi of compression on cylinder 1. On an initial crank I would expect to see 50-70psi. I believe the chains to be stretched but will need to tear down to confirm. A bigger concern of mine is if timing jumped, was there valve train damage? We know that there is mechanical damage and at this point given the risk of internal repair we recommend replacing the engine assembly and then move the coils and plugs to the replacement motor."

[@markferraro5250]

Great video man attentional to detail

[@DTEAuto]

Glad you liked it Mark, thank you for watching

[@betty123ism]

Thanks, lots of great tips! It's amazing to me that the intermediate shaft has enough travel to allow the intake valves to open so little that the engine won't start. I suppose once it is running it can idle with the intermediate shaft in that position?

[@DTEAuto]

Yes, the lift is controlled from min to max via the eccentric shaft regardless of the regular intake cam, but when in proper non faulted operation the throttle is not used. I didn't mention it in the video but with valvetronic, think about it this way.... the intake valve now becomes essentially the "throttle body" and controls the amount of air, and the actual throttle body has its blade in the full open position. This reduces the engine's pumping losses, as it now pulls against the valve which is shorter distance so less energy than pulling against the throttle blade which is further away longer distance and takes more effort and energy to do so which creates that pumping loss. Hope this helps explain a little bit more, thank you for watching.

[@betty123ism]

@@DTEAuto Thanks! Valvetronic is a really interesting system. Just out of curiosity, when everything is working correctly, would the VANOS adjust the cam timing so that the piston would not be compressing a vacuum as was shown in your scope capture? Intuitively, that seems like it would be an inneffcient way to run an engine.

[@matthewdale174]

I believe the idea is that it reduces the pumping parasitic loss in the motor Yes from a volume efficiency stand point at idle it’s very poor efficiency Manufactures design this now for emissions control and other strategies. The less air an engines moves through it the less it’s efficiency. increase the lift and phase the exhaust retarded , intake advanced with full lift to fill the cylinder and take full advantage of the power stroke prior EVO . Theres slight overlap and intake closes early to build maximum torque. These phasing variations are all based on low end torque requirements, part load requirements and high rpm high load requirements or demand. But ya it’s inefficient but reduces emissions and basically fake Atkinson cycling When idling they just open the throttle plate fully and control idle from varying lift They use the throttle plate for reducing compression when shutting engine off

[@betty123ism]

@@matthewdale174 Oh. I didn't think about reducing emissions vs fuel economy. I just thought it was odd that an N52 (3 liter) equipped 3-series was only rated at 1 mpg better on the highway and the same in the city as an M54B30 (3 liter) equipped 3 series despite having the advantages of valvetronic and an electric water pump. Though I suppose the E90 is a little bit bigger and heavier car than the E46 as well. I imagine valvetronic fuel economy is still better at idle and cold start, than constant lift, no? I don't think that gets measured in the EPA test. And wow! I didn't know the throttle plate closed to cut the engine off.

[@rookiediagnosticsandrepair5956]

This is beautiful. Thanks!

[@DTEAuto]

Glad you liked it, thank you for watching

[@pedrogaldamez7864]

Very impressive. How much shop time?

[@DTEAuto]

Thank you, and it was a lot of hours diagnosing

[@eronjohnson5188]

grate job well done

[@DTEAuto]

thanks for watching!

[@kelval5679]

Thank you..👌👍

[@820performancecomptonbro4]

Hey what up bro I have a 2015 bmw n20 engine I replace 4 injector did the coding and now I have crank no start I have a spark I have fuel I did a compression test and it’s low 90 psi 1-3-4 cylinder 2 119 psi any tips on what else to check

[@DTEAuto]

You might have valvetronic issues that is keeping it from breathing right on the intake side and not letting it build high enough compression.

[@820performancecomptonbro4]

@@DTEAuto is there a trick like in the video you did where I can move the shaft to get it running or to verify i’m going to remove the valve cover today any tips on what to look for

[@DTEAuto]

unfortunately not that I am aware of for the n20/n55. If anything maybe try scrolling the shaft all the way up, but to do that you pretty much have to do all the same work as you would need to in order to replace the valvetronic motor, which is most likely the cause. Do you have any codes? I have another video that i show how to get it working again without replacing the valvetronic motor

[@820performancecomptonbro4]

@@DTEAuto no since I clear the codes right after replacing injectors do you have a link on the video?

[@DTEAuto]

I have the valvetronic video for n20 n55 programming video you watched and commented on, and also one listed as "sorta crank no start"

[@fouazhdib6813]

i learn a lot thank you ❤

[@DTEAuto]

thanks for watching

[@danielxiong4118]

Is the same for 2014 x3 n20 engine

[@DTEAuto]

N20 has different valvetronic set up but can cause no start issues as well

[@agsession7664]

Would that x3 run on starter fluid cause I'm having the same issue, but mine runs on starting fluid

[@DTEAuto]

I believe this would not be affected with stater fluid, it was all related to not enough air which had the compression lower than what it needed to be

[@Couchmaster1839]

Good job

[@DTEAuto]

Thank you for watching

[@turningwrenchesautorepairm5017]

Great job !!

[@820performancecomptonbro4]

Damn bro you are a bad dude 🫡

[@Hscope-User]

Muy buen caso de estudio, 👍🏼

[@DTEAuto]

Gracias Ramon!👍

[@adancuin9958]

Saludos desde michoacan patzcuaro

[@DTEAuto]

Saludos!

[@edaguirre7267]

Ok I have to try my car now

[@IamReadyToRock]

Excelente... 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

[@baims8367]

u sir are a SMARTY PANTS. I JUST PICKED UP MY 16 YR OLD DAUGHTER A 2 OWNER 328XI W N52. THE CAR JUST "CRANKS" SOUNDS JUST LIKE YOUR CAR IN VID. I HAVE CAM CRANK CORRELATION CODE. IM YET TO SWAP OUT THE "CRANK SENSOR" AS I GATHER INFO THAT ALLOT OF THESE 328XI HAVE BAD Crank sensor issues the car has 110 k on it. if u happen to read this do u think the crank sensor is the issue or am I looking at TIMING WHICH I PRAY IM NOT I got a hell of a deal on the car it books 10k high 5k low I paid $2500 for the car but I was gambling on it being a sensor hoping it is just that the car turns over exactly like yours in vid but after clearing codes and resetting adaptions along w registering a new battery the only code that comes on after cranking is cam crank correlation.. excellent vid sir thanks in advance if your able to help me or give me some hope in my gamble on a $80 crank sensor..

[@DTEAuto]

Hey, yes there's a chance that hopefully it is crank sensor, I have another video on my channel showing this, I think it's called "2007 BMW x3 n52 multiple problems"..... on that one you see how I show the sensor failing.

[@agsession7664]

I just picked up an 07 x3 for my daughter same issue, cranks no start. Looks like have gas, spark and fuel injectors are firing. Runs on starter fluid. Have good compression in both front cylinders...just lost here. No trouble codes just misfires and a cam code. Replaced cam sensor and didnt start..any help appreciated. I have 80lb fuel and can read live data with my bmw code reader

[@agsession7664]

We are the same boat, will it start on starter fluid? My daughter is 17 ...good luck to us both

[@dazeboy79]

@@DTEAuto@baims8367 kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYanmHqmntB4ZtU

[@jen318]

If it took u that long bro give up mechanics

[@DTEAuto]

I guess I'll go flip burgers instead since you could have found issue in 5 minutes bro. Thanks for watching

[@prmarkbyggentreprenad3787]

Ok stop this long talking just say how to fix. We dont need these explaining. Just how to fix!!!

[@DTEAuto]

some care to learn the effects of the fault, since your one that's just phishing for a fix.... use this thing called fast forward. Thanks for watching, thanks for the view, thanks for the revenue

[@coldcountry4143]

Thank you