Bmw N55 Vacum Line Diagram

Hi Guys so i believe i have a vacuum leak in the system.

I replaced my oil filter housing gasket, valve cover gasket, cleaned my Vanos, cleaned my MAF all at once (should Not have done it together) and now i cannot figure out why i am getting faults (pic attached)....
I ordered a new MAF but trying to diagnose issues as i wait. I talked to some BMW expert i know and he said i have a vacuum leak.

I have a smoke machine.
my question is where should i inject the smoke?
see pics....should i inject right after the Charge airduct pipe (not sure if thats what it is called) right after the Mass airflow sensor (on first picture) or should i remove the entire pipe (including the breather hoses that are on top of it) and inject it at the bottom to the engine (as pointed in the 2nd picture)?

I will appreciate any help as i couldn't find any help on N55 engine smoke test on F10.

I have no incredible ideas that will give you short cuts, but...

I see you're using ISTA - did you try running the test plan for the two codes (too high too low)? It walks you through steps and gives conclusions on what the fault might be.

Second - you are absolutely 100% certain that you did not swap connections or sensors between the MAF (pretty much where your finger is in the first pic) and the MAP (second pic)??

I have no incredible ideas that will give you short cuts, but...

I see you're using ISTA - did you try running the test plan for the two codes (too high too low)? It walks you through steps and gives conclusions on what the fault might be.

Second - you are absolutely 100% certain that you did not swap connections or sensors between the MAF (pretty much where your finger is in the first pic) and the MAP (second pic)??

Ok so I changed the MAF but no luck. I ran the test plan and it's basically pointed me to the same things that I have already checked.
I did checked and no I did not swap the connectors because the only connector I took out was the MAF and didn't even touch the MAP sensor.
I checked my torques and all looked good. Next I plan to take off the intake manifold today and change the gaskets. The only thing I did was to move it to loose bolts on air intake to get to that one bolt on Oil filter housing. I'll update.

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Ok so did the Airintake gasket replacement but the error came back. This time I got 3 errors. See pic.
I can't seem to figure out please help any experts out there. I never had this issue before.
I did clean my Vanos on the front engine (as I was experiencing some vibration at idle) but can vanos solinoids cause this error? I don't fee the vibration anymore after cleaning them both.

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In the pic:
#1 - Make sure you reconnected the Vacuum hose to the Valve Cover
#2 - Make sure that the end of that line that goes down past the air box and through the exhaust manifold is still secured/plugged in

-side bar- What idle vibration were you getting with the bad VANOS?

In the pic:
#1 - Make sure you reconnected the Vacuum hose to the Valve Cover
#2 - Make sure that the end of that line that goes down past the air box and through the exhaust manifold is still secured/plugged in

-side bar- What idle vibration were you getting with the bad VANOS?

Yes I did double triple check both #1 and #2 you suggested.
It was slight vibration as soon as I started the car. More like the RPM going up and down for a second but the car ran just fine after about 15-20 seconds of starting the car. That still exist so no change even after cleaning vanos.
I wonder if my PCV valve is bad on my valve cover. Maybe as my valve cover was leaking it had space for some pressure to release from the seals and I wasn't getting any errors but now since I changed the seal it's all sealed up and not the pressure is high causing me this code??? That's just my thought of course as I am not qualified to state that as a fact.
Not sure how I can check my PCV valve.
There is a huge amount of suction when I try to take off the oil cap.

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So for the RPM flux - I can tell you mine does the same thing when cold and Ive spent a stupid amount of $$$ on random parts trying to fix it. I do plan to replace the VANOS as well.

I dont know what else to tell you on the vac leak. The system is primarily two soft vacuum lines and the one line that runs across the top of the engine. I battled this exact same issue (101F01 CEL) when I put on the AFE air intake system (sold it and went back to stock - which fixed the CEL).

Here is what I would do:
1) Remove the entire air intake box and tubing all the way to the last tube that goes to the turbo.
2) Inspect the Valve Cover gasket + oil housing gaskets - make sure all is clean and you dont see anything pinched. (PCV valve is not removable)
3) Inspect all vacuum lines and connections
4) Reinstall and clear ALL codes before turning the car on.
5) If code persists, then replace the only parts you cleaned before - both VANOS.

Out of ideas at that point.

EDIT - I guess you CAN cut the PCV valve off for replacement.

So for the RPM flux - I can tell you mine does the same thing when cold and Ive spent a stupid amount of $$$ on random parts trying to fix it. I do plan to replace the VANOS as well.

I dont know what else to tell you on the vac leak. The system is primarily two soft vacuum lines and the one line that runs across the top of the engine. I battled this exact same issue (101F01 CEL) when I put on the AFE air intake system (sold it and went back to stock - which fixed the CEL).

Here is what I would do:
1) Remove the entire air intake box and tubing all the way to the last tube that goes to the turbo.
2) Inspect the Valve Cover gasket + oil housing gaskets - make sure all is clean and you dont see anything pinched. (PCV valve is not removable)
3) Inspect all vacuum lines and connections
4) Reinstall and clear ALL codes before turning the car on.
5) If code persists, then replace the only parts you cleaned before - both VANOS.

Out of ideas at that point.

EDIT - I guess you CAN cut the PCV valve off for replacement.

So I have done pretty much everything you mentioned except vanos. No smoking guns.
I ordered an aftermarket valve cover so will try to do that myself and see if that fix my issue.

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Ok so I decided to check my PCV today and did the fire check, smoke check and water tube check. Fire and smoke test wasn't so consist but I could see water being sucked it which led me to believe pcv is bad. I uncapped the engine oil cap and felt suction including weird knocking sound so put the cap back on. Came back in the car and engine light was off after all this I did. Weird. I'm sure it will come back on when I drive now.
Supposed to get my valve cover delivered today. Will change it tomorrow and update.

For the love of the forum, I don't think anyone has written up a DIY valve cover job yet. Would be awesome if you could put one together.

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For the love of the forum, I don't think anyone has written up a DIY valve cover job yet. Would be awesome if you could put one together.

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Earlier before having this issue I changed the valve cover gasket and I made a DIY video....the process is same except instead of installing the old cover with new gasket you put the new cover on. Rest is the same.
The shame is now I have to redo the job for the new cover. I wish I would have just bought the new cover back when I did the gasket.

Link below.

https://youtu.be/3TKKcr_v3r8

It's unfortunate that the PCV Valve is integrated into the Valve Cover however there are lots of Videos showing how to DIY with a little artistic handwork without having to change the whole Valve Cover.

The actual PCV Valve is also available from Indy's separately. Google works wonders.

I've seen so many folks spending thousands of $'s on this what can be "simple" issue, also here in Germany where there are not that many 535i's, 90% are Diesels. We have other issues like Carbon buildup to deal with eventually.

Update:
Ok so changed the valve cover and that didn't fix the issue.
I then cleaned the sensor on throttle body and Air intake. It had some oil traces on it. I believe it's called MAP sensor.
I then reset the adaptation values on the car.
That took care of the first 2 errors.
Then I was left with error 120308 which was coming up when I try to accelerate the car hard m. I was also getting a drive train malfunction error.
I then changed my boost solonoid and that fixed the issue.
Now alh I have no errors at all.
All working good.
Thanks for all the help guys.

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