My SL65 is broken
 

Back in Dec my SL65 was in an accident thanks to another idiot who didn't know how to drive. It took a considerable amount of time to repair and I just got it back. The damage was on the front end and required replacing just about everything up to the front of the engine including some parts on the engine. There was some minor damage to the pulleys on the engine, the oil dipstick tube was damaged, one of the turbo control modules on top was damaged. Replacing the oil dipstick required removal of the engine and the turbo on one side due to the way it's routed. All in all total repairs were $40k. I had great concern about the car running right when all this was done. It turns out my concerns were well founded.

Fortunatly for me I had the car dynod before the accident where it put down a healthy 528 at the wheels. After I got it back I ran it over to the same dyno and had it redone. The results were sickening. 456 top and it pulled timing at the end of the very first run. 2nd run timing was pulled the whole time and it could only muster 440. The A/F also looked strange and it's running very lean which we all know is odd for a stock car. There's also backfiring when letting off the gas on occassion. I took it back to the dealership which had done the repairs along with the dyno graphs and told them this car is not fixed and there is something quite wrong with it.

Anyone have any ideas that might be causing all of these problems and what course of action I should take?

Dyno graph. Original run is in green. Post repairs red and blue.
http://mysite.verizon.net/bfnnrgn/SL65 new dyno.jpg

Damn...I hope you find out what's causing the problems. Maybe Sunil or Vadim may have some insight...hopefull you don't have to go through another tear down to find out the cause.

Good luck brother...

man that sucks

Those symptoms are common with ic pump failure or air in intercoolers. Have them test the low temp cooling pump and make sure they bleed the system properly.

Not all codes in the ecu will set a chack engine light. Have a scanner hooked up and see if there are any codes that are pending.

did u need to pay for the 40k?

that sucks. I was having nightmares about the exact same thing with my car. If that ever happens it will go bye bye and I will get another. I just can't handle repaired cars. They never get the paint as good as new. Sorry man.

I thought about that to and it's #1 on my list. However why would it be running so much leaner and backfiring?

No, insurance paid for it.

The backfireing is common with pump failure. Its because ECU pulls timing. The lean condition is a little odd. What was the a/f at light load before they went WOT on dyno, and what was the a/f at WOT?

I think I got this figured out. I did some data logging today. It's 46 degrees F outside. My IATs are idling at 86-88 degrees celsius(C). :eek: After a run they get into the 100+ C. Anyone know what a properly running 65's IATs should look like?

I compared that to my old SL55 data logs on a run down the dragstrip on a 75 degree F day and IATs are idling at 41C and max of 72C after a run down the strip and they recover to normal after about 15 seconds. On a nice cool day like today back in 2-08 my SL55 IATs were idle at 30C and maxing at 52C.

145deg (f) iat, ecu will start to pull timing. 158deg (f) iat, the car will be down on power severely. On a hot day idling for some time you might see about 170deg. But should drop to below 158deg as soon as you start driving.

Thanks for the info. Even putzing around at cruising speed it didn't go below 81C. I think it's pretty safe to say my IC system doesn't work.

Quick and dirty test... drive it for a few minutes, make some boost, pull over and touch the IC's with your hands... if they are relatively cool to warm, you're good, if they are HOT then the IC system is not working.

Good luck let us know!

I agree. Similar situation happened with my M3. The crappy part is that the accident may show up on the Carfax even if it's not your fault and it will kill the value of your car even more.

I fought long and hard with the dealer and my insurance company to have the car fixed correctly. I even had a second look done by another BMW dealer to make sure nothing had been overlooked. It took a total of almost 5 months and even after all that, I was never fully satisfied with the work that was done and I never felt the same about my car again. From there, it turned into a love/hate relationship.

If you love your car and are willing to go through any additional necessary repairs to get it running back up to par, then keep it. Otherwise, I would probably sell it or trade it in for another.

Good luck! The SL65 is certainly a beast of a machine.

What data logger are you using? A few days ago I did some data logging on my SL65 with an Autotap interface - I can email you the file if interested.
BTW, I observed the same temperature range you did in idle. I think it's simply the small air volume that gets heated by the tubing, perfectly normal as the IAT drops immediately as the throttle is opened.

Robert, How are you! That's interesting, what are you going to do? I wonder what is causing it to back off timing?

Autoenginuity. With no airflow it would be higher, but not this high. Mine also does not drop much once moving.

Sorry to hear that. I got into an accident in June of last year and it too needed an entired new front end. The total damage came out to be a 29k. I wonder if it had any affects to my car?

Did you ever solve these issues? :nix:

Tom

Not yet. :(

Pulled some tech stuff on the sl65 (2005-2007) and here is deal on the IAT. Boost/timing are affected as soon as IAT hits 70C/158f. Boost is purged from 5-95% starting at IATs above 70c with 95% purge once IAT reaches 105c. If u need all I have, pm me.

Is your 825pkg set @ 109 Oct going to be solely track car? I'm curious how you'll be able to run safely if not using 109 Octane? sounds like a helluva aggressive tune! can't wait to see your Dyno #'s since Marko's 65 is set @ 100 Oct & set the bench mark for all to come, also any pre-825pkg 1/4 mile #'s:nix:

Robert,

Any news?

I sent you a PM. If you could get that to me I would greatly appreciate it.

Piece of junk. Still not running right. Though it's better than it was before it's still not near where it was. It's still pulling timing or dropping boost mid run. I data logged the dyno pulls this time. IATs are starting right at 70C, briefy dropping to low 60's before jumping up into the high 70's before it's done. Not exactly a hot day out either.

Is there any other things I should have them look at? They already replaced the IC pump. It seems like the IC pump isn't running unless it's under load. At idle with 2 fans on it the IAT was in the 70s and inching higher. It wasn't until it got going on the dyno that it briefly dropped.