Ok tried to look over every possible point that could lead to "Oxygen sensor adaptions cyl#1-3" issue yet cant find the problem. Now there are no vac leaks since the entire front end was taken apart, the tuning has been tested on several other cars so that isnt an issue, both O2 sensors have been replaced witha new set (voltage dithers properly). The spark plugs and coils are new, the vac at idle is 18-19mmHg. the car feels a bit akward as if 1/2 a cylinder is down. Compression test and Porsche HFM (thanks George :)) turned out fine, only thing left to check is the injectors. Im running the Ford green top 440cc injectors for ~1000miles or so. Im not sure if they would cause the issue since i believe misfire codes or injector CEL would be present. At idle it tends to dither more in teh high 15-low 16 AFR range but under part throttle on the street i have perfect 14.7-15.1 AFRs. I changed the FPR since i use to get high psi readouts of 48-50psi at idle. Take in mind this is all at idle NOT under load or WOT. Within a few miles the CEL flashes. I even have a spare ECU and tried that whereas i get the same results. I only have the injectors, fuel filter or OBD2 engine harness are left to test. I had another code flash for "O2 sensor heating circuit in bank 1" where i swapped in another relay only to have the same response. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Ok tried to look over every possible point that could lead to "Oxygen sensor adaptions cyl#1-3" issue yet cant find the problem. Now there are no vac leaks since the entire front end was taken apart, the tuning has been tested on several other cars so that isnt an issue, both O2 sensors have been replaced witha new set (voltage dithers properly). The spark plugs and coils are new, the vac at idle is 18-19mmHg. the car feels a bit akward as if 1/2 a cylinder is down. Compression test and Porsche HFM (thanks George :)) turned out fine, only thing left to check is the injectors. Im running the Ford green top 440cc injectors for ~1000miles or so. Im not sure if they would cause the issue since i believe misfire codes or injector CEL would be present. At idle it tends to dither more in teh high 15-low 16 AFR range but under part throttle on the street i have perfect 14.7-15.1 AFRs. I changed the FPR since i use to get high psi readouts of 48-50psi at idle. Take in mind this is all at idle NOT under load or WOT. Within a few miles the CEL flashes. I even have a spare ECU and tried that whereas i get the same results. I only have the injectors, fuel filter or OBD2 engine harness are left to test. I had another code flash for "O2 sensor heating circuit in bank 1" where i swapped in another relay only to have the same response. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
You may need to pinout check continouety from bank 1 to the ecu to make sure there isnt a fraid, broken wire or a pinch in the harness anywhere, it will take time but can be traced and repaired.

the time it takes to do taht i might as well swap out the entire harness. This way if something got pinched along the line im sure something else is going to occur down the line. Thats next in line to check.

So far though i do want to thank MArco, Def (Jacob) and George for all their advice and hard work in trying to figure this sh*t out. Looks like i will be changing the harness. Its odd that my STFTs in bank 1 are anywhere from +10-18%
but in bank 2 i have -0.8-1.6% which are perfect. This is beyond me. TPS is 19.1%, Air mass flow is 2.94gm/sec, idle is set at 850-890rpm. Unless as stated something fouled along the harness causing irradic behavior in bank 1. As fpor the iunjectors i will try to swap the ones in cyl#4-6 into cylinders 1-3 to see if theres a distinct difference in behavior.

I guess it could be your injectors if they weren't blue printed but it is hard to imagine they would be that far off. Lighting injectors are for 12V vs Lucas's 24 V spray but you don't have those problems in the rear bank. Very odd.

What about a problem with the 02 sims? A little moisture and some bad connections and a reading could be off. It seems odd that all was fine for a while and then suddenly there was a problem.

When I have gotten CEL for out of adaptation for one bank, it has also been at idle, but did not happen consistently. Rather, once every few weeks.

Philip Bradley

I had the same problem a while back, including the O2 sensor heating circuit error. I replaced the offending Pre-cat O2 sensor, and the problem went away.

Are you sure the O2 sensor you put in is OK? Might be worth trying another one, or check the wiring to that sensor, before going to the trouble of changing a harness!

Steve

I had the same problem a while back, including the O2 sensor heating circuit error. I replaced the offending Pre-cat O2 sensor, and the problem went away.

Are you sure the O2 sensor you put in is OK? Might be worth trying another one, or check the wiring to that sensor, before going to the trouble of changing a harness!

Steve
Well i tried a total of 5 different sensors all reading optimal voltage ranges according to my OBD2 scantool (0.2-0.9V). The ones i just recently installed and am currently running are factory NTK as the rest were barely used yet all displayed the same results. :dunno As for the testing in the wires the only thing i can do is test for continuity from one end to the other of the harness (O2 sensor harness across to the engine harness end) in which all tested out to be properly functioning. One thing that may be of interest is every start up the car has a prolonged period of time to enter closed loop, even if its back toi back startups. Thats why im pointing in either the heating circuit or the harness. Tehres no reason why the car should enter open loop every time i start the car up even if it w a srunning for an hour or so or is hot. Something fishy is going on. :confused

Steve since you claim to have had teh same incident, i will try the bank 1 O2 sensor once again, i mean it doesnt hurt to try and only takes minutes to do. Thanks

I had that code when I had a scaler in, but the tune was not for a scaler. You did remove the AA scaler, since you removed the euro HFM and installed the porsche hfm. If yoy did remove it recheck the soldering points.

JMC

Well i tried a total of 5 different sensors all reading optimal voltage ranges according to my OBD2 scantool (0.2-0.9V). The ones i just recently installed and am currently running are factory NTK as the rest were barely used yet all displayed the same results. :dunno As for the testing in the wires the only thing i can do is test for continuity from one end to the other of the harness (O2 sensor harness across to the engine harness end) in which all tested out to be properly functioning. One thing that may be of interest is every start up the car has a prolonged period of time to enter closed loop, even if its back toi back startups. Thats why im pointing in either the heating circuit or the harness. Tehres no reason why the car should enter open loop every time i start the car up even if it w a srunning for an hour or so or is hot. Something fishy is going on. :confused


I dont think thats true.. As I recall, I Always enter open loop when the engine is started, whether cold, or having been driven for an hour. Its easy enough for me to double check, but as I recall, thats how it is.

JMC makes an interesting point.. wouldnt the scaler have to change since youve got a new HFM?

Wow, I'm getting that same "Oxy Sensor adaption limit, Cyl #1-3" error and CEL on my car. NickG from Technique Tuning and I have been trying everything and checking all the readings on my car and testing just about every piece of hardware that could be causing it, everything looks fine but the car idles like crap and the engine surges when i'm on the road. It's been a frustrating couple weeks.

Next test to to re-check the timing on the cams and also to re-check the VANOS travel.

I dont think thats true.. As I recall, I Always enter open loop when the engine is started, whether cold, or having been driven for an hour. Its easy enough for me to double check, but as I recall, thats how it is.

JMC makes an interesting point.. wouldnt the scaler have to change since youve got a new HFM?
Whats not true? Every time i start the car even if its hot it stays in open loop for a good 8-10minutes before going into teh ransition of closed loop. It shouldnt have that long of a grace period for every hot start. It never use to do that. Every strt im pin lean till i get a readout from my O2 sensors which takes alot longer than it use to.
There is no scaler with the Porsche HFM. I checked all thw wires and all seem to read within the same continuity values. I will check teh injectors and once again swap out the O2 sensors from the header ports and see if the problem swaps over to bank 2.

Wow, I'm getting that same "Oxy Sensor adaption limit, Cyl #1-3" error and CEL on my car. NickG from Technique Tuning and I have been trying everything and checking all the readings on my car and testing just about every piece of hardware that could be causing it, everything looks fine but the car idles like crap and the engine surges when i'm on the road. It's been a frustrating couple weeks.

Next test to to re-check the timing on the cams and also to re-check the VANOS travel.
Interesting point but my cams have been working perfect for the last 1000 miles or so. It would be odd for them to just retard for no apparent reason. I will just try a process of elimination of all the accessible items before i tear down for an engine harness. Let me know how it works out for you ///M3TURBO. My car doesnt surge but it runs a bit rough.

-Swapped out the bank2 O2 sensor which was giving me proper readouts from the headers into the bank1 port of the headers. Now i still get high readouts in bank1 with the "supposed" working O2 sensor so the O2 sensors are working properly.
-I tried swapping the injectors from cylinders #4-6 into #1-3 and still got the same readout.
-Only thing left is the harness swap, :dunno so ill report back with any progress since it seems im not the only one chasing down this issue.

Keep in mind that while checking continuity, you should verify that the resistance is 0, or at the very most 0.01 from point to point. Also check for continuity/resistance to ground on your hot leads to verify it's open.

One idicator to help steer you is the heater circuit code. If the sensor is not heating up properly (or is low on, or losing power intermittantly) it will surely report false data to the ecu, triggering the adaptation code.

Keep in mind that while checking continuity, you should verify that the resistance is 0, or at the very most 0.01 from point to point. Also check for continuity/resistance to ground on your hot leads to verify it's open.

One idicator to help steer you is the heater circuit code. If the sensor is not heating up properly (or is low on, or losing power intermittantly) it will surely report false data to the ecu, triggering the adaptation code.

Yes i know about the continuity since im an electrician and deal with low voltage and comuunication wires all the time. Thanks for the response anyway. :) Even if the wire is frayed i think ill be better off swapping out teh harness since there may be another wire along the lines which may possibly be damaged. I would really hate to have to trace out every single wire, that would be a headache. the only issue with doing the entire harness, is that im not sure how it leads into the fuse box, or is there a plug clipping into the bottom of the fuse box? Other than that everything seems straight foward onec the manifold comes off.

check the crank case valve and the line going to the dipstick tube I see problems with them all of the time the rubber valve inside goes bad
http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=CD33&mospid=47501&btnr=11_1487&hg=11&fg=15

I had this problem for a while after I changed the M50 manifold. I swapped O2 sensors, Injectors, plugs and coils....no go. It turned out to be the crappy injector harness. Since they are in a plastic housing, the metal connectors are just pressed in. It seemed that the metal connectors to the injectors popped out the other end when I reconnnected my injectors. The connector was intemittantly disconnecting from the injectors. It finally disconnected long enough so that after the O2 adaptation error, I got a mis-fire errors, then after a while I got bad injector errors.

Make sure the metal connectors are seated properly.

Hey Gerry.. good diagnosing!

check the crank case valve and the line going to the dipstick tube I see problems with them all of the time the rubber valve inside goes bad
http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=CD33&mospid=47501&btnr=11_1487&hg=11&fg=15
My crankcase vent goes directly to the thermoplastic bypassing all teh manifold crap so thats out of the question.

I had this problem for a while after I changed the M50 manifold. I swapped O2 sensors, Injectors, plugs and coils....no go. It turned out to be the crappy injector harness. Since they are in a plastic housing, the metal connectors are just pressed in. It seemed that the metal connectors to the injectors popped out the other end when I reconnnected my injectors. The connector was intemittantly disconnecting from the injectors. It finally disconnected long enough so that after the O2 adaptation error, I got a mis-fire errors, then after a while I got bad injector errors.


thansk for the tip. I will definitely check that. Did yours have a bit of a rough idle and feel as though there was a kind of misfire present?

What are adaptations actually reading, both banks, additive and mulitplicative? Positive or negative, and what are exact numbers?

Additive mixture
If the value is greater than 0.2 ms there is an unmetered air leak
adaptation (idle) or not enough fuel being supplied to the system.
• The O sensor indicates a LEAN condition
• The engine control module tries to RICHEN the mixture.
If the value is less than -0.2 ms there is an air restriction or too
much fuel is being supplied to the system.
• The 02 sensor indicates a RICH condition
• The engine control module tries to LEAN out.the mixture.

Multiplicative mixture
If the value is greater than 8 % there is an unmetered air leak or
km (Part Load) nott enough fuel being supplied to the system.
• The 02 Sensor indicates a LEAN condition
• The engine control module tries to RICHEN the mixture.
If the value is less than -8 % there is an air restriction or too
much fuel being supplied to the system.
• The 02 sensor indicates a RICH condition
• The engine control module tries to LEAN out the mixture

Ok in bank 1 i get readouts dithering anywhere from +10.2 to +18% whereas in bank 2 i have -0.8 to +1.6% which displays lean conditions in bank 1 and normal conditions in bank 2. There is no leak since the system has been overly checked and hoses have been replaced. I am leaning towards the idea of not enough fuel flowing, more due to an electrical issue via injectors, etc. My fuel pump worked before the Walbro install as it should now, especially since i maintained a constant 61psi in WOT. After unplugging the harnesses so many times, something was bound to go wrong. Now if the problem persists after the harness swap, i would be severely disappointed, but for now optimism is the key.

Have you swapped injectors for bank 1 with those for bank 2 to see if the problem moves to the other bank?

Philip

Have you swapped injectors for bank 1 with those for bank 2 to see if the problem moves to the other bank?

Philip
yup tried that (refer to post 13 above). I wish it was that easy.

Did this start after swapping in the Porsche HFM? I know others use it with no problem and that it can work -- it is part of a tuner cam kit now, but when something screws up, I usually try to go back to the way it was the last time it worked perfectly.

Philip

thansk for the tip. I will definitely check that. Did yours have a bit of a rough idle and feel as though there was a kind of misfire present?

Yep...Rough idle with what seems to be a miss. You can feel it in the cabin and definately hear it in the exhaust...like a thud..

Yep...Rough idle with what seems to be a miss. You can feel it in the cabin and definately hear it in the exhaust...like a thud..
Gerry explained to the tee... Thats why i will try out a harness first. You just made me feel good .. thanks.

If it turns out to be the harness, could you perhaps post a picture of where the deformation takes place?

I kind of have that stumble with my idle, about every 15 or 20 seconds, but it so small and quick, but the idle is rock solid, and I've had no other problems, so I haven't thought much of it. I'd like to check it out though. TIA

If it turns out to be the harness, could you perhaps post a picture of where the deformation takes place?

I kind of have that stumble with my idle, about every 15 or 20 seconds, but it so small and quick, but the idle is rock solid, and I've had no other problems, so I haven't thought much of it. I'd like to check it out though. TIA
sure thing. Once the harness is out i will inspect and post any findings.
BTW how did the pump workout so far? Could be the function of the pump working with the stock fuel pressure regulator.

sure thing. Once the harness is out i will inspect and post any findings.
BTW how did the pump workout so far?Good as far as I can tell. Still no dyno time, and my gagues are wating to be installed until my fun fund comes back off life support with last month's projects (http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=527385) :). LTFTs tell me I'm rich, so I'm not overly concerned.

Good as far as I can tell. Still no dyno time, and my gagues are wating to be installed until my fun fund comes back off life support with last month's projects (http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=527385) :). LTFTs tell me I'm rich, so I'm not overly concerned.
man your car looks good. All for the better.

For those interested the harness was installed last night. PITA but i think it w as needed. The car started up very smooth without any roughness issues or probable misfire. No CEL or stored codes as of yet, since i only had the chance to put a few miles on it. Once i enetered closed loop. i instantly had an AFR readout dithering between 14.5-15.9 so the prolonged lean readout at idle has been done away with. So far seems so good. Ill update the info in a few days putting some more mile on the clock.
Trims seem good so far Bank1 @ -0.8to 1.0% (whereas before they were anywhere from 10-25%) Bank 2 @ -0.8 to 1.2%

That's awesome. I curious to see what was damaged in the old harness. It so rare that a harness is the culprit.

Since you are an electrician and can do it faster than the average person, would you test the continuity and resistance of the harness wires in order to isolate the suspect wire so that those of us who follow can just add one replacement wire rather than replace the harness? You should be able to narrow down the wires to test by concentrating on FI wires.

Thanks,

Philip

Hey Gerry.. good diagnosing!

Good diagnosing? Diagnosing is figuring out the problem, and actual cause of the problem, and FIXing it the first time. Not throwing ~$500 worth of parts at it, and then realizing it was the pins popping out. Trying working as a tech at a BMW dealership, and "diagnosing" a problem that way, and see how long you have a job.

:redspot

Good diagnosing? Diagnosing is figuring out the problem, and actual cause of the problem, and FIXing it the first time. Not throwing ~$500 worth of parts at it, and then realizing it was the pins popping out. Trying working as a tech at a BMW dealership, and "diagnosing" a problem that way, and see how long you have a job.

:redspot

Good thing Im not a BMW tech or I might be out on the street. Its a hobby for me, I have tons of parts in the garage from the SC installs and other things...I have 3 set of injectors in a pile, 2 sets of coils, 4 O2 sensors and 12 plugs....

Anyway, anyone here go to a dealer who swapped parts that did not solve the problem.......

My real cars go to a real mechanic.

Since you are an electrician and can do it faster than the average person, would you test the continuity and resistance of the harness wires in order to isolate the suspect wire so that those of us who follow can just add one replacement wire rather than replace the harness? You should be able to narrow down the wires to test by concentrating on FI wires.

Thanks,

Philip
i will when i have time but right now my time is very limited. I ahve been extremely busy at work since i had a lot of catching up to do.

Whats not true? Every time i start the car even if its hot it stays in open loop for a good 8-10minutes before going into teh ransition of closed loop. .

What I meant when saying 'thats not true' was that I believe its perfectly normal to start off in Open loop each time the engine is started. I was referring to your assumption that this was indication of some kind of problem.. Unless IM mistaken, all the monitoring Ive done with the scantool has shown me that this is the normal condition. I suppose i could be wrong on this, as its been a few mos since ive hooked up, but from all the monitoring ive done, I recall that Every start fired in OPEN loop.

What I meant when saying 'thats not true' was that I believe its perfectly normal to start off in Open loop each time the engine is started. I was referring to your assumption that this was indication of some kind of problem.. Unless IM mistaken, all the monitoring Ive done with the scantool has shown me that this is the normal condition. I suppose i could be wrong on this, as its been a few mos since ive hooked up, but from all the monitoring ive done, I recall that Every start fired in OPEN loop.
I just monitored mine maybe 6 times over the course of the swap and there is no prolonged AFR lean readout after the airpump shuts off. Now when i restart my car after being hot my AFRs dither perfectly unlike the prolonged lean condition beyond 17:1 as before. That was the indication i noticed since it never behaved like that before the querk.

I just monitored mine maybe 6 times over the course of the swap and there is no prolonged AFR lean readout after the airpump shuts off. Now when i restart my car after being hot my AFRs dither perfectly unlike the prolonged lean condition beyond 17:1 as before. That was the indication i noticed since it never behaved like that before the querk.

Im curious what you see when you try and view your LTFT values right after a restart.. Mine always show zero because startup always puts me into open loop.. Takes a few minute to go into closed loop.. If its just a shutoff and restart, its possible it would start into closed loop right away. I dont know. I dont think I monitored any quick restarts.. but after sitting for an hour and restarting, it always starts in open loop.

Im curious what you see when you try and view your LTFT values right after a restart.. Mine always show zero because startup always puts me into open loop.. Takes a few minute to go into closed loop.. If its just a shutoff and restart, its possible it would start into closed loop right away. I dont know. I dont think I monitored any quick restarts.. but after sitting for an hour and restarting, it always starts in open loop.
No thats not what i mean. Before, after every start up i would not get an AFR reading lgreater than 17:1 for a good solid 10-15 minutes since there was a problem in the electrical feedback to teh ECU somewhere or the O2 sensors were delaying sending a sigtnal for car to go into open loop evne when the air pump was not on. i dont mean on a cold start i mean after the car's been running for hours. For instance say you drove for 2 hrs Paul, the parked your car for afew seconds then tried to restart it, you should get a AFR$ readout within seconds dithering in stoich, whereas mine failed to geive areadout for several minutes every time and would stay in open loop after every start for long periods of time regardless how hot the O2 sensors were. Well all of a sudden my car isacting normal again. I paya ttention to several details of the tunning of my car, and when something isnt working the same way it usually does then i know something's up. :)

I am having the exact same problems. My wideband reads around 16 to 19 at idle, I have a CEL for "oxygen sensor adaptation cyl 1-3". I'm going to replace the O2 sensor this weekend, but after reading this thread I fear that it could be something else. I am also using the Porsch HFM, w/ NickG tuning. Also, I can be cruising around and when I'm trying to come to a stop, I push in the clutch and my rpms fall to below 500 rpms as if the car wants to stall. My boost/vac guage reads around 20 at idle....

My idle seems to be relatively smooth. My tach does hunt for idle for a second or two until it warms up, but what really gets me is my exhaust will make burbling noises and have hiccups...that is the best way for me to explain it.

hmm... i will have to check my injector harness as well. I started getting adaptation codes after my M50 install. I have checked everything i could think of. The only difference in symptoms is that my car mainly seems to do it during high speed cruising. 75-90ish.

As far as the Porsche HFM goes... that should not be suspect if you are only having adaptation issues in one bank. That would indicate a problem located behind the throttle body. Tuning as well. It wont just affect 1 bank.

Fuel problems shouldn't be an issue (besides injectors) for all you guys with only bank 2 problems. The frontmost injectors will be starved before the rears.

The CEL usually will indicate a single bank first, but if you dont clear the codes and wait long enough, it will trigger a cel for the other bank.
If after waiting and the other bank do not trigger a cel, then you can say its only a problem on a single bank.

In BMWManiac's case, he only has one bank (his ECU has Bank1 as being cyl1-6 now).

I had the same problem and my mechanic threw a bunch of parts at it and guess how I fixed it? I swapped the connectors for the precat o2 sensors!!!!
~Phil

Since you are an electrician and can do it faster than the average person, would you test the continuity and resistance of the harness wires in order to isolate the suspect wire so that those of us who follow can just add one replacement wire rather than replace the harness? You should be able to narrow down the wires to test by concentrating on FI wires.

Thanks,

Philip

Yes, you can pinpoint the exact wire. However and I am sure DinanM3 knows this being a electrician. Never base diagnosis on good continuity or resistance this is why. If you have a frayed wire lets say and you check resistance/continuity it can check out perfect and show no problems. The problem with this test is that frayed wire has no load or amps running through it and what happens is as soon as the car is running or amps are being drawn, that frayed wire now loses that connection or continuity.

I have been a driveability tech for over 10 years and I can tell you especially now days with the advance systems you always do voltage drops on suspected wiring problems. Continuity is a good aid but the best test for a situation like this one is a voltage drop test. Back in mid 90's resistance tests on injectors were very common, infact GM would give resistance value tables for diagnosis, now days they won't even recommend resistance tests nor give value tables because their was too many mis diagnosis with relying on contunuity and resistance values. If you would like info. on how to do perform these tests let me know.

That would indicate a problem located behind the throttle body.

I am crossing my fingers that I have found a possible culprit. When I installed the M50 manifold, I did the "cut the gasket in half" bit. Well, today, I sprayed carb cleaner directly between the throttle body and manifold and I heard the engine fluctuate. Could this be a small vacuum leak that is got me running in circles?

I am crossing my fingers that I have found a possible culprit. When I installed the M50 manifold, I did the "cut the gasket in half" bit. Well, today, I sprayed carb cleaner directly between the throttle body and manifold and I heard the engine fluctuate. Could this be a small vacuum leak that is got me running in circles?

That could definately be a problem and explain your issues.

yep. Hit Eric up for his custom 1 piece gasket for m50 swaps. I think its like 15 bucks or thereabouts.

I PM'd, emailed, etc so I can get one overnighted and here by tomorrow...I am confident that this will at least improve my situation if not take care of it completely.