[oscarwithc]

Hello everyone!

I am having this issue like many of us with the N54 have or have had.

30ff Low Boost Pressure and the car feels like it has a N/A Engine and have lost power. I have spent a crazy amount of time reading the experiences of people that have had this problem and the possible causes and of course possible fixes.

This 30ff code is thrown whenever i go Wide Open Throttle and are around 4500rpm. A notification sound can be heard and a yellow half check Engine light can be seen on the dash, however this Engine light is cleared when you restart the car but the code 30ff can still be read.

I have had the car at our local BMW Dealer two times the past weeks where they have tested if there is eny leaks, but so far they have not found anything and they said that the turbos where ok.

So my question to you guys is what could the problem be if there are no leaks in the pipes from the Turbo to the intakemanifold? and as far as i know the vacum system is working as it should, brakes works fine, exhaust flapper is working and i can feel a small vacum from the vacum canisters if i pull out the hose when the engine is running.

And from what i can tell there are no wastegate rattles, the engine sounds fine and runs well in eny other conditions, as far as boost goes the highest boost reading currently is 3psi but thats from the Torque App and i Think that app cant read boost correctly on an N54.

This leaves me to Think that my wastegates are 100% open at all times or that i have a bad pressure converter or wastgate solenoid if i am not messing up the names...

What do you guys Think this could be? BMW blames the Dual Cone Intake... but the airfilters cant mess with the boost right?

It would also be interesting to hear you guys experience with this problem, if you have had this 30ff code, what fixed your problem?

Thanks so much for taking your time helping out, much apprechiated!

[egt]

I had a similar problem after putting back together following walnut blasting intake valves. No boost at all, engine malfunction indication on the dash. After taking everything apart again I found a snapped vacuum line connector right behind the oil filter housing, below the fuel injector rail. Spliced in a piece of rubber tube and back in business. Hard to believe something so simple can cause so much grief.

[ucdbiendog]

if the air filter was restricting air flow it might lead to not building boost fast enough. seems unlikely though. how mnay miles on your car?

[fazman]

Originally Posted by oscarwithc

Hello everyone!

I am having this issue like many of us with the N54 have or have had.

30ff Low Boost Pressure and the car feels like it has a N/A Engine and have lost power. I have spent a crazy amount of time reading the experiences of people that have had this problem and the possible causes and of course possible fixes.

This 30ff code is thrown whenever i go Wide Open Throttle and are around 4500rpm. A notification sound can be heard and a yellow half check Engine light can be seen on the dash, however this Engine light is cleared when you restart the car but the code 30ff can still be read.

I have had the car at our local BMW Dealer two times the past weeks where they have tested if there is eny leaks, but so far they have not found anything and they said that the turbos where ok.

So my question to you guys is what could the problem be if there are no leaks in the pipes from the Turbo to the intakemanifold? and as far as i know the vacum system is working as it should, brakes works fine, exhaust flapper is working and i can feel a small vacum from the vacum canisters if i pull out the hose when the engine is running.

And from what i can tell there are no wastegate rattles, the engine sounds fine and runs well in eny other conditions, as far as boost goes the highest boost reading currently is 3psi but thats from the Torque App and i Think that app cant read boost correctly on an N54.

This leaves me to Think that my wastegates are 100% open at all times or that i have a bad pressure converter or wastgate solenoid if i am not messing up the names...

What do you guys Think this could be? BMW blames the Dual Cone Intake... but the airfilters cant mess with the boost right?

It would also be interesting to hear you guys experience with this problem, if you have had this 30ff code, what fixed your problem?

Thanks so much for taking your time helping out, much apprechiated!

We need more information:
1) Current mileage on the car?
2) Are you running any tunes (jb4/cobb/etc...) and the setting
3) All mods?
4) Any recent work done to the car prior to your first instance of the issue?
5) Mileage at when you had carbon blasting done (if ever)?
6) Mileage at when you had the spark plugs changed?
7) Mileage at when you had the coils changed (if ever)?
8) anything else notable that can help us diag?

my vote is you have never had the car carbon blasted and your cyl 5 or 6 is very clogged up, but the wrinkle here is you don't have any misfire codes.

next guess is you have a vacuum/boost leak (yes someone tested it... but they missed something).

30FF is a limp mode for the car where u will make no boost. so your observations are correct, the car is doing what it is suppose to do when it gets a 30ff. the problem is 30ff by itself is a useless code kinda like having a fire alarm going off (you know there is fire somewhere... just don't know where it is)

[oscarwithc]

Thanks for replying to my thread guys!

Yeah i still feel like its vacum related, and if the airfilters would restrict to much air wouldent the car run bad in other conditions?

- Sparkplugs where changed 4000 miles ago so pretty new.
- car has 68.000 miles.
- Only recent work was changing the waterpump and thremostat.
- Dont know if or when the last walnutblasting was done.
- Mods - Dual cone intake filters and JB4

But JB4 is completly turned off so it should not interfere with the car.
Problem happens with and without the JB4 tune.

If i have clogged cylinders wouldent i get misfires then? and at my miles its probobly not that bad of carbon buildup or am i wrong?

No other codes besides 30ff code.

Thanks for your answers!

[oscarwithc]

Originally Posted by fazman

We need more information:
1) Current mileage on the car?
2) Are you running any tunes (jb4/cobb/etc...) and the setting
3) All mods?
4) Any recent work done to the car prior to your first instance of the issue?
5) Mileage at when you had carbon blasting done (if ever)?
6) Mileage at when you had the spark plugs changed?
7) Mileage at when you had the coils changed (if ever)?
8) anything else notable that can help us diag?

my vote is you have never had the car carbon blasted and your cyl 5 or 6 is very clogged up, but the wrinkle here is you don't have any misfire codes.

next guess is you have a vacuum/boost leak (yes someone tested it... but they missed something).

30FF is a limp mode for the car where u will make no boost. so your observations are correct, the car is doing what it is suppose to do when it gets a 30ff. the problem is 30ff by itself is a useless code kinda like having a fire alarm going off (you know there is fire somewhere... just don't know where it is)

And just to be clear, the car feels slow all the time, its not just after the 30ff code that the car feels slow. It feels like the turbos are pretty much offline at all times.

I know some people are getting boost but just after they get the 30ff code the boost is cut (boost controll shut of) but my car has no boost at all. Atleast it feels like no boost.

[oscarwithc]

Originally Posted by ucdbiendog

if the air filter was restricting air flow it might lead to not building boost fast enough. seems unlikely though. how mnay miles on your car?

If my intake would be so restrictive that i had trouble making boost wouldent the car run very bad in general?

[fazman]

Originally Posted by oscarwithc

Thanks for replying to my thread guys!

Yeah i still feel like its vacum related, and if the airfilters would restrict to much air wouldent the car run bad in other conditions?

- Sparkplugs where changed 4000 miles ago so pretty new.
- car has 68.000 miles.
- Only recent work was changing the waterpump and thremostat.
- Dont know if or when the last walnutblasting was done.
- Mods - Dual cone intake filters and JB4

But JB4 is completly turned off so it should not interfere with the car.
Problem happens with and without the JB4 tune.

If i have clogged cylinders wouldent i get misfires then? and at my miles its probobly not that bad of carbon buildup or am i wrong?

No other codes besides 30ff code.

Thanks for your answers!

Carbon Blasting would be needed if you got issues at WOT while on MAP 0 with the JB4, but then again, it would also include misfire codes (usually with cyl 5 or cyl 6 because those run the dirties for some strange reason).

Waterpump as recent work might indicate that someone might have put something back wrong or possibly hit/damaged something along the way.

I have no proof or any useful guidance, i just have a gut feeling that it's a boost/vacuum or Charge Pipe leaking issue, maybe FMIC hoses leaking? Since you say it happens all the time like you are running as a N/A motor... it can't really be anything other than that (maybe it's a bad turbo wastegate which has failed open - the default state).

[MachWon]

Have you checked the boost solenoids with a vacuum gauge?

[2screws]

07 335xi here with JB4, 3" catless dp's, charge pipe, and fmic just installed throwing the 30FF code now. Upgrades all done at once except the JB4. Very interested to know what happened here.

[oscarwithc]

Originally Posted by fazman

Carbon Blasting would be needed if you got issues at WOT while on MAP 0 with the JB4, but then again, it would also include misfire codes (usually with cyl 5 or cyl 6 because those run the dirties for some strange reason).

Waterpump as recent work might indicate that someone might have put something back wrong or possibly hit/damaged something along the way.

I have no proof or any useful guidance, i just have a gut feeling that it's a boost/vacuum or Charge Pipe leaking issue, maybe FMIC hoses leaking? Since you say it happens all the time like you are running as a N/A motor... it can't really be anything other than that (maybe it's a bad turbo wastegate which has failed open - the default state).

Yeah since my car is constantly down on power (not just after the code is thrown) i am guessing its boost related so i guess i will get BMW to check Vacum and pressure pipes again and hopefully its not the wastegate itself.

They must have missed something!
If they cant find anything i will definently look into wallnutblasting.

Thanks for your help man!

[oscarwithc]

Originally Posted by MachWon

Have you checked the boost solenoids with a vacuum gauge?

I visually cant see damadge on the vacum hoses so it can definently be a defective pressure converter (boost solenoid)

Thing is i dont really know what BMW have tested but i think i need to ask them what exacly they have tested, guessing they are as Clueless as me...

[oscarwithc]

Originally Posted by 2screws

07 335xi here with JB4, 3" catless dp's, charge pipe, and fmic just installed throwing the 30FF code now. Upgrades all done at once except the JB4. Very interested to know what happened here.

If your problem started just after the installation, something was not fitted right, you probebly have a leak at the charge pipe or the intercooler.

I have also heard of people that have found that the new downpipes sometimes interfered with the wastegate

So try checking that.

Good Luck

[fazman]

Originally Posted by oscarwithc

If your problem started just after the installation, something was not fitted right, you probebly have a leak at the charge pipe or the intercooler.

I have also heard of people that have found that the new downpipes sometimes interfered with the wastegate

So try checking that.

Good Luck

If your catless... did you get the DPFix standalone or autoclear on the jb4? Also for the JB4, have you considered checking all your settings with the defaults for all the values using the screen shots they have. I had a friend who bought a used JB4 from someone who tweeked some settings and his car would always get a 30FF... i moved his JB4 over to my car and the problem followed the JB4. I spent a lot of time flash and hunting around why his JB4 would do that and mine wouldn't do that on my car. It eventually came down to resetting his settings by hand (one by one) using the settings in my own JB4 (similar to the ones on the n54tuning site.

[oscarwithc]

Originally Posted by fazman

If your catless... did you get the DPFix standalone or autoclear on the jb4? Also for the JB4, have you considered checking all your settings with the defaults for all the values using the screen shots they have. I had a friend who bought a used JB4 from someone who tweeked some settings and his car would always get a 30FF... i moved his JB4 over to my car and the problem followed the JB4. I spent a lot of time flash and hunting around why his JB4 would do that and mine wouldn't do that on my car. It eventually came down to resetting his settings by hand (one by one) using the settings in my own JB4 (similar to the ones on the n54tuning site.

Hi thanks for your reply!

I have stock downpipes and yeah i have also considered that some setting might be wrong on the JB4, BUT i have the JB4 set to the bypass map 0 (stock)

The JB4 should not be interfering with the cars values then right? or am i wrong?

[fazman]

Originally Posted by oscarwithc

Hi thanks for your reply!

I have stock downpipes and yeah i have also considered that some setting might be wrong on the JB4, BUT i have the JB4 set to the bypass map 0 (stock)

The JB4 should not be interfering with the cars values then right? or am i wrong?

You are correct... if on Map 0 and you have cat's... then you have nullified my concerns.

[2screws]

Originally Posted by fazman

If your catless... did you get the DPFix standalone or autoclear on the jb4? Also for the JB4, have you considered checking all your settings with the defaults for all the values using the screen shots they have. I had a friend who bought a used JB4 from someone who tweeked some settings and his car would always get a 30FF... i moved his JB4 over to my car and the problem followed the JB4. I spent a lot of time flash and hunting around why his JB4 would do that and mine wouldn't do that on my car. It eventually came down to resetting his settings by hand (one by one) using the settings in my own JB4 (similar to the ones on the n54tuning site.

How do I know if I have autoclave on my JB4? I may have a leak at the FMIC or the vacuum lines. Any idea how to replace the vacuum lines? I still have the stock diverted valves as I didn't spring for an aftermarket blow off valve.

[fazman]

Originally Posted by 2screws

How do I know if I have autoclave on my JB4? I may have a leak at the FMIC or the vacuum lines. Any idea how to replace the vacuum lines? I still have the stock diverted valves as I didn't spring for an aftermarket blow off valve.

I personally don't use autoclear... so I don't know... but the XLS table is on the n54tech site on the first post.

I think the OEM vaccum lines are expensive... but aftermarket is cheaper but the wrong diameter??? so i think the stock is 3 mm and after market is 3.5 mm in diameter or something like that. You should be able to follow and chance most of the vaccum lines (just measure and cut to length one by one). If the oem vacuum lines don't come off easily... don't force them off cuz you will break the plastic nipples they are stuck onto. What you want to do is slice the old vaccum line on the nipple and peel it off gently... then install the new vaccum line. The ones WAYYYYY in the back on the turbos are almost impossible to reach.

[2screws]

Originally Posted by fazman

I personally don't use autoclear... so I don't know... but the XLS table is on the n54tech site on the first post.

I think the OEM vaccum lines are expensive... but aftermarket is cheaper but the wrong diameter??? so i think the stock is 3 mm and after market is 3.5 mm in diameter or something like that. You should be able to follow and chance most of the vaccum lines (just measure and cut to length one by one). If the oem vacuum lines don't come off easily... don't force them off cuz you will break the plastic nipples they are stuck onto. What you want to do is slice the old vaccum line on the nipple and peel it off gently... then install the new vaccum line. The ones WAYYYYY in the back on the turbos are almost impossible to reach.

Is there a DAY or is this a project I'd need to do next time I try to get at the turbos to check the waste gates? Also, I have enough slack to cut the current OEM vacuum line and put it back on the nipple. Do they need glue or something because the one I tried to pull off wasn't busging.

[fazman]

Originally Posted by 2screws

Is there a DAY or is this a project I'd need to do next time I try to get at the turbos to check the waste gates? Also, I have enough slack to cut the current OEM vacuum line and put it back on the nipple. Do they need glue or something because the one I tried to pull off wasn't busging.

they are not glued on, however, all vacuum lines/hoses over time basically get stuck on the connector "like" they are glued. DON'T FORCE OFF THE LINE, IT WILL BRAKE THE NIPPLE AND YOU WILL HAVE A BAD TIME!!! The correct way to remove stubborn hoses/lines is to get a sharp blade and run a cut of the rubber along the nipple to allow u to peel it off. old skool trick

[2screws]

Originally Posted by fazman

they are not glued on, however, all vacuum lines/hoses over time basically get stuck on the connector "like" they are glued. DON'T FORCE OFF THE LINE, IT WILL BRAKE THE NIPPLE AND YOU WILL HAVE A BAD TIME!!! The correct way to remove stubborn hoses/lines is to get a sharp blade and run a cut of the rubber along the nipple to allow u to peel it off. old skool trick

Thank you Fazman. I think I'd have enough slack to put it back on if I just took the end off. But I'm following another 30ff thread and the guy said it wasn't his vac lines...

Now about this waste gate rattle...

[fazman]

Originally Posted by 2screws

Thank you Fazman. I think I'd have enough slack to put it back on if I just took the end off. But I'm following another 30ff thread and the guy said it wasn't his vac lines...

Now about this waste gate rattle...

30FF is such a b1tch to diag on its own, you need other codes along with it to help guide you to something. 30FF is just safe mode for the car without telling u any supporting details