INPA English translations for MSS70

M

Mangozac

Senior member
 QLD, Australia
Hi guys,

I had a couple of cylinders shut down while on a run on the weekend. Restarted the engine and all was good. Plugged into INPA when I got home but was reminded that everything for the MSS70 DME is in German. It's possible to translate through Google, but it just takes way longer to do! Does anybody have English translation files for MSS70? I'm using INPA v 5.00 that they could share?

As expected, the cylinders were shut down due to misfire. Possibly the plugs (they're due for replacement soon), but most likely the coils. My S54 driving BMW technician mate reckons it's a common failure on S54s due to the coils overheating because the coil cover is too snug. Apparently some people cut vents in the cover or you can buy aftermarket aspirated covers!
 
The coils are located inside the cylinder head. I dont think a few holes in the cover will solve the heat issue, the coils get heat from all sides as it's surrounded by the head.
This is also not an s54 problem. Pretty much all bmw's and maybe even all cars with similar coil construction have these problems more or less.

But if you're convinced it can help, why not leave the cover off altogheter? It has no real function afaik.
 
GuidoK said:
The coils are located inside the cylinder head. I dont think a few holes in the cover will solve the heat issue, the coils get heat from all sides as it's surrounded by the head.
This is also not an s54 problem. Pretty much all bmw's and maybe even all cars with similar coil construction have these problems more or less.

But if you're convinced it can help, why not leave the cover off altogheter? It has no real function afaik.
Click to expand...
Water ingress, shorting not an issue?
 
I've never had a wet engine, but it may depend on usage of the car.
In theory the engine bay is pretty good protected from excessive moisture with normal use, only the front/underside gets real moisture to endure.
The coils themselves also have an extra rubber boot to shield the sparkplug hole from moisture (thats the most critical part that musnt get wet)
 
GuidoK said:
The coils are located inside the cylinder head. I dont think a few holes in the cover will solve the heat issue, the coils get heat from all sides as it's surrounded by the head.
This is also not an s54 problem. Pretty much all bmw's and maybe even all cars with similar coil construction have these problems more or less.

But if you're convinced it can help, why not leave the cover off altogheter? It has no real function afaik.
Click to expand...
I agree, although I'm sure that the vented cover with air scoop would help. Ultimately though I'm not convinced that I need to go to that extent. I do like that the cover keeps the coil tops and wiring clean from gunk.

I've swapped the coils on two of the cylinders, so if it happens again and has moved to the other cylinder then I know it's definitely a coil problem and I'll replace them.
 
If you have a broken coil its usually best to replace all six. If one goes, chances are the next one will go within a month or so.
(and if you buy more than one on ebay you can save yourself some money)
Let me guess, the cylinder misfire happened on cyl 5 or 6?
It's pretty common to change the coils every 50-80k miles, its just one of those things.

BTW if you use a vented cover, moisture and gunk will creap under there too (and you wont see it)
 
GuidoK said:
If you have a broken coil its usually best to replace all six. If one goes, chances are the next one will go within a month or so.
(and if you buy more than one on ebay you can save yourself some money)
Let me guess, the cylinder misfire happened on cyl 5 or 6?
It's pretty common to change the coils every 50-80k miles, its just one of those things.
Click to expand...
Yes, that's what I've been told. It was actually cylinders 1 and 6 that misfired. The car only has 81k kms, so seems premature for coil failure to me, but we shall find out soon enough.

GuidoK said:
BTW if you use a vented cover, moisture and gunk will creap under there too (and you wont see it)
Click to expand...
Yep exactly. I'm sticking with the standard cover for now ;)
 
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