Diagnostic Overview

WARNING: This page does not describe the selected car, but rather 10 other vehicles, including the 2010 BMW M6, 2010 BMW M5, 2009 BMW M6, 2009 BMW M5, and 2008 BMW M6. However, it is still accessible from the selected car via links, so may be relevant.

The ion current technology allows the possibility to detect misfire and knocking combustion over a wide range of engine speed and load.

Misfire is defined by non- or insufficient-appearances of combustion inside the cylinder (e.g. because of spark or injection failures). The traditional way of engine misfire detection is based on monitoring the crankshaft acceleration. Especially on a V10 engine concept and high revs, it is very difficult to distinct between normal engine roughness and misfire events. Applying the ion current technology enables detection of combustion or sparking misfire on nearly any engine speed and load range.

In spark ignition engines, knock can be defined as self-ignition of a certain portion of the unburned gas beyond the flame front. This abnormal combustion releases a chemical energy that excites within the cylinder volume pressure oscillations that are responsible of engine noise and sometimes damage. Therefore, knock is undesirable process that has to be avoided. At high revs the known and conventional knock sensor technology is not sufficient enough for the V10 engine concept.