Bmw e60 n47 2 litre diesel. Wont start, no fuel in the fuel rail. Have changed various sensors - now there is fuel in the fuel rai

Make sure the HPFP is properly primed.

HI there if the motor is diesel aspirated check if pressure remains consistent on diesel rail possibly air intake temperature sensor /map sensor /cold start sensor / throttle body. Some of these issues may apply to a petrol aspirated motor ,be aware fuel may crystallise under very cold conditions within delivery pipe lines ,If the motor has a common rail injection system or fuel injected the rail pressure sensor / fuel regulator can be faulty .

Your fuel injected could be blocked

Fuel Pump.
Fuel Pump relay
Crank Sensor. could be many things. Is it getting gas or spark when cranking?

I'm guessing that you got an air lock in your fuel system as a result of your changing the fuel filter... I certainly don't know about a BMW diesel, but in most semi-truck engines, there is a priming pump just for the purpose of getting the air out ... and the fuel into.... the fuel system. I've even been known to fill the filters with diesel fuel before screwing them onto the base.. This is risky because of the possibility of allowing some foreign, unfiltered debris to get into your pump and/or injectors, just because of your putting unfiltered fuel into your filter... Check and see if there is some kind of priming pump close to the filter. Also, a possibility is that you may have an electric fuel pump.... as to where all you may need to do is loosen a fuel fitting on the pressure side of the pump and filter.... and allow the electric pump to purge the system of air.. I confess to my lack of knowledge on your BMW.... but, I do have some basic understanding of most diesel systems... Good luck..

98 so its a older vehicle ?? Well i know nothing about layout of this american vehicle but for its age check the fuel rail as on the end is a vacumn controlled valve so make sure its connected and the vacumn pipe isnt cracked or perished ,Anything else i have no idea sorry dont see these motors here in spain very often unless its on a imported camper van but these are normally all diesel ,have seen a 7.2 litre ford E350 petrol though but running on a gas conversion

Hi, you will need to pump it out. It is best if you can pump it from the fuel rail, so that only a minimal amount would get into the injectors. You can do this by removing the fuel return hose from the fuel pressure regulator and attaching a hose that you will lead to a bucket. With the hose in the bucket, turn the key on so the fuel pump runs. If the fuel pump will not stay on, please get back to me, and I will provide a relay bypass procedure toi keep the pump running. With the pump running, the diesel should come out the return port into the bucket. If it comes out too slowly, try pulling a vacuum on the vacuum hose that's attached to the regulator. You can use your mouth to pull the vacuum if you attach a clean hose. Once you have all of the diesel out, put in some petrol and pump a couple liters of that through as well. Then reconnect the hoses, and the car should start OK. Please let me know if you have questions.

If it fires only occasionally, my first suspect would be the crank position sensor (aka pulse generator). Should be on the front of the engine mounted very near the toothed wheel on the crankshaft,
You should check for fuel pressure at the fuel rail while you are cranking to see if it is a fuel delivery problem.

Hi we have a similar fault on a 2002 X5 diesel with 140k.km
scan test on 'Autologic' says > low fuel pressure in rail under starting< we have done leak off test at diesel specialist and they say it needs #4 and #2 injector renewing, the low pressure from tank is at spec at approx.3.4bar whereas the rail press at crank is only between 102bar to 140bar on 6 diff scans, where i believe it should be at around 390bar, hope this helps, we still have not fixed this yet,