Very Expensive common fault with 1 series/3 series

[vinnie83]

I have dropped it off to the main dealer yesterday and informed them I would like to apply for BMW to give some goodwill, they indicated that if it is the common fault they feel there's a good chance of contribution to the part cost from BMW.

Will keep you guys updated.

Thanks for the replies.

[MikeMiky]

Hi, can u let me know what did u change? I have the same problem and is like a magical problem, nobody know what is the problem , I was at 3 diffrent garagess and they did a st job the problem is still there, just let me know what did u change please . thanks alot

[Silverbullet767]

MikeMiky said:

Hi, can u let me know what did u change? I have the same problem and is like a magical problem, nobody know what is the problem , I was at 3 diffrent garagess and they did a st job the problem is still there, just let me know what did u change please . thanks alot

I had the same problem, I had my DSC unit removed and sent for repair here. http://www.ecutesting.com lifetime warranty on the repair too, which you don't get from a brand new part!

Basically they open the part and refurbish the mechanical parts, the brushes fail inside the motor which throws errors, no electrical parts are changed, so no coding to be done after repair. And it's around 20% of the cost of getting it from BMW. It takes around a week door to door after you remove the part. I had it done around a year ago, it's never re-appeared since.

[Sticks.]

My 04 Z4's in for the DSC ECU at the moment. Local (Kent) BMW indy sending it off, hopefully for repair @ £150. I hope that's all it is as the dash lights were erratically on/off and the steering was affected once.

[iSore]

4 cylinder 1 and 3 Series E90 stuff is cheap to fix and BMW were selling the ECU part for 200 quid. It was a very common problem and BMW dropped the price dramatically. The 6 cylinder stuff is where the valve block has issues, and that's £1800. Used ones are like gold dust.

[Sticks.]

iSore said:

The 6 cylinder stuff is where the valve block has issues, and that's £1800. Used ones are like gold dust.

It was explained to me that there are two types. One, the price you mention includes the hydraulic bit (I think), and another, where the ECU can be separated, which is £800+ VAT. As I understood it, anyway.

[iSore]

They are all a unit with an alloy valve block and a black plastic cased ECU bolted on. On the fours it was far more common and an ECU fault, on the sixes, a valve block issue mainly although they can all fail vice versa.

[LocoBlade]

ECUTesting fix the 6 cylinder DSC module as well, had my 130i done by them a few year ago and also friends 135i. About £250 all in, in my case I sent it on the Monday and it was back with me by Friday.

iSore said:

4 cylinder 1 and 3 Series E90 stuff is cheap to fix and BMW were selling the ECU part for 200 quid. It was a very common problem and BMW dropped the price dramatically. The 6 cylinder stuff is where the valve block has issues, and that's £1800. Used ones are like gold dust.

[anonymous-user]

iSore said:

4 cylinder 1 and 3 Series E90 stuff is cheap to fix and BMW were selling the ECU part for 200 quid. It was a very common problem and BMW dropped the price dramatically. The 6 cylinder stuff is where the valve block has issues, and that's £1800. Used ones are like gold dust.

Our 08 2.0 Z4 had this issue. ECUTesting couldn’t fix the type at the time, about 4 years ago, and we had it replaced by a main dealer for £700.

The total bill was £2300, BMW contributed £1600.

[Sticks.]

My ECU went for repair but it's not faulty apparently. Not sure what else it could be. Expensive, probably.

[Mr Whippy]

Doesn’t anyone do diagnostics these days?

INPA and watch all the associated sensors on a run out and the erroneous values will show up.


My Z4 had an ‘episode’ once. DSC flicking, odd behaviour etc.
I was certain nothing was obviously wrong on a visual inspection but still suspected the brakes.
The pad on one side had split from the pad backing and upon removal it fell apart.
Clearly it was binding a bit and causing issues.

Deffo go through everything easy to check and work back towards the expensive bit.

It’s annoying garages seem incapable of doing what is essentially following a flow chart to figure out a problem.

[Sticks.]

Interesting. Mine had diagnostics, to the extent that the garage told me which part of the ECU was the problem. Having another look Monday.

[Craikeybaby]

My wife had complained about the traction light coming on when she drove my 120i, but I'd just been putting it down to her driving. Glad the fix seems cheaper than when the thread was originally posted!

[Josh2204]

I have a 2011 3 series and have been told by my local garage that the ABS problem lies within the DSC unit, which is something that never breaks and that BMW are offering contributions towards getting it fixed...on here I have seen that people have been saying that you only get the contribution if the car has been getting services regularly by a bmw garage...its been my local garage that has been doing the servicing....can I still get the contribution....