E92 M3 - amber engine warning light

[crazy about cars]

I own a AUC 60 plate E92 M3. FBMWSH 27,000 miles with 1 previous owner. I've bought the car back in December last year and have so far put around 5,000 miles on the car. Service is due in July for brake fluids and oil change.

Car has been fine except for a non fault bumper incident which was fixed weeks ago.

On Wednesday as I was accelerating to overtake the amber engine management light suddenly came on. Car went into reduced power mode with DSC and tyre pressure warning light.

I've stopped the car and restarted and everything is fine. The next day while going up a hill the problem occured again. It seems that when I push car hard (rev over 5k) the fault comes on.

I've spoken to my local dealership and soonest they can book it in with courtesy car is 27th. I've asked around and it seems that if I take it easy it should be ok to drive me car normally until then. I will try to speak to BMW Emergency Assist on Monday to see if they can provide any assistance.

After some research it would seem that this could be the common throttle actuator failure - although it's rare at my mileage.

Does anyone here have experience in this? Will it be ok for me to drive (will do about 200 miles until car is booked in) the car in the mean time?

Any advice offered would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[t8cmf]

It may well be the throttle actuators but as you say the mileage is a bit low for them to go.

My 2007 E92 M3 has covered 24k miles and I had my first issue with it a few weeks ago. It displayed the exact same errors that yours does currently. Mine ended up being the idle control device/valve. It cost me £186 to fix as I fitted it myself.

Something to bear in mind as these same generic errors are generated for a whole bunch of issues, throttle actuators and idle control devices being just two of them.

[crazy about cars]

t8cmf said:

It may well be the throttle actuators but as you say the mileage is a bit low for them to go.

My 2007 E92 M3 has covered 24k miles and I had my first issue with it a few weeks ago. It displayed the exact same errors that yours does currently. Mine ended up being the idle control device/valve. It cost me £186 to fix as I fitted it myself.

Something to bear in mind as these same generic errors are generated for a whole bunch of issues, throttle actuators and idle control devices being just two of them.

Thanks for the reply. Does your error come up when accelerating too? If I drive normally and keep revs to around 3k max the car is fine.

I'm in 2 minds now... either wait until the car is booked on the 27th to get service done and fault checked or bring car in on Monday and arrange my own hire car.

I'm leaning towards waiting as the car technically is still drivable but would appreciate some thoughts.

[t8cmf]

crazy about cars said:

Thanks for the reply. Does your error come up when accelerating too? If I drive normally and keep revs to around 3k max the car is fine.

I'm in 2 minds now... either wait until the car is booked on the 27th to get service done and fault checked or bring car in on Monday and arrange my own hire car.

I'm leaning towards waiting as the car technically is still drivable but would appreciate some thoughts.

My errors used to come up at random intervals, sometimes on start and sometimes on normal driving. There were no particular set of conditions that brought them up. It was fixed with the new idle control device, they haven't been back since.

Your car will be fine to drive. The reason that limp mode/power reduction is implemented is to safeguard the car. You aren't damaging the car as it is safeguarding itself. If it pops itself into limp mode every now and then I wouldn't worry about it. I drove mine all day once in limp mode and it was fine. It's now fully repaired and still pulls like a train.

I have all the software/cables to read my own error codes, do you not know anyone who has something similar just to give you a heads up on your particular issue?

[crazy about cars]

t8cmf said:

My errors used to come up at random intervals, sometimes on start and sometimes on normal driving. There were no particular set of conditions that brought them up. It was fixed with the new idle control device, they haven't been back since.

Your car will be fine to drive. The reason that limp mode/power reduction is implemented is to safeguard the car. You aren't damaging the car as it is safeguarding itself. If it pops itself into limp mode every now and then I wouldn't worry about it. I drove mine all day once in limp mode and it was fine. It's now fully repaired and still pulls like a train.

I have all the software/cables to read my own error codes, do you not know anyone who has something similar just to give you a heads up on your particular issue?

Thanks again for reassuring reply! I have a VAG reader but no BMW readers. I might invest to buy one from eBay to try and read the error codes as they are only around 20-30 quid.

This is the one I'm looking at : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Diagnostics-interfac...

[Smuler]

I got an ELM 327 from Amazon for around £4, and it read my engine warning light codes when coupled with the free android app called torque pro. Diagnosis was correct and problem solved. Misfire on some of my six cylinders.

I only have a E46, but I thought I would mention it in case it is of use.

With Amazon, they are so good just return it at their cost if it does not do the job. If you are not on android there will be similar apps to handle the analysis.

[crazy about cars]

I finally bought this : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291155831622

Looks like it's specific to BMW and can also do some programming. It will be nice to know what are the fault codes so I can communicate better with the service department.

[helix402]

That package is a little dubious, I bought it once and sent it back for a refund as it didn't work.

[Schermerhorn]

These cars are so complicated with so many sensors it could be anything.

It happened to my M6 and was traced to a VANOS pipe and valve which were both replaced.

[crazy about cars]

helix402 said:

That package is a little dubious, I bought it once and sent it back for a refund as it didn't work.

You are right... looks like it will only work for BMW up to 2007 build year.

What tool will work for 2010+ BMWs?

[jovie]

I used to get weird problems on my E46, get your battery fully charged up and get the alignment checked too. (although I can't remember if i got any loss of power to accompany the lights)

[crazy about cars]

It's definitely something wrong - I drove normally today, low speed and throttle was jerky. As expected the amber warning light came on again. Stopped car, restart and fault gone. Can't really call emergency services (also just found out AUC emergency services are different from car's still under warranty which is less supportive) as car technically still drives so have to wait for my slot at end of the month.

[t8cmf]

crazy about cars said:

It's definitely something wrong - I drove normally today, low speed and throttle was jerky. As expected the amber warning light came on again. Stopped car, restart and fault gone. Can't really call emergency services (also just found out AUC emergency services are different from car's still under warranty which is less supportive) as car technically still drives so have to wait for my slot at end of the month.

Hmmm, I'm wondering if you have the same issue I had, the idle control device I mentioned above. I had the low down throttle jerkiness as well.

It will be interesting to see what the diagnostics machine says. I wouldn't be able to wait like you are though, I'd have to find somebody with the kit or buy my own which I ended up doing.

[crazy about cars]

t8cmf said:

Hmmm, I'm wondering if you have the same issue I had, the idle control device I mentioned above. I had the low down throttle jerkiness as well.

It will be interesting to see what the diagnostics machine says. I wouldn't be able to wait like you are though, I'd have to find somebody with the kit or buy my own which I ended up doing.

Could be same issue as initially fault only came on when accelerating but now I seems sometimes on normal driving too. After restarting car everything is fine, nothing shows on the "check car" menu.

I've reordered a cable meant for newer D Can cars arriving this Thursday. Be interesting to find out what's wrong. Booked in next Friday so not that long to go.

[crazy about cars]

Quick question - my car is under AUC 2 years extended warranty. Will using my own tool to scan ODB port invalidate this warranty? Or more specifically can BMW tell if I've used another tool to scan the port?

[Wills2]

I know I've said this before, but I wouldn't be messing around with a warranted M3, just take it to the dealer show them the light and get them to fix it.

I wouldn't be paying anything either, unless there is no light and you just want some peace of mind, but no light and the car running well should give you that.

My old 08 M3 had the engine light come on once or twice it reset and I had no issues.

Hope you get it fixed.

[t8cmf]

crazy about cars said:

Quick question - my car is under AUC 2 years extended warranty. Will using my own tool to scan ODB port invalidate this warranty? Or more specifically can BMW tell if I've used another tool to scan the port?

No, BMW can't tell. You are only reading the errors, not altering the code.

I've done thousands of pounds worth of coding on my E92 M3 with my £50 cable and software. I had a full software update done last year at BMW and they never said a word about my coding exploits.

[whp1983]

t8cmf said:

crazy about cars said:

It's definitely something wrong - I drove normally today, low speed and throttle was jerky. As expected the amber warning light came on again. Stopped car, restart and fault gone. Can't really call emergency services (also just found out AUC emergency services are different from car's still under warranty which is less supportive) as car technically still drives so have to wait for my slot at end of the month.

Hmmm, I'm wondering if you have the same issue I had, the idle control device I mentioned above. I had the low down throttle jerkiness as well.

It will be interesting to see what the diagnostics machine says. I wouldn't be able to wait like you are though, I'd have to find somebody with the kit or buy my own which I ended up doing.

Mine had bad jerkiness just before ignition coils went (although once that happened my fault light wouldn't go) 2x coils replaced and spark plugs that went with them.

[crazy about cars]

Well looks like it's getting worse, reduced power after few yards of driving and now the amber engine light stays on in the dash (although Check Engine still says no fault!)

I've called Emergency Services and this time got through a nice lad who arranged for someone to come out to my house. Let's hope he shows up as I'm bit worried driving around now. Fingers crossed it's something minor like plugs + coil packs. I don't think plugs will be covered by warranty nor service pack but will coil pack be covered?

[whp1983]

crazy about cars said:

Well looks like it's getting worse, reduced power after few yards of driving and now the amber engine light stays on in the dash (although Check Engine still says no fault!)

I've called Emergency Services and this time got through a nice lad who arranged for someone to come out to my house. Let's hope he shows up as I'm bit worried driving around now. Fingers crossed it's something minor like plugs + coil packs. I don't think plugs will be covered by warranty nor service pack but will coil pack be covered?

I'd imagine that's what it will be and no more serious.... I'd be pushing for it all to be covered by warranty.