E92 M3 fuel pump warning light
E92 M3 fuel pump warning light
Author
Discussion

E21_Ross

Original Poster:

36,594 posts

235 months

Saturday 14th March 2009
quotequote all
'08 plate M3 coupe, 6500 miles, fuel pump warning light has just come on. is this a known problem? easy fix? will be under warranty of course; is it a problem that, with driving, might cure it? just says reduced power and drive carefully and see bmw dealer....

confused

E21_Ross

Original Poster:

36,594 posts

235 months

Monday 16th March 2009
quotequote all
just in case anyone is actually reading this thread....the warning has gone away since the tank was basically emptied and then filled up with some V-Power confused hopefully it was just sh*t fuel and not the fuel pump!

bher

786 posts

293 months

Monday 16th March 2009
quotequote all
I would relax if your tank was almost empty. While reading the manual they insist so much about refueling when less than 50 km of autonomy I suspect BMW really want to avoid the pump to run dry. With this type of car, the G force are so than you can easily displace the fuel in the tank to dry the pump. I had this on my Lotus quite frequently even with several liters inside. Did you felt some loss of power just before the light came on? That would be another argument for this "good" explanation.

E21_Ross

Original Poster:

36,594 posts

235 months

Tuesday 17th March 2009
quotequote all
bher said:
I would relax if your tank was almost empty. While reading the manual they insist so much about refueling when less than 50 km of autonomy I suspect BMW really want to avoid the pump to run dry. With this type of car, the G force are so than you can easily displace the fuel in the tank to dry the pump. I had this on my Lotus quite frequently even with several liters inside. Did you felt some loss of power just before the light came on? That would be another argument for this "good" explanation.
hmmm this is quite a fair point, but the warning came on with about 1/4 of a tank left in it!! BMW have been told the warning went out, but they still want to look at the car just to check a few things anyway. hopefully you are right and it's just something really simple. but...would the warning really say to go to see bmw dealer if it just needed some fuel?

squeezebm

2,319 posts

228 months

Tuesday 17th March 2009
quotequote all
Ross,mate i think its a nothing altho never happened to me,i would pop it back to the stealer just for piece of mind as it is what you pay your warranty for;)

E21_Ross

Original Poster:

36,594 posts

235 months

Tuesday 17th March 2009
quotequote all
squeezebm said:
Ross,mate i think its a nothing altho never happened to me,i would pop it back to the stealer just for piece of mind as it is what you pay your warranty for;)
that's what i'm hoping really. hopefully something like a sensor playing up or something like that. the fault came on with about 1/4 or 1/3 of a tank left so don't think it was 'running dry'. my dad says it's driving like normal now (it was still driving fine before, but felt maybe 30-40bhp down) and says foot flat to the floor it's back as it was. as said, BMW still want to look at it anyway to make sure it doesn't happen again, and it's booked in tomorrow so will let you know!!

also...he's thinking of always putting super unleaded in it...i'm guessing there would be benefits on a car like this?

cheers

bher

786 posts

293 months

Tuesday 17th March 2009
quotequote all
I agree that 1/4 full is too much to accept my explanation, certainly if you were not on track with long high speed bends.

I just hope this is more electonical grimlins than rraelity.

Let us know



Edited by bher on Tuesday 17th March 12:49

E21_Ross

Original Poster:

36,594 posts

235 months

Tuesday 17th March 2009
quotequote all
bher said:
I agree that 1/4 full is too much to accept my explanation, certainly if you were not on track with long high speed bends.

I just hope this is more electonical grimlins than rraelity.

Let us know



Edited by bher on Tuesday 17th March 12:49
will do. as said, it's going in to BMW Scotthall tomorrow, am sure their computers can find out smile i think it's more electrical too, maybe just dodgy sensor or something.

will post up tomorrow if they find anything!

GameOverMan!

432 posts

220 months

Tuesday 17th March 2009
quotequote all
Unfortunately with BM garages these days it's usually a case of: 'if the light ain't on there ain't nothing wrong' or 'computer says no'.

I asked my local dealer to check something on mine last year. They said that there weren't any faults logged. Which was interesting as they didn't even notice the error/warning that said it was low on engine oil, despite me asking them to put some in.

Hope it's just a blip and nothing that returns. Nothing worse than a hard to locate electrical fault.


E21_Ross

Original Poster:

36,594 posts

235 months

Tuesday 17th March 2009
quotequote all
GameOverMan! said:
Unfortunately with BM garages these days it's usually a case of: 'if the light ain't on there ain't nothing wrong' or 'computer says no'.

I asked my local dealer to check something on mine last year. They said that there weren't any faults logged. Which was interesting as they didn't even notice the error/warning that said it was low on engine oil, despite me asking them to put some in.

Hope it's just a blip and nothing that returns. Nothing worse than a hard to locate electrical fault.
hmmm i dunno about other BMW dealers but BMW Scotthall have been nothing short of brilliant so far with this car, or the previous E46 car. Even if it's me ordering little bits for the little E21 they still treat me very well. The fact they still want to see the car even though the warning has gone off puts the mind at rest a little that the service you're getting is pretty good. they said the error will be logged anyway so will let them know!

will keep in touch

GameOverMan!

432 posts

220 months

Tuesday 17th March 2009
quotequote all
Stangely enough it was Scotthall Leeds who I've dealt with for many years and I believe they are part of the same group you're taking your car to. I've had mainly good but some not so good customer service experiences and they also suggested I brought it in just to check. Strangely enough the care levels seem to increase when the market is not so strong. wink

However what they say and what actually happens can be two different things. It will be interesting to see if it is 'logged' even though the fault has currently cleared itself. From previous experience when my E92 M3 goes in with a fault and the light/warning is no longer displayed there isn't anything they can do. They seem heavily reliant on computer diagnostics these days and this can get in the way of common sense.

Hope you have better luck though and at least they say they're going to give it the once over.

E21_Ross

Original Poster:

36,594 posts

235 months

Tuesday 17th March 2009
quotequote all
GameOverMan! said:
Stangely enough it was Scotthall Leeds who I've dealt with for many years and I believe they are part of the same group you're taking your car to. I've had mainly good but some not so good customer service experiences and they also suggested I brought it in just to check. Strangely enough the care levels seem to increase when the market is not so strong. wink

However what they say and what actually happens can be two different things. It will be interesting to see if it is 'logged' even though the fault has currently cleared itself. From previous experience when my E92 M3 goes in with a fault and the light/warning is no longer displayed there isn't anything they can do. They seem heavily reliant on computer diagnostics these days and this can get in the way of common sense.

Hope you have better luck though and at least they say they're going to give it the once over.
well they did say that the faults are all logged, so will still show up that there was an error there. Scotthall Hampshire have been great, between 2003-2006 when the E46 330d was part of the fleet they were nothing but spectacular in service (far better than mercedes the following 3 years...hence back to BMW). What was the error you had? are there any common faults with the E92 M3? or maybe it's a bit young to tell...?

Wonder what they come up with tomorrow!

GameOverMan!

432 posts

220 months

Wednesday 18th March 2009
quotequote all
Hello again,

Strangely enough it was the service dept that made me go back to BMW. I was getting tired of spending more on cars (Merc, Porsche) and getting more problems and worse service levels. I just wanted something that would be minimal fuss but had a bit of poke when you fancied it.

The only things which have cropped up are a couple of warning lights coming up and then going off and I also think the iDrive/reversing sensors are too slow (mines a manual). I don't think they're mechanical issues more the electonics throwing a wobbly for no reason.

The last one was the "flat tyre" warning going off whilst I was in the outside lane of the motorway which was certainly interesting. Pulled over looked over the tyres on the hard shoulder and couldn't see anything. Like you rang the dealer who said bring in it as the car logs everything and hey presto.... nothing wrong. Because if the fault has cleared again, they can't pick it up on the 'puter they plug in.

The car has certainly grown on me but it took it's time (10 months). The mechanicals/engine is great but I'm just not so sure about the software side. However if you put more hard disks and software into cars then you will get niggles just like any other glorified PC.

I had no such problems with my M3 CSL, E46 330Ci or others. Only time will tell but until then I'm happy playing with the "M sport" button which is bloody good fun. smile

I will be interested to know what they say about the fault you've had after it's cleared itself.

E21_Ross

Original Poster:

36,594 posts

235 months

Wednesday 18th March 2009
quotequote all
appointment was cancelled because of work, will get it rebooked next week sometime. BMW said there is no harm continuing driving it for now since the warning has gone away but they still want to look at it if possible.

E21_Ross

Original Poster:

36,594 posts

235 months

Thursday 26th March 2009
quotequote all
well, the car is going into BMW tomorrow afternoon, so at some point over the weekend will let you know the verdict! I think it was a nothing, because it's been running on V Power ever since it was refilled, and the warning has not come back on. Makes me think it was sh*t fuel! it won't be getting anything else other than V power; i guess cars like these are quite sensitive to things like this. the E21 on the other hand... hehe don't think it's quite as sophisticated as the M3!

Still find it hard to get my head round just how great the new M3 really is. It's just so epic! it's just a great all rounder! fuel consumption better than expected too! awesome, awesome cars!

E21_Ross

Original Poster:

36,594 posts

235 months

Friday 27th March 2009
quotequote all
turns out it wasn't just a nothing! BMW said it can still be driven hard if needs be, but it will be going in for repair next week. The part in question is the fuel pump management system, or something like that! BMW service was brilliant as usual at Scotthall Hampshire.

squeezebm

2,319 posts

228 months

Friday 27th March 2009
quotequote all
E21_Ross said:
turns out it wasn't just a nothing! BMW said it can still be driven hard if needs be, but it will be going in for repair next week. The part in question is the fuel pump management system, or something like that! BMW service was brilliant as usual at Scotthall Hampshire.
Happy daysbiggrin

E21_Ross

Original Poster:

36,594 posts

235 months

Saturday 28th March 2009
quotequote all
Although it's happy days the thing can be nailed like it was stolen; it's still somewhat annoying that within just a few weeks of getting it, it needs to go in for repair again. Still, as i've said numerous times, i've been mighty impressed with scotthall so far, including the 3 years when the 330d was in the fleet. They have been spectacular. I gotta say though....driving it...it doesn't feel like there's a problem wink

one f*cking quick car!

Edited by E21_Ross on Saturday 28th March 10:38