What have you done to your BMW today?

[Court_S]

I discovered the joys of a flooded DME box in the 330i this morning.

Used the car yesterday and it was running fine. Have it a quick wash yesterday afternoon and then it hammered it down last night to be topped off with a biblical downpour this morning.

My wife left for work and called me to say that she’d broken down a few hundred yards away from the house. Engine management light one, car running really lumpily, no power and the then the ABS light and tyre pressure warning lights came on.

She managed to limp it home and I plugged Carly in. Lots of codes but all relating to did lights. Hmmmmm. Car was still running really badly.

Looked in the DME box and saw some water but noticed this after….



Started the car again and it was running absolutely fine. Looks like I need to clean out all of the drain holes sharpish.

[easy_]

Court_S said:

I discovered the joys of a flooded DME box in the 330i this morning.

Used the car yesterday and it was running fine. Have it a quick wash yesterday afternoon and then it hammered it down last night to be topped off with a biblical downpour this morning.

My wife left for work and called me to say that she’d broken down a few hundred yards away from the house. Engine management light one, car running really lumpily, no power and the then the ABS light and tyre pressure warning lights came on.

She managed to limp it home and I plugged Carly in. Lots of codes but all relating to did lights. Hmmmmm. Car was still running really badly.

Looked in the DME box and saw some water but noticed this after….


Started the car again and it was running absolutely fine. Looks like I need to clean out all of the drain holes sharpish.

the 'drain hole' in the dme box location is actually a missing strip of seam sealer between two panels that drains onto the top of the wheel arch liner so is very easily blocked up with detritus.
First thing I did when i bought my e91 was remove the box and remove a rubber bung in the bottom of the area that also drains onto the top of the wheel arch liner to prevent any water build up at all, id do the same if i were you.

ETA if the water level has already made its way into the DME and caused you issues its a bit too late, the DME will suffer from corrosion and give you more headaches.

[g3org3y]

630i seemingly has healed itself.

Was having an odd idle issue over the last few months. On start up, unstable idle maybe for 5-10 seconds and then settled. Would only happen if the car was left for ~6-12 hours or so. If left longer, such as over the weekend for example, not an issue. If restarted after an hour, not in issue. No EML. No codes on DME search.

I tried the BMW petrol additive/injector cleaner thinking it might be an injector issue but didn't seem to do anything.

The only difference I've done of late I can think of is using Shell petrol (their normal 95 octane) during the last two fill ups. Normally I use Tesco 99. Might chuck a bit of V Power in next time.

Also booked it in for rear discs/pads next week. Bought Brembo bits from CP4L. I'll ask them to do an oil change at the same time (got the oil (BMW spec LL-04) and a Mann filter)).

Edited by g3org3y on Tuesday 14th November 08:43

[Court_S]

easy_ said:

the 'drain hole' in the dme box location is actually a missing strip of seam sealer between two panels that drains onto the top of the wheel arch liner so is very easily blocked up with detritus.
First thing I did when i bought my e91 was remove the box and remove a rubber bung in the bottom of the area that also drains onto the top of the wheel arch liner to prevent any water build up at all, id do the same if i were you.

ETA if the water level has already made its way into the DME and caused you issues its a bit too late, the DME will suffer from corrosion and give you more headaches.

Thanks.

I’m going to remove the DME today and have a look to see if there is any corrosion on the board. I’m hoping I might get away drying it out and cleaning with ipa as others have.

In the meantime, I think I’ll start making some enquiries into a replacement DME.

[d_a_n1979]

Court_S said:

easy_ said:

the 'drain hole' in the dme box location is actually a missing strip of seam sealer between two panels that drains onto the top of the wheel arch liner so is very easily blocked up with detritus.
First thing I did when i bought my e91 was remove the box and remove a rubber bung in the bottom of the area that also drains onto the top of the wheel arch liner to prevent any water build up at all, id do the same if i were you.

ETA if the water level has already made its way into the DME and caused you issues its a bit too late, the DME will suffer from corrosion and give you more headaches.

Thanks.

I’m going to remove the DME today and have a look to see if there is any corrosion on the board. I’m hoping I might get away drying it out and cleaning with ipa as others have.

In the meantime, I think I’ll start making some enquiries into a replacement DME.

Good luck with it Sam; fingers crossed it's nothing major

[Court_S]

I removed the DME from the 330i today…







Uh-oh



I opened up the cover to have a look



For now I’ve attempted to clean the corrosion off with isopropyl alcohol and a soft toothbrush and will dry it as best I can over the next few days.



I’m going to reach out to some companies who offer a replacement service. There is one near my office on Nottingham but they’re not offering the service at the moment.

[dhutch]

It's amazing these are not fully sealed.

[waynedear]

2005 630i, swapping headlight parts to work out why I have no n/s dipped beam, pretty sure it's the under headlight control.

[Court_S]

dhutch said:

It's amazing these are not fully sealed.

It does seem nuts. The cover is literally clipped and on.

Given that it sits next to a drain, I’m amazed that it’s not a fully sealed unit too.

[stevemcs]

I’ve seen worse on a Passat, ecu testing salvaged it.

[Court_S]

stevemcs said:

I’ve seen worse on a Passat, ecu testing salvaged it.

Ok cool. Just looked them up and they’re pretty local so I’ll give them a call this morning.

[RichardM5]

Fixed this


Using a piece of this

[Mark-insert old BMW]

I remember the days when they were just used as aerials.

[iwantagta]

Not today - Tuesday.
I had someone come round to look at my car.
Distracted me.
Put oil in the coolant.
FML.
I knew it smelt wrong. I should have trusted my instincts.
I'm embarrassed about letting it happen.

Never ever ever allow people to distract you with anything when selling your car. Never let the engine bay out your sight.

[JakeT]

fk sake. What s, so annoying. I am generally very careful of it, but it shouldn’t happen. Wynns cooling system cleaner can clear oil out too.

[Mr Tidy]

iwantagta said:

Not today - Tuesday.
I had someone come round to look at my car.
Distracted me.
Put oil in the coolant.
FML.
I knew it smelt wrong. I should have trusted my instincts.
I'm embarrassed about letting it happen.

Never ever ever allow people to distract you with anything when selling your car. Never let the engine bay out your sight.

That's stty behaviour.

Good luck getting it sorted, and sold!

[Mark-insert old BMW]

iwantagta said:

.
I'm embarrassed about letting it happen.

Don't be. Most people are decent and trustworthy. We can all be fooled though and hindsight is a wonderful thing. As others have said I hope it's easily sorted and a genuine buyer found soon.

[pmorg4]

Mark-insert old BMW said:

iwantagta said:

.
I'm embarrassed about letting it happen.

Don't be. Most people are decent and trustworthy. We can all be fooled though and hindsight is a wonderful thing. As others have said I hope it's easily sorted and a genuine buyer found soon.

Agreed on the above. You're almost certainly not the first person who's been targeted by this individual, he's probably very well practiced in the art of deception and distraction.

What a scummy thing to do. Hope it's not too difficult to sort, the good thing is that oil is lighter than water so it should be easy enough to get the oil out by adding more water just below the level of the oil and making it overflow the oil out. If he hasn't put too much in then it shouldn't even dilute your coolant much, although it's probably a good idea to flush it for peace of mind.

Good luck getting it sorted and for a subsequent sale to an honest buyer.

[dhutch]

Mark-insert old BMW said:

iwantagta said:

I'm embarrassed about letting it happen.

Don't be. Most people are decent and trustworthy. We can all be fooled though and hindsight is a wonderful thing. As others have said I hope it's easily sorted and a genuine buyer found soon.

Agree.

I once had my phone nicked showing someone around our boat, seemed nice enough people, try and as someone younger myself I try and give younger people who are interested the benefit of the doubt slightly too.

Been showing people around on and off for 20 years since I was a teenage, only been burnt that one time.
Just forgot I had taken my phone out to avoid it going in the engine room bilges while doing some awkward work.
Ironically, being an old Nokia, it would have probably take any fall/swim in its stride!

Still a pain to have to get the oil out again!!

[JakeT]

I also agree. You wouldn’t blame yourself if someone pinched your wallet while you were minding your own business, same sort of thing.