Stalling E46 330d. Crankshaft ?

[Brad6271]

I am having an intermittent issue with my E46 330d, 2003, 184bhp. M57D

I can be driving and feel a small judder, the engine will then stall if I take foot off throttle.
After cranking over for few seconds (longer than normal) it will fire back up but again will stall if I don't keep revs up.

The fault can then clear, power will return as normal and might not happen for days.

No engine management light is on.

I am told that the crankshaft sensor is possibly the suspect and will not necessarily show up on diagnostics.

Can anyone confirm what I'm being told about the sensor...is this the type of symptoms associated with a faulty unit.

I understand it can be a pig to replace, can it be reached from underneath the car if covers are removed?

Thanks

Brad

[helix402]

Sounds more like the under floor pre supply fuel pump. Best best is to read the fault codes then do some live data reading if there are no codes.

[clockworks]

Just sorted a crankshaft sensor problem on an E90 318i. With the sensor not working, the car went into limp mode - EML on, wouldn't rev over 3000rpm, and would never start first turn of the key. Always fired up second or third time, and drove OK at low revs.

Different car and engine, but I'd expect similar symptoms if you had a crank sensor fault.

The problem on the 318 eventually turned out to be a dodgy fuse. For some reason the crank sensor on this car gets it's power via the fusebox, rather than from the ECU, and the fuse is in the glovebox, not under the bonnet. Weird.

[Brad6271]

helix402 said:

Sounds more like the under floor pre supply fuel pump. Best best is to read the fault codes then do some live data reading if there are no codes.

Yeh I did think that, had one go before and although that started out as intermittent it eventually failed completely. The difference with this fault is that as I crank over, the engine splutters back into life, with the pre pump not working it would just crank over and not start wouldn't it?

More I'm researching on the subject I am defo leaning towards the sensor starting to fail.

I can park it up with the fault present, and following day it fires up, no issue at all.

I was doing 60 down the road, felt the judder, wouldn't rev over 3000 and stayed at 40 mph...10 seconds later everything came back to life.

[Sim89]

Hi,

Had roughly the same symptoms a few years ago with my M57 (204) E46 330d. At one point it cut out in heavy traffic in the outside lane. Wouldn't start for 20 minutes and then randomly worked again.

I had no EML and suspected the fuel pump initially. After scanning I got a crankshaft sensor code. Replaced (with an OEM BMW part) and it was fine.

You are correct in saying it is a pain to do, below the starter motor. I did it from the top.

[Brad6271]

Sim89 said:

Hi,

Had roughly the same symptoms a few years ago with my M57 (204) E46 330d. At one point it cut out in heavy traffic in the outside lane. Wouldn't start for 20 minutes and then randomly worked again.

I had no EML and suspected the fuel pump initially. After scanning I got a crankshaft sensor code. Replaced (with an OEM BMW part) and it was fine.

You are correct in saying it is a pain to do, below the starter motor. I did it from the top.

Cheers fella 👍🏼

[Brad6271]

So turns out it was the crankshaft sensor.
Got a Delphi sensor from Euro Part £102 after discount.
Went to local garage who changed that and sorted a split vacuum pipe for just £50.

Car back to normal now.

Cheers for advice.