E92 330Ci engine fault
Discussion
We have the above car new since 1 September 2008 (now done over 50k) very nice car it is but it always had a slight hesitation(you would be cruising on motorway and you would sometimes get a blip) in November it started to take longer to start cold or warm the starter would churn away, then on the M25 in November the engine light came on and the car lost power phoned BMW assist who said as car still going take it to your dealer! so chugged to dealer near home but about 10 miles from the garage the light went out, the dealer said no fault recorded kept car a couple of days and changed the coil pack and injector. Car back to running as before with the occassional blip. Then 2 weeks ago started to take ages to start again and on way to Scotland for a funeral the engine light came on again BMW assist again said as car mobile take to dealer so car dropped off at Sunningdale (150 miles from home)and a car hired for the trip north. Garage said that no fault could be found on the key! Had the car for 4 days and returned it after re flashing the engine management. Car picked up last Friday and still not running as well as it should be. Tuesday on way over to Berkshire car did same thing again so is now at dealer in Maidenhead they said no fault can be found on the key so we are back in a hire car!
Anyone any ideas what is wrong with the car?
The other problem is the last 2 breakdowns have been away from home and we have had to hire a car and travel back to location to pick the car up this has been a round trip of 300 miles and will be when it is ready to collect this time, if it had broken down in Scotland it would have been a 900 mile round trip. Do you think it reasonable to get BMW to deliver the car once fixed?
Interested in your comments
Cheers
Neil
Anyone any ideas what is wrong with the car?
The other problem is the last 2 breakdowns have been away from home and we have had to hire a car and travel back to location to pick the car up this has been a round trip of 300 miles and will be when it is ready to collect this time, if it had broken down in Scotland it would have been a 900 mile round trip. Do you think it reasonable to get BMW to deliver the car once fixed?
Interested in your comments
Cheers
Neil
Seems a bit harsh, I would look at the T&C's of BMW assist. May be better off with RAC or something, in fact with petrol costs and time you would be.
As for the fault, I can't belive it won't show anything. I thought they kept histories on there that can be blanked if required, the engine must be going into limited power get you home mode so restricting any damage it thinks could happen. You could try taking to an indy and without prompting them about the issue see what comes out the computer of the car, unless you know a really good one that you trust and tell them all. Then if they do say there's an issue you can go back to BMW and get it sorted under warranty.
As for the fault, I can't belive it won't show anything. I thought they kept histories on there that can be blanked if required, the engine must be going into limited power get you home mode so restricting any damage it thinks could happen. You could try taking to an indy and without prompting them about the issue see what comes out the computer of the car, unless you know a really good one that you trust and tell them all. Then if they do say there's an issue you can go back to BMW and get it sorted under warranty.
I'm no expert, but the symptoms you describe seemed may be the same as mine. The dealer couldn't locate it at first also as it was intermittent. When the engine finally lost power and the engine warning light came on again, it was found to be the HP fuel pump. Apparantly a very common problem with this engine, do a search on the forums.
Carmo99 said:
it was found to be the HP fuel pump. Apparantly a very common problem with this engine, do a search on the forums.
Aha! I've just had my 2008 E90 330i in for a service and they replace the HP fuel pump as a 'quality improvement' item which kind of backs up this point...A faulty high pressure fuel pump is quite a likely candidate for this fault, however in my experience they either fail completely (leaving a car in limp home mode running on just 7bar tank lift pump pressure) or they are noisey but function ok. This does not however rule a faulty HP pump out by any means. Another problem that the earlier version of this engine suffered from (I'm talking early E90 330I's here) is valve timing issues. These can apply to your car too.
During my time at BMW dealers I found several cars with very similar symptoms to yours to have the VANOS units playing up. This is diagnosed by fixing the bottom end at TDC on Cyl. 1 with a locking tool inserted into a bore through the block and into a hole in the flywheel. The camcover is removed and special timing tools placed over the back of the camshafts, which if the timing is correct will sit on the cylinder head perfectly flat. This is when I often found there to be a discrepency. The fault lies with the VANOS units themselves; they are of the infinately variable design and should return to a starting point when the engine is stopped, but this doesn't always happen and the timing can therefore always be a couple of degrees out. The problem is that because the VANOS units are working within their prescibed tolerances and are constantly advancing/retarding, it is difficult for the engine control unit (DME) to get a fix on the camshaft position if it is slightly wrong. If any fault codes are stored (they arn't always) then they are often secondary combustion anomilies that the DME has logged. Often if a technician doesn't see an obvious fault code he doesn't/isn't encouraged to dig deeper.
I suggest making a fuss with BMW customer services, and demanding the car be sorted. Please repost if there are any more questions or updates.
During my time at BMW dealers I found several cars with very similar symptoms to yours to have the VANOS units playing up. This is diagnosed by fixing the bottom end at TDC on Cyl. 1 with a locking tool inserted into a bore through the block and into a hole in the flywheel. The camcover is removed and special timing tools placed over the back of the camshafts, which if the timing is correct will sit on the cylinder head perfectly flat. This is when I often found there to be a discrepency. The fault lies with the VANOS units themselves; they are of the infinately variable design and should return to a starting point when the engine is stopped, but this doesn't always happen and the timing can therefore always be a couple of degrees out. The problem is that because the VANOS units are working within their prescibed tolerances and are constantly advancing/retarding, it is difficult for the engine control unit (DME) to get a fix on the camshaft position if it is slightly wrong. If any fault codes are stored (they arn't always) then they are often secondary combustion anomilies that the DME has logged. Often if a technician doesn't see an obvious fault code he doesn't/isn't encouraged to dig deeper.
I suggest making a fuss with BMW customer services, and demanding the car be sorted. Please repost if there are any more questions or updates.
Update...
Last weeks garage asked us to collect the car as no fault could be found....
As my wife has now refused to drive the car in case she gets stranded I have been smoking it for the last few days and on each start the car made it spluttered into life and was lumpy then settled down. On Tuesday it gave a missfire and the engine light came on and car would not rev more than 2500rpm for about 3-4 miles on motorway then cleared. I had a hospital appointment parked up for about an hour came out and the car stalled a couple of times in car park and the large engine light came on with 1/2 of it blanked out drove to my nearest BM dealer they popped key in dock and hey presto a fault showed up this time. It was nearly closing time at the garage so they got me a taxi home (about 20 miles) which I thought was very fair of them. Got call last night needs HP fuel pump and they are going to change the injectors again. Fingers crossed that is it sorted will update after I get it back.
Last weeks garage asked us to collect the car as no fault could be found....
As my wife has now refused to drive the car in case she gets stranded I have been smoking it for the last few days and on each start the car made it spluttered into life and was lumpy then settled down. On Tuesday it gave a missfire and the engine light came on and car would not rev more than 2500rpm for about 3-4 miles on motorway then cleared. I had a hospital appointment parked up for about an hour came out and the car stalled a couple of times in car park and the large engine light came on with 1/2 of it blanked out drove to my nearest BM dealer they popped key in dock and hey presto a fault showed up this time. It was nearly closing time at the garage so they got me a taxi home (about 20 miles) which I thought was very fair of them. Got call last night needs HP fuel pump and they are going to change the injectors again. Fingers crossed that is it sorted will update after I get it back.
Finally got the car back on Tuesday evening.
It has had HP fuel pump replaced along with full set of injectors also reprogrammed the engine management system.
It so far has started perfectly on the last 3 mornings and is running smoothly again it has done about 500mls since Tuesday night. Fingers crossed that it is now fixed.
It has had HP fuel pump replaced along with full set of injectors also reprogrammed the engine management system.
It so far has started perfectly on the last 3 mornings and is running smoothly again it has done about 500mls since Tuesday night. Fingers crossed that it is now fixed.
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