EGR Fire - Technical Campaign - N47, B47 and N57

[Ninja59]

RS20weo said:

My 2014 520d is currently at Sytners waiting for parts to be available. They have confirmed an issue with EGR cooler that will be replaced as part of the recall.

The EGR value also needs replacing - at this stage they can’t confirm whether this will be covered as part of the recall, as may be a separate part number. So the EGR valve element would be chargeable.

Anyone else with experience of the EGR value needing replacing separately to the EGR cooler?

Thanks.

You won't get it under the recall. End of.

BMW are doing cooler and valve separate now unlike they used to where one part number covered both.

[Ninja59]

Fox- said:

I'm still concerned about my car - it was recovered, went in, given the all clear.

So now the recall notice has gone on my car and I've been told that's it - its fine. They checked for leaks. None there.

Whilst this is good news I don't particularly understand how this works. Presumably the leak isn't present from the factory therefore just because it isn't leaking now doesn't mean it won't in the future, surely?

if it was purely a part number thing then why would they have needed to physically inspect it for leaks?

No the leak is not. It essentially is because the coolant gets into the inlet manifold rather than just cooling the egr gases.

Even cars outside the recall periods have failed so there is not real date of you will be fine.

[Ninja59]

Jesus guys I feel for everyone at the moment that has been impacted by this issue.

I feel I got "lucky" with mine going when it did before this properly kicked off.

As an aside in regards to hire cars from Enterprise I have always had a BMW in place of my BMW (and mine had to get assist out to it when this kicked off for different reasons and I still got an F30 330D).

[Ninja59]

If you have not symptoms then you may get lucky and that there is not a lot of build up so will be fine...if they start eating coolant then yeah you definitely have the issue.

[Ninja59]

The irony of this issue is still not lost on me as Korens in Korea make them where this all kicked off.

I suspect that BMW did get the bean counters over there or got the costs changed by making X and Y cheaper.

The EGR Valve itself is Wahler, the issue really focuses on the EGR Cooler side failing more. BMW took a long time to get the components split as two parts in the systems that is helping speed up delivery, but the parts have to be ordered by VIN number.

I don't know exactly when it changed but BMW used to use Mahle ones on the M series engines....

[Ninja59]

ian in lancs said:

It’s not the valve it’s the cooler that isn’t up to the job.

I am fully aware of that.

But part of the issue for BMW following the release of this issue is exactly as I have said BMW did not have the EGR valve and cooler as separate parts. You could only order the EGR valve and cooler as one item.

And if we are being 100% correct the B47 has suffered both EGR valve and cooler issues.

[Ninja59]

ian in lancs said:

Hmm my EGR valve was replaced months ago as a single item; 3.0 X3. Same car has been in with dealer a month on monday.

Then chances are your whole item was replaced. It really is not so much the months, but how many miles in that time period?

I have long suspected something not "quite" right with the cooling system on these engines as over the Summer in 2018 I complained that the fan cut in occasionally (and critically for not DPF reasons).

No codes, no proof - no fault. But I had seen a steady decline in MPG over the time period of the car in my ownership. But with little real proof then it was impossible to say the cooler was the issue.

Strangely enough since my cooler replacement the MPG has shot up (it is about 2-3 MPG gain, which is about right for many when you look around the internet) and no longer have I seen/heard the fan cutting in randomly.

[Ninja59]

RichardJS said:

The phrase worried me because it didn't say something like "as quickly as possible" - it just said "continue". But hopefully it was just clumsy wording.

We're talking about a simple little EGR valve, not a complete new engine or gearbox!!! If a supplier couldn't satisfactorily supply a company that I worked for we would find a supplier that could! Korens has supplied something that was incorrectly designed and is now incapable of ramping up production, or is unwilling to. Time to swap supplier! Sooner rather than later. BMW needs to manage the situation.

Based on my experience with someone who worked for a tier 1 supplier to JLR supplying axles the manufacturer was usually the cause of "most" of the issues in terms of downgrading things to reduce costs in terms of procurement rather than the actual supplier making the item for the line.

The other issue at "play" here is that it would have taken time for the components to be split as the EGR valve and cooler would have been one item to BMW originally. I think that took about 2 months just to get that all sorted.

[Ninja59]

S8QUATTRO said:

Doesnt sound right is it 2.0d or 3.0d?

Mine is a 3.0d, they changed the cooler and the egr valve

Got it back yesterday after 60 days

Dealers have been very good so far, must be an absolute pain to deal with the extra workload

Based on a tech's statement to me all they are doing is quote "service, mot and QE [of EGR's]".

Equally interestingly he was as blunt to say that the EGR should be a service item due to the environment in which they operate .

[Ninja59]

This has been going on for a few weeks and was launched on the 18th January 2020.

1) All cars that previously were given a clean bill of health regarding the EGR cooler will get replaced whatever the condition of the EGR cooler, due to some that were okay now failing
2) It is being dealt with a dealership level and BMW UK more or less have taken a more hands off approach which has resulted in "interesting" communication methods as it is down at a local level
3) Many dealers are giving priority to locally known cars, but this in some regions is still 100's of cars
4) Different methods of fixing it from waiting appointments to no waiting appointments and length of time the car is needed. The actual "work" is around 1hr 30 minutes, but really the car needs to be a lot cooler than some are doing it at.
5) The new part is completely revised, from what I heard Korens the makers of this EGR Cooler are the ones footing the bills not BMW.
6) If the car has warranty and needs to go in under emergency then you will get a hire/courtesy car, if you don't you get nothing.

If the car is done whilst you wait then please please check the coolant level my coolant level was excessively high above max and needed sorting. Something I refused to sort myself.

Furthermore you may find at least initially the car is not quite itself due to the adaptations being reset and the process literally being a small amount of idling and then the revs held for 20 seconds.

Edited by Ninja59 on Thursday 20th February 15:59

[Ninja59]

BFleming said:

Well documented elsewhere, but this is one of the reasons most garages disconnect your dashcam. When I got my car back from the recall earlier this year the dashcam was disconnected - some research suggested it's common practice.

This is now BMW UK policy...