Help please. E46 issue
Discussion
Hi there, ok I'm new to the site and new to BMW's. Just bought my first one. It's a 2003 E46 318i, 100000 miles. Car itself is in pretty good shape and drives nice, I'm liking it so far except the cutting out issue. I'm sure it's been posted before and I have done some research, but could do with a couple of pointers.
Ok so problem is driving down the road and car cuts out completely, no warning. If I'm going fast enough, it seems to restart itself. Red battery light comes on and once restarted I have tranction control and a yellow brake light. If driving slow and I have to restart the car manually, several attempts to get it going. Today however it died, restarted it and died again 4 times back to back ?? I've been reading it could be the crankshaft position sensor, I tried to change this yesterday but failed miserably at getting the inlet manifold off. Before I attempt the job again, does the problem sound like the crankshaft sensor ?? Also why does a red battery light, traction control and yellow brake light illuminate when the car finally restarts ??
Ok so problem is driving down the road and car cuts out completely, no warning. If I'm going fast enough, it seems to restart itself. Red battery light comes on and once restarted I have tranction control and a yellow brake light. If driving slow and I have to restart the car manually, several attempts to get it going. Today however it died, restarted it and died again 4 times back to back ?? I've been reading it could be the crankshaft position sensor, I tried to change this yesterday but failed miserably at getting the inlet manifold off. Before I attempt the job again, does the problem sound like the crankshaft sensor ?? Also why does a red battery light, traction control and yellow brake light illuminate when the car finally restarts ??
Having owned a few bnws and worked on a few it does sound like the Cam or Crank sensor are failing.
Either sensor will trigger a logged fault code on the ecu.
Buy genuine sensors if you intend to keep the car. In my experience (of 5) non gen cam sensors on 2 different cars they tend to last 2-6 months max.
Either sensor will trigger a logged fault code on the ecu.
Buy genuine sensors if you intend to keep the car. In my experience (of 5) non gen cam sensors on 2 different cars they tend to last 2-6 months max.
BugCo22 said:
Ok cool. I've just looked and I do have a crank and a cam shaft DTC. Ok so take it apart again and try and get this manifold off ?? Anyone got any good ideas for getting the 2 bolts out from underneath??
3.7 skinned knuckles and 25.2 swear words normally get it sorted on average.Ok so crankshaft sensor changed !! And yes there were a few swear words involved lol. On initial start up after changing sensor, the car had a really rough idle. After it warmed up the idle seemed to settle down, the car doesn't feel quite right when driving either. I've also noticed a constant repetative "pst pst pst pst pst" noise coming from the intake manifold/injector area. Could this be an air leak from gaskets ??
Helix, the sound is coming from the middle to back of the engine rather then the chain area, which I thought was at the front of the rock cover ?? Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm no expert. Just a hands on person that likes to get stuck in, backed up with some research. In fact that's how I'm going to describe myself from now on lol.
CupOfTea, yes I changed a cam sensor as I had to wait for crank sensor to come into shop as codes were crank and cam sensor. However I have reverted back to original now.
Ok so this is this afternoon's events and a bit of yesterday. Yesterday first, did a 16 mile round trip to work and car died a total of 12 times. 90% of journey is motorway. So today decided crank sensor wad going to be changed. Managed to change it only to discover this lumpy idle issue. Drove the car a couple of short journeys around the block and to a shop. Erased fault codes and none showing back up after every trip. The misses wanted to go get a buggy from Petersfield, for me a 25 mile round trip, was dredging it but thought I'd have some company if car died completely. Car was driving very sluggish but didn't die once :-) yay. Got to destination and checked codes, P1159 was showing as pending. Before I got back home the engine light was on and the only code showing is the same but stored and red. Quick lookup and it came back as fuel trim issue ?? But for other makers it was saying the MAF or MAP ?? I'm guessing a failed/dodgy sensor/connector would cause the the sluggishness and poor fuel economy?? Also after the run when I checked codes the second time, the idle hunted and rose to 1500 rpm on its own and dropped of. It did it quite slowly but I was considering turning engine off incase it didn't stop :-/
How can an engine increase rpm that much on its own ??
Sorry for the essay.
CupOfTea, yes I changed a cam sensor as I had to wait for crank sensor to come into shop as codes were crank and cam sensor. However I have reverted back to original now.
Ok so this is this afternoon's events and a bit of yesterday. Yesterday first, did a 16 mile round trip to work and car died a total of 12 times. 90% of journey is motorway. So today decided crank sensor wad going to be changed. Managed to change it only to discover this lumpy idle issue. Drove the car a couple of short journeys around the block and to a shop. Erased fault codes and none showing back up after every trip. The misses wanted to go get a buggy from Petersfield, for me a 25 mile round trip, was dredging it but thought I'd have some company if car died completely. Car was driving very sluggish but didn't die once :-) yay. Got to destination and checked codes, P1159 was showing as pending. Before I got back home the engine light was on and the only code showing is the same but stored and red. Quick lookup and it came back as fuel trim issue ?? But for other makers it was saying the MAF or MAP ?? I'm guessing a failed/dodgy sensor/connector would cause the the sluggishness and poor fuel economy?? Also after the run when I checked codes the second time, the idle hunted and rose to 1500 rpm on its own and dropped of. It did it quite slowly but I was considering turning engine off incase it didn't stop :-/
How can an engine increase rpm that much on its own ??
Sorry for the essay.
If this new issue was not there before u took the manifold off then it is most likely something you have introduced - air leak is my top guess. Did any of the seals from the injectors fall off?
Another favourite is the pipe from air filter box to throttle body - the little reservoir on it rubs on the aux belt and creates an air leak if not put back correctly
Another favourite is the pipe from air filter box to throttle body - the little reservoir on it rubs on the aux belt and creates an air leak if not put back correctly
Edited by Elliot2000 on Wednesday 20th March 21:00
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n5aMj_UXnrLWanlrx...
There is a link to the engine doing it's thing. I sprayed cleaner around the intake to head area and I did get a reaction, but only once I stoped and moved the can out of the engine bay. So not actually sure where it exactly is but it's there. So I think new gaskets are in order.
There is a link to the engine doing it's thing. I sprayed cleaner around the intake to head area and I did get a reaction, but only once I stoped and moved the can out of the engine bay. So not actually sure where it exactly is but it's there. So I think new gaskets are in order.
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