E46 330d. Cutting Out. No Fault codes. Silly money spent.

[Brad6271]

I have a 2003 E46 330d 184bhp with M57 enigine.
Had an ongoing issue of randomly cutting out at idle, startups then taking long cranking to fire back up but then cuts out, I do this over and over, sometimes leave for 10 mins, come back and all is fine.
Once running I can keep revs at 1500ish, wait approx 60 seconds and then revs pick up higher, then I know I can take foot off pedal and engine idles normally.

The car operates with zero issues when driven at speed, still pulls as it should, never cut out on me at speed.

I can go as long as a week with daily use and never have a problem, then one day it can happen several times.

Been to two garages.
One ran diagnosistics, found no faults that related to any fuel, electrics or sensor issues.

I began replacing parts based on info gained from forums like this.
So far I have replaced:
Fuel filter
Fuel pump relay
In tank fuel pump
Pre supply fuel pump
Crankshaft sensor
Camshaft sensor
Vacuum lines
Fuel rail pressure sensor

After all this still no joy.

Took it to a Bosch diesel specialist.
They too found no faults under diagnostics.
Ran tests on all 6 injectors, no faults but were cleaned.

After this work car ran fine for 5 days, again thought it had been fixed but then cut out again on driveway.

I removed the intake manifold, cleaned the MAP sensor, checked wiring and cleaned all and any electrical contacts I could see while the manifold was off.

So here I am, baffled and so are the so called experts.

Out of desperation I have ordered a new MAP sensor and Fuel pressure regulator that sits on the high pressure fuel pump.
Waiting for them to arrive but I'm not expecting them to sort the fault.

Has anyone got any ideas...I'll take any suggestions.

Cheers

Brad

[helix402]

Maybe buy a cheap hand held diagnostic tool like a Creator C110 or 310 and see what’s missing whilst cranking.

[RUSSELLM]

Are the garages looking at live fuelling data, air flow, air temps, etc.... Or just looking for stored fault codes ?

[Brad6271]

Quick update on my issue.

I changed the Fuel Pressure Regulator on the back of the high pressure fuel pump.
Intake manifold off again to do it and not the easiest place to get to.
Done last Thursday, since then used daily and fingers crossed no more stalling.

Interesting that no fault codes could be found relating to the regulator.

Total spent trying to fix close to £1500 for what looks like a £100 part.

Had the car 10 years, bought off my Managing Director who had from new so just couldn't give up on the car.

Coming off the road soon for 6 months to restore underneath and give it a full respray.
Hopefully do me another 10 years.

Thanks to anyone who made suggestions.

Brad

[Sardonicus]

Just a heads up your using the correct oil viscosity? check the oil pressure is not to high due to sticking PRV with a gauge may be an idea , I witnessed an E61 530D auto that had been filled with 15/40 or similar (owner was sketchy) a few winters ago this run rough on cold start and cut out often until it had warmed up a little due to the hyd tappets pumping up because of the heavy viscosity thus creating leaking valves and loss of compression just a thought