Possible dead 1 series

[Dominic H]

Afternoon all,

I have a 2007 120d auto with 91000 miles showing. It was an AUC car 3 years ago and is BMW main dealer maintained.

At the weekend my wife was driving at 70mph on the motorway, when there was a sudden loss of power. She was able to make progress home at around 40-50 mph, as she was only 10 miles from home. Once home, I examined the car to find that it started, idled and reved in neutral seemingly correctly. I drove it around the bloke, it was fine up to about 20mph, any faster and there is a noticeable sharp/shrill noise.

The car is under the BMW driveline warranty so I took it to the local BMW main dealer on Monday morning. They have just called back to say that it's not looking good. They have read the OBC and a number of faults are showing;

Fault on EGR
Fault on DPF
Fault on inlet manifold
Fault on glowplugs
Fault requiring software update
Possibly more

An itemised estimate estimate is being prepared, but as a guide it was indicated that the parts would be over £2000 plus labour plus vat.

Bearing in mind it is worth £3000 on a good day, the cost of the repairs are going to be more than the car. Are these faults repairable at a sensible budget, or is an otherwise sound car just good for scrapping?

Cheers

Dominic H

[Dominic H]

E-bmw said:

Dominic H said:

Are these faults repairable at a sensible budget, or is an otherwise sound car just good for scrapping?

Unfortunately without more info/pics any help is going to be purely guesswork.

eg.
Fault of DPF.
£0 - forced regen. £1000 full price BMW replacement.

Fault on EGR.
£0 strip & clean DIY. £300 replaced by BMW

Fault on inlet manifold.
£50 Strip/clean/new gasket DIY. £500 same job done by BMW.

Don't quote me on any of the prices above they are just wild guesses to illustrate the point.

If you see what I mean.

Thanks for the feedback. I will have a detailed estimate later on, which may fill in the gaps. You're a little more encouraging than the call from BMW a hour or two ago!

[Dominic H]

Shiv_P said:

Is this not related to the big electrical recall on 1/3 series?

Sadly no...

Elliot2000 said:

If it was turbo you would have expected bmw to mention boost pressure faults logged. It sounds like dpf is heavily clogged, possibly caused by egr being stuck open and the noise you hear could be pressure building up inside the crank case as it’s strugglin to escape through the exhaust.

[b]Get a list of work needed from bmw

At the minute it doesn’t sound terminal for the car, where in uk are you? Someone I’m sure can recommend a good indie if needed[/b]

Plan to do so Elliot. I'm in Bromley, Kent. Hoping that several faults won't kill an other wise good and well maintained car.

helix402 said:

If op has a drivetrain warranty doesn’t that cover the faults? (At a guess glow plugs/glow plug controller, egr valve, forced Dpf regen/chemical clean, thermostats).

Swirl flaps may be failing too.

Sadly no. The driveline warranty covers the big expensive bits, engine/gearbox/turbo. The small expensive bits aren't.

Charlie Croker mk2 said:

Whatever the faults are --- you took a 2007 car to a main oil changer ! go and recover your property before anything else gets done and find a well regarded specialist in your area .

Thanks Charlie, they're not all bad and nothing is being done to the car except a big estimate to replace expensive parts.

helix402 said:

Hasn’t it got a BMW warranty though?

Not these bits...

Sardonicus said:

Sounds like a choked DPF (inc the strange noise) it wont regenerate while there is glow plug fault codes and a faulty EGR valve will only accelerate the possible cause ....... my cents worth , like mentioned already find a dent independent they will go the extra mile rather than plastic card snatching main stealers

Thanks, this seems to be a recurring theme. Will go to Indy once we know what's wrong. Have driveline warranty from BMW so that was the first course of action.

gizlaroc said:

Also check the thermostats are working right, needs to get to 90ºc and stay there rock solid, if not, a good chance it is dropping below 78ºc when on the move and again the DPF will not regen, so it will block and give the symptoms you describe.

Thanks will do.


Thanks everybody for the advice, much appreciated.

[Dominic H]

Elliot2000 said:

Are you at stephen James ruxley bmw? When you get a definitive list of work, let us know as I’m sure they will say it’s all essential work but things like the software update is unlikely to have an impact on the fault you have

Thanks Elliot.

[Dominic H]

Elliot2000 said:

Are you at stephen James ruxley bmw? When you get a definitive list of work, let us know as I’m sure they will say it’s all essential work but things like the software update is unlikely to have an impact on the fault you have

Right, I have the estimate from BMW. There are three areas that are showing permanent fault codes;

DPF at £1485 plus vat inc bits and labour.

Glow plugs/pre-heater at £555.05 plus vat inc bits and labour.

Fuel heater £829.52 plus vat inc labour.

A total of £3444.58 inc vat and parts.


It was explained that the inlet manifold was also showing faults and was likely to be blocked. There is a strong likelihood of additional costs once they'd started the work.

I guess the next move would be to see if any of these issues/parts can be repaired rather than replaced at an Indy. See what the non-franchised cost would be. Then take a decision as to whether its worth doing. As per the OP, it seems a shame for an otherwise well maintained, reliable car....

[Dominic H]

Thanks for all the replies, it certainly gives an idea of what to try and fix...

OldGermanHeaps said:

I'll give you £300 for the car as it stands, collected by transporter.

You're all heart!

[Dominic H]

OldGermanHeaps said:

Just offereing an option better than scrapping if you cant be bothered dealing with the hassle, you did say the current repair quote exceeds the vehicles value. You are deffo best to find a good indy, but some people just cant be arsed or have reached the end of their tether with a motor, and I have picked up a few interesting motors that way, it isn't predeatory, no one was forced, and the scrappys would offer half that if they were collecting.
Personally for the sake of a couple of hours on a Saturday for free if it was me I would pressure wash the fk out of the dpf and soak the egr in petrol overnight and give everything a good clean and lube and see how you go.

Thanks OGH, this looks to be plan..

Can anyone recommend a good Indy in the Bromley area?

Edited by Dominic H on Tuesday 3rd July 12:55

[Dominic H]

PDV_40 said:

I'd add my support for BM Sport in Bexley, they've been looking after my E46 330Ci for awhile and I've been thoroughly impressed with them

Top lurking!

To conclude this thread, and thanks for the advice. A local garage managed to clear the faults with the exception of the DPF. As a fault on the glow plugs wasn't allowing the DPF to regenerate. These were replaced along with the control unit. A regeneration was initially succesful by the garage. But when I drove it, the car was severely lacking in power (making no boost) and the oil light had come on (the car had used virtually no oil and the level via the OBC was checked regularly). The garage re-checked the work and found that the DPF was still blocked and that oil had been ingested by the turbo. Resulting in a big estimate to finally replace the DPF and the turbo. Time to call it a day.

Off to ebay to list the car with all the good points and all the faults. It sold at £1500 to a couple of lads with a garage, and was collected the next day. Happy to have got at least something back and good to see that the car will be fixed and back on the road soon.

Thanks again.