2003 BMW 318i Temperature guage problem

[Welman]

Hi all Fanatics,

I am new to this forum and I really need some help/advise on my 2003 BMW 318i F/L.

It has the N42 engine with 105kW. The problem started out small and then just started getting to me. What the car does is; when i start the car in the mornings and drive it for about 5 min the temperature guage will shoot up to full and then after about 10min of driving it will settle down in the middle where it belongs. I had the car's thermostate changed today and I have also replaced the in-line sensor leading into the radiator, but no luck.

Also, after driving the car for a bit and then leaving it for about an hour or so it will have a hard time starting, almost as if the engine is flooded. I say flooded because when the car starts it kicks out a bit of white smoke and smells of petrol.

I am tapped out on ideas, so please any advise will be awesome.

Thank you in advance.

 

[firaz]

Hi,

I'm no professional, but had the same issue regarding hard starts, my problem was a "leaking" injector, but could be anything from fuel pump to camshaft sensors.

Hope that helps a bit, but I'm sure diagnostics might point you in the right direction.

 

[zaleonardz]

Hi Bud,

The temp issue thing is unrelated to the hard start, they all run on differant bus systems ect.

If you have replaced the inline sensor, may i suggest you look for rodent marks on the wires, im not kidding either.

As for the hard start, diagnostics can help you there.

Where you located bud ?

 

[Welman]

Hi Bud,

The temp issue thing is unrelated to the hard start, they all run on differant bus systems ect.

If you have replaced the inline sensor, may i suggest you look for rodent marks on the wires, im not kidding either.

As for the hard start, diagnostics can help you there.

Where you located bud ?

Thank you for the advice. I will check the wires for any kind of shorts. Are the temp sensors normally open or normally closed circuits? Or do they work off pure resistance? I did read some where that the temp sensor sitting on the thermostate can cause the ECU to get a false reading and over fuel the engine. That was one of the reasons why I had it replaced.

A friend of mine has one of those hand held code readers, and we hooked it up to my car about a week ago and it gave two error codes out;

1. P0116 - Engine Coolant Temperature Circuit Range/Performance Problem
2. P1111 - Engine Coolant Temperature Radiator Outlet Sensor Low Input

I'm not sure what the second one is and I assumed that the first one was the in-line sensor

The car has about 157000km on the clock and its an awsome car but these problems do get me down a bit. I am located in Pretoria. I'm going to take the car for a full diagnostics tomorrow. Will update when i have the diagnostics report.

Thank you again.

 

[Welman]

Hi,

I hope everyone had an awesome xmas.

So I took my car in for a full diagnostics today and it came up empty. This doesn't make any sense at all. The car is still doing the same things as before.

The temp guage is still going to the full position after 5 min of driving and then jumping back to the middle where it should be.(It did get slightly better after I had the water system properly bled, but not for long)

The hard start problem is also still there. I'm starting to think it might be a fualty ignition coil. When the car takes it smells of petrol and for about 3 seconds or so it sounds like the engine is mis-firing.

Please any advice/help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

 

[zaleonardz]

Sorry, missed your original supply.

The temp guage is resistance based.

Have you considered that perhaps the sensor is correct, and that there is something more significant wrong.

Go to Silverton, and ask them to do a compression gas analysis on your water system. If it is positive, you have a head gasket/head issue.

This is an odd one.

What did they diagnose with, and who did the diagnostics.

 

[Welman]

Sorry, missed your original supply.

The temp guage is resistance based.

Have you considered that perhaps the sensor is correct, and that there is something more significant wrong.

Go to Silverton, and ask them to do a compression gas analysis on your water system. If it is positive, you have a head gasket/head issue.

This is an odd one.

What did they diagnose with, and who did the diagnostics.

Thanx for the speedy reply.

I took my car to Bosch service center for the diagnostics. They told me that there were no errors in the system and that the car should run perfectly.

I do however have a different and more crazy theory. Is it possible that there might be a leak on the water system and when the car is switched off and cooling down bubbles get into the water system and then cause the sensors to give false readings?

For the compression gas analysis, should i go to silverton radiators? This might be a stupid question but if there were something wrong with the head/headgasget wouldn't there be water in the oil?

 

[Welman]

Hi,

Happy new year to everyone.

So i took my car for the compression gas analysis and it came out negative. The blue fluid stayed blue Meaning that the car's head/head gasket is fine.

The problem with the temp gauge is still there. I went to BMW and spoke to one of there guys and he said it might be the actual instrument cluster that is faulty. I'm not entirely sure about that especially because they charge a lot of money to fix that. What i'm wondering is; are there more temp sensors in the engine besides the one on the thermostat and the in line sensor?

Any advice would be nice.

Thanx in advance.

 

[Loom]

Quoting from the Bentley manual, here's the procedure to test the instrument cluster:

1. Turn ignition to "radio" position.
2. Press and hold reset button or trip-odometer until trip-odometer display shows numerical codes.
3. With each subsequent press of the button, a different function is tested. Some functions will activate needle gauges.
4. Turn off ignition.

As far as I remember all functions are tested simultaneously on our '98 316i, without pressing the reset button.

 

[Syl]

Quoting from the Bentley manual, here's the procedure to test the instrument cluster:

1. Turn ignition to "radio" position.
2. Press and hold reset button or trip-odometer until trip-odometer display shows numerical codes.
3. With each subsequent press of the button, a different function is tested. Some functions will activate needle gauges.
4. Turn off ignition.

As far as I remember all functions are tested simultaneously on our '98 316i, without pressing the reset button.

Function 2.0 tests the cluster. But it only tests if all the dials are functional and if all the lights light up. It does not test if the cluster is giving correct readings. As far as I know....

 

[Welman]

Quoting from the Bentley manual, here's the procedure to test the instrument cluster:

1. Turn ignition to "radio" position.
2. Press and hold reset button or trip-odometer until trip-odometer display shows numerical codes.
3. With each subsequent press of the button, a different function is tested. Some functions will activate needle gauges.
4. Turn off ignition.

As far as I remember all functions are tested simultaneously on our '98 316i, without pressing the reset button.

Function 2.0 tests the cluster. But it only tests if all the dials are functional and if all the lights light up. It does not test if the cluster is giving correct readings. As far as I know....

Yes that test I know about and I've done that quite a few times. And I agree with you on the functionality of that test. Thanx for the advice in any case Loom

 

[Welman]

Okay so i have now replaced my car's radiator because there was a massive crack in it. And the car seems to be cooling just fine. But the temp gauge still does its thing. So i asked a friend of mine to bring me his code reader. I plugged it in and it gave me one error code;

P0116-Engine Coolant Temperature Circuit Range/Performance Problem

What does this mean? Have replaced the thermostat and the inline sensor. Is there maybe another sensor somewhere in the engine that also needs replacing? Please help, I'm really out of ideas now.

Thank you all in advance.

 

[Welman]

Quick update. I have fixed the problem with the guage jumping to full and the hard start problem.

It was a combination of the thermostat giving in and the temp sensor that sits on the engine block right under the intake manifold. I had the sensor replaced and the guage is working fine now. The car's hard start problems were caused by this sensor, it gave a false reading to the ECU and as a result of that the ECU would over fuel the engine on start up.

I am really happy my car is up and running again the way it should. :rollsmile:

 

[Loom]

Glad you got it sorted. Was it easy to gain access to the sensor? I've had a look at our E36 316i but couldn't see the sensor.

 

[Welman]

Glad you got it sorted. Was it easy to gain access to the sensor? I've had a look at our E36 316i but couldn't see the sensor.

Loom, you have to remove the intake manifold. I am not sure how the 316i's engine looks like but once the intake manifold is off its easy to get to the sensor. But i must be honest, I did not have the balls to do it my self on my E46. I took my car to a Bosch service center and they did it for me. They charged me two hours of labour(R450 an hour) and the sensor costs R110 from Goldwagen.

Also rememeber, when the intake manifold has been removed the gasget set has to be replaced as well. Check the link below, that will show you the location of the sensor I had replaced. Its number 9.

http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=AY71&mospid=47632&btnr=11_3173&hg=11&fg=10&hl=17

 

[Loom]

Thanks for the heads-up on the gasket - I typically only realise such things when it's already taken apart.

 

[Marcelino Engel]

hi just checking in from Cape Town hope we can have some good discussions

I am currently driving a 1996 E36 Motorsport (M44 Engine)

have one small problem the temperature gauge.

Temperature gauge not working, did the cluster test (works fine there) replaced the complete water housing with thermo stat, the one on the radiator seems to be working fine but not sure of the one on the head ............is that the one next to the oil filter housing i see that one has 4 (four) wires coming out

please help