E46 330D fuel consumption problems

Nuts4wheels

New member
Waseem 333i said:
The Egr was deleted via software. It was clean inside. I deleted from the vacuum hose also. Yes car is an automatic. If I had to hammer it all the time I think I would get about 450km from the tank

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:nonono: you sure its a bmw? :flyfun: :rollsmile: very bad mileage ouch. Some guys I know of including myself getting consumption of 4-6l/100km and high 900km on a tank. Eish bru. Where u based?
 

Andy1GP

///Member
Check the vacuum lines at your engine mounts. The engine mounts crack and leak vacuum through them.

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Nuts4wheels

New member
I am based in pta. If youre around I can quickly look around the hardware and see if I can spot something obvious. I just rebuilt my 330d's motor.
 

Nikhil

Honorary ///Member
DieselFan said:
It's not totally different. The 330d 150kw uses a m57n and the 530d and 330d 130 kw uses the stronger m57 engine.

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Totally different the M57 is 2,9 liter displacement while the M57N is 3,0 liter , the head design is also different hence why the difference in injectors and why you cant use 535d injectors as a straight swop in the M57 apart from that its stainless steel manifold vs cast manifold and different turbo. the M57n is actually the first variation of the engine that is in the E90 330d pre lci but more changes to the head were made for the E90. also M57 has a redline of 4500 and M57N of 5000rpm

M57D30 2,926 cc (2.926 L; 178.6 cu in)

M57TUD30 2,993 cc (2.993 L; 182.6 cu in)
:=):
 

Waseem 333i

Active member
Thanks for all the input. Unfortunately I couldn't do any work on the car today. Had a funeral. I found something today while driving. Gears were changing at 3000 rpm. When it got to fourth gear the turbo went quiet and stretched the revs closer to 4000rpm but didn't feel any change in power. I was also suspecting software because of the Egr delete. I'll start with checking vacuum lines as soon as I can.

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DieselFan

Honorary ///Member
RAArmstrong said:
DieselFan said:
It's not totally different. The 330d 150kw uses a m57n and the 530d and 330d 130 kw uses the stronger m57 engine.

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530d is 142kw :thumbs:

I was using the 130 kw to differentiate between the two 330ds and I made a mistake it's actually 135kw

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Ralf*

///Member
Waseem 333i said:
I notice when i leave the throttle while moving the econo gauge does not go to zero. It hovers around 1.5 litre reading. On my E30 it goes down to zero.

I just came home after a leasurely Sunday drive in the 530d, and I paid extra special attention, to the vacumm gauge (econ meter), and it also definitley goes to ZERO when removing the foot off the accelerator whilst cruising.
 

RAArmstrong

///Member
Ralf@Speedway Motorsport said:
Waseem 333i said:
I notice when i leave the throttle while moving the econo gauge does not go to zero. It hovers around 1.5 litre reading. On my E30 it goes down to zero.



I just came home after a leasurely Sunday drive in the 530d, and I paid extra special attention, to the vacumm gauge (econ meter), and it also definitley goes to ZERO when removing the foot off the accelerator whilst cruising.



indeed it does. With the manual you obviously have to be in gear otherwise it hovers around 2l/100





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Ralf*

///Member
Waseem 333i said:
Thanks Ralf. I need to figure out why mine doesn't go to zero

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my knowledge tells me that it is a vacumm gauge essentially, the greater the amount of accelerator pedal displacement, in older generation cars, the wider the throttle butterfly was open, and the greater the amount of suction created in the venturi tube portion of the throttle body.

in more modern cars (sorry I am old school knowledge) I am not sure of how the wiring and indication works nowadays, but in my mind if it doesn't go to zero, it means that you are still generating a "suction" due to a partially depressed accelerator, and a partially open throttle butterfly, even though in reallity you have taken the foot of the pedal.

Maybe the "gents' more clued up with how this is represented on our modern computor cars will have a better answer.
 

Nikhil

Honorary ///Member
I would imagine that it has something to do with the car being auto? i will check what my car does tomorrow and let you know as well. the diesels dont have throttle bodys so its most likely using something else as an indication :thumbs:
 

netercol

New member
no vacuum on a diesel (because no air restriction/throttle) , so no suction to run a econo gauge off.. the accelerator is a variable resistor essentially, it only gives a electronic load signal to the ECU.

so on the diesel the econo gauge is purely electronic,the ecu calculates aprox fuel use probably something along the line of calculated injection quantity x time, then displays it on the gauge in litre/100km

im not sure that on a auto diesel the gauge ever goes completely to zero though, because the torque converter is always putting at least a little load on the engine, therefore indicating 1liter/100km even at idle standing still.. not sure about this though, never checked on a auto before..

anyone else with a auto diesel that can tell us for sure?
 

Waseem 333i

Active member
This is interesting. At speeds above 100kph it does go to zero but below those speeds it doesnt. At standstill it goes to zero. Every car i've driven the econo gauge goes to zero besides this car. And i hate the torque converter lol.
 

Nikhil

Honorary ///Member
netercol said:
no vacuum on a diesel (because no air restriction/throttle) , so no suction to run a econo gauge off.. the accelerator is a variable resistor essentially, it only gives a electronic load signal to the ECU.

so on the diesel the econo gauge is purely electronic,the ecu calculates aprox fuel use probably something along the line of calculated injection quantity x time, then displays it on the gauge in litre/100km

im not sure that on a auto diesel the gauge ever goes completely to zero though, because the torque converter is always putting at least a little load on the engine, therefore indicating 1liter/100km even at idle standing still.. not sure about this though, never checked on a auto before..

anyone else with a auto diesel that can tell us for sure?

correct mine does exactly that, had a look at it just now when driving. it will only go to zero when the car is in Park or neutral :thumbs:
 

Waseem 333i

Active member
Geez I found this old thread of mine. So two years down the line let me update.

I went and did the auto to manual conversion. 6 speed gearbox and 2.47 diff.

Immediate change to fuel economy. The change was drastic. Now i get on average 7.5l/100. I have also done the downpipe 76mm. I cleaned out sensors and had codes read. Also the auto and manual have different engine maps. Got that loaded thanks to Gert from Obd worx. Codes showed ait temp sensor which is probably related to boost leaks. This car is loosing boost from everywhere. I've goot a cooling system repair to do soon. Ill need to remove intake manifold to repair the leak. At the same time i will replace vacuum hoses ant attend to a few boost leaks if i can.

Now i get 700km range from full tank and 600 of those km are town driving. I am loving the manual.
 
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