F30 316i Drivetrain Malfunction Error

[AT6]

Really happy to have found this forum, there are some great posts on here.  I have been a BMW owner for years going through most of the range since 1976 and currently drive an F30 316I (a sign of me getting older I guess).

I was really impressed with the car until it came out of Motorplan (surprise, surprise) and then the problems started piling up. I have just had the AA tow the car back to my office on a roll back after breaking down on the freeway with a Drivetrain Malfunction Warning error message on the screen. The car went into limp mode before cutting out completely in the 3rd lane of a 6 lane highway. Managed to get it started running on 2 cylinders (it sounded like) and managed to get into the emergency lane and then it wouldn't run for more than 2 seconds before cutting out again. The car was performing perfectly and was cruising at 120kmh before deciding to call it quits.

The car has about 134k on the odometer and has only ever been maintained by BMW dealerships. The last service was about 3000 km ago at Cedar Isle.

This is the second time this has happened with the first being about 12,000 km ago where I replaced the coil packs and spark plugs which seemed to cure the problem. This time around it is definitely worse.

Has anybody on the forum experienced anything similar or have any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

 

[TurboLlew]

This sounds like the inevitable timing chain failure on these im afraid. Guys have been getting out of the cars or with the N20s doing preventative maintenance around 90000km or so

 

[Faraaz001]

Sounds like the timing chain failure, apparently the plastic guides fail and block the oil from flowing, happened on my first f30 at about 70 000kms, BMW replaced the engine under motorplan. I started hearing strange noises on my "new" f30 this year which was out of plan, needless to say, I traded the car in immediately

 

[AT6]

Thanks guys, appreciate the feedback. On the advice of a good friend of mine I had the car taken to Corkys Auto in Vereeniging and it was the best move I could have made. It took Callie and his Son a couple of hours to narrow down the problem to the low pressure fuel pump in the fuel tank which they replaced. The car now starts and runs perfectly. These guys really know what they are doing and were even able to tell me what I had been experiencing with the car for a week before the breakdown which I hadn't mentioned to them.

So, if you have a 316, 318 or 320 F30 that gets progressively harder to start in the Morning (turns over once or twice before starting) and then runs rough for a few seconds before clearing its likely the tank mounted fuel pump.

They charged me a diagnostic call out fee from Vereeniging to Rand Airport, the repair which included a Bosch pump (apparently the same code as the BMW OEM) and a valet for R5,000.
Bargain when I thought I might have been in for an engine overhaul.

raise:

 

[Kyle]

Thanks guys, appreciate the feedback. On the advice of a good friend of mine I had the car taken to Corkys Auto in Vereeniging and it was the best move I could have made. It took Callie and his Son a couple of hours to narrow down the problem to the low pressure fuel pump in the fuel tank which they replaced. The car now starts and runs perfectly. These guys really know what they are doing and were even able to tell me what I had been experiencing with the car for a week before the breakdown which I hadn't mentioned to them.

So, if you have a 316, 318 or 320 F30 that gets progressively harder to start in the Morning (turns over once or twice before starting) and then runs rough for a few seconds before clearing its likely the tank mounted fuel pump.

They charged me a diagnostic call out fee from Vereeniging to Rand Airport, the repair which included a Bosch pump (apparently the same code as the BMW OEM) and a valet for R5,000.
Bargain when I thought I might have been in for an engine overhaul.

raise:

Glad you're sorted, now please do yourself a favour and perform an oil change immediately.. And forget about BMW service intervals.

 

[AT6]

Thanks guys, appreciate the feedback. On the advice of a good friend of mine I had the car taken to Corkys Auto in Vereeniging and it was the best move I could have made. It took Callie and his Son a couple of hours to narrow down the problem to the low pressure fuel pump in the fuel tank which they replaced. The car now starts and runs perfectly. These guys really know what they are doing and were even able to tell me what I had been experiencing with the car for a week before the breakdown which I hadn't mentioned to them.

So, if you have a 316, 318 or 320 F30 that gets progressively harder to start in the Morning (turns over once or twice before starting) and then runs rough for a few seconds before clearing its likely the tank mounted fuel pump.

They charged me a diagnostic call out fee from Vereeniging to Rand Airport, the repair which included a Bosch pump (apparently the same code as the BMW OEM) and a valet for R5,000.
Bargain when I thought I might have been in for an engine overhaul.

raise:

Glad you're sorted, now please do yourself a favour and perform an oil change immediately.. And forget about BMW service intervals.

---

Thanks Kyle, good advice. I have always been worried about the BMW service intervals.