Help needed please guys! Diesel trouble...pics added

[gpgold]

Hey Guys!!

Sorry for the long story but dont want to leave anything out incase it provides a clue to the problem...

So this morning , on our way back from gym, my 320d (e46) suddenly stalls...like it ran out of fuel only my tank is about full except for +-100kms done. I pull over to the side of the road and turn off the ignition to try and start it again, and the key comes off in my hand!! So now I the golden colour part of the key stuck in the ignition and the black remote part (which has split in two revealing the chip/battery inside) in my hand!

I then run home to fetch my spare key as well as a pair of pliers to get the broken key out the ignition...I take my motorcycle back to the car where I remove the key, give my girlfriend the spare and she tries to start it...it just turns over. I then try, it turns for a long while then splutters into life then begins to idle as normal. So my girlfriend drives home, I ride behind the car on my bike and notice a lot of black smoke coming from the exhaust...seemingly when she changed to second or depressed the clutch. When we got home, she told me the car felt as if it wanted to stall the entire time.

I idled the car for a minute and asked her to rev the engine with the bonnet open, and I can hear the turbo so I am having my doubts its that...

any suggestions?:fencelook:

 

[gpgold]

In addition: I have just taken the car for a quick drive around my townhouse complex to test it for my self...

When I start the car as usual without pushing the accelerator, its starts but dies immediatly. If I start it and immediately push the accelerator...it idles perfectly.

I then took it for a ride around the complex and the car often wants to lurch as it drives, as if it suddenly lacks power or has run out of fuel.

 

[netercol]

first things first : 2002 so its common rail, not vp44 right? care to maybe post the last 7 digits of your vin perhaps?

if common rail, might be your lift fuel pump..

whereabouts are you, maybe someone can read your error codes?

 

[Beast_Power]

Could be turbo problem as well, just because you hear the turbo does not mean it is working properly. Have seen many a 320d with turbo problems.

 

[gpgold]

first things first : 2002 so its common rail, not vp44 right? care to maybe post the last 7 digits of your vin perhaps?

if common rail, might be your lift fuel pump..

whereabouts are you, maybe someone can read your error codes?

Not sure on that Netercol...Here is the last 7 digits of my Vin NF55068
Hope you can advise me. I stay in Table View Cape Town.

---

first things first : 2002 so its common rail, not vp44 right? care to maybe post the last 7 digits of your vin perhaps?

if common rail, might be your lift fuel pump..

whereabouts are you, maybe someone can read your error codes?

Not sure on that Netercol...Here is the last 7 digits of my Vin NF55068
Hope you can advise me. I stay in Table View Cape Town.

Oh, and its the M47N engine if that helps?

 

[netercol]

ok , according to vin it is a common rail engine.

judging from the black smoke you say you saw, it might be turbo related. check that you have not popped a vacuum line off somewhere, should be one leading to the vacuum tank, from there to the control actuator, from actuator to turbo. if thats fine, next step would be to strip of the covers and remove the turbo intake (from the maf to the turbo) the turbo should spin freely by hand , be without obvious physical damage, and should not touch sides when pushed to the side. if all looks cool, you can briefly start the engine to see if the turbo spins. if all is good here, you can rule out the turbo for now..

another common failure with these cars is the low pressure fuel pump (aka lift pump) might be worth checking too, with the car switched on you should hear the pump running briefly.. the relay controlling this pump is also known to fail..

after this might be fuel system and high pressure pump, but someone close to you might have to assist with reading your codes first, im unfortunately in pretoria..

good hunting

 

[gpgold]

ok , according to vin it is a common rail engine.

judging from the black smoke you say you saw, it might be turbo related. check that you have not popped a vacuum line off somewhere, should be one leading to the vacuum tank, from there to the control actuator, from actuator to turbo. if thats fine, next step would be to strip of the covers and remove the turbo intake (from the maf to the turbo) the turbo should spin freely by hand , be without obvious physical damage, and should not touch sides when pushed to the side. if all looks cool, you can briefly start the engine to see if the turbo spins. if all is good here, you can rule out the turbo for now..

another common failure with these cars is the low pressure fuel pump (aka lift pump) might be worth checking too, with the car switched on you should hear the pump running briefly.. the relay controlling this pump is also known to fail..

after this might be fuel system and high pressure pump, but someone close to you might have to assist with reading your codes first, im unfortunately in pretoria..

good hunting

Thanks for that, I will ask Freerider if he has the equipment needed to read codes, he lives up the road from me...

Unfortunately I am new to the diesel so havent really got any idea what your talking about. I will try work through it though and try find the vacume lines you speak of...however, I did just remove and clean the EGR valve and noticed that the small pipe coming off the EGR leads to nowhere (pic1) and then I also noticed that just below the EGR is what looks like a black plastic pipe that is meant to be connected to a hose perhaps (pic2). Are these by any chance the vacume lines you spoke of?
(excuse the engine, I know its a tad dirty)

 

[netercol]

ok, in pic one, the vacuum pipe coming off the egr is supposed to be connected to a small vacuum junction just underneath the inlet manifold. if this is the vacuum pipe that popped off, you will have a loss of vacuum in the system, but it might also be that someone just disconnected the egr, and blanked of the connection on the junction..

look at no 8 in the first link, this is the little vacuum junction im talking about.. all the vacuum lines connect here.

http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=AZ12&mospid=47635&btnr=11_3330&hg=11&fg=45

in the second link you can see the vacuum lines going to the turbo from the junction,

http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=AZ12&mospid=47635&btnr=11_3331&hg=11&fg=45

link 3 is the egr vacuum going to the junction.. if anything is open you will have vacuum loss to the other lines as well.

http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=AZ12&mospid=47635&btnr=11_3332&hg=11&fg=45

dont worry about the pipe in your pic no 2, its a blank water pipe on all the cars.. (not used, blanked off inside)

also while you are at it, check if you have not popped a boost pipe off, no. 1 and 6 in this link

http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=AZ12&mospid=47635&btnr=11_3521&hg=11&fg=40

and in this last link, no 3 is the part you need to remove to see the inlet side of the turbo.. hope this helps

http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=AZ12&mospid=47635&btnr=13_0962&hg=13&fg=20

 

[gpgold]

ok, in pic one, the vacuum pipe coming off the egr is supposed to be connected to a small vacuum junction just underneath the inlet manifold. if this is the vacuum pipe that popped off, you will have a loss of vacuum in the system, but it might also be that someone just disconnected the egr, and blanked of the connection on the junction..

look at no 8 in the first link, this is the little vacuum junction im talking about.. all the vacuum lines connect here.

http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=AZ12&mospid=47635&btnr=11_3330&hg=11&fg=45

in the second link you can see the vacuum lines going to the turbo from the junction,

http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=AZ12&mospid=47635&btnr=11_3331&hg=11&fg=45

link 3 is the egr vacuum going to the junction.. if anything is open you will have vacuum loss to the other lines as well.

dont worry about the pipe in your pic no 2, its a blank water pipe on all the cars.. (not used, blanked off inside)

also while you are at it, check if you have not popped a boost pipe off, no. 1 and 6 in this link

http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=AZ12&mospid=47635&btnr=11_3521&hg=11&fg=40

and in this last link, no 3 is the part you need to remove to see the inlet side of the turbo.. hope this helps

http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=AZ12&mospid=47635&btnr=13_0962&hg=13&fg=20

Hey Netercol!

Thanks for all the info...this will give me a lot to work off. :thumbs:
Freerider is going to swing by later on this afternoon to do a scan and see what that turns up. Thanks again for your help!!

 

[netercol]

no problem bud, hope you find the fault..

 

[gpgold]

no problem bud, hope you find the fault..

Hi again Netercol...

I hope you dont mind another question...

I am in the process of doing the checks you suggested. I have removed the manifold and what I presume is an intake box with a tube like air filter inside it.

I have located the junction (pictured in 1st link) where the vacume pipes connect however...all junction points have already got allocated pipes connected to them and yet the pipe I photographed coming off the EGR (still on the manifold) has no obvious place to connect too...Is that pipe not perhaps a breather or can you think of where else it could go?

Wow..working in a diesel engine is dirty work!!!!

 

[netercol]

hehe, my bad.. seems i forgot a link in the previous post,

http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=AZ12&mospid=47635&btnr=11_3332&hg=11&fg=45

no 1 is the egr actuator, the pipe from the junction should lead there, then the loose pipe should go to the actuator..

yeah its dirty work, which is why i like to wash my engine every now and again

 

[gpgold]

hehe, my bad.. seems i forgot a link in the previous post,

http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=AZ12&mospid=47635&btnr=11_3332&hg=11&fg=45

no 1 is the egr actuator, the pipe from the junction should lead there, then the loose pipe should go to the actuator..

yeah its dirty work, which is why i like to wash my engine every now and again

YES!!! Found the bastard!! Thanks for that!!

Could this be the cause of the black smoke/hesitation? I have a fealing I didnt connect this pipe when I installed my swirl flaps like 4 months ago! :nonono:

This morning I have been trying to get access to my turbo and I have found that the large pipes going towards the turbo have a lot of oil muck built around them...So i suspect the turbo may also be gone or at least on its way...

PS: Is the air filter element supposed to be black? I see the inside looks orange but the outside and the outer foam layer are very dirty! Perhaps I should change it since its out?

 

[netercol]

yeah changing the filter is not a bad idea while its out, its a hassle to get to.. when last has it been changed?


the egr only activates when there is almost no load on the engine, so its unlikely to be the cause of your current troubles, but not impossible.. try and see. the disconnected pipe will definitly cause a vacuum leak when the actuator opens, but its not supposed to be open when you step on the loud pedal.. so its unlikely to affect the vacuum signal to the turbo actuator.

if there is no other vacuum leak, in all the vacuum lines as you checked now, then turbo should be next, then the maf, then only fueling is left..

 

[gpgold]

yeah changing the filter is not a bad idea while its out, its a hassle to get to.. when last has it been changed?


the egr only activates when there is almost no load on the engine, so its unlikely to be the cause of your current troubles, but not impossible.. try and see. the disconnected pipe will definitly cause a vacuum leak when the actuator opens, but its not supposed to be open when you step on the loud pedal.. so its unlikely to affect the vacuum signal to the turbo actuator.

if there is no other vacuum leak, in all the vacuum lines as you checked now, then turbo should be next, then the maf, then only fueling is left..

The car was last serviced at a workshop in Strand just before I bought it about 13000 kms ago. They said they changed all the filters but how does one really know? I did do an unsheduled oil service myself just before I went on a long trip recently. Its actually due in a few 100kms to go for a sheduled service.

Will go out and get an airfilter now and then focus on the turbo from here on...

 

[Hellas]

The actuator from my turbo went poof and I simply swopped it out with the actuator from the EGR (they are exactly the same).

Thus the EGR is not functioning (properly), but I have no black smoke or other problems.

 

[gpgold]

So after I replaced the airfilter, the car is pulling 100% again without any hesitation...:bangdesk:

I am still waiting to see if the symtoms return but just went for a long ride without issues.

The car is going in for a service next week and will also change the diesel filter.

Thanks to Netercol for all your help:thumbs:

 

[netercol]

no problem mate, hope it stays fixed ..

:thumbs:

 

[Legacy]

Give the man some rep! :thumbs:

 

[gpgold]

Give the man some rep! :thumbs:

Rep given...hadnt noticed that button before...