zaleonardz
Well-known member
SO as most of you know, a few months ago I purchased a lovely little E46 318 for the wife, high miledge (170k on the clock) but in really decent condition cosmetically, and even mechanically.
The car had an annoying issue whereby at 500 to 2000 rpm the car would loose power, almost to the point where it wants to starve itself.
This is very dangerous in intersections, as you have to rev over 2000 rpm before you apply load, else the car bogs down and dies in the middle of the intersection.
Out of principle I did a service, changed plugs and 4 coils, did not fix the issue.
Werries helped me swap out a VVT motor.
Swapped out a MAF with gopher, which I must still return, my car the same issue, gopher fine so that rules out MAF.
So this weekend I borrowed another N42 318 compact from my dealer so that I can start changing out sensors one by one.
A small rant, HOW THE MOTHER F do you rape a car like that. This car looks very very neat on the outside, however... interior is half loose, cluster is swapped out of an auto, half the clips and brackets in the engine bay is just not there.
The DSC is complaining that the DSC pump does not match the vehicle, causing a perm traction control light, so then you just remove the lamp from the cluster, no problme.
The amp, OMG, 1.5mm cross section house lighiting wiire is used for both power and ground, with positive being stuck into the battery terminal with 4 strands of wire. I shit you not, I almost lost it, and its not even my car....
Anyway, after removing that amp out of prinicple, I set to work.
First things first is I changed out the VVT sensor, which involved taking off the tappet cover, as I was convinced that was the issue.
That did not quite work, so the next was cam sensors, those did not work, next was VANOS solenoids, those did not work. Same issue, no change in the car.
Then I gave up for the day, and went to golf reef city with my wife and daughter, and screamed like a little girl on the rides.
This evening WerriesM5 popped past, and we swapped out VVT controller, still same issue.
Then we swapped out throttle bodies, and while doing this, we also discovered a small leak on the air filter housing. Took the car for a test drive, and it seems fine now, we will check it the next couple of days, and if the issue persists, it can ONLY be crank sensor, as I have swapped out the entire VVT system.
Crank sensor however requires taking off manifold.
Note the N42 has VVT, Vanos, MAF, MAP and a dumb computer system that does not know how to manage all of this properly if a sensor is out of spec.
I believe according to Werries that the N46 is bolt for bolt the same as the N42 except for the fact that it has much more refined electronics to pick up when a sensor is out of spec.
Anyway, thanks again to Werries, you ROCK dude, and I am in awe of your knowledge, and as for my wifes car.... we can only hope its fixed now.
Anyway, thats been my weekend, what did you folks get up to ...
The car had an annoying issue whereby at 500 to 2000 rpm the car would loose power, almost to the point where it wants to starve itself.
This is very dangerous in intersections, as you have to rev over 2000 rpm before you apply load, else the car bogs down and dies in the middle of the intersection.
Out of principle I did a service, changed plugs and 4 coils, did not fix the issue.
Werries helped me swap out a VVT motor.
Swapped out a MAF with gopher, which I must still return, my car the same issue, gopher fine so that rules out MAF.
So this weekend I borrowed another N42 318 compact from my dealer so that I can start changing out sensors one by one.
A small rant, HOW THE MOTHER F do you rape a car like that. This car looks very very neat on the outside, however... interior is half loose, cluster is swapped out of an auto, half the clips and brackets in the engine bay is just not there.
The DSC is complaining that the DSC pump does not match the vehicle, causing a perm traction control light, so then you just remove the lamp from the cluster, no problme.
The amp, OMG, 1.5mm cross section house lighiting wiire is used for both power and ground, with positive being stuck into the battery terminal with 4 strands of wire. I shit you not, I almost lost it, and its not even my car....
Anyway, after removing that amp out of prinicple, I set to work.
First things first is I changed out the VVT sensor, which involved taking off the tappet cover, as I was convinced that was the issue.
That did not quite work, so the next was cam sensors, those did not work, next was VANOS solenoids, those did not work. Same issue, no change in the car.
Then I gave up for the day, and went to golf reef city with my wife and daughter, and screamed like a little girl on the rides.
This evening WerriesM5 popped past, and we swapped out VVT controller, still same issue.
Then we swapped out throttle bodies, and while doing this, we also discovered a small leak on the air filter housing. Took the car for a test drive, and it seems fine now, we will check it the next couple of days, and if the issue persists, it can ONLY be crank sensor, as I have swapped out the entire VVT system.
Crank sensor however requires taking off manifold.
Note the N42 has VVT, Vanos, MAF, MAP and a dumb computer system that does not know how to manage all of this properly if a sensor is out of spec.
I believe according to Werries that the N46 is bolt for bolt the same as the N42 except for the fact that it has much more refined electronics to pick up when a sensor is out of spec.
Anyway, thanks again to Werries, you ROCK dude, and I am in awe of your knowledge, and as for my wifes car.... we can only hope its fixed now.
Anyway, thats been my weekend, what did you folks get up to ...
