Please advise on way forward - 130i Issues

[StealthM]

Hi Everyone,

I could really use some help or guidance with the issues I am facing now and would greatly appreciate your input. I need a second/third opinion as I really don't want to get screwed over and still sit my the problems I currently have.

I own a 2007 BMW E81 130i M Sport and since my purchase in April this year, I have had to spend a lot of time and money getting issues resolved. I had a major service done as the DISA Flap connector pin broke off and got stuck between the head and the valve causing the valve to stay open and the rocker arm disconnected. I also had a massive oil leak originating from a broken oil filter housing bolt and the valve cover gasket.

Engine flushed, replaced oil with Shell 5W40, Bosh Spark Plugs, Valve cover gasket, intake gaskets, Vanos seals, oil filter gaskets, air filter, cabin filter and brake pads were all done. Full inspection of engine after the DISA flap incident and I was extremely lucky that nothing got hurt. Next up is al 4 discs and front shocks that need replacement. I did Not replace the DISA Flaps, instead had it removed since they are ridiculously expensive and were told the don't HAVE to be there, and the car would run normally without them. I just read that the bottom end torque will not be the same but I don't know how much of a performance impact this really had as the car still feels the same without them. Oh, and this is advice I got from the workshop guru at our BMW branch...

However, since I bought my car, I suspected that it was running rich and the fuel consumption wasn't normal. I took the car to BMW to have a diagnostic scan done by them and they cleared the fault codes as well as the steering lock fault. But they apparently can't supply me with a list of the current fault codes that remain since my PDC Module and 2 PDC sensors are dead. They said I should first buy the module and 2 sensors, have it installed, then they can code it and they Insisted that the latest version of my car's software be loaded. Only then can they scan for any faults, especially on the DME. This never made sense to me so I had the car scanned again by my mechanic and the only fault codes active is something with the CAS module. No DME faults. I could be wrong by my thinking is that if my car gives me 4.2 to 4.7 km per litre in town shifting between 3500 to 4000 rmp and 5.7 km per litre driving like a granny and 3.3 km per litre if I am really stepping on it... then something clearly isn't right. I have spoken to a few people and this consumption is not normal. I am thinking that it could be the MAF, injectors, coil, vacuum leak or O2 sensors, but some or other sensor should "complain'' to the DME logging fault or something since I believe the ECU must be adding fueling or something in order to compensate for something else that is wrong.

How is it that no codes exist and the fuel consumption is that bad. I took the car for a highway drive doing only 120km/h with cruse control and never went over that speed. Did 140km then filled up again and got an average of 9.2km per litre... is this really normal? shouldn't it be more like 11 or close to 12 km per litre at that speed on the highway with 24 degrees temperature?

I spoke to another guy that said the complete diagnostics can only be done if the PDC unit is working because currently with it not working, the other modules will not reflect correctly and could be the cause of the fault codes not being logged. So i guess i would have to find a second hand PDC Unit and 2 sensors, then have the PDC Module coded and then only can we do a proper scan to see exactly what is wrong.

Basically, all I want to know is what parts to replace to fix my car. besides the horrific fuel consumption is the loss in power. the car seems to idle normally, but does have a blurb now and then but quickly comes back to about 600 rpm. I can't afford just to replace parts and having to find out it didn't fix my problem.

can you please advise if my way of thinking is right or if I am being fed b@llsh!t here. This is my first BMW so I am new to all of this and coding and modules stuff....... All I know is I love my 6 cylinder and really want to see her healthy and performing like she was designed to!

I would be grateful for any advice.

Thanks for reading.

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Oh, and I thought that after the DISA Flaps removal that they might give error codes ...? Not sure as I struggle to find info on the internet about people that removed them. Just about how much damage it could do to the cylinder head, pistons and valves. But if it is supposed to give fault codes, no one is able to pick them up with a scan. Someone even mentioned to me that he wonders if there isn't some aftermarket software loaded on the car or loaded to deliberately not give a check engine light on the dash and thus the reason why BMW insists on new software version. Why not keep the existing software?

Oh and after giving BMW the go ahead to load the new software, I waited 5 weeks for my dealership to call me to bring the car. They said they waited for an open line to Germany as it is reprogrammed by them and not the local dealer.... Understood but how the hell can it take 5 weeks to get a connection to Germany? Or am I missing something?

 

[gavsadler]

Callng obdworx...

 

[Lizzard]

Well I dont drive the 1 series but well the 3 series e90 330i, I can tell you about my fuel consumption's maybe that will point you in the right direction.

On a 80% traffic and 20% highway I average between 9 en 10km per litre. If I only do traffic then my consumption is around the 7 - 9km per liter mark. That is with sort off granny drive, like I will accelerate slow 50/50 of the time, have my spirit driving for a few 100 meters and then be stuck behind some idiot on the jean ave turnoff at the N14.

It all depends on whether you are stuck in traffic, like moving a car every 5 minutes (might be exaggerating a little, ok 2 minutes) but be stuck in bad traffic then the car will idle most of the fuel out. Did you reset the km/L gauge when you climb onto the highway, did the road you took have a lot of uphills, did you cruise control or manually pedal the car. All of this makes the car lighter or heavier on fuel.

3500 - 4000 rpm is a bit high if you concerned about fuel, try to stay in the 2800 - 3200 rpm range, remember the torque is at these rpm's. This also helps, in the beginning I only got like 200 and something km on a half tank, was sad but learned after a while to drive properly. Removing those Disa flaps is the worst idea ever, they are the ones that gives you the low down torque, but saw in your post you already knew about this. Dont do it as this will definitely impact on the fuel consumption.

Do this to see if your fuel consumption improves:
1. In first and second you can go up to 3500rpm and change
2. The remaining gears try and change gears at 3000 rpm
3. Dont do 6th or 5th unless your on a long distance road or highway
4. Try and slip behind a slow ass car, like a 120i maybe, lol, and keep behind them, this will learn you not to accelerate at a ridiculous speed

Throwing money at the car to resolve this will not help, regarding the coding thing, if you can speak to GERT, he is here as Ratslaaf@obdworx and he is the knowledge guy, no one and I mean no one gets close to this guys knowledge, not even bmw (sorry Uncle J). He will help you and he does the modules as well, his prices is dirt cheap and he does all the work while you stare in astonishment as to how he rips the car to pieces and puts it back like it is a lego building block.

And yes the guys were right regarding the coding part, our cars can't get coded unless all the modules is working and there is no error codes, you however can scan individual modules as far as I know. But pm Ratslaaf@obdworx and see what he tells you, he is brilliant, sorry my mistake, AWESOME

I hope this helps and sorry for this massive post.

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Oh and I average around 480 - 520km per full tank. 80% traffic, 20% highway

 

[StealthM]

Thank you for taking the time to reply, I don't mind the lengthy reply at all, like to get as much info as possible. It doesn't help me at all living in Polokwane as I am 300km away from anyone with decent knowledge and coding capabilities on our cars.

I will speak to Gert and see if I can get an appointment as I need to make accommodation arrangements as well, so hopefully he has some time available to work on my car.

I get less than 300km on a tank and all my driving is city traffic as it is a small city/town. Have to be honest, I only change at around 3300 rpm due to the sound...Hehehe! But I still know something is wrong.

Is there anyway to test a PDC module before I purchase it. I found one today at a scrapyard from a 320i LCI, but they will not allow me to return it once I purchased it - no refunds on electronic parts. They said we can plug it into my car to check if it's working before I purchase it, but how would I know if it is working without it being coded for my car?

 

[Lizzard]

I would speak to Gert first, buying these modules is a bit of a trick. Like you get different ones of the same thing. For instance the pdc module, there is one for the rear only and one for the front and rear. You cant just pop them in either cause most of the time they need to be coded in. Speak to him, maybe he has one for you at a reasonable price.

The fuel thing, i just read a little post about the thermostat where the car is running to cold like 80°C instead of the 100°C average and that at that temperature 80°C around the car will over fuel to get the engines temperature to the optimum 92 - 98°C mark. Maybe have someone check the temperature, or google coolant temp check with car trick, maybe your thermostat is on its way out and causing the heavy fuel problem. Had to replace my waterpump and thermostat a few 1000 km's back.

Regarding the testing outside the car question, answer no. It has to be plugged in, but as I said there is more than one version of every module and buying the wrong will definitely happen, specially with us. Rather be safe and speak to Gert, he works only during the weekdays and working hours but he will answer you when you pm him, will also help to give him the last 7 vin numbers to speed up things.

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oh, i forgot to post the post that I read. Here it is

Quote

Sadly the new sensors have not changed anything so it can only be the thermostat that is not working properly and over-cooling the engine. Hidden menu shows engine temperatures around 79 and 84 degrees Celsius which I gather is roughly 10 - 20 degrees cooler than it should be. So in affect the engine could very well be slightly over-fuelling thinking that the engine is still in the warm up phase.

End Quote

 

[StealthM]

So after I removed my damaged PDC unit and cleared all the fault codes, I drove my car for a few days. I had it scanned today and the only fault code is: 2AAB - Variable intake system, self diagnosis. I am assuming this is because my DISA Flaps were removed... Anyone that could confirm this perhaps?

Tomorrow I will unplug the MAF to see if it makes a difference amf also test a used PDC so that I could take my car to Gert to get sorted and also a few dyno runs to confirm if there is a loss in power.

 

[Loom]

I'm speaking under correction but it is unlikely that a faulty PDC module will mask other, non-related errors.

What was your consumption before you removed the innards of the DISA valve?

Have you checked for leaks at all the intake/vacuum hoses? Are you sure there is no leak at the DISA valve? If you haven't changed the O-ring chances are that it is leaking. I would check there first.

 

[Dewald Basson]

Take your car obdworx, Gert knows his stuff.

 

[FiRi@Rennzport]

Take your car obdworx, Gert knows his stuff.

What this guy said.....

Sent from my SM-N920C using Tapatalk

 

[StealthM]

I'm speaking under correction but it is unlikely that a faulty PDC module will mask other, non-related errors.

What was your consumption before you removed the innards of the DISA valve?

Have you checked for leaks at all the intake/vacuum hoses? Are you sure there is no leak at the DISA valve? If you haven't changed the O-ring chances are that it is leaking. I would check there first.

I thought so too, but I had 6 or 7 K-Can Line faults on JBE, CAS, RAD and other modules and BMW insisted that because of the dead PDC module a lot of other modules or stuff will not display correctly. I first need to replace the PDC module and recode then only will they be able to run a proper diagnostic and load the new version software. Since they are BMW, you would assume they know what they are talking about, but fortunately there are forums like this that has a wealth of knowledge between fellow petrol heads.

As for my consumption it was pretty much the same as now, average about 4.7 to 5.2km per litre in town driving conditions. Have to be honest, the car just simply feels dead, like it doesn't want to rev and speed up quickly at all. Could be my imagination, but my brother with his 2011 Audi A3 1.8T with stage 1 tune kicks my ass everytime, he wasn't able to about 2 months ago. I got him everytime...not anymore.

Is there anyway of testing for a leak at the Disa O-ring? How do I go about this? My mechanic ensured me there are no vacuum leaks... Maybe I should get a second opinion.. But definitely not in this k@k town... Need to get to GP and find someone there that is willing and able to assist me.

 

[Ratslaaf]

Hmmmm, I remember you called me about this last week?

I have a suspicion that someone loaded a modified version of the software on your ecu that has quite a few ecu faults disabled in software. This way, it would prevent the ecu from reporting certain errors so that the car can be sold without warning lights. I think BMW suspected the same thing, hence they wanted to flash the DME as well.

Unfortunately your BMW dealer cannot flash the car if some modules are missing, so they are correct in what they told you. In order for them to flash a specific module only, they do need a connection from BMW Technical to do so, albeit no need for a connection from Germany. That being said, I have no such issue as I use different tools to flash the cars, so I can flash modules individually, without the need for all modules on the car being present.

As far as diagnostics go, you don't need all modules present to get the required info, provided the software hasn't been meddled with in some way.

Let's decide on a day that would be suitable then you come through and we tackle the software issues and see if we can't get a bit more info out the car as to what the problem is.

 

[StealthM]

Yes Gert, it was me...

I really want to come see you, just need to sort this PDC module and sensors out, so that I could perhaps ask you if we could do a full flash on the DME and load the latest version software if possible. Then do some diagnostics and work your magic. I swear, I am so convinced that you are my last and only source of help in getting my car sorted... I have not other alternatives.

Just need to check out my budget and will then give you a call to set a date and estimate time frame. would also like to do a dyno run or 2 while I am in GP to see if I am just imagining things or not.

Thanks again to all of you for taking the time to assist me with this, I really appreciate it... So Thanks!!!

 

[Loom]

Hope you get it sorted soon

 

[StealthM]

So I found a PDC Module that worked 100% without any coding needed and no lights on the dash with all the beeps from every sensor..... so I am hopefully one step closer to getting to Gert for new DME software.

I don't know what to make of this... but last night I decided to unplug the MAF to see if it will make a difference.
Result:
Normal idle with the MAF plugged in is around 600rpm constant, now and then it would fluctuate by going up to around 700rpm, but not constantly.
Unplugged it made now difference at all, NO rough idle nothing.. just the same as if it was plugged in. Then took it for a drive and again.. No increase or decrease in power or any hesitation during the rpm range... just exactly the same again as if it was plugged in.

I drove like this for about 20 to 30 minutes thinking that maybe die engine light might come on or the ECU still needed to adapt, but nothing happened.
From what I read, if it makes no difference then the MAF should theoretically be fine. I also had my mechanic check for a leak at the DISA valve mounts to check if the O-Ring isn't shot, but he assured after the 2nd time that he did spray around the valve and all over the intake and nothing happened. So my car isn't giving any other fault codes except for the "Variable intake system - self diagnosis" ...

well then, I should phone Gert an make a booking to have the DME software reloaded and have a proper scan with his setup. Hopefully I don't make a poephol out of myself and there really isn't anything wrong just to find out that these cars are supposed to perform like this. But I will also make arrange to put it on a dyno just to confirm the power output.

Don't want to start something here, but who would you recommend taking my car to for a dyno?

 

[StealthM]

As stated above, Faulty PDC module was replaced and after a week BMW says that there are zero fault codes showing.

The performance is still somehow "fluctuating", by that I mean that there are days that I would drive away more than 2 cars lengths from my brother with his tuned A3 1.8T and other times he would crush with also about 2 car lengths. It just doesn't make sense... how can performance come and go like that without any fault codes or other issues?

I know that it is not actually the appropriate way of testing, but it is the only way I know for sure that something is wrong because I can immediately feel that the car is in a type of "limp mode" state of sorts.

I was going to Gert from OBDWorx, but found out that all 4 my discs needs replacement ASAP as well as brake pads and shocks. 2 front discs and shocks are gone and needs to be replaced within the next 3000km or so. Thus unfortunately taking priority on my budget for now so I would just have to wait a while before going to Gert.

To be honest, I am so frustrated as I just spend over R12k to sort out the oil leak, gaskets and major service and now again probably close to R10k for shocks, discs and pads.....that's if the lower control arm bushes or any other bushes doesn't need replacement as well!

 

[Ratslaaf]

Clearly that car was unroadworthy then, surely you have recourse from the CPA?