[mefferso]

About a month ago I got an SES light for p203c, Reductant Level Sensor Circuit Low. My car is CPO, so I dropped it off at the dealership and they replaced the whole SCR tank under warranty. I've driven about 3000 miles since the tank change. Well, this past Saturday afternoon I walk out to my car and see it steadily dripping DEF all over the driveway under both rear sides of the car. I hop in, and within a few miles the SES comes on. Not much later the 1000 miles to no start warning came on. I tried adding DEF to the 2 reservoirs but only the lower would accept any. Can't believe how quick i'm already having problems again with the same part. Not sure if its part defect or dealer mechanic install screw up.

In addition, my mpg have dropped 10-15% since that visit to the dealership. This could just be coincident with it getting up into the 90s now and who much more the a/c compressor has to work. Just seems like it shouldn't be a 5-10 mpg drop between compressor on and compressor off as the onboard gauge shows.

Anyway, my car its going back to the dealership tomorrow morning.

[OILPowered]

I'd say this would likely be due to a defective part or repair. Hopefully it's a loose fitting or something simple. Sorry for your troubles and good luck.

[grzes]

I have seen couple of members already complaining about their tanks being replaced several times due to the leaking DEF solution. I don't think anyone can really prove if it is the tank or the workmanship went to crap at bmw. Either case, I think BMW better step in hard and improve the quality of work and parts. This is being annoying, how is it possible to build a plastic tank that is so prone for leaking?? Good luck with your fix, next week they are doing some work on my DEF tank, hopefully it will be only one visit to the dealer.
One think that puzzles me is why only the active tank accepted DEF and not the passive one. I was under the impression that the fluid flows from the passive one to active to replenish so you would think the passive one should be the one to fill up (this not applies to the winter under the extreme weather as passive tank would be frozen anyway).

[Puerto Rican 335d]

Ive been thru 2 tanks and one is leaking as we speak look at my threads "GUESS WHAT I,II and II"

[mefferso]

Originally Posted by OILPowered

I'd say this would likely be due to a defective part or repair. Hopefully it's a loose fitting or something simple. Sorry for your troubles and good luck.

I'm hoping this is the case too. If it was workmanship, why a month later? I would've thought the problem would be more immediate if they screwed up on the installation. Though, I guess if was slightly loose and took a while to finally come completely loosen to the point of leaking. Who knows.

Originally Posted by grzes

One think that puzzles me is why only the active tank accepted DEF and not the passive one. I was under the impression that the fluid flows from the passive one to active to replenish so you would think the passive one should be the one to fill up (this not applies to the winter under the extreme weather as passive tank would be frozen anyway).

I wondered the same thing. My initial guess is the Urea has crystalized and stopped up somewhere between the 2 tanks where they are connected.

Originally Posted by Puerto Rican 335d

Ive been thru 2 tanks and one is leaking as we speak look at my threads "GUESS WHAT I,II and II"

I'll go check those out

[mefferso]

Shot a short video to show the leaking:

[grzes]

yes, DEF will crystallize but that only happens at the fluid level line. If you just had the tank replaced and filled up, I doubt that you would use that much urea that the passive tank was completely empty. Myself, I am also worry about crystallization, I am not sure how the fluid travels from one tank to the other or how big is the passage, but I do keep my both tanks always filled up, I never do wait for the dealer to refill, one reason is the cost of what they charge but the main one is I don't want the passage to ever be exposed allowing to dry and crystallization to occur in that place. Nice video, for sure it leaks a lot

[mefferso]

Ha. Yeah they wanted something stupid like $100+ to fill it when I asked. At least i'll get a free refill again! :-/

[grzes]

Originally Posted by mefferso

Ha. Yeah they wanted something stupid like $100+ to fill it when I asked. At least i'll get a free refill again! :-/

ha ha ha and if you consider $11 Canadian for 2.5 gallons that $100 charge seams like WTF???

[Puerto Rican 335d]

Amigos it seems like our tanks cant stand the HEAT. Mines was crystalized throughout the entire system the heat of Puerto Rico and i believe so for those in the lower states will affect the UREA and crystalize it. Thats been my issue here in the Island I might be wrong but it inclines to that theory

[Yozh]

PR, your theory is probably right. You've got about 6 months at most for the urea to stay fresh. The higher the heat the shorter is that timeframe. And that is for brand new properly stored stuff. If it has been poorly stored, you may be getting expired urea filled. If you want to keep the SCR system your best bet is to top up with fresh stuff all the time and probably drain and flush annually.

[mefferso]

Just an update: The SCR delivery module was changed to fix the problem. So alls peachy for now till the next time something on my emissions fails.


On a side note, the dealer gave me a brand new 428i Coupe for my loaner. Not a bad looking car at all. Call me crazy but somewhat mustangish (which I like). Best thing about that car is the new 8-speed tranny. Fast, smooth, etc. I'm so jealous we don't have one. Also, I prefer the new sport seats to our year model ones. Seem to have just a little extra room for larger thighed people like myself and makes a world of difference. The heads up display is pretty awesome too. I found the eco-comfort-sport-sport+ button to be annoying, but just in the fact that I had to change the settings myself. The way I drive, in a split second I may decide I want to stomp on it to squeeze into a lane in front of someone or something similar. If I'm in ecoweeny mode, the throttle is just so lazy so i have to quickly hit the button twice for any getup an go. I'd just rather be easy on the throttle to save gas and have the high power right there on tap in an instant. Now, for that I-4. Pretty bad little dude and doesnt sound to shabby either. The 8-speed and sport mode works wonders for it. And it was comparable to our D's in terms of mpg. 35-40mpg was achievable on the interstate if you keep the speeds reasonable.

Picked my 335d up this morning and as soon as I touched the throttle I remembered why I love this car so much. That 4 cylinder was definitely no tuned D.