[FieldingMellish]

Just been out driving around, letting my son fall asleep in the baby seat in teh back. Car was running great. Then after about 45 minutes, suddenly went into limp mode, it feels as if you are trying to go too fast in the gear you're in or something, power delivery is weak, you can still accelerate but it feels all wrong, as if you are driving through treacle.

Interesting note: the little 'circle and arrow around a warning triangle' symbol flashed on once during this limping period, isn't this an indicator that DSC is controlling your car? Potentially reducing acceleration? I was not going round a corner at the time, or going fast. I may have gone over a slight bump in the road, so maybe the symbol meant the suspension was failing? Or is this a sign that the limp mode may be caused by a malfunctioning DSC? Something to mention to BMW when I take the car in on Thursday?

[chrisbin]

The dsc mode was probably triggered by the bump..

As for mine, having used it over the weekend, I'm definitely not satisfied....it really feels hesitant over a large part of the rev range...began to think I was imagining it but wife (in passenger seat) noticed it too....

So, since I've been told this is the best they can do, its time to talk seriously to BMW finance I think.....

[FieldingMellish]

Well, my car is booked in for Thursday, and I have stressed to them that I am not happy to have laid out so much money for a car which appears to have a serious problem. If they can fix it, great, but nothing I've read here suggests that they will. If they cannot fix it then I suppose I will have to start talking to BMW Customer Service and seeking a way out of the car.

[chrisbin]

What news Fielding??

[FieldingMellish]

Originally Posted by chrisbin

What news Fielding??

No news = good news? Unlikely!

They told me yesterday morning, when I dropped the car off at 7.30am, that I would have it back by the end of the day. Then they rang me in the afternoon to say they needed to "keep it in overnight". They would give me no details at all on what they had so far gleaned/not gleaned, whether they had encountered the 'limp mode' or not. I am not that hopeful that they will, and even if they do, what can they do to fix it?

Funny enough, the courtesy car tey gave me - a 118i Automatic - exhibits, I think, the one remaining symptom of this problem area which I have yet to suffer in my own car - 'the shake', where the car suddenly shudders at idle, and the rev needle jumps up a bit then back down again.

I am currently awaiting their call to confirm if I can pick my car up tonight. Will post when I hear anything.....

[chrisbin]

Originally Posted by FieldingMellish

No news = good news? Unlikely!

They told me yesterday morning, when I dropped the car off at 7.30am, that I would have it back by the end of the day. Then they rang me in the afternoon to say they needed to "keep it in overnight". They would give me no details at all on what they had so far gleaned/not gleaned, whether they had encountered the 'limp mode' or not. I am not that hopeful that they will, and even if they do, what can they do to fix it?

Funny enough, the courtesy car tey gave me - a 118i Automatic - exhibits, I think, the one remaining symptom of this problem area which I have yet to suffer in my own car - 'the shake', where the car suddenly shudders at idle, and the rev needle jumps up a bit then back down again.

I am currently awaiting their call to confirm if I can pick my car up tonight. Will post when I hear anything.....

Interesting...

I'm convinced that the issues are down to the low emissions technology/software and the fact that basically it doesn't work !!!!!

[FieldingMellish]

Originally Posted by chrisbin

Interesting...

I'm convinced that the issues are down to the low emissions technology/software and the fact that basically it doesn't work !!!!!

Which is the opposite of what I thought before I bought this car! I thought these problems only applied to the the 'older' cars, ie. that the new Efficient Dynamics cars did not have these problems, and that belief was a contributing factor to my decision to buy an ED car. Also my car does not seem to give anything like the official fuel consumption figures, even taking into account the huge chunk of rock salt we apply to such figures. Best I've got is 34 mpg.

So if these engines have these problems, and BMW aren't about to issue a global recall of all 318i/320i cars, what is the best solution? Even if BMW offered me a way out of this particular car, what option would I realistically have? Pay a chunk more and get a 325i? ANd incur a massively increased insurance premium into teh bargain?

[chrisbin]

Originally Posted by FieldingMellish

Which is the opposite of what I thought before I bought this car! I thought these problems only applied to the the 'older' cars, ie. that the new Efficient Dynamics cars did not have these problems, and that belief was a contributing factor to my decision to buy an ED car. Also my car does not seem to give anything like the official fuel consumption figures, even taking into account the huge chunk of rock salt we apply to such figures. Best I've got is 34 mpg.

So if these engines have these problems, and BMW aren't about to issue a global recall of all 318i/320i cars, what is the best solution? Even if BMW offered me a way out of this particular car, what option would I realistically have? Pay a chunk more and get a 325i? ANd incur a massively increased insurance premium into teh bargain?

ED is just a further enhancement to the low emmissions engines....imo....

As for options, exactly what I am debating.....seems to me its either 320d or 325i......

[FieldingMellish]

Originally Posted by chrisbin

ED is just a further enhancement to the low emmissions engines....imo....

As for options, exactly what I am debating.....seems to me its either 320d or 325i......

Aye, you are propably right, I just reckoned that in developing these 'new' ED engines, BMW would have quietly taken the opportunity to fix these problems.

A 320d? I considered this when purchasing my 318i, the diesel car is a *lot* more powerful, but then again so is an oil tanker! I hated teh 320d when I test-drove it, hated it. And I recently had a newer, ED-engined 320d - last time my car was in teh dealers they gave me one as a courtesy car - and I renewed my hate affair with the 320d then. Yeah, it has bags of torque, and there are ocassions where it therefore has a big advantage over my humble 318i, but what a price to pay: the car is a monster to drive aroudn town, and even on the motorway if feels so, so heavy, liek you are piloting a ship; whereas the 318i feels more like my old Golf, nice and light to drive.

A 325i would be nice, but then you'd have to consider whether to go up to a 330i, since (I think) fuel and insurance costs are fairly similar. Anyway I do not want to pay out even more money, and I don't anticipate BMW offering me a 325i for free!

They will most pobably do one of teh following:

1. Claim they can find no 'limping' problem;
2. Claim they have done something which should fix any 'limping' problem.

If the problem persists, it will be hard to push them on it because it is intermittent. So I can either sell the car, or trade it in, and pay *more money* to get a 6 cylinder engined M Sport (no way I want an SE), or just keep suffering.......

The only way this could ever change, would be if Tony's original intention in starting this thread came good, ie. getting BMW at a corporate level to take responsibility.

I still love the car, but BMW should do the decent thing and admit there's a problem with these engines, and fix it to teh satisfaction of customers who have shelled out a premium to get a BMW. Long-term it should be in their interests to do so, because a customer who has not had a problem fixed to his satisfaction is unlikely to be a repeat buyer.

[chrisbin]

Originally Posted by FieldingMellish

....a lot of sensible stuff!!......

Yep... thats about the size of it.....had a 320d E90 previously and while I wouldn't give it quite the same description as you have (!) I know where you're coming from!! But, it produces the goods and seems to have no issues...

I dunno.....whole situation just pisses me off...........

[FieldingMellish]

Dealer just left a message on my ansaphone - my car will be 'ready for collection' tonight. Whether they have fixed it or not remains to be seen. Will report on what they say when I get it from the horse's mouth...

[chrisbin]

Originally Posted by FieldingMellish

Dealer just left a message on my ansaphone - my car will be 'ready for collection' tonight. Whether they have fixed it or not remains to be seen. Will report on what they say when I get it from the horse's mouth...

Well if I were you I'd ring them first and ask what they've done.......

[FieldingMellish]

Originally Posted by chrisbin

Well if I were you I'd ring them first and ask what they've done.......

Great minds....

Just got off the phone with them. I asked, does the fact that the car is "ready for collection" mean that it's been fixed and they confidently answered, yes. I asked what had been done to sort the intermittent power loss problem and they said they had "replaced an EGR valve which was showing a fault". So, how to interpret that?

[chrisbin]

..wasn't there a chap in Poland or somewhere mainland Europe.....he had a valve replaced didn't he?

[FieldingMellish]

As remembered by chris:

Originally Posted by macka

Hey guys. Just so you know im driving E92 320i coupe ED engine and i did 9k km so far. I didnt notice any bad behavior on my egine apart from 2 or 3 times my idle rev went down and up few times, but after reading all your posts i went to dealer to check if everything is allright with my engine. Dealer did some tests and it turns out that i had more than 250 errors of one kind. After some reserach they told me they have to replace EGR valve which is resposnible for may idle rev "weaves".
Im waitng now for part to be delievered and im gonna get it replaceed on friday ... we will see if it helps and ill let u know.
Any of you guys had EGR replaced ?? Maybe this is the problem ??
What do you think about this diagnosis?

Macka, did you ever get back to this thread to let us know if the EGR valve replacement did the trick?

[COLSEN]

Originally Posted by chrisbin

Interesting...

I'm convinced that the issues are down to the low emissions technology/software and the fact that basically it doesn't work !!!!!

Yeah I'm sure this is the case.. I have an 07 plate 320i, I breifly got my hands on a brand new 08 plate 320i (exactly the same as mine) and it did show me the rev bounce once in the 10 days I had it. I could also feel the ED working alot (going up and down hills etc you can feel it kick in & out) but it didn't affect the drive like it does in mine!
I also had a 318D as I was thinking about possibly swapping for a diesel, and after driving it for about 10 mins, I thought I'd stick with the petrol, I can't describe how bad the 318D was!! Just constantly dropping the revs and jolting the car at speeds over 50, not good for a car that had covered 2500 miles! But I have gone back to my BMW Dealer and I'm told they will be doing their upmost to keep me happy, but it's a friday night, so time to think how gorgeous she looks, and have a beer Love & Peace to you all!

[FieldingMellish]

Picked mine up yesterday. Apart from the fact that they had replaced an EGR valve, all they would tell me was that the valve was 'showing multiple faults' and that this was not just historical but 'current'. Wonder why they didn't notice this before?

So, can a software update and a replacement EGR valve cure the problem(s)? Car felt fine yesterday, and also today on a 70 mile round trip to Chester. Hopefully I won't be experienceing limp mode again, but only time will tell.

As for the 318d, when I was still considering a 320d, ie. before I tried one and realised that it was the driving equivalent of wearing a hairshirt, I asked a dealer about a test drive of a 320d and he said, "Well, or what about a 318d, you know, they are very good too...." and this was the ONE AND ONLY time a dealer EVER offered such advice, which made me suspicious immediately...

[CrimsonRedE93]

What do you mean 'I tried one and realised that it was the driving equivalent of wearing a hairshirt'

Just Curious ?

[FieldingMellish]

Originally Posted by CrimsonRedE93

What do you mean 'I tried one and realised that it was the driving equivalent of wearing a hairshirt'

Just Curious ?

Heh. Well, I'm exagerrating just a wee bit, but y'know, a hairshirt might keep you warm, but what a price to pay! Same with the 320d - it'll blow my 318i off the road, but that brute power comes at too high a price, for me. The power is not just quantitatively different, it's qualitatively different to my car's, and a lot of that is down to it being a diesel.

It's so heavy to drive - see my post above - 'specially around town, and then of course there are all those never-ending gear changes, up down up down up down; pull away from traffic lights and you had better be ready to do the old '1st gear->2nd gear->3rd gear' shuffle pretty sharpish or you risk getting rear-ended by a Nissan Micra.

The 320d is the only car I test drove - BMW 3 Series or Audi A4 - that I got back into my old car (2001 reg VW Golf 1.6) and thought, you know, I actually prefer this old thing.

I know teh 320d has loads of fans on these forums, and in the magazines etc., and probably 2 out of every 3 3 Serieses I see on the roads are 320d's. But I just don't like it, and I don't think I would ever buy a diesel. I like the quantity of teh power on offer, but not the quality, it somehow feels unpleasant to me, and teh overall experience of driving the car is like piloting a ship or something.

[chrisbin]

Originally Posted by COLSEN

so time to think how gorgeous she looks, and have a beer Love & Peace to you all!

....is that the dealer.....or the car???



Interesting to read your experiences of the other cars.....this is the conundrum...what would I really want instead..if all ED cars are going to perform in this manner ???

Mine's developed another fault now - has happened 3 times in 4 days...when starting off from a standstill it feels (and sounds) like something is binding - handbrake/abs or something.....theres a marked resistance, then it releases after about 2 secs... and off you go....no warning lights....

[CrimsonRedE93]

Originally Posted by FieldingMellish

Heh. Well, I'm exagerrating just a wee bit, but y'know, a hairshirt might keep you warm, but what a price to pay! Same with the 320d - it'll blow my 318i off the road, but that brute power comes at too high a price, for me. The power is not just quantitatively different, it's qualitatively different to my car's, and a lot of that is down to it being a diesel.

It's so heavy to drive - see my post above - 'specially around town, and then of course there are all those never-ending gear changes, up down up down up down; pull away from traffic lights and you had better be ready to do the old '1st gear->2nd gear->3rd gear' shuffle pretty sharpish or you risk getting rear-ended by a Nissan Micra.

The 320d is the only car I test drove - BMW 3 Series or Audi A4 - that I got back into my old car (2001 reg VW Golf 1.6) and thought, you know, I actually prefer this old thing.

I know teh 320d has loads of fans on these forums, and in the magazines etc., and probably 2 out of every 3 3 Serieses I see on the roads are 320d's. But I just don't like it, and I don't think I would ever buy a diesel. I like the quantity of teh power on offer, but not the quality, it somehow feels unpleasant to me, and teh overall experience of driving the car is like piloting a ship or something.

I guess it is personal taste with a diesel, thanks for your explanation!

I had my 320i next to a wall and started it up, could have been mistaken for a diesel sounded like a bag of bolts

[ShereKhan]

Originally Posted by chrisbin

Mine's developed another fault now - has happened 3 times in 4 days...when starting off from a standstill it feels (and sounds) like something is binding - handbrake/abs or something.....theres a marked resistance, then it releases after about 2 secs... and off you go....no warning lights....

Mine had something similar to this. The handbrake light was always lit and the brakes were grinding. When I initially pulled away the brakes were good and proper binded as the car jerked quite violently.

A few of my colleagues who also have E90's have had this problem too. One them had new discs and pads as a result. I'll find out what happened to mine when I get the car back or not...........