[xenon]

320i is petrol, diesels are not affected.

[chrisbin]

Originally Posted by illingworth22

I have only just seen this post.... and just picked up my Oct 07 320d M Sport Coupe. Is this a Petrol or a Diesel problem?

Petrol only - refers to my previous 320i.

[illingworth22]

Originally Posted by COLSEN

Hi Bren,
I used Tesco petrol in my old car and had nothing but trouble, BMW gave me a brand new 320 (on loan) with a tank full of shell and it was prefect, until I used Tesco petrol, then it started hesitating!
In my new car I will only use Shell & BP since!

Just thought i'd pop my 50 pence in... I had a Golf GTi before the BM and I had a switchable re-map fitted. The only fuel I could use was the 98 Ron or above. Have you tried using this, Shell V Power for example! I was told that the ECU on the car would make the engine knock if anything less than 98Ron was used.

P.S. Don't shout at me if you think this reply is a load of sh1t3

[xenon]

I don't think it's a load of shit as such but it's not quite right either. The engine has a knock sensor to retard the ignition if necessary. Whether the engine is better on the more expensive petrols is a mute point - I've tried both and don't notice any difference. I'm fortunate in having a 320i which does not suffer the ailments. Yet.

[chrisbin]

Originally Posted by xenon

I don't think it's a load of shit as such but it's not quite right either. The engine has a knock sensor to retard the ignition if necessary. Whether the engine is better on the more expensive petrols is a mute point - I've tried both and don't notice any difference. I'm fortunate in having a 320i which does not suffer the ailments. Yet.

Yep, and as far as I am concerned, its in no way a valid solution when the car is supposed to run fine on any fuel - its not exactly a high performance derivative after all.

Why should 320i owners have to pay extra for their fuel due to the fact that BMW can't make engines that work properly???

Not acceptable!

[COLSEN]

Since BMW replaced my car for a like for like 320i, I've pretty much only ever ran it on Shell V Power, when I put a tenners worth of "standard" fuel, you can defo tell the difference. My new car has covered 11500 miles now, and it seems fine although it still as the occasional judder, which I seem to have noticed when it's been raining for a while - either I'm looking into this far too much, or could it be a sensor be getting damp or something?? It only seems to be at the low end around 30mph as opposed to my old car which felt like it would cut out on the motorway. I'm still not completely convinced BMW's new ED engines are upto scratch, but my mrs has just picked up her Range Rover Sport, so the poor old BMW has been left out a little lately!

[freon warrior]

Mine has started hesitating again!

[bluemax]

I'm with Colsen on this one. Since December I have only used V Power, and haven't experienced one issue since then.

try it, it may work for you too.

regards
Bren

[ShereKhan]

With my old engine I used Tesco 99.
But with my new engine i've only used V Power and have had only two hiccups in 25k miles

[dxb335d]

Guys id sell your 320i's and buy a 320d.

[COLSEN]

Originally Posted by dxb335d

Guys id sell your 320i's and buy a 320d.

There's only one problem with the 320d... it's a diesel

[COLSEN]

Originally Posted by ShereKhan

With my old engine I used Tesco 99.
But with my new engine i've only used V Power and have had only two hiccups in 25k miles

Tesco 99, Tesco finest petrol lol.

Well, I may not have as many clubcard points but the Shell card isn't too bad for the rewards!

[Taffy_g]

i bought my 58 plate 320i last week from a local-ish stealer

now.. i havent really noticed any 'hesitating' apart from around 4500 rpm, but as i understand it, this may be the VANOS working. not sure what i should be looking for regards the hesitating mind.

what i have noticed though, is that it sounds pretty rough when idling. its not a smooth idle, more a soft.... 'tssk'...'tssk'...'tssk' and its idling at about 7-800 rpm. the gearstick also vibrates quite a bit, and moves sideways a tad when i rev the engine.

really.. if this is a fault, then under the AUC scheme, i could be entitled to a refund/exchange.

im off the the local stealers tomorrow to get some touchup paint, and may ask a service engineer to have a look, but im sure ill get fobbed off.

[FieldingMellish]

Originally Posted by Taffy_g

im off the the local stealers tomorrow to get some touchup paint, and may ask a service engineer to have a look, but im sure ill get fobbed off.

Yep, you will indeed get fobbed off. BMW know they have a problem with these engines but they wil not admit it. Because the problems manifest themselves intermittently, and you therefore cannot reliably demonstrate the problem, they can keep on claiming that they cannot reproduce the problem, therefore (tehir logic states) there is no problem.

Not saying you definitely have the problem(s) myself and others on this thread suffered, but my gearstick vibrated a lot, and on idle the engine sounded like a diesel.

Then the engine would just cut out every so often, sometimes while I was driving at speed with following traffic. Sometimes you get a wee warning first, where the engine cuts out for a split second, sometimes you get no warning at all, it just cuts out dead.

Then again, on other occassions it just goes into 'limp mode', which feels like you're stuck in first gear or something....

The current 4 cylinder petrol BMW engines are total, total shite, and none of the car mags or watchdogs or newspapers are interested, they still blithely recommend them.

I managed to get out, and swap mine for a 320d which is a far far better car. Yes, I'd prefer to be in a 6 cylinder petrol, and hoefully will be some day, but until then I'd advise anyone to steer well clear of the 318i/320i E90.

[FieldingMellish]

By the way, just on the petrol issue: I never ran my 318i on anything other than premium petrol, mostly V Power, occassionaly the BP premium stuff. Didn't help.

[Nickhub]

Hi All, 1st post here goes...

I am currently in process of rejecting my 320i as i have been experiencing many of the issues discussed here.

The car has been to the dealers may times and has had many "fixes" including new injectors , software upgrades and two weeks ago a new modified ECU unit.

Unfortunately the problems are still there.

The stealers have now given me two options, the first is for them to try a get me out of the car with no involment from BMW UK but they say they will give me a really good deal !

The second (which I have decided to accept) is for BMW UK to take the car for 1000 miles so that they can experience the faults.

I have already talked to BMW UK who have tried to fob me off with the usual excuses and will not admit to any problems even though the stealers have told me they do exist.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Cheers Nick.

[E92Fan]

Originally Posted by Nickhub

Hi All, 1st post here goes...

I am currently in process of rejecting my 320i as i have been experiencing many of the issues discussed here.

The car has been to the dealers may times and has had many "fixes" including new injectors , software upgrades and two weeks ago a new modified ECU unit.

Unfortunately the problems are still there.

The stealers have now given me two options, the first is for them to try a get me out of the car with no involment from BMW UK but they say they will give me a really good deal !

The second (which I have decided to accept) is for BMW UK to take the car for 1000 miles so that they can experience the faults.

I have already talked to BMW UK who have tried to fob me off with the usual excuses and will not admit to any problems even though the stealers have told me they do exist.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Cheers Nick.

Given that you've accepted BMWs request for 1000 miles of testing, you MUST get BMW to agree to waiver any depreciating effect that extra 1000 miles will have on the car. Also ask where and to whom BMW are going to give that car to - see if it is going to go down to BMW Battersea because if it is then I know the guys who'll be doing the testing...

And at the end of the 1000 mile testing, reject the car anyway and get BMW UK involved in the deal-making. Oh and in the meantime, make sure BMW give you a suitable replacement car (and NOT a 116i !!!)

Good luck!!

[Nickhub]

Thanks for the advice

I am still waiting for them to arrange to pick up the car.

The stealers told me it will be the BMW UK technical manager for the Birmingham area who will be driving the car as this is where I bought the car from.

Cheers Nick

[chrisbin]

Fyi - BMW UK required my car for a month while they tried to come up with a fix (after 6 mths of arguing etc).....

Car just sat in the dealers compound afaik.....

I drove around in a 330i courtesy of bmw uk.

The month ended up being nearer 2 1/2 from memory!

PM me if you want more info!

[Nickhub]

Stealers called today and hopefully the car is being picked up Friday

A 330i sounds good to me

I will PM you for more info depending on what happens in the next couple of weeks

Thanks

[AlanIOW]

BMW did not even bother to ask for my car for testing, they agreed a cracking deal to replace it with a 320D in September, but due to the extended factory closure in December, I only picked it up 1st March.

I showed my dealer a video taken with my phone of the rev counter going all over the place at idle with the engine management light on, I think that convinced them something was wrong!!

I was very lucky to have some excellent help from Chrisbin, then my dealer did all the rest. My only direct contact with BMW was an email where I compared it to a 1979 Ford Cortina!!

Mine was 21 months old [15,000 mls] by the time it was replaced, how old is yours?

Good luck, go for a 320D, its far far better.

[FieldingMellish]

Originally Posted by AlanIOW

I showed my dealer a video taken with my phone of the rev counter going all over the place at idle with the engine management light on, I think that convinced them something was wrong!!

A great idea. Wish I could have shown them a video of me being run off teh road when the engine died while I was being tailgated by a huge Mitshubisi SUV, then my car sitting at the side of the road and shaking even more noticeably than me. That would have made interesting viewing.