[N43B20A]

Ok, after 15k miles and 18 months after the timing chain change, it looks like it failed again. Probably worse this time since the the engine sounds stiffled, like it's clogged . There is also a tickling sound when it revs down, that hasn't been present before.


Errors found at diagnosis:

29F3 - Fuel Low Pressure Sensor Electric
2A26 - Catalytic Converter, Conversion in stratified - charge mode
2A2D Fuel Low pressure, fuel pressure
2A87 Exhaust Vanos Mechanism
2A99 Crankshaft, exhaust camshaft
2AAF Fuel pump, plausability
2C31 Oxygen sensor emissions control

My mechanic said that most probably the chain is problematic again, but he has to open the valve cover to test the timing.

I can believe it..."ultimate driving machine"...yeah right. I will never consider BMW again.

Is it posible to be a vanos related issue? How can the timing chain fail again in such a short period of time??

[raj55]

Originally Posted by nclsamy

Ok, after 15k miles and 18 months after the timing chain change, it looks like it failed again. Probably worse this time since the the engine sounds stiffled, like it's clogged . There is also a tickling sound when it revs down, that hasn't been present before.


Errors found at diagnosis:

29F3 - Fuel Low Pressure Sensor Electric
2A26 - Catalytic Converter, Conversion in stratified - charge mode
2A2D Fuel Low pressure, fuel pressure
2A87 Exhaust Vanos Mechanism
2A99 Crankshaft, exhaust camshaft
2AAF Fuel pump, plausability
2C31 Oxygen sensor emissions control


I can believe it..."ultimate driving machine"...yeah right. I will never consider BMW again.

?

More like a "permanent workshop machine"

[N43B20A]

Ok, somehow it turns out that the catalytic converter is dead and it needs to be replaced.

I assume there is not other way than to buy another one, right? Are there any mods that can bypass the cat?

[seac511]

Anyone did mod 320i putting a remote turbocharge??
i need help for piggyback gready ultimate willwork on bmw?
Thank you

[dcdub2003]

Originally Posted by nclsamy

Ok, after 15k miles and 18 months after the timing chain change, it looks like it failed again. Probably worse this time since the the engine sounds stiffled, like it's clogged . There is also a tickling sound when it revs down, that hasn't been present before.


Errors found at diagnosis:

29F3 - Fuel Low Pressure Sensor Electric
2A26 - Catalytic Converter, Conversion in stratified - charge mode
2A2D Fuel Low pressure, fuel pressure
2A87 Exhaust Vanos Mechanism
2A99 Crankshaft, exhaust camshaft
2AAF Fuel pump, plausability
2C31 Oxygen sensor emissions control

My mechanic said that most probably the chain is problematic again, but he has to open the valve cover to test the timing.

I can believe it..."ultimate driving machine"...yeah right. I will never consider BMW again.

Is it posible to be a vanos related issue? How can the timing chain fail again in such a short period of time??

Hi Mate, feel your pain. my 320si timing chain went and had it replaced, on return, I instantly noticed it was not 100% right.

the 320 si is one of 500 made at the Sauber factory, if whoever replaced the timing chain did not use the correct timing tool then it will fail again.

HT Howard hires them out, this may have been the root cause.

http://www.hthoward.co.uk/specialist...ming-tool-kit/

[CloudFX]

Hey guys, so I decided to join the forum after trying and exhausting every solution there is with my N43.

Here's my issue, the car hesitates to start properly if the engine is warmed up, I've seen it do it on cold starts as well but like once in 100 or more cranks, most of the time it's doing it when the engine is warm. This has been going on for three years now, my bet is on leaky injectors since they are all index 3 known to have issues but I'm also scared of changing all 4 injectors on a perfectly working car just to find out that wasn't the problem. So now, moving on to the next thing, so far I've changed the following.

New OE starter
Complete timing chain and tensioner kit OE
New plugs
New coils
New crankshaft sensor OE ( used to throw the code )

Ran several diagnostics on ISTA-D trying to get to the bottom of it every single day since I have the tester at home. The car throws no fault codes apart from 2EF8 DME Thermostat activation ( already bought the thermostat waiting for it to be replaced )

There's no HPFP low pressure code or something wrong related to it ( however, once I've checked the pressure value in ISTA as soon as I stop the engine the pressure drops somewhat rapidly from 150k mbar and after about 10minutes it will reach a value of 5k mbar)
No LPFP issue as well ( holds pressure )
No missfire codes, never had 'em
No surging or hesitation, pulls perfectly
Cyl compression is over 11
Injector values on ista are between the values of -30 and +30

The dealer has a hard time telling why it does it and can't seem to know why, went to some other good mechanics that I know and their bet seems to either be the fuel pressure regulator or the injectors but most likely they said the injectors might leak. It also smells like gasoline when the car is cold but I suppose that's because the catalyst only does it's job when it's up to temp.

Does anyone have some sort of ideas? The car runs perfectly, never let me down in three years apart from this dreaded and never ending hard starting issue. I've noticed that the spark plugs on cyl 2 and 3 were really black when I changed them the last time.

The car has exactly 100k miles and it's an 08. Checked all injectors, they're all index 3

[jbarr]

Hi there

Having a wee look around, this seems to be a pretty common issue for a lot of you around the 100k mark.

My 2010 320i is throwing up codes for this very thing and the man says it needs replacing.

Anyone know if it is just the probe that fails? A quick google shows that the probe is about $100, but the probe+plug (sensor?) is closer to $500.

One guy on here ultrasonically cleaned the probe to good effect, so I'm considering trying that in the first instance.

Any help is appreciated.

Cheers

[hakimn09]

hello guys,

having an issue with my bmw e90 2009,
i have hid headlights and led indicators. recently ive had an issue with the led indicators. the front driver side indicators, so the ones located on the headlights. the problem with them is quite strange. THEY WONT TURN OFF. THEY DONT BLINK OR FLASH. They are constantly on. so even when the car is off or on, there on 24/7. i tried to disconnect them and reconnect them but the same issue. they just wont blink or turn off even with the hazards on. the rest of them work except the right side (driver side). i have tried to check the fuses but everything seems to be fine even the relay fuse. tried to disconnect the battery but no difference. it gives an error code. CC-ID 119: Indicator Front Right Failure BUT THE LEDS ALL WORK FINE. wires seem fine. had them over a year and never had any issues. SO IF ANYONE CAN GIVE ANY TIPS OR SUGGESTIONS I WOULD APPRECIATE IT BECAUSE IM UNABLE TO DRIVE FOR OBVIOUS REASONS.

[N43B20A]

Hello again, fellow BMW owner.

My N43 started using quite a lot of oil lately. About 1L every 1000 miles. The mechanic haven't found any leaks. He is assuming that the valve stem seals are faulty? Is this an usual problem of this engine?

Thank you greatly for any replies!

[russmw]

Here's my issue, the car hesitates to start properly if the engine is warmed up, I've seen it do it on cold starts as well but like once in 100 or more cranks, most of the time it's doing it when the engine is warm. This has been going on for three years now, my bet is on leaky injectors since they are all index 3 known to have issues but I'm also scared of changing all 4 injectors on a perfectly working car just to find out that wasn't the problem. So now, moving on to the next thing, so far I've changed the following.

I had problems with warm starts on mine (2009 318i) where it would turn over for longer than normal before starting and sometimes run lumpy for a few seconds. When cold it would start on the button and had no other running issues. Turned out to be the fuel pressure regulator which is built into one of the pumps under the rear seat (passenger side on UK car). This holds the fuel pressure at shutdown and was basically letting fuel drain back\drop pressure in the fuel lines. £100 for a new one and a few hours to fit after watching a load of youtube clips about the job fixed my issue.

thanks

[rrrrrrr]

Hello.
Recently got a 320i e92 6MT as my first car, had 100k kms on it.
Did all the fluids, plugs, oil, filters.
Cars seems fine to me, but I can't really judge. How do I know if it's doing all the 'hesitating' everyone's mentioning? Not sure if the car is consuming much more fuel than it should because it's faulty, or because I'm just a new driver and can't be delicate on the throttle at all. I'm getting 26ish MPG/10,5l/100km, mostly city though.
I recently had a CEL for some kind of Lamda sensor during a spirited drive after an H2 carbon cleaning session. A friend checked it out, said it's some kinda emissions shit and deleted the code.
It passed my country's version of the MOT with flying colours and the techs there even congratulated me for having it in such a good condition...but then again, the standards over here are abysmall, they pass literally everything.

[nathan2601]

Guys can we have a list of all the problems that have been sent in? it would help a lot !!

[N43B20A]

Are there PCV (crankcase breather valve) or valve stem seals problems reported at the N43 engine?

[davidmbell]

New to the e91 world as of last weekend, with our new to us 2012 318d - and so the n47 engine. Been subsequently panicking over all the timing chain horror stories.

Am I right in thinking if our car is a February 2012 build it ought to be less at risk??

[Bmw330]

Does anyone know if BMW have a different part number for the injector 13537589048 for the n43, when it’s replaced as a recall item,

I read in the past the injector price is about half but I can’t find the post where this part number was stated.

(The injector is the same part number when taken out of the box but it’s labelled on the box as another which is for recall/warranty work so it’s cheaper.)

[Mainz-Junior]

Since everyone’s going into their stories, here’s mine, I could also do with some advice as to what to do if anyone has any to give me.

Earlier this year about 8 months ago, I bought my very own 2008 e92 coupe (320i) second hand from a private seller with 43k miles done. Because of the mileage I decided to take my chances and didn’t get warranty/repair insurance. I was super chuffed with this purchase as the car has long been a favourite of mine and had always been a classic in my eyes.

Drove it around for about a month and half and then, the first of many occurrences of the ‘check engine’ light happened. Was getting all the classic symptoms, rough-idle, loss of power, unresponsive accelerator etc…

First time taking it to the dealership, they tell me two of the injectors are gone and that its probably an issue which will cause the other two to fail very soon, something to do with injector overcrystallization or something, but they say all injectors and sparkplugs need replacing, costing £1.4k

Main reasons for going straight to BMW was that I had just moved to a new city and didn’t know anyone or anything there, and me and most people I know have had bad experiences in the past going to backstreet garages.

Everything’s fine for about two and a half months, but then the same issues started happening again, and so I took it back to the dealership the second time, they found the same problems again with the injectors and so they replaced them and the spark-plugs for free as they were under warranty, and even road-tested/MOT’d the vehicle as well but didn’t find anything so sent me on my way.

Fast forward another month and the problems are back AGAIN. However unusually turning the engine off and back on again seemed to make the problem disappear almost instantly, leading me to believe the problem was to do with the cars electronics or injector coils which had not been replaced or touched yet.

Taking it to the same dealership and they once again said it’s an injector problem, being convinced there are deeper issues they tell me that a compression and leak test is necessary, which would cost 150. I agreed as I was convinced that the problem was to do with the electronics as opposed to the engines structural integrity but would be nice to get some reassurance.

Results came back – worst case scenario happened. I gambled on the engine being fine, but that didn’t seem to be the case

Cylinder 2 showing weak compression (7.5) with the others showing 15.5 and they need to strip the engine to investigate further, but this low compression could be what is causing the constant injector failures.

8 hour job = £900, If I went through with the engine stripping, I would be £1k down and we haven’t even found the problem yet or have an idea of what to fix, and judging by the size of the compression difference in the 2nd cylinder, I don’t think I want to pay to know whats happening. They say it could be anything from a dodgy piston head, to a cracked engine block.

Other problems the car has had are: splash shield coming off on the M1, headlight washers not working, (one also coming off on the M1) and the Rocker cover oil leak (fixed)

I am expecting repairs to cost no more than £2k including the diagnosis so about 3k in total. Unfortunately, I am going to have to cut losses with this car as the repairs are becoming impractical and unsustainable, and if the current trend is anything to go by then I am certain that these won’t be the last set of repairs I do on this car.

I’m gutted that the engine is having so many issues despite not even reaching 50k miles or me owning it for solid year, but the same time it was the first time I have bought a second hand car and I will just take it as a lesson learnt at this point, and judging from the posts and experiences from other people here it seems that the 320i has some kind of fundamental design flaw, which is a shame.

If anyone has any advice or recommendations as to whether I should repair the car or try and sell it to salvage some cash then I am all ears at this point.

[Smellybimm]

Nice one

[pajdos1]

Hello,
I decided that share there about story of my N43 318i 2009. I apologize in advice for a long post, but every owner or future-owner must to read!
It was a Touring with 130tkm (81t miles) on lower springs and 18" alu rims.
I bought it from police cop as a top condition and service only in BMW dealer. History service: all injectors index-11, new catalytic converter, new spark pulgs, coil packs and some rubber things in suspens ionsystem...All was fine with a good price...5200Ł. In a short time..4 months...I found an engine oil in cooling system. The cooling system was aerated permanently and sounds like you turn on the dishwasher from your's wife kitchen. Because I don't trust any services and official BMW services not at all, I decided to repair at home. My suspicion was broken cylinder head sealing or cracked head. So, I provided chemical test on CO2 in cooling system - resolution positive. "Okay, that will be easy," I told to myself. Friend gives me information about ISTA, INPA NEWTIS and lent me timing tools. Lets demounting... Resolution?....All cylinder head bolts M10 were overtightened by somebody before and all threads was deadly damaged. Friend-mechanic provided me a cylinder-pressure test with good resolution, changes valve seal rings preventively, contact surface of cylinder head was lightly resurfaced on father's milling machine. Okay and what about these damaged threads? Father is an experienced CNC milling guy and decided use an V-Coil or Helicoil thread repairing set. Bought another drills, tip of one drilling tool was improved for a precisely drilling with hand drilling-machine. In final was made all new M12 threads into the block of engine and use the V-Coil inserts. That made an original diameters of threads with better durability. These inserts was tested by myself for durability and over-tightening. !IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO DAMAGE IT BY OVER-TIGHTENING! Best thing, recommend it all to you. Next thing was...both camshafts had a damaged surface. Bought another from crashed car. Next step - eliminate all carbon from intake valves before mouting cylinder head back. Best way after some experiments is: use some decarboniser additives for petrol (BG, in Czech is well VIF Super Benzin Aditiv), fill the intake chambers to top and let work for 24hours. After 24 hours remove the cleaner and clean the chambers by tough tooth brush, compressed air....tramtadadaaa... valves are like new. Of course, sandblasting is more quickely, but I'm not possible to do it at home. So, cylinder head was mounted back, cooling system cleaned from oil, all works well. Car was going well. But with higher consumption (31mpg). Once winter day during driving the engine was overheated....electric water pump goes out. Next day I bought a new Pierburg, Thermostat too... after replacing there is all ok again. But consumption still bad...BAD!!!! Bad NOX-sensor discovered!! After these all I not agreed with expensive OEM NOX sensor. Bought from Aliexpress, resolded it at home, replaced and coded at home. Great. Works, consumption drops down. But very annoying on this stupid NOX system is regeneration with stupid rege. conditions - drive 110kmh and higher, min. 1/2 in tank and drives for 30 minutes. After some time I discovered the low capacity of NOX-catalytic converter. He fills at maximally 400mg of sulphur and needs to provide regeneration. (new fills about 3000mg of sulphur). Fortunatelly, on www.bimmerprofs.com exsist an NOX emulator, called NOXEM...for N43 i'ts NOXEM-130. Thanks God for it. After replacing the NOX sensor by NOXEM is all okay, consumption is much better (about 47mpg on winter tires), engine has more power and is more agile. In this summer I replaced the timing chain, guide rails and tensioner preventively. Unfortunatelly, after opening the engine, I saw that these replaced camshafts are going to damage again...WHY??!! Woalaa, oil spray tubes over the camshaft were clogged by pieces of carbon. So I remove them, cleaned microholes by old guitar string. Tubes was clogged heavily, so I gives him wellness in a hot solution of sodium hydroxide. That removes all carbon, than I provide test of full-working...passed. Remounting all back and now, for a long time I drives without some problems. Oh, sorry...I forgot that I have N43...From bought the car accelerates bad on 1st gear during clutching...like jumping, very annoying...Sometimes was not possible to accelerate. Long time I was looking for mistake...bad flywheel, bad transmission, bad drive shaft...No, all was okay...There was going out Camshaft sensors!!!...bought VDO/Continental aftermarket...problem solved. Oh...and forgot a dead battery...now is in the car an AGM Exide Ek950. Now I am planning for next spring replace the oil pan gasket (leaks) and rear brakes - include parking brake renovation. Now I have 97 500 miles on the clock. Some pics under. I wish everyone Merry Christmas!

[misuffk]

Has anyone encountered issues with warm start because of the electric water pump? My waterpump is throwing codes 2E84 Missing pump and it's intermintently failing causing fan to go on full speed. The thing is the car doesn't start (cranks but doesn't fire) when water pump turns off or if the coolant temperature is above ~85 C degrees. When it cranks but doesn't start, the cooling fan is blowing on full speed and running for 5-10 minutes. If I try to start the car after fan turned off, it will start.

EDIT: If I disconnect the coolant temp sensor, the engine fires up immediately when hot as well.

[tyrannosaurus69]

So... picked up an E90 320i petrol manual in March of this year, trading in my Fiesta ST, which had run brilliantly for years, as I needed a reliable family car with the birth of my daughter. 25k on the clock, FSH, no prior problems during service, I thought I was making a great purchase. This car has now become an absolute nightmare and is close to pushing me into unmanageable debt.

First the electrical steering rack failed. Breakdown recovery wanted the name of a garage. Nearest dealerships couldn't take it for a over a week so went with a local BMW specialist. £2700. Contacted BMW to see if they could help with goodwill and they refused, saying it would need to be seen by a dealership and it would then be at the discretion of the dealership, but from my description it would be very unlikely that they could help. So my options were either to pay hundreds to get it towed to a dealership who would probably refuse to have it fixed under goodwill, or suck it up and get it fixed locally. I went with the second option, hoping to chalk it up to bad luck.

A month later the engine warning light started flashing and the car started misfiring. Local specialist advises replacement of all coils and plugs at a cost of nearly £600. A week later the EWL comes on again. This time it's injector #1, which needs to be replaced at a cost of nearly £500, with the garage saying if there were any other problems all the injectors would need to be replaced at a total cost of @£1500. Currently still in the garage as despite replacing the injector it's still misfiring.

Total repair costs, assuming the inevitable and all the injectors will need to be replaced, will be @£4,800. I wish I had seen this thread before buying a car that has used all of my family's savings and more.

[Stu667]

Originally Posted by tyrannosaurus69

So... picked up an E90 320i petrol manual in March of this year, trading in my Fiesta ST, which had run brilliantly for years, as I needed a reliable family car with the birth of my daughter. 25k on the clock, FSH, no prior problems during service, I thought I was making a great purchase. This car has now become an absolute nightmare and is close to pushing me into unmanageable debt.

First the electrical steering rack failed. Breakdown recovery wanted the name of a garage. Nearest dealerships couldn't take it for a over a week so went with a local BMW specialist. £2700. Contacted BMW to see if they could help with goodwill and they refused, saying it would need to be seen by a dealership and it would then be at the discretion of the dealership, but from my description it would be very unlikely that they could help. So my options were either to pay hundreds to get it towed to a dealership who would probably refuse to have it fixed under goodwill, or suck it up and get it fixed locally. I went with the second option, hoping to chalk it up to bad luck.

A month later the engine warning light started flashing and the car started misfiring. Local specialist advises replacement of all coils and plugs at a cost of nearly £600. A week later the EWL comes on again. This time it's injector #1, which needs to be replaced at a cost of nearly £500, with the garage saying if there were any other problems all the injectors would need to be replaced at a total cost of @£1500. Currently still in the garage as despite replacing the injector it's still misfiring.

Total repair costs, assuming the inevitable and all the injectors will need to be replaced, will be @£4,800. I wish I had seen this thread before buying a car that has used all of my family's savings and more.

Sorry to hear of your experience. I can't offer any solution as I sold my E91 without ever getting to the bottom of the issue. However, £500 for a single injector seems a little steep to me? I recall a mobile BMW technician replacing one on my drive and it can't have taken him more than 15 minutes, if that.

I am shocked to read all these years later that there doesn't appear to be a definitive fix for the N43 problems, let alone any suggestion as to what the root cause is? The standard suggestion seems to be "replace all the coils and injectors with new" just for the problem to return again?

[tyrannosaurus69]

Originally Posted by Stu667

Sorry to hear of your experience. I can't offer any solution as I sold my E91 without ever getting to the bottom of the issue. However, £500 for a single injector seems a little steep to me? I recall a mobile BMW technician replacing one on my drive and it can't have taken him more than 15 minutes, if that.

I am shocked to read all these years later that there doesn't appear to be a definitive fix for the N43 problems, let alone any suggestion as to what the root cause is? The standard suggestion seems to be "replace all the coils and injectors with new" just for the problem to return again?

Appreciate the sympathy mate; although it won't help with the car, it made me feel a little better! The garage called just after I wrote this post to tell me that it's still misfiring after replacing the injector. and that they will need to carry out "Further investigations", before telling me that I only drive for short journeys, which may have caused some problems. I mean, there is a global pandemic going on...

In regards to the cost, yeah I get the feeling they're taking the piss a little, or more likely a lot. I wouldn't have taken it to this garage, but all of the local garages made up excuses about not being able to take it in when the steering rack went. Finally one garage owner came clean on the phone after saying he couldn't take it in for two weeks, and when I told him two other garages had said exactly the same thing he burst out laughing, before telling me that trying to sort the steering was more effort than it was worth. The garage I went with seemed professional and sympathetic about the cost, so I went with them when the EWL came on. Nearest BMW dealership is miles away and I have my daughter all day, so putting her in a cab there and back is a bit of a no-no.

After a (completely) sleepless night I've decided to part-exchange the car for, probably, a newer Ford, and put the money wasted on the car down to experience . I love the BMW, and it made me smile every time I looked at it in the driveway, but reading this thread has made me realise that it's just going to be a complete money sink, with no guarantee of reliability even if I spend thousands on it. I'm registered disabled and rely on my wife for most of our household income, and my decision to buy this car has cost us every last bit of our savings and placed an even bigger financial burden on her, so feeling pretty shitty about the whole thing.