[Zolas Right Boot]

Evening all. Recently joined and have a load of issues which are tainting my ownership experience. So am looking for some help, inspiration and guidance on what to do next.

The Car: 2010 e91 318D Touring 166K miles on the clock, partial service history.

My mate bought this car around 12 months ago when he had lost his job and company car. He ran it until July when I bought it off of him. During his ownership it was 100% reliable, ran like a dream and had no issues. Since then - omg! more later.

We looked at probably 30 or so 1, 3 & 5 Series before he chose this one. It was by far the best of the bunch we saw. It's the Business Edition with i Drive, Sat Nav, full leather interior, 18" wheels, metallic blue colour. Lovely looking vehicle and it drove really well.

The previous owner had photographic evidence that showed it had been fitted with a new timing chain along with the invoice for the work. Modification wise it had DeCat pipe, EGR delete, DPF delete, ReMap. It pulled like a train! Had a lovely noise from the turbo with it boosting from really low rpm.

My mate had new discs and pads fitted on the front, new pads in the back. He did this after having a puncture and thinking it was going to need doing fairly soon. He also had the air con recharged, so its lovely and cool in the summer.

I bought it in July and initially it was fab. Great fun on cross country roads, quick with heaps of torque. Difficult to say just how good it was to drive. Trip computer was showing around 55mpg on a mixture of A & B roads here in the peaks. Rarely did it need to be revved over 2.5K rpm. I did around 300 miles in it in the first couple of weeks no problems.

After a lot of heavy rain where the car was parked up at home I came to use it. Not starting, multiple warning messages on the dash: "DSC failure, DBC failure, FTM system error" etc. It wouldn't start at all. Breakdown / Recovery plugged into his diagnostic tool - 34 errors in total.

It was recovered back to where my mate had bought it from. He diagnosed that it needed a new ECU. A used one was obtained, he had it cloned from the failed item. It still wouldn't start. Further inspection revealed a load of corroded wiring. This was replaced by a different local company. Also included various other ancillary modules. Two months later and £750 I got it back.

I needed to use it for work the following day. So I drove it to the garage to fill up and it sounded different, the whooshing noise from the turbo was less, the exhaust note louder but it went well still. I'd driven it for about 50 miles in the pouring rain on the M1 when it suddenly lost all power, loads of smoke. I got it over to one of the emergency lay-bys (frigging Smart Motorways )

Recovery truck took it back to where it had come from again.

Prognosis: Turbo had failed. The shaft had snapped.

This is where it gets complicated for me. To now it feels like bad luck. I'm told that the Turbo must be exactly the same as what came off of it. It was an IHI unit with Electronic Actuator. I found a couple of places that could recondition the existing unit. I gave him the info and then waited. In fairness I went on holiday for a three weeks. Eventually he tells me that he's got a replacement turbo from a local factor and that the car is fixed - another £730 bill. I have the invoice from the factor for the guarantee.

On driving away I'm not getting the kick up the backside torque that it used to have. It's boosting above 2K rpm and it feels like it's lost about 50bhp. The traction control light flashes up regularly, so it feels like it's misfiring. It would not hold 70mph in 6th or 5th on the M1 on the way home.

I've since identified that the Reluctor Rings are probably badly corroded and this is causing the DTC to kick in. If I turn it off it drives fine. Still a lot less poke than before but is smooth. Car has stood for a couple of months waiting for the turbo to be sorted.

Fella tells me that the Actuator is pre set and doesn't need any adjustment and that maybe the map has been lost. It's been back to him today and he's telling me that the map is still present and that maybe the previous turbo was the wrong one possibly off of a bigger engined car. He's also said that it had no faults recorded.

Even though I know it has new pads all round within the last 500 miles I've got the warning light on to say they need changing. I guess either the sensor has failed or it needs resetting(?) - If it had been plugged in today would this be something that could be cleared easily??

My main question centres around the turbo: is he right that the electronic actuator cannot be adjusted? It is boosting but it feels a lot higher up the rev range. At 70mph in top, which is around 1800rpm, it will not accelerate unless I drop it into 5th. I'm sure it wasn't like that before.

I've noticed that the fuel economy is not great anymore. When I brimmed it previously I'd got a real 46mpg on the tank. Tonight I've brimmed it again and it's 36mpg based over the last 330 miles. The exhaust tailpipe is very sooty. So it seems to be either massively over fuelling or not delivering enough air. My Wife followed me home and said there's a lot of black smoke.

Apologies for the really long post - not something I would normally do.

Any help really appreciated. Thanks Guys

[Zolas Right Boot]

Update on this:

Temporary fix on the DTC issue by removing the NSR sensor and putting a thin washer under the sensor body, effectively moving it slightly further away from the reluctor ring. No DTC issues since then.

I plugged in a code reader and got the following messages:

"483C Boost pressure actuator"
"4139 Zero-gear sensor, signal"
"413F Zero-gear sensor signal"
"4990 Exhaust pressure before turbocharger, plausibility"

I can't see any leaks in the pipes from the Intercooler.

So I am hoping to find the answer to the question about the Electronic Actuator - Are they pre set and do not need adjusting?

Any other thoughts welcomed

[DaveySprocket]

HI mate, I hope these are what you are after?

[DaveySprocket]

Regarding the DTC issues, when I had problems with mine, I'm sure the brakes were actually being applied. It was very erratic, could be fine for ages and then suddenly on a journey, usually when the wife was on the A1, the car would suddenly slow down, and the brakes would come on and off intermittently. Obviously quite dangerous and no fun at all for the driver.

Turning the DTC off would solve the problem temporarily.

I ended up changing both rear drive shafts, as the old ones were so rusty around where the reluctor rings fit. It has been spot on ever since.

btw the wife is away in the car tomorrow morning for a couple of days, so if you want any other pics etc in a hurry, needs to be tonight really

Cheers, Dave

[Zolas Right Boot]

Originally Posted by DaveySprocket

Regarding the DTC issues, when I had problems with mine, I'm sure the brakes were actually being applied. It was very erratic, could be fine for ages and then suddenly on a journey, usually when the wife was on the A1, the car would suddenly slow down, and the brakes would come on and off intermittently. Obviously quite dangerous and no fun at all for the driver.

Turning the DTC off would solve the problem temporarily.

I ended up changing both rear drive shafts, as the old ones were so rusty around where the reluctor rings fit. It has been spot on ever since.

btw the wife is away in the car tomorrow morning for a couple of days, so if you want any other pics etc in a hurry, needs to be tonight really

Cheers, Dave

Thanks Dave. Very much appreciated.

Yours is different to mine. Yours looks to have no adjustment; mine has a locknut in place - cannot work out how to post images just yet. Guess I need an online photo storage solution.

When the weather gets warmer I'll probably getting the drive shafts changed assuming I keep the car that long