BMW 318 CI Engine question?

Solarpitch

Hey Guys,

I was driving home today an noticed an orange engine light come on which when I looked it up in the book said that the "exhaust emissions have deteriorated" and with that the car engine seems to be chugging or vibrating.

Just wondering how serious this could be as I live in Dublin and need to make a trip to Tipperary tomorrow. Should I get it checked by BMW asap?

Cheers

rebel.ranter

Probably a Lambda sensor gone. This is a sensor that measures the oxygen levels in the exhaust. That's the most likely cause.

There are about €130 spurious, easy to replace if you know what you are doing.
I don't think I woudl be driving it on the journey you are talking about. The car may go into "limp home" mode, which would not be fun. Others might have differing opinions.

Oh and it doesn't need to go to a dealer either, there are other options. As long as the garage has some diagnostic equipment then they should be able to sort the problem. Most independent garages have invested in some diagnostic equipment.

In fact I would wager that for this particular issue overall (parts & labour) it would cost you twice as much in the main dealer.

Myrddin

Just incase the rebel.ranters intuitive diagnosis proves incorrect, you'll be looking at an ignition coil failure (if by chugging you mean the car is misfiring and down on power). A lambda sensor failure wont cause a localised misfire like a failed ignition coil will. Quite a common fault on E46 bm's, and not too expensive to do either.

E92

The MAF could be gone, that's a very common fault with BMWs(though AFAIK that wouldn't explain why the car is chugging). Symptoms of MAF failure include the engine vibrating at idle, as well as not idling properly.

I agree with the others though about not driving the car to Tipp. If it went into "limp home" mode then it would practically not move and besides when a warning light like that one comes on then the more driving you do, the more likely you are to cause damage to your engine/catalytic converter etc, damage that could be extremely expensive to put right.

rebel.ranter

Fair point enter now/e92, it could be a coil/MAF that causes the chugging & poor emissions readings at lambda sensor.

Solarpitch

Cheers,

The car is still under warranty from BMW so I might bring it up to them in the morning/ Tuesday morning. Hopefully its covered under the warranty, but yeah.. I probably should not drive it to Tipp and get it sorted first.

Thanks again guys