My car is broken: Diagnosis & costs help

Cookie_Monster

Was driving home from college last night and something in the engine broke.
E92 08 320i m-sport (petrol)

I am guessing ignition coil.
Began running very rough and noisy, a lot of vibration felt, notably through the gear leaver. Engine struggled at idle but never actually cut out. Got it home safely anyway with a bit of heal toeing to keep the revs up .

Started up this morning to see, same issue. very very rough idle, though did improve marginally after 10 secs or so (I assume this was the ECU doing it's best to cope). Turned it off after about 20 secs.

Anyway its in the garage (towed there) now so waiting for a call with the bad news, assuming it is ignition coil any idea how much, or what else it may be.

I've heard ignition coil is a known fault on these, but at 2.5 years and <50k km I' still pretty annoyed at it. Out of warranty too. It was due a service it 2200km so I asked the garage to do that while it was there anyway.

Thoughts?

PS thanks Anan1 for letting me back to post this

PaddyFagan

Hi

This came up before: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055872069 - hopefully yours won't have the follow on issues, but....

R.O.R wrote: »

Not sure if there is anything on Google yet, but it's a major issue - especially as we have a load of late 07, early 08 BMW petrols on fleet.

They start by chugging, which is the first sign a coil is about to blow. Take it in to BMW and they'll replace that coil. You might get a few weeks out of it until another coil goes at which point BMW will replace all the coils. Another couple of weeks and the injectors will start to pack up and gradually need replacing, along with a sensor (knock sensor ??)

I think all our ED 316, 318 & 320's have had this issue and it's also affecting a late 07 523i (all injectors replaced twice, coils at least that amount of times). Driving a 5 cylinder 5 Series is no fun at all.

I was picking up a part in Frank Keane's last Thursday and there was a woman at service with the same problem - service advisor was telling her they were going to replace the first coil.

If it does start chugging then BMW assist won't collect the car, you have to get it to a dealer. As it's an international problem, the coils are on back order (bit like Audi/VW in 2003) so it might take a while for it to come in.

A 2008 316i died under the driver at 120km/h in the outside lane of the M7 last week - no servo assist on the brakes, no power steering, so he's refusing to take that back and according to the dealer it's with, there are no faults logged in the ECU for it.

I checked with an ex. collegue in a leasing firm I used to work in, and they are having the exact same issues with a lot of those cars too.

Hopefully it either won't happen, or it will start as a simple misfire for your good lady, without the car dying completely.

It does sound like a coil pack - I'd push the dealer to see if they can do anything for you even out of warentee - it's a known issue with the 2007 build year Efficent Dynamics 2l petrols (318i, 320i). (or so a BMW dealer told me!)

I hope you get it sorted out without turning into a major issue....

Paddy

itarumaa

I had quite same symptoms in Volvo S40 and it was the coil,

there are two coils in that car and I made an educated guess which one to change and it was right one:)

61e was the price of the coil.

Cookie_Monster

PaddyFagan wrote: »

Hi

This came up before: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055872069 - hopefully yours won't have the follow on issues, but....


It does sound like a coil pack - I'd push the dealer to see if they can do anything for you even out of warentee - it's a known issue with the 2007 build year Efficent Dynamics 2l petrols (318i, 320i). (or so a BMW dealer told me!)

I hope you get it sorted out without turning into a major issue....

Paddy

ah feck
I had a search on here last night but didn't see that one.
I'll see what they say when they ring me and push htem one it being a known issue

Cookie_Monster

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Out of warranty too.

Is it 12 months since you bought this ? Time flies and all if so.

Cookie_Monster

RoverJames wrote: »

Is it 12 months since you bought this ? Time flies and all if so.

bought in Jan.
6 month dealer warranty
BMW warranty ran out in April - got on to them about the extended warranty, were supposed to send me a pack out with details, never did and I forgot about it

Tragedy

Does it have a FBSH? If so, and you end up replacing all coil packs, do get in touch with BMW Ireland and don't be afraid of the Small Claims Court.

Just because somethings out of warranty, doesn't mean it's out of it's expected lifespan

PaddyFagan

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

ah feck
I had a search on here last night but didn't see that one.
I'll see what they say when they ring me and push htem one it being a known issue

Just to give you a more positive comment - my Golf Plus blew a coil pack a few months out of warentee - brought to my local VW garage, replaced FOC "It shouldn't have failed" - Hopefully, you'll have an equally pain free experience and it'll end there!

Paddy

R.O.R

Took my Father in laws 08 320i SE in to Frank Keane's last month.

First step is NOX regeneration. They had it a couple of days and they have to drive it around 100km's.

Don't let them try and charge you for parts, but it's circa €150 for diagnosis (have to pay).

Waiting for next step which is coil to happen.

PM me if you want any specifics.

Cookie_Monster

Tragedy wrote: »

Does it have a FBSH? If so, and you end up replacing all coil packs, do get in touch with BMW Ireland and don't be afraid of the Small Claims Court.

Just because somethings out of warranty, doesn't mean it's out of it's expected lifespan

Yes, I know, good old "fit for Purpose"
It has partial SH by BMW, well only one previous service anyway & the delivery checks. I reckon there should have been at least one other service in there but it is not recorded. Is 25k km between services normal, seems high to me. Clock has 2,200km to next service @ 50k km

PaddyFagan

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Yes, I know, good old "fit for Purpose"
It has partial SH by BMW, well only one previous service anyway & the delivery checks. I reckon there should have been at least one other service in there but it is not recorded. Is 25k km between services normal, seems high to me. Clock has 2,200km to next service @ 50k km

Seems about right to me - the E90 has the dynamic service interval stuff - I think it works out between 20k and 30k km (provided you're not doing tiny mileage)

Paddy

Tragedy

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Yes, I know, good old "fit for Purpose"
It has partial SH by BMW, well only one previous service anyway & the delivery checks. I reckon there should have been at least one other service in there but it is not recorded. Is 25k km between services normal, seems high to me. Clock has 2,200km to next service @ 50k km

No that's right, they use longlife(fully synth) oil to extend the servicing intervals. Be nice, polite but if necessary, don't back down - they'll blink first!

VolvoMan

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

bought in Jan.
6 month dealer warranty
BMW warranty ran out in April - got on to them about the extended warranty, were supposed to send me a pack out with details, never did and I forgot about it

Was the 6 month dealer warranty not on top of the BMW one, no?

Cookie_Monster

Just got a call from them there, an injector went, nothing else wrong seemingly. Its being driven at the moment and will be further checked when it gets back to confirm everything is ok.

Cookie_Monster

Was talking to them there again. All covered under warranty :D:D

Must double check my paperwork, didn't think it was still going, or maybe they were just being decent. Wasn't going to argue it either way.

Cookie_Monster

still dragging on.

Rang yesterday and they said they installed and tested new injector but weren't happy that it was running correctly and need to keep it to test again this morning. Test this morning and still not happy. they drove the car 30km / 30 minutes this afternoon and still off. Need to keep it again tonite, drive it again and will get back to me in the morning.

any ideas what should be involved in installing and setting up an injector, seems a bit roundabout to me?

Cookie_Monster

got it back today, good as new (touches wood)

just the injector in the end, and a bit of time getting the settings on it correctly squared up with the ECU etc, all covered by warranty so all it cost was petrol from the test runs

Thanks to all who provided feedback and help, hopefully it'll be a while before I need to ask again

R.O.R

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Thanks to all who provided feedback and help, hopefully it'll be a while before I need to ask again

Hopefully it will.

A collegue is on his way back from Carlow with a 316i to go in to Frank Keane's for the 2nd time. That wouldn't be too bad expect it's already been in to Conlon's 3 or 4 times before that.

Same issue as the rest - sounds like it's in limp home at the moment (glad I'm not bringing it back from Carlow). Hopefully we'll get a new set of injectors this time.

daingeanrob

great result!! hope it goes well for you

PaddyFagan

Great result - hopefully you're sorted now.

Paddy