BMW 320d

kev1.3s

Hi our 320d packed in Friday eve without any warning all of a sudden it lost a cylinder and because of the vibration it cracked it's manifold so lots of black smoke under the hood, my mechanic seemed to think that it had gone down on one injector which wouldn't be too bad I'd suppose but I had all the injectors done about a year ago so I'm not so sure! trouble is that when he tried to test the injectors he could find no major difference in the performance between any of them which would leave me with the assumption that they are all bolloxed ( highly unlikely ) or worse again the engine has a more sinister problem i.e. swirl valves or some other common 320d failure, anybody here have any experience with these and be able to shed some light on this for me?

Trhiggy83

kev1.3s wrote: »

Hi our 320d packed in Friday eve without any warning all of a sudden it lost a cylinder and because of the vibration it cracked it's manifold so lots of black smoke under the hood, my mechanic seemed to think that it had gone down on one injector which wouldn't be too bad I'd suppose but I had all the injectors done about a year ago so I'm not so sure! trouble is that when he tried to test the injectors he could find no major difference in the performance between any of them which would leave me with the assumption that they are all bolloxed ( highly unlikely ) or worse again the engine has a more sinister problem i.e. swirl valves or some other common 320d failure, anybody here have any experience with these and be able to shed some light on this for me?

What year is it? < 05 and it could be the swirl flaps. How many miles are on it ?

kev1.3s

02 and 150,000 miles that was what I was thinking too.

Trhiggy83

kev1.3s wrote: »

02 and 150,000 miles that was what I was thinking too.

Swirl flaps or turbo would be my guess. the swirl flaps can take out your turbo as well if they go. What horse power is your car, if its 136hp the swirl flaps are not an issue on these cars. Its the 150 hp car that has these issues.

n97 mini

Wow, first time I've heard of a misfire cracking a manifold. Those 2.0 litre diesel BMW engines never cease to amaze.

I'm not sure about diesels, but if swapping injectors has no effect on a petrol enigine, i.e. the same cylinder is still not firing, it means the ECU (which drives the injectors) is faulty.

PaulKK

Trhiggy83 wrote: »

Swirl flaps or turbo would be my guess. the swirl flaps can take out your turbo as well if they go. What horse power is your car, if its 136hp the swirl flaps are not an issue on these cars. Its the 150 hp car that has these issues.

02 would definately be a facelift and would have flaps.

OP you said it yourself, cracked manifold, doesn't sound good I'm afraid.

kev1.3s

Yup it's the 150 bhp engine, turbo's fine you can hear it spool up still, what is the likely cost if it were the flaps?

PaulKK

kev1.3s wrote: »

Yup it's the 150 bhp engine, turbo's fine you can hear it spool up still, what is the likely cost if it were the flaps?

New engine

kev1.3s

Taught as much I have a 99 318 that I took out of retirement until I get it sorted and the fuel economy is frightening so I'd suppose I'll have to do what it takes I'll let you's know how I get on!

kev1.3s

Quick update on this, all the injectors have been checked and found to be in good order but the car is still missing on one cylinder, however only at tick over when the car is under load it runs on all four has anybody any experience of something similar?

n97 mini

Are you sure it's firing under load? Was it checked with a stethoscope?

kev1.3s

anyway the end result was that the spindle from the swirl flap on piston no. 3 got taken into the engine so had to go and get another engine today:(:(
Thanks for all you'r help anyway guys.

bazz26

balls.

Nonoperational

Make sure the swirl flaps are gone from the new engine!

x in the city

kev1.3s wrote: »

anyway the end result was that the spindle from the swirl flap on piston no. 3 got taken into the engine so had to go and get another engine today:(:(
Thanks for all you'r help anyway guys.

can BMW not be made pay for all the shoddy defects rife in the 320d models...blown turbos, engines blowing up, flaps going into the engine...wtf

I would be galled to buy a new engine for crap manufacturing issues...

This is absolutely no different than the lawsuit against nvidia for their f**ed up graphics cards in millions of laptops world wide...

coolbeans

x in the city wrote: »

can BMW not be made pay for all the shoddy defects rife in the 320d models...blown turbos, engines blowing up, flaps going into the engine...wtf

I would be galled to buy a new engine for crap manufacturing issues...

This is absolutely no different than the lawsuit against nvidia for their f**ed up graphics cards in millions of laptops world wide...

Beemer diesels have no lasting in them at all. That is a fact. I have heard and seen too many sob stories to think any different. I am not saying they are unique in this regard but I do think that they are significantly worse than average. Fanboys like bmw535d boast about their superior power output compared to competitors but as far as I can see the trade off for this is reliability. I've seen several threads on here asking about buying a diesel BMW with around 100k miles on the clock. A money pit every time if you ask me. EVERY TIME. Any savings on fuel will soon be eaten up by maintenance. Better off getting a big V6 or V8 if you think about it. You'll probably come out on top savings wise when compared to a delicate diesel.

sockpuppets

Are modern BMW's still suffering from this unreliability? I was thinking of going for a 2008 320D coupe, but all i ever seem to read are these horror stories. Are they really that bad?

Gophur

coolbeans wrote: »

Beemer diesels have no lasting in them at all. That is a fact. .............I've seen several threads on here asking about buying a diesel BMW with around 100k miles on the clock. A money pit every time if you ask me. ......

Pure BS.
They are great units and will fail if poorly maintained. Ill informed advice, like that quoted, is useless. A properly maintained unit will cover several hundred thousand km.

Can't beat generalisations, eh ?

coolbeans

Gophur wrote: »

Pure BS.
They are great units and will fail if poorly maintained. Ill informed advice, like that quoted, is useless. A properly maintained unit will cover several hundred thousand km.

Can't beat generalisations, eh ?

I call your BS. I've seen too many babied BMW diesels fail early. They break. Fact.

kev1.3s

Hi guys I have an update on this, it was as suspected swirl flap failure so after the purchase of a E 1200 engine and almost E 900 in various parts I now have a good engine back in the car, trouble is that the car will fire up almost instantly and seems to run smooth for a couple of seconds before coughing and spluttering before cut out! Has anybody any experience with these engines and knows if there is something simple we may have missed here?

Max Power1

Gophur wrote: »

Pure BS.
They are great units and will fail if poorly maintained. Ill informed advice, like that quoted, is useless. A properly maintained unit will cover several hundred thousand km.

Can't beat generalisations, eh ?

+1

a mate of mine has a 2000 320d e46 with over 220k miles on her and still goin strong.

Then again its been serviced and maintained as per the book.

Sofiztikated

A friend of mine has his maintained and serviced as per book, and has endless hassle with it.

Losing power.
Swirl flaps replaced.
Losing power.
EGR bypassed.
Losing power.
Many sensors and the like.
Losing power.

Only does it when its warm. Will start cold, and have all the power needed. About 4 miles out the road, it'll lose power, and limp home.

They are good machines, but they have their hassles.

coolbeans

Max Power1 wrote: »

+1

a mate of mine has a 2000 320d e46 with over 220k miles on her and still goin strong.

Then again its been serviced and maintained as per the book.

As I said previously, I've actually seen three of these fail in a very expensive fashion and all were babied. I'd be very surprised if your friend didn't have to replace something expensive over that 220k but I suppose it is possible. It's no generalisation. In my opinion BMW diesels are a false economy especially as a second hand buy with around 80-90k miles on the clock.
Just for the record I do not work in the car industry and have no axe to grind but I've chanced upon too many sob stories online and in daily life for this to be a coincidence.

r3nu4l

Gophur wrote: »

Can't beat generalisations, eh ?

Doesn't stop the TDiddlyEyeDI haters coming out in force on other threads. I note they are distinctly absent in this BMW thread...why's that I wonder? :rolleyes: Haven't seen any one refer to the BMW diesels as 'Daaysil engines' either.

kev, do you mind me asking who installed the new engine and how experienced they are with BMW engines? IMO, while it'll cost an even greater fortune it would be a good idea to get this done by a BMW mechaninc or at least some diagnostics done by a BMW qualified technician.

kev1.3s

The mechanic that installed the engine would be quite competent but it does look like ill be going to the main dealer at this stage.

kev1.3s

Sofiztikated wrote: »

A friend of mine has his maintained and serviced as per book, and has endless hassle with it.

Losing power.
Swirl flaps replaced.
Losing power.
EGR bypassed.
Losing power.
Many sensors and the like.
Losing power.

Only does it when its warm. Will start cold, and have all the power needed. About 4 miles out the road, it'll lose power, and limp home.

They are good machines, but they have their hassles.

That is most likely a problem with his injectors which to be fair is more common here because of the quality of our fuel and also a tendency of some service station owners to use washed diesel.

kev1.3s

Back on the black stuff at last faulty fuel pressure regulator was the problem, at least now I. Can put this nightmare behind me!!! Well at least until next time.

Donegal09

plenty of bmw haters here and i bet that most of them have never drove a diesel bmw ! My father was a VW man for years until he drove a 320d. Ours is 2003, 150k miles on it now, and doing around 500 a week no bother to it. We have it 5 years now and al we have put into it is a steering bushing. It gets its regular service from a qualified BMW mechanic. The engine still gives plenty of torque and its treated well. Id like to know more about the valve problem though? I seen a company that replace these swirl valves .. anyone ever replaced them?

s14driftking

Donegal09 wrote: »

plenty of bmw haters here and i bet that most of them have never drove a diesel bmw ! My father was a VW man for years until he drove a 320d. Ours is 2003, 150k miles on it now, and doing around 500 a week no bother to it. We have it 5 years now and al we have put into it is a steering bushing. It gets its regular service from a qualified BMW mechanic. The engine still gives plenty of torque and its treated well. Id like to know more about the valve problem though? I seen a company that replace these swirl valves .. anyone ever replaced them?

id get your mechanic to take them out asap before they fall into the engine
u can replace them with blanks and is not a big job
there is someone on bmw driver .net that supplies and fits them for about 100 euro

r3nu4l

Donegal09 wrote: »

plenty of bmw haters here and i bet that most of them have never drove a diesel bmw !

You're joking right? I sometimes think this is a BMW forum there's so many BMW fanbois here!

However even the fanbois seem to dislike the BMW 316 and 318, with some of them saving their most fervent hatred for the 1-series The 320 seems to be tolerated well enough by the e39, e46, e129745... fans*

BTW, old thread is old.




*Not being a BMW fan at all (hate most of the interiors) I've no idea what these e numbers stand for.

166man

r3nu4l wrote: »

You're joking right? I sometimes think this is a BMW forum there's so many BMW fanbois here!

However even the fanbois seem to dislike the BMW 316 and 318, with some of them saving their most fervent hatred for the 1-series The 320 seems to be tolerated well enough by the e39, e46, e129745... fans*

BTW, old thread is old.




*Not being a BMW fan at all (hate most of the interiors) I've no idea what these e numbers stand for.

Nah mate this is Skoda territory right here...