BMW E46 Engine Vibration

AG918

Car in question is a BMW E46 320 petrol.

Yesterday afternoon I cleaned the large plastic parts of the engine very carefully using Auto Glym engine cleaner and a damp cloth to wipe afterwards. Took it for a short drive yesterday evening and everything was fine. Today I started the car and the engine vibrates at idle. The engine light has come on too.

Any idea what could be wrong?

jimgoose

Damp in one or more of the coil-over-plug units?

Alanstrainor

Could be lots of things really, perhaps the MAF also. You can test this easily by unplugging it and seeing if it fixes your idling issues.

AG918

Thanks for the replies, think it could be water around the spark plugs Don't have the tools to access them myself unfortunately, fearing the worst now..any idea what an indy would charge if they needed to be replaced?

Alanstrainor

AG918 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, think it could be water around the spark plugs Don't have the tools to access them myself unfortunately, fearing the worst now..any idea what an indy would charge if they needed to be replaced?

It would be difficult to get water anywhere near there with the engine cover on to be honest...

Try the MAF first, google it, you can test it by simply unplugging it and the car should start to run smoothly again. This however isn't a fix, only a temporary measure.

Spark plugs are cheap enough, not a big job for any mechanic. Wouldn't cost too much. But I suspect it's not your issue.

tossy

You would be surprised where water will reach, i left my bonnet open in a rain shower once and blew a coilpack (engine covers etc on) if you cour coil packs or even the HT leads were on the old side or degraded then it would take very very little water to short them out and blow the coilpack.

AG918

Alanstrainor wrote: »

It would be difficult to get water anywhere near there with the engine cover on to be honest...

Try the MAF first, google it, you can test it by simply unplugging it and the car should start to run smoothly again. This however isn't a fix, only a temporary measure.

I tried this and there was no change, not sure if I did it correctly though. I'm not allowed to post links or pictures here for some reason, can't even attach an image? I unplugged the part that I think is the MAF, started the car and it was still vibrating. Turned the engine off then.

Kicking myself for wanting to clean up the engine now

burke027

Sounds like a coil to me see them day in day out across the bmw petrol range. Looking about 80k for the coil couple of mins to fix.
I'd guide u through checking which it is except you will probably end up not understanding r doing something wrong. Where u located
You will also need diagnostics to turn the light also.and if it isn't a coil you will need to see what it is buy my money is coil and it's a coincidence

AG918

burke027 wrote: »

Sounds like a coil to me see them day in day out across the bmw petrol range. Looking about 80k for the coil couple of mins to fix.
I'd guide u through checking which it is except you will probably end up not understanding r doing something wrong. Where u located
You will also need diagnostics to turn the light also.and if it isn't a coil you will need to see what it is buy my money is coil and it's a coincidence

Was a coil alright, took it to a garage to sort out, thanks for the replies everyone.