e46 broke down won't start

adocholiday · 22-02-2015 9:07pm #1

Hi all.

Bit of a read but please bear with me:

Car was down to the warning light on petrol. Put half a tank in at the M4 Apple Green at Enfield. Confirmed it was petrol so no mis-fuel here.

Stopped at the toll bridge on the M4 and on taking off there was a noticeable loss of power but it seemed to resolve itself. On exiting the M4 onto the M50, the same thing happened again. I went down in gear and revs and when trying to accelerate the car was struggling to go.

Another few miles down the road then the car lost all power and I rolled onto the hard shoulder. I turned off the ignition and when I tried to restart it it wouldn't kick in. Car is turning over fine just not firing.

The AA came out and the mechanic reckons that the fuel pump is gone, but that was just his opinion. There was one error code on his diagnostic: "P1204+ Manufacturer specific code". I can't find anything online that matches this code.

Would anyone agree that this is likely the fuel pump? Anything else to look for? Anyone recommend a mechanic? I'm in the Leopardstown area and have to get the car towed so I suppose I have to stay local enough.

mullingar · 22-02-2015 9:14pm

A quick Google has P1204 as injector #4 faulty but not specifically for BMW.

Edit,

This site has P1204 as a faulty lambda sensor
http://www.prologik.de/bmw-fehlercodes/

adocholiday · 22-02-2015 9:19pm

Would a faulty lambda cause my issue? Or would that error code more likely be thrown as a result of lack of fuel/misfire?

Alanstrainor · 22-02-2015 9:39pm

I was thinking fuel pump the whole time reading your post...

burke027 · 23-02-2015 11:34am

And the e46 the fuel pump is most definitely your problem done hundreds of them down the years actually only done one last week so I'd go with that there simple to change ten Mins work

q85dw7osi4lebg · 23-02-2015 11:37am

Own an e46 myself. Not the same, but I was driving the missus TT on the m50 a few months and the exact same symptoms arrose as yourself. As it's fairly new it was a main dealer job, ended up being the Fuel Pump and Injector 4. Costly fix.

adocholiday · 23-02-2015 12:29pm

Trenton Witty Sugarcoat wrote: »

Own an e46 myself. Not the same, but I was driving the missus TT on the m50 a few months and the exact same symptoms arrose as yourself. As it's fairly new it was a main dealer job, ended up being the Fuel Pump and Injector 4. Costly fix.

Well if the error code being thrown is right and the cylinder is shot then I'm not looking forward to the bill. It's with a mechanic now so all I can do is hope for the best! Thanks for the responses everyone I appreciate it

Alanstrainor · 23-02-2015 1:01pm

adocholiday wrote: »

Well if the error code being thrown is right and the cylinder is shot then I'm not looking forward to the bill. It's with a mechanic now so all I can do is hope for the best! Thanks for the responses everyone I appreciate it

The fuel pump isn't particularly pricey, not sure about the rest. Best of luck!

q85dw7osi4lebg · 23-02-2015 3:36pm

adocholiday wrote: »

Well if the error code being thrown is right and the cylinder is shot then I'm not looking forward to the bill. It's with a mechanic now so all I can do is hope for the best! Thanks for the responses everyone I appreciate it

50% of the total bill was labour so if you can source the part and read a few forums / find a good indy it might not be so bad.

dieselbug · 23-02-2015 5:55pm

P1204 BMW Heated Oxygen Sensor (HO2S) 2, bank 1 - circuit malfunction.

Cat monitoring sensor.

Possibly a historical code. did he clear it? did it return?

As others said probably the fuel pump,

Alanstrainor · 23-02-2015 6:51pm

All this talk has me pricing up a new pump...

adocholiday · 23-02-2015 11:14pm

So confirmed it was the fuel pump. New pump was €145. Mechanic charged an hour and a half labour which I'm dubious about after reading various things online but I didn't bother questioning it. Just glad to have it fixed and going again! He said the code was a result of the pump failing while the car was running. No fuel to the injector when it was expecting it so threw an error. Thanks to all again.

pa990 · 24-02-2015 12:37am

adocholiday wrote: »

So confirmed it was the fuel pump. New pump was €145. Mechanic charged an hour and a half labour which I'm dubious about after reading various things online but I didn't bother questioning it. Just glad to have it fixed and going again! He said the code was a result of the pump failing while the car was running. No fuel to the injector when it was expecting it so threw an error. Thanks to all again.

its a 20min job (actually come to think of it.. its a 10 min job)

e46 broke down won't start

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