E90 - Check engine light came up, what can it be?

arleitiss

Hey, so long story short:

I have 318D of 2009, my check engine light just came on.

Symptoms:

-In past 3 months I've noticed that when I am applying too much gas in turns I get DSC light without actual wheels spinning out. (previously I got DSC warning when wheels were actually spinning out and I could feel it losing traction)

-There is sometimes loss of power or sluggish feel in 1st - 2nd gear, while I have gas pedal to full the car is going down in RPM's as it's about to stall but then it catches on and throws me forward like hyperdrive. (occurring more and more regularly as I go)

- High gears are okay, no issues noticed at all.



I thought it's clutch at first but from tests suggested in my thread:
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058062378

Both tests passed.


Any ideas what else can it be? Check engine light came on only today (2-3 months after it started having power loss in 1-2nd gear)

mikeecho

arleitiss wrote: »

Hey, so long story short:

I have 318D of 2009, my check engine light just came on.

Symptoms:

-In past 3 months I've noticed that when I am applying too much gas in turns I get DSC light without actual wheels spinning out. (previously I got DSC warning when wheels were actually spinning out and I could feel it losing traction)

-There is sometimes loss of power or sluggish feel in 1st - 2nd gear, while I have gas pedal to full the car is going down in RPM's as it's about to stall but then it catches on and throws me forward like hyperdrive. (occurring more and more regularly as I go)

- High gears are okay, no issues noticed at all.



I thought it's clutch at first but from tests suggested in my thread:
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058062378

Both tests passed.


Any ideas what else can it be? Check engine light came on only today (2-3 months after it started having power loss in 1-2nd gear)

How about getting the car serviced
. Get someone who knows what there doing involved

I

Andrewf20

mikeecho wrote: »

How about getting the car serviced
. Get someone who knows what there doing involved

I

Not so easy if garages are closed and social distancing in place.

arleitiss

mikeecho wrote: »

How about getting the car serviced
. Get someone who knows what there doing involved

I

Car is being serviced every 6 Months + currently it's not really an option

Atlantic Dawn

I'd check hoses in the engine that none are loose or perished, also check the exhaust for leaks.

Without fault reader and definitive symptoms it's needle in a haystack.

You should look at one of those cheap Bluetooth readers, less than €20 and will generally read most faults.

Waterson

As the other lads have stated, it's difficult to say what the problem could be without more data such as fault codes. A global scan with a decent scantool with a live data logging facility would be the first step.

M7roadrunner

I had an e90 that used to lose power turning right hand bends accompanied by a flash of the dsc light (not always) and traced it to corrosion on the rear driveshafts distorting the reluctor rings for the wheel speed sensors.
Reluctor rings are available but depending on the level of corrosion may not work on the shafts.
I don’t think that it would put on the engine light though, that is probably a separate issue.

arleitiss

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

I'd check hoses in the engine that none are loose or perished, also check the exhaust for leaks.

Without fault reader and definitive symptoms it's needle in a haystack.

You should look at one of those cheap Bluetooth readers, less than €20 and will generally read most faults.

Thank you, will get one of those and see what's going on.
Is there any specific reader I need or do they all work on all cars?

Atlantic Dawn

arleitiss wrote: »

Thank you, will get one of those and see what's going on.
Is there any specific reader I need or do they all work on all cars?

Something like this, it probably won't be able to recode seatbelt warning lights or that but will find Cate most faults and also allows you to clear them.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ELM327-V2-1-OBD2-II-Bluetooth-Diagnostic-Car-Scanner-Tool-Fault-Code-Reader-2-1/262905006630?hash=item3d365c0a26:g:GocAAOSwax5Y0cS-

newmember2

OP...where are you located?

AndyBoBandy

What sort of mileage do you have on it?

My 2006 320d needed new reluctor rings a few years back at around 250,000 km’s. Common issue was DSC light on and loss of cruise control.

As for the loss of power, have you been getting limp mode at all? Used to happen me on acceleration and a new fuel filter solved it.

Like others have said, you really need a diagnostics tool on it to tell you what errors are showing.

If you still need it looked at after restrictions start to be lifted, I’d highly recommend Valdas in Motor Confidence just off the N7, I’ve got a few bits done by him over the years, and he’s highly spoken of in the BMW community.

arleitiss

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

What sort of mileage do you have on it?

My 2006 320d needed new reluctor rings a few years back at around 250,000 km’s. Common issue was DSC light on and loss of cruise control.

As for the loss of power, have you been getting limp mode at all? Used to happen me on acceleration and a new fuel filter solved it.

Like others have said, you really need a diagnostics tool on it to tell you what errors are showing.

If you still need it looked at after restrictions start to be lifted, I’d highly recommend Valdas in Motor Confidence just off the N7, I’ve got a few bits done by him over the years, and he’s highly spoken of in the BMW community.

Car is on 95k miles.

Yeah I've been servicing it every 6k miles or so with Valdas for past 2 years.

And the only issues I've had so far was loss of power in 1st and 2nd gear when accelerating, it feels like gas pedal isn't working but then it picks up and launches forward.

arleitiss

newmember? wrote: »

OP...where are you located?

Saggart

arleitiss

Ordered one of these: https://www.micksgarage.com/d/multimeters-and-electronic-tools/products/3383940/obdii-car-diagnostic-tool-with-large-display-and-code-explanation-multi-lingual



Hopefully it works ok and shows the issue, just gonna hope it's something minor like sensor.

arleitiss

Okay quick update (in case anyone can come up with any suggestions/ideas).

For past 2 months I've driven only maybe 1 km once every 3 days to shop (due to all situation ongoing).

Today I drove about 50 km (just out and about to do few things and get few things) engine works okay, I was pretty much redlining it on every gear and drove it hard to see if any noise will come out of engine (I know it probably would break it further if there was mechanical issue but yeah...)

By the time I got home - check engine light disappeared.

Also I noticed power loss doesn't happen when engine is warm, only seems to happen when I drive out of my estate in morning (on cold engine).


I know there is advice/saying that short trips kill diesels - but would that happen in 2 months of short trips?

Waterson

Your BMW performs self checks on its systems intermittently to check all is well. You may have had a situation where something related to engine management was perceived to be operating outside its parameters. The logic in the computer then illuminated the check-engine light as per its programming. After your drive, whatever was at fault is perceived to be working correctly now, its passed the test, so light is put out.
That is all you or anybody on here can surmise from this situation without further data.
Hopefully that's all it was, a brief glitch caused by environmental conditions as opposed to a permanent fault.

arleitiss

Got code reader.
3 Codes - EGR, Airflow and Exhaust.

Ordered EGR cleaner, will take it out and clean it, my best guess at this point is that it's quite clogged up as I don't drive much.
I drive about total of 20 km per week to work (over entire week, I live quite close to work) and for past 2-3 months maybe 5 km per week tops.

if issue persists - will go to mechanic once everything opens up.

Bunkernumber1

arleitiss wrote: »

Got code reader.
3 Codes - EGR, Airflow and Exhaust.

Ordered EGR cleaner, will take it out and clean it, my best guess at this point is that it's quite clogged up as I don't drive much.
I drive about total of 20 km per week to work (over entire week, I live quite close to work) and for past 2-3 months maybe 5 km per week tops.

if issue persists - will go to mechanic once everything opens up.

as others have said get someone who knows what there are doing.
just to give y a headship tho I'd imagine it's the vacuum valve on the egr.
fitted afew of these think there about 30 quid. by all means clean out the egr but it will be clogged up again quite fast with doing 1 or 2 km aday.
its gona come back to the point tho that not everyone requires a diesel car and people really need to be doing the correct mileage for a diesel car.
anyways if your really stuck I'm only down the road from ya and I wouldnt like to see anyone stuck without there car and especially with the current state the country is in if you really require the car I'd be glad to help