BMW E90 Diesel - Running on 3 Cyclinders

Br4d · 10 Sep 2012 at 14:58

Hello,

As title says, BMW 320D E90 seemed to be running rough intermittently, and now it seems like its definitely running with 1 cylinder down.

Car still drives but not properly and when idle the car vibrates a lot more than usual due to the imbalance caused by it running on 3 cylinders.

Had a look around but any ideas on what it could be? Theres no smoke, the 3 cylinders which are running are running fine (No other performance issues)

Thanks!

pepsilol · 10 Sep 2012 at 15:01

Assuming you haven't swallowed a swirl flap. Maf?

Tbh your car is so new its stupid not to connect DIS or autologic and hve it run a test schedule on the codes. The days of guessing what's wrong are long gone you know...

Br4d · 10 Sep 2012 at 15:11

Theres no noise of banging from the swirl flap being inside the cylinder so i've kinda ruled that out, other than the vibration on idle and the performance issue the car sounds the same and is relatively normal.

Thats the thing... There are no lights or any warnings on the iDrive system at all. System check comes back as 'OK' :S

pepsilol · 10 Sep 2012 at 15:13

idrive and a diagnostic plug in are 2 completely different things that look at completely different areas of the car...

Br4d · 10 Sep 2012 at 15:18

pepsilol said:
idrive and a diagnostic plug in are 2 completely different things that look at completely different areas of the car...

But wouldn't an error like this throw up a Engine management light or something?

So what your saying is even without any warning/Engine management light there still may be faults listed in the diagnostic system which can only be viewed by plugging in a diagnostic kit?

pepsilol · 10 Sep 2012 at 15:31

Yes pretty much, your iDrive is designed to throw up a fault when things get real serious, at the moment your car is is a bit messed up, but it isn't serious and it isn't enough of an issue yet.

I bet you have a couple of codes in your car that need pulling.

Regarding the engine management light, these lights have preset criteria that has to be met to throw up the light. Eg for an EML to come on due to an emmisisons issue, a normal EGR filters 15g of crap, the EML comes on when the EGR starts filtering less than 5g of crap and a code is storedwhen the car filters less than 10g of crap. Your car currently may only filter 7g of crap and the EML light will not come on either, however a code will be stored.

You may notice the car smoking more when booting it, and you will never know the cause unless your EML comes on or you plug it in to get that code. So you either wait for it to get properly knackered, or you look now..

Br4d · 10 Sep 2012 at 15:54

pepsilol said:
Yes pretty much, your iDrive is designed to throw up a fault when things get real serious, at the moment your car is is a bit messed up, but it isn't serious and it isn't enough of an issue yet.

I bet you have a couple of codes in your car that need pulling.

Regarding the engine management light, these lights have preset criteria that has to be met to throw up the light. Eg for an EML to come on due to an emmisisons issue, a normal EGR filters 15g of crap, the EML comes on when the EGR starts filtering less than 5g of crap and a code is storedwhen the car filters less than 10g of crap. Your car currently may only filter 7g of crap and the EML light will not come on either, however a code will be stored.

You may notice the car smoking more when booting it, and you will never know the cause unless your EML comes on or you plug it in to get that code. So you either wait for it to get properly knackered, or you look now..

Ahh, Cheers for that mate.

ill have to get it checked ASAP, But going from what i told you what would you say it is/sounds like?

s0ck · 10 Sep 2012 at 15:56

Injector or flywheel would make it shake loads?

Br4d · 10 Sep 2012 at 16:13

s0ck said:
Injector or flywheel would make it shake loads?

I Thought it was a Flywheel at first when it was off and on randomly, but now its running bad constantly its definitely running on 3 Cylinders,
I think its an Injector too...

Br4d · 10 Sep 2012 at 17:12

Anyone else have any idea what they think it might be?

Django x2 · 10 Sep 2012 at 18:02

Are you sure it's running on 3 cylinders and not the balance shaft woodruf key? That would cause a similar experience. That, and running on 3 cyclinders would produce excess smoke and sever lack of power. The balance shaft was prone to going bye bye on the M47 units, not sure about the E90 variant.

Br4d · 10 Sep 2012 at 19:47

Lucero said:
Are you sure it's running on 3 cylinders and not the balance shaft woodruf key? That would cause a similar experience. That, and running on 3 cyclinders would produce excess smoke and sever lack of power. The balance shaft was prone to going bye bye on the M47 units, not sure about the E90 variant.

would that give you lack of performance?

Theres no smoke and there is a servere lack of power. i think the reason for the no smoke is that the injector may be blocked and not using any fuel hence the no excess fuel to be burnt making no smoke.

Br4d · 13 Sep 2012 at 23:40

Update:

Had the BMW Put on a Diagnostic machine, All results came back as normal with no Faults listed.

Just to recap, other than it running rough on idle there is definitely a performance issue and the economy is definitely being affected, but there is still no smoke or RPM Variation. Seems to sit nicely at 900rpm ish on idle. and doesn't stutter while being rev'ed ether...

Any other suggestions? :S

s0ck · 14 Sep 2012 at 07:34

Under warranty? Stamp your foot and tell them to do their job?

Maz · 14 Sep 2012 at 07:50

EGR? Air leak?

Dangerous Dave · 14 Sep 2012 at 07:58

My guess would be an injector either blocked or the mechanical side of it has failed which may explain the lack of fault code . Does it have a DPF ? Could explain the lack of smoke even if the engine is chucking it out.

Did BMW not have any other suggestions ? or was it just a generic fault reader used ?

Br4d · 14 Sep 2012 at 08:39

s0ck said:
Under warranty? Stamp your foot and tell them to do their job?

Unfortunately its an 2008 so its out of warranty.

Maz said:
EGR? Air leak?

Took the EGR out and Cleaned it, after seeing some of the really blocked ones online i was expecting the worse but it was super clean. Only had a light layer of dust which i cleaned anyway. Had it checked for an Air Leak too and there was no problems there.

Dangerous Dave said:
My guess would be an injector either blocked or the mechanical side of it has failed which may explain the lack of fault code . Does it have a DPF ? Could explain the lack of smoke even if the engine is chucking it out.

Did BMW not have any other suggestions ? or was it just a generic fault reader used ?

It was just an AA Crypton Diagnostic Kit. The Injector seems like the cause. Im not sure if it has or not. its the E90 with the newer engine (07 onwards with the straight out the back exhaust instead of the older turnt down one) if that makes any difference?

Thanks for the Suggestions so far guys, Anymore would be appreciated!

pepsilol · 14 Sep 2012 at 09:20

I'm so confused with this thread.

In the last 4 days you could have just had the codes read and have it sorted by now.

Why are you playing this guessing game ?!

Get a proper diagnostic computer onto it FFS!

Br4d · 14 Sep 2012 at 09:25

pepsilol said:
I'm so confused with this thread.

In the last 4 days you could have just had the codes read and have it sorted by now.

Why are you playing this guessing game ?!

Get a proper diagnostic computer onto it FFS!

Ive had it read, There isn't any fault codes. Hence the guessing game!

[TW]Fox · 14 Sep 2012 at 09:25

Exactly what pepsilol said. Take it somewhere with the correct equipment to diagnose this car not a random code reader. There is more to it than just pulling codes.