330Ci Emission Valves Dashboard Warning Light |
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aloo_bazi
Newbie Joined: 13-January-2008 Location: slough Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Posted: 13-January-2008 at 22:31 |
Hi all, I have a 2003 "03" 330 Ci Auto. I had the car inspection 1 done about 2 months ago and I've done less than 2000 miles in it since the service. in the last couple days I have an orange warning light permanently on the dashboard. the symbol is of the engine block. I looked up the symbol in the operators book and it says ... the emission valves have deteriorated,take it to a BMW specialist to have it checked out. The car is still driveable and starts fine but I have noticed I have lost acceleration. Its very slow reaching upto 30 or more. so does any one know what this means and is this a serious fault which will cost a lot of money to fix? is it still safe to continue driving the car for short journeys without further damage to the car? I'm not very technically minded and I'm reluctant to blindly take the car to a BMW garage...as we all know they charge an arm and a leg
Thanking you all in advance for any replies and advice |
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Rossi
Bavarian-Board Contributor Joined: 07-May-2005 Status: Offline Points: 3311 |
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not 100% sure but, either or both of the lambda probes (before/ after the catalytic converter) may be on their way out. These regulate the engines fuel/ air mixture and adjust according to emmision readings taken by the probe/s. This would likely be the cause of loss of power in acceleration and response. Cost of probes are around £60 each. shouldn't take long tho 1/2-3/4 hour or so to fit if this proves to be the problem. Someone will clarify this soon. BTW welcome to the forum |
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aloo_bazi
Newbie Joined: 13-January-2008 Location: slough Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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thanks for the reply
should this problem had been picked up during the service at the BMW garage??? so what are emission valves? is the £60 cost from BMW? can I buy cheaper equivalents? |
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Rossi
Bavarian-Board Contributor Joined: 07-May-2005 Status: Offline Points: 3311 |
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This will be clarified by the BMW diagnostics test before they do any work (and charge you £90+ p/ hour for the labour) NOTE: It may not be this diagnosis though, it may be something else.
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aloo_bazi
Newbie Joined: 13-January-2008 Location: slough Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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^^^ thanks for the info Rossi
I spoke to BMW this morning..they said if i take the car in..minimum £78 for the diagnostics before they do any actual repairs..then extra for the repair..it could be anything around £200 plus
any one here know exactly where these lambda probes are on the car???...can any one put up some diagrams or pics of the location? there seems to be 2 versions of these probes....one version is these probes could be on the exhaust manifold pipes up front in the engine..the second version is they could be mounted on or around the cat at the rear under the car??? since the fault first occurred during heavy rains and motorway drive over roads with large pools of water...I'm guessing its gonna be any sensors under the car????
330Ci Auto March 2003 E46 engine....
I'm totally confused
damn car has been problems and problems from day one I bought it last september Edited by aloo_bazi |
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Rossi
Bavarian-Board Contributor Joined: 07-May-2005 Status: Offline Points: 3311 |
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aloo_bazi, Go here to find out where everything is on your car.
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Barry_Mc
Senior Member I Joined: 27-March-2007 Status: Offline Points: 141 |
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I had the same problem, light came on, got diagnostics done and it was the oxygen sensor 1 (front), mine came on out of the blue on a straight road no water, gas thing is few days later the light went off after driving in hard rain and wet roads, my MPG has dropped but it's in need of a service. car is running fine.
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aloo_bazi
Newbie Joined: 13-January-2008 Location: slough Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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thankz Rossi I now know where and what the lambda probe looks like... another of my beemer owner mate pointed it out to me...the front one is very easily identifiable (looks like a spark plug with 4 wires sticking out)....and I'm confident to say...even my self with limited mechanical knowledge will be able to change the front one...just undo one nut (not including the one writing this message...LoL ) the second one will be abit harder...I think its under the car somewhere...I havent managed to find it yet...also I dont have a ramp to raise the car to look underneath...but both of the wiring cables and connectors are at the front next to each other very easily accesible. the only thing is, if I change either or both (if I can find cheap ones on e-bay) will I need specialist computer software to reset the dashboard warning light???? Edited by aloo_bazi |
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Rossi
Bavarian-Board Contributor Joined: 07-May-2005 Status: Offline Points: 3311 |
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Your probably better to get a diagnostics done to determine if this is the actual problem first.
You could adopt a local BMW specialist who has the required diagnostic equipment/ reset equipment to do this for you and if his prices are reasonable just get him to do the lot for you. If it is the lambda probe(s), you should be able to get OEM lambda probe(s) from GSF here |
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aloo_bazi
Newbie Joined: 13-January-2008 Location: slough Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Ok Folkz..
I found a mate at work whos got BMW OBD software on his laptop. so at lunchtime we frigged about with it on my car...we couldnt get a full live data readout (I think his software is older version) but we read other stuff. finally we reset the engine warning light on the dashboard...and the car now seems to be running normal-ish
the warning light hasn't come back on again
so we shall see if any problems re-appear in the next few days/weeks.
I'm chuffed, I didnt have to pay Mr BMW blindly a sh*t load of money for a simple rectification....Yipppeeeee ! |
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Rossi
Bavarian-Board Contributor Joined: 07-May-2005 Status: Offline Points: 3311 |
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hmm..
More than likely, the fault shall re-appear if you haven't rectified it but, if it is lambda probe related, your emissions may fail the next MOT. |
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Jerry 523i
Advanced Newbie Joined: 21-January-2007 Location: Cheshire Status: Offline Points: 23 |
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Hi, not knowing your car I am not 100% sure if the following is correct, however I had no problems changing my Lambda probes in my 5 series. Looking at Parkers online review, I assume your motor is a 6 cyl in-line 3 litre? Essentially either there are 2 probes in the exhaust maifold; one for the rear three cyls, one for the front. Both can be (with nimble fingers and a good open spanner) removed within 20 minutes or less. When using copper coat / ease... take care do not get it on the sensor of the new probe, but it is a good idea, so you can get it out again! Alternatively there is one probe in front of the catalitic convertor and one to the rear. The front one can be done with a bit of a fiddle... the rear one is a pig! Apparently you can loosen the manifold drop it down a little, then using a tool for lambda probes remove it. I haven't tried this yet! You may well find a panel or two in the way just to really make life fun, however these come off easily. Once these go wrong they are unlikely to remain correct for long, and will reduce your driving fun... . Any exhaust place can fit these though, so quickfit, national etc should be able to do the work for less of a fortune! Then get your mate with the software to reset the accomodation values, so your motor can get to work re-tuning itself for the new probes. If you feel energetic and do the job yourself, only buy new probes off e-bay, I would recomend Europarts, but ring them and ensure you get the right ones, they sent me correct ones for a 5 series... but not correct for my motor. These were somewhat more expensive than the listed ones. They also sell the tool for removing them. good luck! |
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1998 523i SE Touring 75k
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aloo_bazi
Newbie Joined: 13-January-2008 Location: slough Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Thanks Rossi and Jerry since my mate did the diagnostic and reset the engine warning light on the dash..the lamp has not come on again. the car seem to run Ok..its not making any unusual noises...but I'm getting a bit less MPG than before. I have a long M.o.T left on the car, so I'll prbably look into the fault again closer to M.o.T time
if the worse comes to worse..then I'll change both lambda probes at a local garage, instead of taking it to Mr BMW |
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aloo_bazi
Newbie Joined: 13-January-2008 Location: slough Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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guys..
the fault light has come back on again..and the symptoms again are...sluggish...and idle revs is erratic when stationary????
I am thinking of buying a laptop based diagnostic kit/package...but I'm totally confused which one to buy. I see the ELM327 kit (cables/adapter/software) is priced around £40 also Carsoft 6.5 kit (cables/adapter/software) around £90 which one of the above 2 is the best and which one will give full car functionality readouts and reset options (please remember I'm a novice...not too clever with computers)
any advice guys.... |
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aloo_bazi
Newbie Joined: 13-January-2008 Location: slough Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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OK guys and gals I took the beemer into the garage today....and after a lot of poking around the mechanic found the intake manifold vacuum unit is broke (the flap part) internal which is causing the "check engine" emissions warning light to come on and also the car is revving erratic and the rev counter is jumping all over
any one here know where I can get one cheap (new or used)??? I looked on the RealOEM.com website for the part...its priced at $210 I dont know how much that would be from Mr BMW here in the UK any help or advice or links would be great and appreciated Edited by aloo_bazi |
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Rossi
Bavarian-Board Contributor Joined: 07-May-2005 Status: Offline Points: 3311 |
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You could try for a used one here at Quarry Motors. Drop them an email stating what you are after, for what model, year etc.. I've emailed them in the past, and they gave me a price then posted out to me. [edit] Parts Gateway is another source for parts but, I haven't used them YET. [/edit] Edited by Rossi |
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aloo_bazi
Newbie Joined: 13-January-2008 Location: slough Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Thankz Rossi
I sent email requests to both Quarry Motors and also to Parts Gateway and a few others I found on google search
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aloo_bazi
Newbie Joined: 13-January-2008 Location: slough Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Hi peeps its been a while since I last logged on in here.... its a couple of months now and my engine emission fault light is still showing. since the last replies....I have had the 2 rear oxygen sensors (lambda probes) replaced. a vacuum adapter thingy on the side of the intake manifold replaced (very expensive - ouch !) the mass airflow sensor removed and cleaned. but Im still getting engine emission fault codes 0171 and 0174 (engine running lean) showing on the diagnostics. my fuel economy is diabolic (16mpg) any further advice and things to check?????
Jerry 523i, you say.. "Then get your mate with the software to reset the accomodation values, so your motor can get to work re-tuning itself for the new probes." what are accomodation values??? does this have to be done after the above parts have been replaced??? as far as I know my mate can only read codes and reset the light...I dont think he can actually change any internal software settings
Plz...any advice?
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Dergside
Really Senior Member II Joined: 16-May-2004 Location: Mid West, Ireland Status: Offline Points: 4000 |
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Aloo - who diagnosed the various parts that have been replaced as possible contributors to your problem? It might be time to bite the bullet and get it to a real specialist or BMW themselves. May not be cheap but if you add up the amounts you've spent so far it might have been a better way to go from the outset.
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new666uk
Newbie Joined: 30-June-2005 Status: Offline Points: 1 |
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Same problem for me. Emissions light on, poor idle and loss of power.
Took it to my indy and he changed the ignition coil on cylinder 5 after reading the fault codes.
Light now gone, power back.
Cost £75 and half an hour or so.
cheers
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