Engine Problem

Thanks for the offer BMW-North. I'm not close by though, I'm in SW Ontario. The car is driveable, in fact, it feels perfectly fine, no engine light on now.

I'm getting a lot of hate on here, so I'm just going to briefly respond. I'm going to get my codes read, especially now that I know its stored in the memory. I'm not trying to diagnose over the internet. But I am trying to get an idea of possible causes that are common points of failure, and understand how those failures might affect the car, so I can use common sense to figure out what might be the problem. What do you guys think mechanics did before there were on-board computers? Geez, the internet generation...

For example, common sense would say that an unbalanced engine means a cylinder isn't firing, and ginpunk gave me a free and easy way to check if that is happening, by myself, if the problem happens again. I don't see what's so offensive about asking questions so that I have a better understanding of common points of failure.

About me not going to the mechanic as soon as my engine light goes on: I don't have the luxury of going to the mechanic every time it blips on and off again, especially knowing everytime I bring my car in I get a $1000 bill. The car has 170k, if the engine blew up tomorrow it would suck but not be the end of the world, the car isn't that valuable with that many kms. It's not like I've been driving around for months while my engine light remains on. I don't see why I need "driver education" or how I am lacking "common sense". That's a pretty rude response.

Thanks for everyone that has been helpful so far. I will try to figure out where I can get my codes read and report back.

Originally Posted by ginpunk

Juba, the car shaking was horrible. Sort of like the coin-op bed I once slept on in El Paso. JK, although, my car started yelling at me and threw the SES. If it was a dead coil, there'd be a code most likely.

Yeah, that is sort of like mine was shaking, my guess right now is one of the coils. I'll find out for sure when I find someone who can read the codes (emphasis added to avoid internet hate).

Originally Posted by msgjuba

Thanks for the offer BMW-North. I'm not close by though, I'm in SW Ontario. The car is driveable, in fact, it feels perfectly fine, no engine light on now.

I'm getting a lot of hate on here, so I'm just going to briefly respond. I'm going to get my codes read, especially now that I know its stored in the memory. I'm not trying to diagnose over the internet. But I am trying to get an idea of possible causes that are common points of failure, and understand how those failures might affect the car, so I can use common sense to figure out what might be the problem. What do you guys think mechanics did before there were on-board computers? Geez, the internet generation...

For example, common sense would say that an unbalanced engine means a cylinder isn't firing, and ginpunk gave me a free and easy way to check if that is happening, by myself, if the problem happens again. I don't see what's so offensive about asking questions so that I have a better understanding of common points of failure.

About me not going to the mechanic as soon as my engine light goes on: I don't have the luxury of going to the mechanic every time it blips on and off again, especially knowing everytime I bring my car in I get a $1000 bill. The car has 170k, if the engine blew up tomorrow it would suck but not be the end of the world, the car isn't that valuable with that many kms. It's not like I've been driving around for months while my engine light remains on. I don't see why I need "driver education" or how I am lacking "common sense". That's a pretty rude response.

Thanks for everyone that has been helpful so far. I will try to figure out where I can get my codes read and report back.

Ok mister.

The vibration can be caused by the following problems
-Bad MAF
-Bad coil , try to guess which one out of the 6
-Bad engine mount
-Bad tranny mounts
-Bad O2 sensor
-Air leak
-Pressure loss (CCV)
-Bad cluth
-and anout another 10 different things

Common problems with this car are as follows:
-All mentioned above
-All bushings and basically all suspension components
-Cooling system
-Air system
-Window regulators
-oil loss

Lets see where your common sense is when you try to use it to correlate it to the problems you have.

Cars were EXTREMELY easy to fix and diagnose before there were onboard computers because cars were BUILD that way. Cars that were build 25 years ago didnt even have 1% of the things that E46 has.

You'll get nowhere with your common sense , I tell you that right now. I see people like you all the time.

And get carried away. Of course it's OK to get on the board and ask a question that is difficult to diagnose long distance. Sometimes just the confidence and being directed in the correct direction gets the job done. Read the board to see dozens of examples of problems solved here only because the poster was reminded of things he forgot he knew. And besides, if we all only went to dealer computers to cure what ails us, what use would the board have?
Carry on!

Originally Posted by msgjuba

Thanks for the offer BMW-North. I'm not close by though, I'm in SW Ontario. The car is driveable, in fact, it feels perfectly fine, no engine light on now.

I'm getting a lot of hate on here, so I'm just going to briefly respond. I'm going to get my codes read, especially now that I know its stored in the memory. I'm not trying to diagnose over the internet. But I am trying to get an idea of possible causes that are common points of failure, and understand how those failures might affect the car, so I can use common sense to figure out what might be the problem. What do you guys think mechanics did before there were on-board computers? Geez, the internet generation...

For example, common sense would say that an unbalanced engine means a cylinder isn't firing, and ginpunk gave me a free and easy way to check if that is happening, by myself, if the problem happens again. I don't see what's so offensive about asking questions so that I have a better understanding of common points of failure.

About me not going to the mechanic as soon as my engine light goes on: I don't have the luxury of going to the mechanic every time it blips on and off again, especially knowing everytime I bring my car in I get a $1000 bill. The car has 170k, if the engine blew up tomorrow it would suck but not be the end of the world, the car isn't that valuable with that many kms. It's not like I've been driving around for months while my engine light remains on. I don't see why I need "driver education" or how I am lacking "common sense". That's a pretty rude response.

Thanks for everyone that has been helpful so far. I will try to figure out where I can get my codes read and report back.

Originally Posted by Blocked Out

Lets see where your common sense is when you try to use it to correlate it to the problems you have.
...
You'll get nowhere with your common sense , I tell you that right now. I see people like you all the time.

If you don't want to help me that's fine, but the commentary isn't necessary. The list was helpful, so thanks for that. Like I said, I'm going to be getting the computer read knowing now that the fault codes are stored, so no need to wage a campaign against "common sense".

Anyway, the Peake tool is $140 shipped from a number of vendors here. It will save you big $$$ and no need to go to the mechanic every time your SES comes on. And you know right away exactly what the problem is.

This is the right way of doing things. This is common sense. Keep driving your car with the SES on is not common sense.

Okay I ordered the Peake scanner for about $160 shipped to Canada after calling around and finding out that I would have to pay $50 for the mechanic to do it anyways.

Update: I got a local mechanic to read the codes for free, I got code P0128, which apparently is "coolant thermostat": http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthr...ighlight=P0128

Not sure how that explains what happened with my bad start the other day. Maybe I'll just wait to see what the Peake tool says when it arrives.

Did the mechanic used a generic scanner? it could be that it was only able to read the set codes. Once you get the peake, reading the pending codes should help out a lot. As far as isolating the problem, and having a common feel for what could be wrong with your car, I absolutely get what you're saying. Any good driver/mechanic can tell if his hesitation/vibration is coming from the engine,suspension/alignment,or wheels/tires. GL OP, and hope you get your car fixed. Sounds, like it could be a slightly clogged injector, or fouled plug that gets intermittent sparks. Run some injection cleaner, and pull the plugs, you get lucky and find your problem there.

My 01 330 with 170K miles just did the same thing - read the codes with my "peake" scanner as it gives you the correct table to undertand the codes. Said I had a misfire on cyl #2 and then coil #2 problem. So I'm guessing it's a problem with the coil. I watched the video in this post and tried what the mech did - only issue is my car now runs fine. Must be a bad coil that is coming and going...

So, where does one get coil's for these that match the Bosch I have (oem) - WITHOUT replacing all of them. I'd like not to spend 300+ on 6 new coils and I read somewhere that it is recommended to replace all of them with the same brand as they may have different resistances... not sure about that, but I guess...

Everywhere I look, it says OEM is Bremi - but mine are Bosch???

So I finally got my Peake scanner, and here are the code:
Table 19:
A8--coolant thermostate jammed open (already have this code and plan to replace myself)
F3, EE, F1--misfire in cylinder 6, 1, and 4 respectively (related to the bad start)

I suspected misfire but the question now is what is causing it and why in three cylinders. Anyone have any ideas? Wiring problems?

Replace your thermostate and then you should clear the codes and see if any reappear. Then address them.

Does it idle rough at all, especially on cold starts? You may have a vacuum leak. I went through this recently for about a month.

I would pull the codes and have random multiple misfires, misfire on startup. Then I would clear the codes and it would come back with low voltage on the MAF, misfires, lean system. So mine started out as if it were coils going bad, but in the end I had a vacuum leak.

Get a lower intake boot (known for tearing) I got mine from a local dealer for about $19. I couldn't wait for an order because this is my daily driver. Pick up some MAF cleaner and TB cleaner. Clean the MAF and remove the TB and ICV and clean those. While you're in there, check for any brittle or dry rotted vacuum hoses. Once you have it taken apart, check the hose from the oil separator (CCV) to the dipstick tube. Mine was melted in half from the heat. That's why mine was getting worse overtime. It started small but eventually melted into two pieces. Since it's my DD, I didn't have time to wait for an oil separator kit to do the whole job so now I have to do it again LOL. Just to save a bit of trouble, if it is that hose, its 7/16 and needs to be cut to 10-1/4" length.

There was a recall back around 2005 for faulty coils. I think if you had Bosch, you got free new 6 coils.
Recommendation is to replace all six at a time.
If you don't, at least use the same brand.

Originally Posted by Stuttgart330

My 01 330 with 170K miles just did the same thing - read the codes with my "peake" scanner as it gives you the correct table to undertand the codes. Said I had a misfire on cyl #2 and then coil #2 problem. So I'm guessing it's a problem with the coil. I watched the video in this post and tried what the mech did - only issue is my car now runs fine. Must be a bad coil that is coming and going...

So, where does one get coil's for these that match the Bosch I have (oem) - WITHOUT replacing all of them. I'd like not to spend 300+ on 6 new coils and I read somewhere that it is recommended to replace all of them with the same brand as they may have different resistances... not sure about that, but I guess...

Everywhere I look, it says OEM is Bremi - but mine are Bosch???