2001 330i - horrible idle , loss of power

Hello everyone ,

Recently purchased used 330i 2001.
Car ran good for over two weeks when problems starting.. On cold mornings had to wait till car was warmed up before the really rough idle ceased... also CEL on and oil light on and off .

what has been done on it
- new MAF
- new sparkplugs
- O2 sensors

after these repairs the car drove good and no shaking or rough idle for about 2weeks . Now its back and a lot worse than before . Really rough idle even when warm and considerable loss of power and acceleration .

Ive noticed that there are oil leaks from the head gasket , but would that make it loose power and run rough ?

Vacuum hoses seem fine and also did the spray test on them . Smoke test showed lot of leaks where the CCV is located ....


Any help would be appreciated .

camshaft position sensor maybe?

Likely the vanos seals. Symptoms sound exactly the same. Is there a rattle sound coming from the engine during idle?

Check out this write-up, the guy details what the problem is, how to fix it, and he even sells all of the required parts.

http://www.beisansystems.com/procedu..._procedure.htm

I'm having similar problems with my 2002 330i (127xxx km), but as of right now I'm not having a rough idle or significant loss of power issues. I'm sure it will get much worse as time goes on, but I already ordered the parts to fix it. I'm experiencing a CEL and rattle with mine; I haven't had time to get the CEL checked out, but I'm guessing it's a fault code for the vanos.

Hope that helps, good luck!

Thx Kobe ,

The rattle is pretty powerful as the shaking and misfiring .
Pretty good DIY .. but that would be too much for me as I am not car savvy enough to do that job .
The thing is replacing all those parts is expensive and there is no guarantee that one would fix it ...
I'm doing the CCV and hoses along with the head gasket on Monday and see where I'm at . smoke test clearly showed massive leaks from the CCV and also seen oil buildup on hoses and under the car .

Should mention that when stopping at a light , rpms drop below 500 for a second or two and go back up to about 600 and also bad gas mileage.

I hear hissing and vacuum like noise but hard to describe

The smoke test revealed leaks in the ccv system. That needs to be a sealed system, and it is connected to the intake.

Fix ccv.

Probably not oil leaks at the head gasket...think you mean valve cover gasket...and that also, if leaking should be attended to. While there, might as well do vanos seals...it's a religion around here!

First time diy on ccv maybe 4 hours unless you've done nothing on the car before...then 5 hours!

VCG...figure 3 hours to be safe...another 1/2 hour for vanos. Beisan systems diy instructions are great!

Oh, if you 'did' mean it's leaking at head gasket, then that's an issue...and a leaking head gasket/cracked head would yield rough running symptoms until warmed up and would get worse. Check your oil and your coolant for intermixing. You have the symptoms that would match what you were told or can see are issues. Start with them, I think. If you see oil in coolant or vice versa, come on back before doing anything.

I meant valve cover gasket. I am getting everything done at the mechanic but im thinking of doing the Vanos seals like you said.

any way to tell if it is the Vanos unit , gasket and seals or camshaft sensor ?

thank you

You need an oil gasket overhaul.

search for these and DIY them - they are listed in order of importance that needs to be done asap:

CCV

VCG

OFHG

Originally Posted by Mariojacob

Hello everyone ,

Recently purchased used 330i 2001.
Car ran good for over two weeks when problems starting.. On cold mornings had to wait till car was warmed up before the really rough idle ceased... also CEL on and oil light on and off .

what has been done on it
- new MAF
- new sparkplugs
- O2 sensors

after these repairs the car drove good and no shaking or rough idle for about 2weeks . Now its back and a lot worse than before . Really rough idle even when warm and considerable loss of power and acceleration .

Ive noticed that there are oil leaks from the head gasket , but would that make it loose power and run rough ?

Vacuum hoses seem fine and also did the spray test on them . Smoke test showed lot of leaks where the CCV is located ....


Any help would be appreciated .

dont forget to clean ur icv idle control valve since high milege

So the mechanic you want to do this, is he the same one that told you you needed maf, 02 sensors, and plugs to fix your rough idle...while he also knew of the ccv and vcg leak?

You can diy this, especially if you were thinking of doing vanos seals yourself. That means also vcg. If this is first diy, then I'm going to suggest you do vcg and ccv together...the cleaning icv/tb while in there is not a bad idea...it'll be wide open for the ccv.

But, read diys until you're constantly smelling oil vapors, even when showering. Then you'll be ready.

Curious about how you learned you needed maf/02/plugs. Plugs at 80K and above are always a good idea, but maf and 02? I think you got those codes and thought those are the issues...and he thought wrong and should have known better. Or he did thinking he has plausible deniability...and he sort of does, but not really. Those things can be tested directly. They're pricey...a good mechanic would cover all the bases. Just saying.

Search regional for recommended indy.

The first codes that popped were for the MAF . after replacing it the car ran good for a few weeks . We checked the spark plugs and they def needed to be replaced .
It was misfiring on 2-3-5 p0300 p1345 p1352 , and the MAF and o2 replacement cleared those codes .
Now it only shows p0800 and I know that's not really saying too much...

I thought i would post the outcome of the repairs done by the shop - CCV + pipes , valve cover gasket (smoke was even coming out there when he did the test) , replaced oil line to vanos valve and coil pack #4.

the car runs like brand new now. it has more power than i can handle . awesome job if i can say so myself. if anybody else has any symptoms like mine had...these things should be checked. not saying that this applies to everybody, but it worked flawlessly on mine.

OP, did changing the ccv resolve the poor gas mileage?? Glad to hear it helped! I'm experiencing the same symptoms you described and I'm
Also having an oil leak under my car. I've already changed the valve cover gasket(vcg).. Looking for more input before I start this pita DIY..

Lot more on this issue in this recent thread: http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthr...0#post14055140

So I just got done replacing the ccv with the 4 hoses... Car idles smoother now, although it drives like it lost a lot of torque! No power almost... Also.. My ccv kit from bavauto came with a tube and o-ring gasket that was not mentioned on the video on YouTube.