Why are BMW's so complicated? Maybe other brands are as well..

Greetings one & all,

I was driving back from B.C. yesterday and about thirty minutes from home, the CEL comes on and I notice an immediate reduction in power and I initially thought I was running on five cylinders.
I managed to get the car home and used my basic scantool and I have a permanent P1030 error which is generally pointing towards the valvetronic motor and or eccentric shaft sensor.

The sheer level of level dissassembly (ballache) that is required to get at the servotronic motor and my God if you have to replace the eccentric shaft sensor, it just beggars belief.

I have ordered a new motor, sensor, seals, spark plugs and coils (eye-wateringly expensive) and will tackle it myself but I'm not going to lie - I am not looking forward to it and can only hope I can fix it myself.

I have done a whole bunch of preventative maintenenace in the last few weeks (new front shocks, top mounts, stabilizer links, new fan belt, new oil filter housing gasket, brake fluid flush, power steering fluid flush, new rear differential oil, new rear shock absorbers, new rear brake pads, new fronts discs and pads) and now have to deal with this crap.

I haven't got buyer's regret yet but this car is starting to test me (and my wallet).

 

I seem to recall this coming from a dealer - any warranty comeback?

But agree it seems newer cars are deliberately made to deter driveway mechanics

 

No warranty comeback - dealers in Canada are very good at avoiding being on the hook for anything unless of course it's new and still under the OEM warranty.

 

That's lawless

 

You want to try working on modern motorcycles.

A full service (Valve Clearance Inspection) can take a full day or more.

For the sake of 10mm clearance sometimes can cost you a couple more hours work.

My MK2 Kuga to remove the Powershift gearbox on the drive was an absolute ballache. Having to buy factory level diagnostics as well to code in brand new Mechatronic units that come blank is a joke really.

Bring back carbs and a set of points lol.

 

Which just makes me appreciate my Mk2 even more. Can change an alternator in 10mins, a starter motor in 20mins. But wait! You don’t have to because they just keep working. I had an S4 and when the DM flywheel went at 50k it was an engine and gearbox out job costing £2500. My Mk2 still has its original clutch at 230k and 32 years after it left the factory. Less is more.

 

I cannot fault this logic, it is totally accurate.

If the VVT motor replacement does not solve the P1030 error, this is the horror that awaits me..

(1) How to Replace the Valve Cover on a BMW N51/N52N Engine - YouTube

 

Update - A new VVT motor sorted it out, changed the motor gasket and the eccentric shaft sensor seal along with the ignition coils and spark plugs.
The connector portion of the motor had become brittle and started to break up, which in turn caused the motor to lose power.

The sheer amount of plastic and wiring in this engine bay is lawless and is, without doubt, a significant source of failure within this model and others.

 

Had a problem with one of these, mainly it would misfire as soon as it was idling for few seconds. Turns out some nuts near cyl 4 where the misfire was have turned loose, causing valve lift to be almost 0mm where the scan tool showed 0.6mm. Took the head out anyway and reconditioned, but all looked good except 3 loose nuts on the vvt shaft.

 

Yep they will give you quite the time chasing faults when they decide to.

I took mine for a proper test drive this evening and gave her a damn good thrashing and all was good.

 

Minor update on this:
I recently got around to placing a less-than-complimentary review of the safety inspection process of the dealer that I bought it from in Burnaby. Within a day, the GM got in contact with me and sent me a cheque for the cost of the replacement of the front suspension parts. To his credit, he apologized and said that there was no way that the collection of defective front suspension components that my car had should have been sold like that.
Maybe he was just saying all the right things for the sake of it - but I felt some satisfaction for calling them out.

 

I'll just throw "bmw swirl flaps" here.

Currently facing a £920 bill to have the inlet manifold replaced on mine due to the swirl flap issue.

 

I’m not an expert on this swirl flap business, but can you not just remove them, as I know they are a known point of failure due to carbon build-up, breaking, etc?
920 notes is a severe kick to the plums - BMW - Bring My Wallet!

I have bought several parts for when the weather improves - thermostat, water pump and some hoses - all known failure points. I want to meet the moron who decided that a 128i should not have a coolant temp gauge on the dash and kick him squarely in the balls.

I had replaced the serpentine belt already, but by all accounts, the tensioner and idler pulley can also fail (now purchased), and in the worst-case scenario, the engine can ingest the belt and cause all kinds of problems - another kick in the nads for that design genius if I ever find him.

 

You can remove/code them out, but like them or not bmw put them there for a reason and I'm not really fond of pikey "fixes" so bit the bullet. Planning to keep it for another couple of years and first time I've had to reach into my pocket in 2.5yrs ownership so can't moan too much. 72k and 9yrs old for anyone interested in how long these generally last...

Got it back today and its like a new car, literally. Engine smooth as silk and no more pesky limp mode.

That said I'd never buy a diesel BMW engined car again.

 

I have no opinion on keeping/removing them, but I did see some posts on another forum about swirl pots and how they drove owners bonkers. Mercifully, they are not in my 128i, but heaven knows they put in plenty of other nonsense to drive you bananas.

Glad you got it sorted, though - I've never even driven a diesel BMW. Diesel engines are not very popular over here and have become even more unpopular compliments of VW's 'dieselgate'.

I bought a new 1.9tdi passat in 2007 back in Ireland, and I must say it was a great car and that engine, although not the most powerful, was very reliable.

 

There are quite a few reasons why modern cars are full of complex electronic systems.

#1 - Engine Power, Fuel Efficiency and Emissions.

To get a non-electronic-normally-aspirated-motor to develop good power - even 100ps/litre - the factory would have to port-and-polish the cylinder head and use advanced mechanical fuel injection, such as Kugelfischer. NSU Managed 100ps/litre with the 1000cc TTS on two twin choke Solex carbs. It cost 70% more than the 1000C. £1200 vs £700

In the early 1970s BMW used Kugelfischer on the 2002 Tii and managed 65ps/litre. They then produced the 2002 Tii Turbo, still with Kugelfischer, which produced 85ps/litre. BMW stopped making the Turbo after just 1675 units as they were very expensive, unreliable and very difficult to keep in tune, with massive Turbo-Lag.

In the mid 1970s SAAB realised that turbocharging was a simple 'bolt-on' way to get more power from standard production engines. The SAAB 99 16v Rally motor produced lots of power on Kugelfischer, but had to be selectively hand-built. The 16v production engines, completely different from the Rally motor, using Bosch mechanical injection, managed 65ps/litre. The first 8v Turbos managed 75ps/litre with mechanical injection, but had massive Turbo-Lag just like the BMW. Per Gillbrand at SAAB invented the APC system which was a combination of: Mechanical + Pneumatic + Electric + 'Black Box'. The 'Black Box' was full of electronics to control the waste gate. SAAB also sold a water injection system if you wanted even more power.

SO. Engine Electronic Control Systems rear their 'Ugly-Head' in a standard production car.

Meanwhile Bosch are developing the K-Jet and LM injection with electronic attachments. They are still expensive, mainly mechanical systems, but have 'Black Boxes' mainly to provide better fuel efficiency. They are also developing purely electronic injection with a 'Bigger-Black-Box' and by 1987 we end up with 'Digifant' on the 8v GTI.

In general terms Digifant is much cheaper to manufacture than K-Jet, but moreover, it is easier to instal as it simply requires plugging in. Think of how much time, and skill, is required to 'spanner' the K-Jet on a moving production line.

Now we have 'Black-Boxes' and Turbos we can do even more to more to control the engine power and even run-of-the-mill motors like my sons Mk 7.5 Golf R develops 156ps/litre.

To sum up:
With electronic systems engines are more powerful, more fuel efficient and have better emissions. They are also easier to install on the production line which saves the manufacturers time, and thus, money.
One down-side to this is that to create all of these good things the amount of electronics used in engine control systems has expanded exponentially and become exceedingly complex. The biggest down-side is that electronics systems are much more prone to failure than mechanical systems.

This to be continued regarding other electronic systems on vehicles.

 

I remember seeing that listed - the picture of the kit showed the container, the 'opposite handed' version* of the screenwash container. Seeing as Scandinavian countries required headlamp washer equipment even then, it was a good deal larger than the tiny container used in f**ds and such at the time.

* the container fitted ahead of the front wheelarch, and was shaped to match. It didn't seem large just looking at the top, but made up for this as it was so deep.

 

My point was not directed at the technology but rather at the sheer amount of disassembly (aka ballache) needed to do what ordinarily should be relatively straightforward tasks.

Want to change the spark plugs?

Right, let's remove the plastic head cover. Nope, I can't do that right off the bat because they put a securing bolt right at the back under various assemblies and housings. Let's first disconnect the battery but put a cover over the boot lock as if it closes with the battery disconnected - you're going in via the back seats with a trim removal tool to access a metal wire to re-open it. Next, the scuttle panel, then remove the strut brace, remove the air filter assembly, open up the poxy plastic housings that hold the main battery and ground connections that run right over the rear of the head, and loosen off all the ground wires that run through the plastic housing that hold the ignition coils wiring (brittle as hell due to the heat cycles), then finally pray that the clamp connections for the coils do not break and then remove the actual wiring and then you can finally remove the coils to access the spark plugs.
I might add that plug #6 can still be a bit of a dog to remove and install, even with all that gear removed-crossthread that one and its time to leave the country..
Then you get to assemble it all back together and pray you haven't missed/broken something in the process.
That's what pisses me right off.