Is It Worth It??

[Flyboydx7]

Hi All,

I have had my 1999 2.0ltr Z3 for quite a few years now although it has been off the road for the last three years.

I decided yesterday to look at putting her back on the road. I went to the garage to see what could be done, Battery flat.... No Surprise there :-)

I charged it over night and went back today. The car started first time and I backed her out of the garage.

The ABS light is on, so is the Airbag warning light. I tried to diagnose the codes with my OBDM II reader but it seems it won't read BMW codes.

Anyway I went to start it to move it back in and the battery was already flat, I jumped it to put her back in but now it is backfiring like anything.

I remember I had it scanned in the past and the garage said it was the ABS pump, which I bought and that is in the boot.

So for the MOT it needs the ABS problem sorting out

Two Ball joints

front Shocks

New Battery £104.99.

I Just wanted to know if you guy's think its worth starting and if so Where/how best to start?

by the way it's got 153.000 on the clock.

Regards Andy.

[Guest DazH]

have a goooood look around that engine bay, look for anything funky (like an ingested squirrel in the air intake) as it makes no sense to start and back out fine then once it's started again, run like a bag of nails

May also be sensitive to low input power from the battery. Try a new battery first! might be the route of the running problems. My E36 had suuuuch a similar problem and it just turned out that the battery wasn't secure and was arcing to the chassis :unsure:

Yessss it's worth it imo. Lovely car AND... it's the 6 cylinder version so; niceeee

Daz

[Estoril X5 D Sport]

Coil packs after such a period of time would be my guess.

Regards

Steve

[btmaldon]

Could be the old fuel and/or an injector has partially blocked. They can varnish up when they have been left for a while. Clean fuel, a good fuel system cleaner and a drive would do it the world of good.

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

Cam sensor can cause backfire...

Rusty ABS sensor/rings on the shafts/stubs...

Shite in the intake lol

[Flyboydx7]

Wow !!! all good advise fellas, new battery being delivered tomorrow, wish we had better weather so I could really get stuck in.

Not quite sure how the Squirrel would have got into the garage, But point taken :-)

looks like I have my work cut out ...

[Flyboydx7]

Great News, New battery arrived today ( next day delivery very impressive and at half the price ) Straight to the garage and swapped out the batteries, car started first turn of the key. Again I backed her out and had a few misfires from under the hood.

I noticed that the brakes had locked on from where I had left the handbrake on. I freed off the brakes and drove it for a short distance.

Engine seems perfect, seems it was struggling against the brakes because as soon as they freed off the misfires stopped.

Left to warm up and get some oil around the engine and it runs like a dream.

[Flyboydx7]

Job No2 = ABS warning light on.

Job No3 = Airbag warning light on.

I have ordered a BMW C110 diagnostics OBD2 Scanner from a famous online retailer and hope to have that in the next few days.

It matters not really if it takes a few days as I am back to work tomorrow until Tuesday. If it has arrived I will update then.

Thanks so far guy's, keep the tips coming and she will be back on the road before we know it :-)

By the way.... No sign of any Squirrels but I did find a monkey on the passenger seat :rolleyes:

[Guest DazH]

Bruce has a fantastic hypothesis, FUEL. Get your hands on a new fuel filter (cheap as chips) and fit it! A little, and i mean LITTLE, bit of Acetone in the fuel will absorb waters that have found their way into the tank and burn it off nicely. Will also free injectors of any crud.

Also... SERVICE, SERVICE, SERVICE!

Daz

[Flyboydx7]

Slowly Slowly catchy said monkey, I want to know its going back on the road first, but then all will be done,

Air filter

Oil filter

Oil Change

Plugs

Fuel filter

Brake pads and discs fitted already.

I have new wheels and tyres too fit too :-)

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

Happy days ;)

[Flyboydx7]

Hi all,

scanner arrived today, I went to the Garage, she started first time.... Problem is the scanner is not talking to the ECU, and we are back to the misfire under the bonnet, tick over quite low and the engine seems to hunt but not all the time.

Any ideas why the C110 BM code Scanner will not communicate with the car?

Regards

[Flyboydx7]

Well, Son of a Gun... I think I have just found the problem, it seems to connect to the ECU on Vehicles made before 2000 you need the OBD-16 to BMW-20 Socket adaptor. :wacko: ( that's the round one under the bonnet )

Also available from the same dealer.

Hand back in pocket and off we go again, you would think when they said "will do vehicles from 1998 onward" they might have mentioned the need for the connector!

Andy

[Guest DazH]

Hmmm tough break fella, hopefully after adapter it will work!

[Flyboydx7]

Adaptor arrived, works a treat.... Problem is I have a whole list of codes.

ABS motor/pump

R/H/R speed sensor

Air bag

Passenger side belt tensioner

On the up side, I have 5 days off so maybe I can get into it

Regards Andy

[Flyboydx7]

Just bought a Seat occupancy Matt Emulator for Airbag sensor bypass for under a tenner....

Lets see if this works :-)

[Flyboydx7]

Update.....

Matt sensor Arrived fitted it and one of the Air bag error codes has disappeared. I am still left with a Belt tensioner fault.

For anyone who is interested the faults are as follows.

ABS :

04 Engine speed Via CAN ???

71 ABS Pump-Motor fault.

41 Speed Signal Right Rear.

Engine:

04 Fuel Trim Bank 1 OBD11 170

03 Fuel Trim Bank 2 OBD11 173

F2 Misfire Cylinder 5 OBD11 PO305

F3 Misfire Cylinder 6 OBD11 PO306

F1 Misfire Cylinder 4 OBD11 PO304

Think this is going to take a little longer than expected :rolleyes:

[btmaldon]

That could be one fault. The fueling issue could be causing the misfire.

[Flyboydx7]

Ordered 6 new spark plugs, and am going to test the Coil packs, by swapping them to Cylinders 1, 2, 3 if the error code moves to those cylinders then I will know its that that's the problem. failing that I will move to the Mass air flow sensor.

Bought new Sachs Shocks for the front so they need fitting, I intend to take the assembly to the Garage, have them change the springs and refit the units myself, doing the ball joints at the same time.

[Flyboydx7]

fitted the Spark plugs and ordered 3 new coil packs, I fitted them this morning and there was no change.

I have moved to the MAF Sensor. I unplugged the cable from the MAF and the car started and ran perfectly.

I have ordered a new Sensor so I can now move on to the ABS problem.

[Flyboydx7]

New MAF sensor fitted at cost of £24.79. Car running like a dream.

ABS fault is also now cured, I replaced the ABS module from the abs pump, its just matter of four screws, take the wires off and swap it out.

I cleared the codes and all the lights went out.

The car is now having the shockers and the ball joints changed and MOT tested. with crossed fingers I could be driving her by tonight :-)

[btmaldon]

Good work Andrew. I'm pleased you got rid of the main issues. Things are looking up.

[Flyboydx7]

Thanks, seems the ball joints were harder than expected Tomorrow another day ;-)

[Flyboydx7]

The car failed the MOT on the airbag light and Rear brakes :-(

[Flyboydx7]

I picked the car up from the shop today @ 10:00. New rear discs and pads added.

new passenger seatbelt pretension fitted.

Back in by 13:00..................

Passed MOT, taxed online, Valeted and she is back on the road.

Thanks for all the info and input

Regards Andy