Yellow Engine sign on dashboard - 116i Sport

[smarterchick]

Hi, my first post and my first necessity to post about the car.

BMW 1 series 116i Sport first registered April 2010

Had this car for 3 years+. Just got a sign come up on the dashboard, top right is a little red engine and full-on at the centre of the dash display is a large yellow rimmed Engine.

I phoned BMW to enquire as to what this might be and they said I need to bring it in for diagnosis, but that will cost me £99 for the pleasure.

Being a pensioner that's a lot of money to me and I wondered if any of you technically adept posters might give me an idea quite what problem I have with the car without having to spend this £99 (plus VAT no doubt) just to find out? I'll have the cost of fixing it in any case.

I have the manual, but that doesn't tell me much other than if the large engine displayed turns red to stop driving the car.

I'm dubious of BMW's methods as I was once told when it went in for service with it that my Discs needed being replaced 'because they were rusty' - well the guy didn't know that I had actually rebuilt a Mini to the last bolt in my youth and have a certain amount of knowledge about cars (the old kind that didn't rely on computers to con us into thinking things are worse than they are). When I got down to the truth about how 'rusty' my brake discs were that so urgently needed replacing, it came down to the quarter inch outer rim that never ever sees a pad. My faith in their honesty is therefore somewhat lacking.

So, with that in mind, have I got a disaster waiting to happen or do any of you nice people know the reason why these warnings might have come on?

Do I need BMW to deal with this or could a proficient BMW mechanic deal with it at not so extortionate prices?

My oil is okay, it is due a service, it seems to be running okay apart from this problem warning light.

Your views and assistance would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

[smarterchick]

Update: The little 'red' engine top right in the display panel is now yellow and I noticed that the miles per gallon indicator when driving is all over the place rising up to 99mpg and flying down to 17-18 - 45 and randomly going to different numbers whilst actually driving more or less at the same speed. Something dodgy going on for sure. Big yellow engine on permanently from start-up too.

Thanks

 

[Bimmer Owners' Club]

Hi Andrew....welcome to the Forum

If the engine light is on and the economy meter/gauge is wondering from low to high, I would imagine it has something to do with the Air Mass Meter or MAP sensor (if fitted). Look for split vacuum hoses in the engine bay, otherwise, I would imagine any local garage can scan your car and give you a diagnosis for around £35-40.

Let us know how you get on with it

Cheers  Trevor

[smarterchick]

My apologies Trevor, I didn't get back to see your post. I took the car into a small garage who did run a scan for free which was nice of them and it came up with 4 different issues, but the chap said he wasn't convinced it was any of them, but it did seem to indicate something to do with emissions (I'm no techi with electronics in cars!). So he suggested resetting the engine management system and asked me to go back once the signage came up again.

Since then the monitor comes on and then goes off as and when it suits itself. Sometimes it was on, next time I used it the engine management sign didn't come up at all for the whole journey - car drove normally.

I was brought-up on mechanical cars and to describe my experiences with this issue I'd say it had a mucky carb or a dirty set of points as it was 'coughing'.

Postman came with a letter from BMW saying there was a Safety Recall and that states that it had been established that the plug-in contact of the battery cable on the front fuse-box mounted behind the glove compartment can be come damaged due to vehicle vibrations and frictional corrosion, together with a high load current resulting in damage to the plug-in contact which impairs the power supply of the vehicle.

In short, a short in the electrics which would indicate my 'coughing' is probably a broken wire connection!

I've booked the recall, but that's not until the 13th June and last night when nipping down to the garage I thought it was going to Peter out altogether as the 'coughing' turned into petrol starvation or no-spark! cutting out altogether. Engine management signal came up and it thankfully kept going firing on 3 pistons until I arrived.

I switched off, went into the garage shop for some BBQ goodies, came out, ignition on and drove home like there was nothing wrong with it at all!

Service centre at BMW was by now closed on Saturday (After 2pm), but have a call booked for them to call me first thing Tuesday to try and bring forward the safety recall issues. Apparently they will do two recall issues, the one I described above which takes about 1.5 hours, but the 2nd which I don't know what it is will take the rest of the day so hopefully these might fix my problem. I'll let you know, but thanks for the input, it was appreciated.

 

 

[Bimmer Owners' Club]

Great to hear that you have addressed some of the issues but that you have now inherited a few more.

Keep us posted on how you get on with the recalls.

 

[smarterchick]

Thanks Trevor, will do. Spoke to Local BMW garage and they've booked it in tomorrow given the problems I was experiencing, so thus far at least, BMW have done well. Won't get a courtesy car at such short notice, but I can live with that - rather get the problems fixed than break down somewhere!

I'll get the full low-down on the problems they find and post up.

Many thanks indeed.

 

Andrew

 

[smarterchick]

Right, we're getting there.

Took the car in yesterday and this was to undertake 2 BMW Safety recalls.

1) The lead connection to the battery as described earlier and

2) to undertake a full electronics reprogramming because there are concerns apparently that the timing chain may have stretched in some vehicles putting out the whole mechanical balance.

 

So, in I went with my car with the engine management light still showing on the dashboard (also began showing dipped headlight yellow light before the Engine management light came on following it). Anyway, left the car there and received a phone call stating that the first issue had been sorted and repaired (1 above) but they couldn't reprogram the electrics while I had the fault showing. They'd need to scan the car for that and to do that they'd need to charge me. (Yeah right!)

I told them the issues I was suffering co-incided almost word for word with the letter I received informing me of the Safety recall(! above) so they decided to scan it anyway without charge (saved me £100)

Had another phone call informing me the Inlet Cam Sensor was in need of replacement before they could reprogram the car under the Safety recall as the reprogramming couldn't go ahead whilst a fault was showing.

To replace it for me they would need £183.82p £110 for the part and the rest in VAT and Labour.

Being a pensioner and not flush with funds this month I had to leave it, but I got the part number and searched the web and it looks pretty simple to replace and even one guy says he saved as all the sensor needed was a clean!

Taking the worst case scenario and knowing I have to have the car reset before I can take it back, I should be able to buy one and have it fitted for less than £100 and TBH I feel like buying one on-line and fitting it myself (I've rebuilt a mini before so I'm okay with a spanner) they're cheap enough and I looked under the bonnet and the 2 sensors are sitting right at the front of the engine just waiting to be plucked off. Youtube has a number of very informative instructions on what to do.

Any thoughts on that appreciated before I go doing anything stupid!! But the car seems to be running smoother now in any case.

Cheers.

 

[smarterchick]

Car wouldn't start at all last night - must be the Inlet sensor gone I guess. Will try and get a replacement in today. Pain in the butt!

This actually makes me mad that when BMW are looking at this issue, having 2 safety recalls to put right relating to performance and this timing chain issue and had the car there in their workshop, that they couldn't change the inlet cam sensor which from a cost point of view is minor when you think of what it actually costs them (rather than what they charge us). They send me away or choose to charge me £183.82 to change it when I have had to go to so much trouble getting the car to them, having no car for a day which was a considerable inconvenience and take the time out to go back and get the car only to find the car now not starting as a result of BMW's failures.

I don't often feel aggrieved about BMW, but today I am thinking they have done nothing to put themselves out!

Back again soon once I've sorted this latest mess out.

[smarterchick]

UPDATE:

Nearly there now. I established that having a duff Inlet Cam sensor would affect the car and probably the reason it wouldn't start. One quick phone call to BMW garage confirmed that.

Went to Eurocarparts website, having had the part number confirmed by BMW, and bought a new Camshaft sensor of less than £60. I'd surfed the net for them and they go from about £12 from dubious looking far-away places and with poor feedbacks to over £90 from others. I'd used Eurocarparts before in years past so was fairly confident about their quality. They had an on-line offer of 60% off that week so I got the sensor for just over £59.

I went on Youtube and watched a couple of video's showing exactly where the sensor was and how to remove it - simples!

It took all of 15 minutes to remove the old one and fit the new one using an Alan-key which I had anyway. Only the air inlet canopy was needing to be removed first which was 2 screws. Once the sensor was fitted, one turn of the engine and off it went and the good thing was the engine management light hasn't shown again so I don't have to get that reset again.

One thing to remember though if you are doing this yourself is to order a new rubber oil sealing ring (washer) to go with the sensor as it didn't come with one with the sensor. I used the old one which I wouldn't normally do when replacing something like this, but it looked in good nick so I used it. There was a small run of oil which came out of the sensor casing in the head, not a lot, and nothing which a quick brush with Gunk didn't clean up quickly leaving the engine nice and clean.

Now I can get the second Safety recall underway which is to reprogram the electronics to see whether or not the timing chain has stretched. I'll let you know how that pans out and whether the chain has indeed stretched. The car performance does not seem 100% perfect so it may well have done - we'll see.

Hope some of this helps someone?

cheers

Andrew

[Bimmer Owners' Club]

Glad to hear you have resolved the starting and running issues.

Just ensure the timing chain is replaced at some point as it is a major failure item that is best sorted before it becomes an issue

[smarterchick]

Thanks Trevor, well I'm hoping that BMW will replace the timing chain if it has, not too sure how far this safety recall issue goes as I've not had any correspondence about this, it was just mentioned to me when I called them to book-in my battery connection recall.

The Service chap said something about running the electrics reprogramming test for this recall and then possibly having to ask BMW themselves if they will be prepared to pay for the work. I just didn't ask what work that might be (i.e.about the replacement of the timing chain as it never entered my head that may be an issue). That's a costly job to replace if so and I don't have that kind of money to repair it and I don't either have the tools or inclination to even begin to try and change it myself. Hard enough getting it right on the old Mini Mayfair I did it on - God knows how hard a BMW would be, but I'm not even going there!

I'll post up the results once it's been done....maybe a week or two depending on when it gets booked-in.

Thanks for the support.

Andrew

 

[Greydog]

Morning Andrew

Have a look at www.realoem.com it is a BMW online parts catalogue put in the last 7 digits of your Vin and it will give you parts and assembly information for your model. As someone who knows one end of a spanner from the other it will be of great help understanding what is where and how it fits. You can also look at several diagnostic programs ( I have Inpa and BMW1.4.0 on an old laptop) Carly for BMW can be loaded on an Android mobile phone it will allow you to scan, reset and in certain areas enable functions as an example the dealer if they could activate auto folding of my mirrors there was humming and teeth sucking then they could book it in and see if it was possible, cost was similar to a new kidney!! Good old google and you tube it is a tick box in the program it took less than 10 minutes and I had to hunt for it. Guess how often I use the Dealer ???

By the way I to am an old bloke 

 

[Bimmer Owners' Club]

Wise words Greydog....sometimes the fix is easier than one would imagine, albeit it sometimes takes longer to search the information than to carry out the job :-)

[smarterchick]

I stand corrected...called to get booked-in and told this recall is something to do with the braking system vacuum and nothing to do with the timing chain - not sure where that came from then - I didn't make it up senile though I may be becoming! They apparently have to reprogram the electrics and that takes either a number of hours or all day and possibly into the 2nd day depending on how sensitive my likkle car is!!  - even so, must be quite a job.

Anyway, booked in for Monday 19th so I'll let you know what happens.

Thanks again.

Andrew

[smarterchick]

I have to stand corrected again! - This recall was for the braking vacuum, but that has something to do with the timing chain apparently!! - So - Update:

Having now sorted the cam shaft sensor myself without fuss, the car was ready to go in for this 2nd recall . I was advised this was a performance enhancing recall and not a safety recall-whatever, in it went.

Got the call to say it was ready for collection and up I went to pick it up. Timing chain duly replaced and paid for apparently by BMW.

However, I was told the car was in need of a service-badly- and they suggested I have it done @ £400+ but not having that kind of spare cash right now declined.

I drove the car but 100 yds and it was coughing and spluttering, the small red brake light came on, then the red car on what looks like a raised platform light beamed at me and I pulled into the layby and called the service guy. This car was not going anywhere!

I managed to get it back to this BMW main dealer by chance rather by engine power and it remained there for another 2 days.

They said it wasn't sparking on cylinder 3 so changed that plug (only that plug after taking all the cowling and covers off!!) and a coil of some sort was replaced plus some of the wiring so what the hell had gone on I know not as it hadn't gone in like that.

Now it's running okay, but lights still beaming at me because it needs servicing, I was told it needs new discs and pads all round + the service £1500!

Costed out all the parts for what they suggested doing buying from Eurocarparts at Bosch prices - £411. - Cheaper if I used other companies I didn't recognise names.

Apparently, the service guy said that he was planning on replacing the whole of the top end wiring coils plugs etc which would cost around 2k, but BMW, who would be paying for this weren't so keen unless I was experiencing misfiring - which, to date I can't say I am, but I'm listening hard!!

Why a garage would only replace one plug though when they have all that top-end off beggars belief.

Anyway, for now, that's my problem solved.

I'll keep you updated on the rest as I have it done. Thanks for your help and your suggestions greydog-not gone unheeded believe me.

Cheers

Andrew

[Bimmer Owners' Club]

Good luck with it all and hope you get a misfire (in the nicest possible sense)