New Member, first Bimmer

[Aelfric]

Hi guys, thanks for the opportunity to join the hive mind of all things BMW! About 6 months ago I upgraded from a 2000 Golf to a 2014 316i. There's no comparison, obviously, although both put a smile on my face for different reasons. The Golf had non-standard wheels - great for fast cornering - but the 3-series is stock (though UK-import) and simply a pleasure to drive. Love Cruise Control for the Motorway!

A few issues with it - sticking front caliper, which I fixed, although there's something else up with the system now. At speed it brakes fine, but at low revs (i.e coming to a halt at traffic lights) I have to push the pedal hard as there feels like close to zero servo-assistance, and I can often feel the pedal being pushed back off as the revs drop. Any ideas on what I did wrong?

She's burning oil too. Engine light keeps coming on - P0420 Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold - presumably not able to clear the burning oil or blue smoke well enough. Doesn't happen all of the time, just when it gets low on oil. Or when she's left idling too long. Could be CCV I'm told? I'll get it looked at eventually.

Other than that, she's going great, and still only 115k miles on the clock :)

[Aelfric]

[Bimmer Owners' Club]

Hi Stuart....welcome to the Club

The servo issue I would say is either a vacuum leak which is affecting the servo operation or it is a faulty servo unit.

Either way I would resolve it before it gets any worse.

The oil burning issue may be worth changing the grade and see whether that makes much of a difference. 

Also clean out any breathers you can find on the engine.

Good to have you onboard

Cheers,   Trevor

[Aelfric]

Thanks Trevor, great advice. I'll check out the Servo and connections.

I'm using 5W30 Fully Synth already, and I've just thrown a can of Wynne's Stop Smoke into it, to see if that makes a difference. So far, so good, and blimey - performance boost! Revving cleanly, and very nippy again all of a sudden.