I lifted the boot/trunk floor to jump-start a friends car and noticed that my battery well / spare-wheel well is full of dirty water.... oh dear. I’ve got a leak... but where? Boot seal? Bottom of the rear windscreen? There was a second aerial / antenna fitted in the roof that I removed, so figured it might be leaking through there and running down the C-pillar into the boot, but no water marks in the headlining or signs of ingress... Think I will have a proper look this weekend and try get to the bottom of it!
Thursday, 1 April 2021
Friday, 19 March 2021
BMW MOST Bus - Troubleshooting Guide [Vlad on MCA]
Great guide to the BMW MOST Bus (Media Oriented Systems Transport), used in all BMWs with fibre-optic connectivity. It covers what it is and what it does, as well as troubleshooting a lot of associated problems with these complex systems. It is from Vlad at MCA.org and can be found here:
https://mca.electricmura.ro/en/blog-bmw-most-troubleshoot/
Sunday, 14 March 2021
F10 530d: N57 EGR / Cooler related fault-code scan results
Been getting the 'Drivetrain' malfunction message on my F10 530d iDrive and figured it likely to be EGR (exhaust-gas-recirculator) related, so plugged in a Snap-On Modis scanner and these are the codes I got, which are what I suspected to be honest. The EGR and EGR-cooler are known to pack in on the N57 series of engine, the latter of which can leak coolant into the inlet causing a bit of smoke on startup.
28E200 - Exhaust Gas Temperature sensor before Cat, open circuit
255C00 - EGR Controller, Position Control, Valve open too far
190900 - EGR Mass Air Flow, measured plausibility calculated too high
240400 - EGR Control, control deviation air mass too low
272F09 - EGR, mechanically faulty close to open position
272E00 - EGR, mechanically faulty close to closed position
So, I have the classic two codes of the EGR failing close to open and closed position, which denotes a stuck EGR valve, which is quite common on all diesel engines, along with the EGR mass-air codes where values are higher and lower than they should be, which clearly ties in to the valve sticking in the open and closed position. Faults for the EGR control-module show that it is struggling to position the EGR correctly and this all points to one stuck EGR valve.
I also notice that I am getting a bit of smoke on startup sometimes which I have never noticed before. This also points to a faulty EGR-valve, or rather the cooler itself. The EGR-cooler is fed with coolant to reduce the operating temperature of the EGR-valve itself and these are known to have problems with leaking after time. They crack inside after prolonged use and start to leak coolant into the EGR and thereafter the air-intake, which causes a bit of white smoke on startup, which I have been experiencing the last few weeks and so it looks like this is the culprit and I will be replacing the EGR / cooler unit at some point I would imagine... watch this space.
Monday, 21 December 2020
Season’s Greetings 2020 from BeemerLab!
It’s been a bit of a grim year this one, but still lockdown has given us some time off to fix, tune and fine fettle our BMWs (health permitting of course! And no, not me I had to work right through lockdown + big ups to all key workers who did so too), so I just wanted to thank the half-million readers who have taken advice from our blog over the last 12 months!
It’s been a record-breaking year and not just for Covid statistics either, but for blog visits as well and it means a lot that my little info-base is still gathering readers. Thank you to everyone who left positive and encouraging comments and I wish you all a healthy, prosperous and hopefully Covid free 2021!
Sunday, 20 December 2020
Late '90s BMW Crossover Concepts...
A couple of interesting concepts here from the 1990s that you might not expect from BMW, but showing once again that they were well abreast of current trends and design cues that would become prevalent towards the end of that decade.
The first, below, is this strange high-roofline runabout / city-car that seems to be a mix of Fiat's controversial Multipla and the bubble Nissan Micra that both came along soon after. This concept also pre-dates the BMW MINI (and the 1-Series) that arrived at the turn of the millennium and was perhaps the fore-concept of BMW's small car range after becoming aware of buyers desires for high-end hatch-backs following Audi's A3. Either way, it shows BMW were having a go at that small-car big-interior vibe that has now become the basic staple of small car design.
Sunday, 6 December 2020
BMW Bosch Fuel Injection System Trouble-Shooting Guide
SYMPTOM: | PROBABLE CAUSE: |
No cold start | Fuel-pump fault or clogged fuel-filter |
Additional air-valve not opening correctly | |
Start-valve not opening correctly | |
Leak in fuel system | |
Throttle-valve plate not opening correctly | |
Temp.-sensor fault | |
Diode-relay fault | |
Poor hot start | As above then: |
Leaking / faulty injector | |
Heat/time switch fault | |
Poor idle | Baffle-plate stop wrongly adjusted |
Leak in Vacuum-system | |
Fuel-filter clogged | |
Mixture-adjustment incorrect | |
Backfire from engine | Weak fuel mixture |
Fuel pressure too low | |
Starter-valve leaking | |
Engine runs on after shut-off | Leaking / faulty injector |
Stiff/stuck baffle-plate | |
Stiff/stuck control-plunger | |
Excessive fuel consumption | Control pressure too low |
Starter-valve leaking | |
Leak in fuel-system | |
Fuel mixture too rich | |
Heat/time switch fault | |
Idle-speed too high | Control pressure incorrect |
Additional air-valve stuck open | |
Baffle-plate stop wrongly adjusted |
Thursday, 3 December 2020
F10: Rear Shock Absorber / Strut / Spring Replacement [GUIDE]
GUIDE:
* This is not a difficult or time-consuming job, but will require a bit of brute force. *
1. First the rear seats need to come out. Lift the seat squab up at the front and detach it from the push-studs, press the seat-belt receivers through the recesses and lift the squab out. Next lift the seat-back upwards until it is free of the hooks at the top and lift that out, being careful of the door-sill paintwork and sliding it through the seat-belts. [You could always unbolt the seat-belts at the base using a T45-Torx socket to make this easier, but it's not essential].
2. The parcel-shelf now needs to come down in order to access the strut-top mount bolts in the shock-turrets. Remove the C-pillar trims by prizing out the plastic caps labelled 'Airbag' from the trim and removing the screw using a T25-Torx socket. Now carefully pull away the C-pillar trims and put to one side. Remove the five push-pin clips from the front edge of the parcel-shelf by levering the button in the centre upwards and pulling the plastic pin out. The studs can now be levered out. The parcel-shelf is now free to pull forwards and can be rested where the seat-back would be. [Remove the wiring-connectors to the speakers, but these should pop out by themselves anyway].
3. Lift the car and remove the corresponding wheel. [There is no need to be getting under the car for this job, so a jack and axle-stand is fine].
4a. The track-strut (pictured) needs to be moved out of the way to access the bottom strut bolt so first remove the plastic clips holding the E-brake wire-harness to the track-strut by levering them open at the bottom with a flathead-screwdriver and separating them from the strut. The wire-harness can be moved out of the way.4b. Remove the bolt holding the inner end of the track-strut using an 18mm wrench. Pull the track-strut down and rotate it so it is pointing out of the wheel-arch. You now have plenty of room to get at the bottom strut bolt and lift the shock out.
5. Remove the bolt holding the bottom of the strut to the hub using a 21mm wrench.
6. Lift the triangle flap in the foam underneath where the parcel-shelf was to expose the studs to the strut-top mount and remove the three nuts using a 13mm wrench.
7. Wiggle the bottom of the strut free from the hub and the entire strut assembly is now free to be removed. It should be able to be lowered through the remaining suspension parts and to the rear of the car until it is free to be removed.
** IF YOU ARE CHANGING THE SPRING / TOP-MOUNT OR SWAPPING THESE ONTO A NEW STRUT THEN DO THIS NOW** [See this post for guide].
8. Make sure the new strut has the top-mount in line with the old one you removed by lying them next to each other and checking the bottom bolt-eyelet and triangle marking on the top-mount match up. [The triangle marking on the top-mount should face towards the back of the car with the bolt-eyelet facing the centre, or with the triangle marking facing you the bolt-eyelet should be pointing to the right for O/S (right-side) and left for N/S (left-side)].
9. Lift the new strut back up through the suspension and line it up into the strut-turret. [Triangle marking on top-mount facing rear of car] and screw the three 13mm nuts back on a few threads.
10. Lever the hub downwards until it meets the bolt-eyelet at the bottom of the strut meets its recess on the hub and screw the 21mm bolt back in about half-way.
11. Fully tighten the three 13mm nuts on the strut-top mount.
12. Fully tighten the 21mm bolt through the bottom of the strut.
13. Replace the track-strut / wheel as a reversal of steps 3 and 4.
14. If you are doing both sides then repeat steps 3 - 13 for the opposite side.
15. Replace the parcel-shelf, trim and rear seat as a reversal of steps 1 and 2.