E46 330D Auto Won't Rev About 3000Rpm!

[Fred T]

Hello,

I have recently bought a very nice E46 330d Auto. It is a late 2004 model with 82,000 miles on it. I am no mechanic and have had a problem with it today - that does not make a lot of sense to me - and I was wondering if anyone could give me any clues?

I have had the car for two months. As a purely precautionary measure I had the gearbox oil and filter changed by a well established local gearbox specialist. That was about 6 weeks ago - and there has been no indication of any immediate problem after that. Again, as a precautionary measure, I had the intake swirl flaps removed by a good local garage I have used for many years. They put in top quality blanks - from one of the major national suppliers of such items. That was about two weeks ago. I don't use the car a great deal but over several local trips since the car has been fine - until today.

A few miles into my journey the 'Handbrake' and 'DSC off' amber warning lights came on, out of the blue, together. I stopped and turned the car off. The warning lights were off when I restarted the car - but then they came back on after a mile or so. I repeated that process - with the same result. I headed for home. I was driving in a fairly sedate manner anyway - and apart from the warning lights being on the car drove fine, with no unusual noises or sensations. When I got to a short piece of motorway I expected the gearbox to 'kick-down' a one time - but it did not. I tried again and it was then that I realised the car did not want to rev above about 3000rpm. I tried to change gear using the 'manual' shift and it seemed to work - but I was not using a lot of revs (I had no wish to exacerbate any problem that might be going on).

The car is now home - and got home fairly uneventfully - except for the kick-down and/or revs issue! Still there are no untoward noises/motions from/of the car.

As I say I am no mechanic - but my suspicion is that the lack of available revs is causing the kick-down issue?

Do any of you have any ideas and/or suggestions as to what the problem may be and how I might go about investigating it?

Many regards,

Fred

[Fred T]

PS: The warning lights issue does not make any sense to me either! Fred

[Fred T]

PS: The warning lights on issue (at the same time) does not make any sense to me either! Fred

[Fred T]

PS: Having posted the question I am now wondering whether the car has gone into 'limp-home' mode due to the problems it thinks exist with the 'handbrake' and or 'DSC off' from the warning sensors? As you can probably tell by now, I am thrashing around with this problem a bit - trying to think of an outcome that is not TOO expensive! Your help would be very gratefully received! Fred

[mikesmith2939]

Get the codes read first of all, you can get cheap bmw readers on Ebay.

Also these cars are dependent on a good battery, a bad one can cause all sorts of issues and codes

[Fred T]

Hello Mike,

Thanks for your reply. I have bought the car as something of a present to myself and spent time and money getting it serviced etc to use as a weekend tourer (no pun intended) - so think I went into panic-mode as the car entered (I hope) limp-home mode! I will do as you suggest and get the codes as a priority. I will also have a look at the battery - this was not an issue I was aware of - so thanks again for taking the time to help. Regards, Fred

[btmaldon]

As Mike says you really need to get the codes read first. It could be something simple. I have read that the Idle Control Valve and the MAF sensor can cause this issue. Not sure why the DSC and brake lights would come on as a result though. Have you checked your brake fluid level?

[Guest jeffthro]

I'm not very up on Diesels, so I might be a million miles off, but it does sound very much to me like a DPF issue, but I'm thinking they weren't around as standard in 2004. Everything you say about the limp home mode and warning lights does point to that, though. If it is, at least its not big pennies to fix, a system reset and then the half hour dash to blow it out.

If it is, remember that you need a good run at least fortnightly, (a good half hour at motorway speed) to keep it from clogging up again fairly quickly.

I've just read your post again and seen your note that you don't use the car a great deal and several local trips later. That could be a bit of the issue, sorry.

[Fred T]

Hello Bruce, Jeff and others again, It is so good of you to help me with this. I have just checked the brake fluid level - and that is fine (I'm pleased to say). As the car is not my daily transport I will have time to let my local mechanic (who I have known for years and he has always been reliable) search the codes. It is really helpful to have your suggestions as, I know, he will appreciate some specific tips/clues as to possible background/causal factors. Thanks again VERY much. I will, of course, let you know the final outcome! Cheers Fred

[Fred T]

Hello all - thanks for your help with this. Just a quick update:- My local garage had a look at the car. One code that came up is that there is no turbo boost - presumably this is why car has gone into limp mode! They also found several other fault codes - some of which they could not find information. They are a decent garage but had to admit the recent history was not making a lot of sense at this time. I popped that car over to the local BMW specialist - they had a 5 minute look and confirmed the boost problem. So............. I have booked it in with them and will give them the history of the car over the past few weeks (and all it's, sometimes contradictory, warning lights/symptoms). I am assuming they will be able to shed some light on the whole saga - and fix it. I will let you know the outcome. Thanks again to you all.

[btmaldon]

Thanks for the update Fred. I would be interested to see how it turns out.

[Guest jeffthro]

Having managed to have a few minutes today with an acquaintance who works at a BMW specialist garage, he is fairly sure its the DPF. Apparently, the warning lights are exactly as expected? Hope you get sorted OK.

[Fred T]

Hello Bruce, Jeff and others, I really appreciate the help you have all given me. The car is booked in for 15th May - so I hope it all becomes clear then (and not too expensive!). I will let them know all the input I have had from the forum (and get a full story from them - and hope it is useful for others in future?) Cheers again, Fred

[Fred T]

Hello Mike, Bruce, Jeff and others. I am pleased to say that the car went to the specialist garage yesterday and it has come back as good as ever. On the odd occasion I have had to use the car recently no warning lights at all have come on - the car just remained in 'limp-mode'. The garage could find NO history of the warning lights related faults! Thankfully they did find the cause of the main problem. When my mechanic friend removed the swirl flaps his logic told him to not block the now disconnected vacuum pipe (the specialist blanks it off when doing that job - so they dd just that) AND it seems that the turbo boost pressure sensor had become disconnected (possibly shook loose after swirl flap removal) - so the turbo did not want to play. The car is great to drive again :-) (and all for just £93 (phew!)) Thank you to you all for your help with this. Fred

[Guest jeffthro]

A good result there I'd say Fred. Pleased you're sorted.

[mikesmith2939]

Now it's sorted enjoy driving it.

[Fred T]

Thanks again all - I am looking forward to summer now. I am now getting used to the easy power available at almost all speeds - great fun :-) Fred

[btmaldon]

Oleased its sorted Fred. Now time to enjoy it. :)

[johnboy55]

it can be a number of things so your best bet is to get the fault codes read to save expensive buying parts that may or may not fix it. first impressions to me seem to that its gone in to limp mode another common fault for that mileage is the primary fuel pump £34 ebay engine starts and runs fine but wont rev above 3000 are first symptons due to not enough fuel pressure vac hose on auto box another if your lights come on the dash it will have logged a fault so that's your best start point. hope this helps good look

[Fred T]

Hello John (Bruce, Mike, Jeff and others),

I am very grateful for all your help and advice with this. Sadly the plot thinkens! After the Specialist worked on the car it was fine for a while. I thought I would just add some RedX treatment (I did double double check it was the correct product) to the next tank full of diesel for good measure. The car was fine for a week or so ........ then I took it for a weekend run!!!!!!

For the first part of the journey we travelled in two cars. I followed the BMW at a steady 70 on the motorway for 150miles and a few miles around town. I did notice a tiny bit of smoke from the BMW exhaust when under load (e.g going uphill around town) but nothing to worry about. Later the same day we drove on another 70 miles. The next day I could see smoke - in the rear view mirror - from the exhaust when pulling away from roundabouts etc. It got worse quickly and by the end of that day the car was throwing out CLOUDS of thick BLACK smoke under acceleration - the type of smoke cloud that can be seen by anyone within 400 yards behind!!! I drove the car home steadily the next day. It drives fine, is not noisy, appears to have normal power and is not using oil.

Being at a bit of a loss I booked it in with the local BMW Dealer (for a basic £75 diagnostic look) in the hope of getting to the bottom of it. I did give them a full written history of events, but I'm not sure they read it. I have just picked it up and they could NOT tell me why it is smoking now. They told me it shows as needing new glow-plugs (but car starts very well and is NOT at all smokey on startup - so I am not interested in sorting that at the moment). There is no problem showing up on diagnostics re the turbo, EGR or injectors - or anything else. In the end they (the booking in staff) wanted to tell me that taking out the swirl flaps can cause some smoke! No one else has reported this problem so far as I know (and it was fine for a while) and it now smokes to epic proportions (under noticeable acceleration only though). It has a fresh tank of diesel.

I am now going to ask my local mechanic chum to just apply his old fashioned (non-diagnostic) mind to it all before I start changing turbos or the like (and may ask him to replace the swirl flaps!).

Can any of you make sense of latest problems I am having? (PS: has anyone you know ever welded the swirl flaps onto the spindle they sit on).

Confused Fred

(Thanks for even reading though all this)

[Niklas]

Hey Fred

I know im late, but I am interested. Did you find out what caused the smoke?
 

My 2001 330d also smoked black like a coal train, and it turned out to be because of a huge intercooler pipe leak. 
 

Btw blanking the swirl flaps does not cause any problem. If anything the car performes better in my experience 🙂

I also reccomend removing the EGR valve.

 

Regards