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Hi judi Check the battery terminals are tight. possible battery issue?

hi Paul. how about a Dodgy sticking starter motor? @greydog mentioned somewhere about bad starters pulling too many amps and killing batteries. Not sure if it affects your model though? Could you try attaching your car to another running one with jump leads and try to start it? If it starts fine, then I would be inclined to say battery, but if not, I would look at the starter motor.

Hi all. success! it was indeed a leaking left airbag. I would do a write up but there is loads on YouTube. the whole job changing both sides took 2 hours and 2 people. It’s easier if you have 2 trolley jacks, one lift the car and one to lift the axle, part came out easy and replaced with a straight swap. cheers for the input Dave. Once again your knowledge is invaluable, albeit a mid judgement on my ability! 😂

I agree with Dave, get the bmw 1.4.0 … it’s saved me a fortune! I would bet you have a failed lead or coil. Easy to check.. run the program and it will tell you which cylinder is off. Swap the lead with the next working lead (at both ends) and see if the issue moves, if not, do the same with the coil pack.

Cheers Dave. just had a look and it’s like the leaning tower…. Good news is I can feel the car rising on the left although not fully and the pump working, so I would agree a failed bag on the left. …. Now, where to get an airbag on a Saturday morning….

Hi all. following the wife home yesterday and I saw the car was leaning to the left a bit. This morning the rear lhs suspension was definitely low. any quick tips I can check before hopefully not handing over to a garage. I am off to Germany on Sunday and my wife will need the car while I’m gone. really not the time for this to play up!

👍🏻 Thanks matey . 😊

Hi all, my mate has an f31 and needs the service lights resetting after a service. Could I use my bmw 1.4.0…. Service programme that I use on the e53 series? if not, what do I need? cheers

Hi Gareth. welcome to the forum

Look at the head unit. Does it have an output for a sub? if so, you will need phono cables to the back of the car and an amplifier, wiring kit and sun in a box… or an active sub woofer. if not, you can run the rear speakers to an amp and through a low pass filter, not ideal though. I would assume the stereo has the correct outputs 👍🏻

If it’s anything line the older versions then it will be a clogged filter. the screen wash used by bmw has an anti fungal agent in it, which some others do not, which prevents clogging. the filters are fitted to the motors an the bottom of the reservoir. A quick dismantle and rinse with hot water should sort it. hopefully this is the issue

Hey guys… well, company car day arrived and I went and got me an Audi A3 saloon. I wanted a 3 series but they only had automatic stuff 😞 anyways, petrol and manual always win!

Hi all… just to let you know, my daughter, Rebecca is now three weeks old. 👍🏻 everyone is doing well…. Apart from its half 1 and I’m up again!

Silly idea….. can you lock the car remotely from your key location in the house? the reason I ask is that some cars are coded to have auto lock and a fail safe unlock feature. if the battery is failing on the key fob, does the car recognise this and auto unlock the doors as a safety feature? the windows all coming down is also a clue that the fob maybe failing as holding the unlock button will open all doors and windows. This is also coded into the car individually. also it’s worth checking that all the window runners and wills are clean. Some cars are fitted with a system that detects resistance and will open windows and doors if the tolerance goes up…. Like a child sticking his head in a closing window etc. remember, the key starring the car has nothing to do with the remote central locking, they are two separate entities.

If you are loosing compression on two neighbouring cylinders when it’s cold, I would look into head gasket and cylinder head skimming possibly? As the engine heats up, the gap will close due to expansion and stop the compression leak. If it was a plug issue then the misfire would be constant (usually)

Does the e83 need the battery coding to the car? also , is the battery a high power unit? What make is the alternator? Are the battery leads corroded and is it earthed correctly? If you start the car, can you remove the positive battery lead and will the car still run? That way you can test if the alternator is working. some brands of starter motors can crank high and kill a battery.

That would be my next thought, unplug the throttle body/ maf sensor and see if the idle changes, mine cleared after the dodgy battery replacement but a faulty throttle body would also cause irregular revs at idle. There is a large plug on the side of the maf sensor that you can unplug while the car is idling. This should change the idle noticeably. If it doesn’t, that would point toward an issue there. @Greydog Would the throttle body idle revs clear when the codes are erased?

Stupid question, but are your lights set on auto? the dash lights will dim when the exterior lights come on. is it doing it when the car is stationary?

Can you swap batteries? mine did the same and even on a long run, would sometimes just enter limp mode for no reason. Revs would be up and down… scanned and cleared the fault, all ok, revs back to normal. Got home and stopped, then started and limp mode would be back on. turned out to be a dodgy battery, which was charging fine, but would not hold a charge. …. Then my alternator stopped and left me stranded.

The adaptations would be the throttle position reset. How is the idle? (When the limp mode is off)

Resetting the throttle position on a BMW E46 requires You to enter the car and turn the ignition on. When doing so, make sure to put Your foot on the brake and push it down when turning the ignition on. At this point, only the cars accessories should have booted up. When this happens, push down the accelerator as well. Hold it down for roughly 20 seconds and then release the accelerator and turn off the car, to complete the reset. If Youre having trouble doing this procedure, consult Your owners manual. It should contain a detailed breakdown of each step, as well as a walk-through to reset the throttle position sensor. try this, it’s for an older 3 series, but it should work on the 1. to check the alternator and battery, start the car and put a multimeter on the battery terminals. you should see a voltage of around 14v dc. switch the engine off and hopefully the battery will show around 13.4? V dc. go back and test the battery in about 30 minutes and it should read the same. This will show the alternator and battery working and holding charge. Anything around 12v, replaced the battery. my x5 was going into limp mode and throttle position abnormalities due to a failing battery.

Possible battery issue making the throttle position sensor reset? Try to manually reset the throttle and check the alternator output?

Hi Mike. it’s really easy to fit the dual din screen versions . you need to remove the lower Dacia below the radio and relocate it to the cubby hole below. get a headset with iso connections and it will plug straight in. Get one with steering wheel control interfaces and you will keep these too Something like this will suffice. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203761821728?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=5oi5weejscq&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=Ht4YuRv-Sdq&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY hope this helps. stu

Looking at the video, the digital clocks are not in sync with the surround. This would tell me the fault is definitely the display or computer to the display. make the dealer replace them. @GreydogI had to tell the phone to ignore voice commands when connected to the car. Now it just randomly pipes up into a conversation in the middle of the night!