Cyruskint

On 3/19/2021 at 5:40 PM, rollupandshine said:

Hi all

 

Has anyone on here towed a caravan with an E91 M Sport?

 

My missus wants to get a caravan but I'm thinking the car is too low and will be on its backside with a caravan on it

 

thoughts?

 

 

Hi.

I have towed extensively with a caravan on a E91 330d and on two F31 330d’s.

You are limited to 75kg nose weight for the tow bar assembly, which is more difficult to accommodate with the larger, modern caravans. Don’t be tempted to add something heavy to the back to bring the nose weight down as this can cause “dumbelling” (swinging).

1200kg vans are the heaviest I have towed with the cars, and the E91/F31 pull them with ease.

On 4/30/2021 at 11:56 AM, Emmo said:

Hi Dave

1. It seems to start around 50mph and then worsen the faster I go, but seems to peak at 70mph (doesn't get any worse).

2. Yes, until the car gets to below 50pmh.

3. Had new pads and discs about 12 months ago.

4. 50,000

5. No.

6. Replaced. I got rid of run flats and replaced with conventional tyres.

Thanks, Martin.

Hi.

if the tyres were checked and are okay, then check all wheels for balance.

Not ALL tyre garages do this well - old machines; failing to addd weights on the inside of the rim, etc., so may be worth trying a different garage.

On 4/23/2021 at 4:32 PM, p38fln said:

Yes if the car has a "deleted" DPF then it's going to smoke.  That's the whole reason for the DPF (diesel particulate filter): to eliminate smoke, soot and ash from the exhaust.  MPG will go up with the DPF removed because most cars don't run heavy enough loads to keep the catalyst in the DPF filter hot enough to burn the collected soot and ash off, so the engines go in to a regeneration cycle.  Regeneration raises the RPM of the engine high enough to keep exhaust temps hot and air flowing for the regen cycle.  The second part of the regen cycle is diesel fuel is pumped into the exhaust pipe through a fuel injector located in the DPF, and then a glow plug ignites the fuel.  The goal is to raise the exhaust temperature high enough to cause a chimney fire, which will burn all the ash and soot from the DPF filter.  The goal temperature is at least 600 C/1100 F, so the recommendation is to never allow a regeneration cycle while off road, in a garage, or somewhere else near anything that could ignite at 1100 F.  Dumping fuel straight into an exhaust pipe and then lighting it on fire makes the the overall fuel efficiency go down.  

Regeneration happens more frequently if the engine is allowed to idle, such as just idling for heat or AC or going through city traffic.  It happens less frequently under heavier loads, such as high speed driving or going through the mountains since the natural temperature of the exhaust and engine combustion itself is going to be higher and therefore produce less soot (and will also help burn off existing soot) under these conditions.  

Performance would go up with the DPF removed if the DPF was removed after it clogged up for whatever reason.  It is possible to clean a DPF off the vehicle by using an air wand at 150 PSI assuming nothing too terrible got into the DPF.  Turbo failures which typically dump large quantities of oil into a DPF can render it unsalvageable but even these can occasionally be saved by first baking them in an industrial kiln to boil the oil off (This has to be done carefully because oil vapors can damage kiln components).  

The other technology I mentioned, SCR, is Selective Catalytic Reduction.  This works by injecting what they politely call DEF or AdBlue into the tailpipe, after the DPF.  DEF or AdBlue is simply urea in liquid form in a specific concentration (32.5% urea to 67.5% water).  Urea is exactly what you think it is, but is produced in a laboratory rather than in a liver for this purpose.  I'm not sure why, it seems dairy farms would be able to produce quite large quantities of urea without any laboratory help.  The urea combines with the NOx molecules and then splits into nitrogen, water and carbon dioxide.  I'm not sure why the Volvo was pumping oxygen out too, I may have misunderstood what he was saying.  

Good write-up 👍

it’s worth pointing-out that not all engines have the injector-in-exhaust for regeneration. Such engines rely on squirting diesel fuel into the cylinders on the exhaust cycle; usually this burns on its way through the pre-catalyst and dpf........the downside is that some of this neat diesel finds its way into the sump to join your lube oil (and fuel isn’t a good thing).

The other thing is that the dpf isn’t a full-flow device like a catalyst (try looking through one) and the exhaust has to pass through the walls of the honeycombed structure. Soot builds-up there and the backpressure builds. At a set point this should trigger a regeneration. Sadly, due to driving style these cycles are interrupted and the cycle is not completed (you may not even notice your car is doing a regen unless you hear crackling from the exhaust pipe or chance to burn your fingers on the exhaust tip!

if your dpf is easy(ish) to remove, I have heard of good results from putting them in an ultrasonic bath.

On 4/22/2021 at 11:08 AM, merby said:

Hi All

Am I doing something wrong or does the Dog guard on the 320d 2014 have large gaps at the side? My dog managed to get through it, do I need to buy something else?

Thanks

Martin

Hi Martin.

I bought a OEM metal DOG guard for my 2012 touring (now in my 2017 replacement) as the standard, pull-up net is really only a load restraint and not man enough for a determined hound! I assume here that you are referring to the net?

Mike.

On 1/9/2021 at 5:57 PM, MICK 330DCI said:

Wonder how she got on with this?

A month ago i popped in to my local Indy & they had a 118d with the very same problem. The car was was a 2011 i think,dunno miles or history on it . I was just horrified to see the swarf in the system. They had seen it before though but in the 18/2.0L engines.

I suspect it’s the design of the (Bosch?) high pressure fuel pump, rather than engine-specific. I forget the model number, but the pump is lubricated by the fuel passing through it. As the pistons follow a cam profile, they are each fitted with a roller follower. One issue is that the piston is round and so (with no gudgeon pin as in an engine piston) it is possible for the piston to rotate in its bore. If it does this, the roller is no longer ROLLING around the cam, but rubbing across the top of it! This results in friction and the resulting swarf is then already IN the fuel supply and return.

Hi.

I bought my Approved Used 330d Touring in March 2020. 950 miles later it did exactly what yours did. Lifted to BMW Dealers. Quote: “£900 please for a complete new fuel system as you have been using dirty fuel” and they showed me the swarf pictures. I denied abusing my expensive BMW and supplied them with three receipts for Esso fuel (all I used in 950 miles!) and after deliberation BMW repaired the car at their expense.

The high pressure fuel pump had literally eaten itself - a well known issue in the USA - where the cylindrical roller follower rotates (it’s on the bottom of each pump piston) with the piston on no longer rotates as it follows the pump cam. The net result is friction and the hardened coating breaks away (aforementioned swarf) and enters the fuel and return pipes. In the US it was put down to dirty fuel, but this should not be an issue in the UK. Research the Net and Forums.

I hope you get your problem resolved!